About House Hunters International’s fifth show from Mérida

I know what it’s like being in Mérida and unable to watch the latest House Hunters International program, especially when it’s about Mérida. You kinda want to know what the rest of the world is learning about your fair city. Well, I can tell you that Arturo Novelo has a charming television persona (having first cut his teeth on YouTube). We meet Betty and Karen from San Francisco, a city that has been informed by the San Francisco Chronicle’s former travel editor, a major advocate of Yucatán travel. Betty and Karen want to find a home and start a restaurant, something that will feature the cuisine of the American South.

If Betty looks familiar, you may have seen her earlier on one of Arturo’s videos, one in which he instructs his new friend how to get utility bills in her name at Japay and CFE. I have become a big fan of Arturo’s videos, and you can see their increasing sophistication compared to his early uploads. Now, he’s starting a resource called “Real Life in Merida,”  Remember the tiendita video? That was just the beginning.

Anyhow, HHI follows the three around to view three houses, hopefully not guided by the fanciful HHI map that’s gotten even more divorced from actual geography. It may even worse than the map I remember a year ago.

I am disappointed that HHI borrowed so much b-roll from previous episode — the workers hanging the garage door, the view along 68 from Casa Chablis. I would have loved to have the public see more angles on the city. They do, however, quickly show a visit to a hacienda and a swim in a cenote. They also stop  a restaurant where a chef demonstrates a local dish, Lomitos de Valladolid, which is chunks of pork loin and savory tomato sauce. HHI doesn’t tell viewers which restaurant they were in, which is a shame because the chef at Manjar Blanco, on Calle 47 across from Santa Ana Park, was gracious enough to participate. I remember seeing that place under construction and I had a good feeling about it. Now that I’ve seen it on TV, I’m all the more eager to try it.

Anyway, this time around the budget is $250,000 and they want three bedrooms. Everything we see will be familiar to those of us who spend too much time browsing the real estate listings. House No. 1 is in Santiago, next to the place where Arturo grew up. It’s on Calle 76, and seems spacious and has good bones, but the clients want a larger pool. Betty, the cook, objects to the uneven surface of the tiled counter tops. House 2, a few doors down from Hotel del Peregrino on Calle 51, has a water feature in the dining room, but not enough water out back — again, the pool is too small. Its design is the most finished of the three. House 3 (I can’t find a link to it, but I remember seeing it somewhere, some time ago) is back in Santiago, and lacks the Colonial features and kitchen space they aspired to, but the pool is large enough and is distinctively designed by architect Roger Reyes, who was also behind the restoration of House 2.

And the house they choose… (SPOILER ALERT!) [Read more...]

Hacienda chic: Balancing quaint and modern

Paul and I once stayed at a cute, charming Victorian-type guest-house in San Francisco. Staying in a charming Victorian guesthouse is, like sex in a bathtub, is better in concept than in reality. The clutter and discomfort, in everything from showering to hauling luggage up narrow stairs, was disappointing. Up next to the bed (almost touching my frilly pillow) was a tacky cardboard box with snacks, and a slot to insert coins to pay for them on the honor system. The bed was pushed up to a wall, boxing in one of us (me, if memory serves). Our host seemed indifferent, and wasn’t very helpful.

One night, we went to the modern, Hotel Nikko for dinner. The Nikko seemed geared more toward business travelers. The servers were alert and attentive, everything around us was working smoothy. The contrast couldn’t be more clear. At first, you might think the modern hotel would seem pretty cold and soulless compared to the cute guesthouse with its ruffles and ornamentation. But the modern space was more workable, and gave off an energy that Victorian charm would crush. We wished we had

[Read more...]

Walking in Mérida will get little safer for seniors

On Calle 60 and Calle 47, outside the Comex across from parque Santa Ana, one of the worst hazards I've seen in the Centro.

The newspaper says that the local obstacle course known as sidewalks will be improved in the historic center to make them safer for senior citizens. I think junior citizens like me will benefit as well.

We can’t do much about the sidewalks being narrow, but we can move poles and wires to make them safer. Why am I concerned about this? Because guess who’s coming to visit.

My Mom, at 82 and a little unsure on her feet, is insisting on coming down to see Casa Nana when it’s finished. She hasn’t been on a plane since she took me to Disney World in 1974, and that’s only the beginning of my worry. She falls down very easily. This would scare me if she were traveling to Palm Springs or Boca Raton. But she’s coming to Mérida. I don’t know how she’s going to survive the white-knuckle cab ride from the airport, but she probably will, and then she’ll want to walk. She’ll look up and ask a question about some charming hand-painted sign, and before she can say “cocina económica,” down she’ll go. Oy.

The newspaper said that in 2011, most pedestrian accidents (that went reported) happened when people were forced off the sidewalk and into the the street, and into the path of a bus. This has happened to me often, up until [Read more...]

Not again! Which architect to choose?

Deja vu! The doorbell rang today and we opened it to find a tote bag filled with architects’ proposals. There goes our Sunday.

Paul is on the building committee of a municipal board, and he will be expected to intelligently discuss all 15 pounds of spiral-bound puffery and fairy dust. The city’s Request for Proposal called for a 20-year master plan, and some big-name architects are lining up for a piece of the action.

I paged through them in about 20 minutes. The proposals were the same-ish, kind of impressive, kind of vague — and in the end it I got the impression that I could read through them completely and still not be able to make a firm judgement. Everyone had solid credentials and a good portfolio, with work we were familiar with. Two of the firms are home-town favorites, however, and the outsiders from Boston or Philadelphia will have to overcome that. Can the committee overcome any bias?

It all reminded me of our painful, painful Mérida architect search in January. We flew down with a definite bias, [Read more...]

Isn’t expat blogging a two-way street?

On my 10-minute commute to work (yes, I am lucky) along a two-lane state road, I pass many shops that serve our Mexican residents, and I notice lots of store signs and billboards written in Spanish. Day laborers congregate at a designated church parking lot, providing a safe place for workers to gather — certainly safer than exit ramps and other roadside areas.

Designated day labor corner

Designated day labor corner.

Are they marveling at our spring colors, uploading pictures of daffodils and dogwoods, sharing stories about seeing cardinals and blue jays? Do they scoff at what passes for ants around here? Or what passes for Mexican food? Wonder if the tap water is as potable as we say? Tell tales about our bureaucracy? Remark on the customer service at Marshalls or Macy’s? Wonder why the Walmarts here aren’t as nice? Are they blogging all this?

Our morning cleaning crew is outsourced, and guess where the workers come from. I wish I could engage in a little small talk with some of them. The guy I often catch sweeping around my desk at 9:30 a.m. lives in my neighborhood. It’s unlikely, but what if he’s from Yucatán? I once left a Yucatán Today on my desk hoping he’d see it, and [Read more...]

Four Mérida homes that deserve some love

Casa Santa Lucia

Beautifully designed Mérida homes, deprived of a loving buyer, are common in Yucatán. It seems every day there’s a new one, cold and alone, sitting idle in the streets of the Centro Historico. Won’t you adopt a deserving home today? Here are four:

1. La Cochera. It’s understated and masculine, and you get to live across from Los Dos. Our friends at Los Colores saw it and raved about its soaring ceilings and limestone floors, and it enjoys the cachet of being “As Seen on TV.” I like the kitchen that faces into the center courtyard; the glass greenhouse ceiling may seem impractical in the tropics, but its orientation and materials make it a source of light more than heat. The custom garage door and closets are smart. Its price has been reduced, but not even being on last May’s House Hunters got a buyer to sign on the dotted line. ($289,000)

2. Casa Santa Lucia. It’s a little small, but really smart looking, and check out the view from the roof patio. I thought for a while that I might have a view from my upper terrace, but it’s not the case. It’s a view of nothing; just there to catch a breeze, so I’m jealous [Read more...]