Merida’s “Rescate de Fachadas” makes me think of home

May 24, 2013 By 9 Comments

scaffoldingfrontWas it me, or was there more scaffolding everywhere this month? It seemed I was climbing through and walking around scaffolds more than usual during our last jaunt to Mérida. I say “climbing through” because that was the only way to get into a very chichi shop I was browsing on 55. (They sell perfume and serve cappuccino and both are good; I’ll write about that later.)

rescuesign Some of the reconstruction can be attributed to the city’s “Rescate de Fachadas” plan, which has been going on since the mid-1990s. Other projects are initiated by regular folks, like us, who see growth opportunities in Mérida.

I’m thrilled to see investment in the White City, but sometimes I pause to consider what’s happened in the U.S. when a neighborhood starts to get fixed up. Rents escalate, and middle-class people and mom-and-pop merchants are driven out. New York City is barely worth visiting anymore as chain boutiques and megastores replace the old independent shops that gave the city its character. High culture is doing just fine, but the vastly [Read more...]

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Mérida Five-0: If I invite them, will they come?

May 20, 2013 By 16 Comments


I’ve been in Connecticut for 24 years now, enough time to watch my friends get old. Well, not old, exactly. But older than what I had considered old back in 1989. I was 24 then, and I remember thinking of my 32-year-old colleagues as pretty much “up there.” Yesterday, I went to a birthday party of one friend who helped me celebrate the big three-oh way back when. He had me killing time at the mall while Paul was back at home setting up a big surprise party. Now, this friend has turned the big five-oh. It seems like I’ve been to a string of five-oh’s And next year, I’m next.

I’m inviting all my friends to next year’s big five-oh party. (Please don’t make me actually type the number.) I’m still hoping to have it at Casa Nana, which by then should be completed if all goes well. I think that makes it a cinco-cero party. Is that a thing, or did I just make that up?

For now, I’m just saying “save the date.” I haven’t actually gotten to my 49th birthday, so I can’t really [Read more...]

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Home gym or art studio? Guess who wins this argument

May 19, 2013 By 3 Comments

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I didn’t get to meet the artist known simply as Greenwood until after I published some of his sketches in Our Yucatan. But earlier this year, I finally did get to shake Greenwood’s hand and see his terrific art studio, which overlooks the Centro property he shares with Cherie Pittillo of Backyard Birding fame. Greenwood and I were talking on Skype yesterday about a new project we are working on together, and I kept thinking about his studio space.

And then I thought about the big, square room that’s going over the casita. There’s no sink or toilet, just a water spout for plants, so it’s not [Read more...]

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Chicharrón for the albañiles, just a week late

May 15, 2013 By 3 Comments

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Jorge pitches in, adding sour orange and salt to the chicharrón mixture.

Undertaking a big project like Casa Nana in a foreign country can leave one with feelings of uncertainty, whether you’re choosing materials for your floors, or just trying to do right by the workers. The albañiles on our site have proven to be considerate, hard-working and good-natured. They have been so patient and polite as we’ve paraded guests through the property last week. (In the above photo, we found evidence that they were working on pleasantries, as well.) They were hired by the civil engineer who was hired by our architect, so we naturally have no real connection to them. But we feel a responsibility to do right by them, and not take them for granted.

Then our friend Jorge, who is a Mérida native, told us that we had just missed Labor Day, Día del Trabajo, but it wasn’t too late to offer the routine gesture of providing lunch to the workers. Paul and I immediately agreed, but [Read more...]

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Mérida’s corner plaques: Spot the fake

May 11, 2013 By 10 Comments

meridapictogramsCan you guess which of these corner plaques, los quadros de Mérida, so brilliant integrated into Mérida’s streetscapes, is a fake? Look closely now. You just get one guess.

The fake one is on the right. It marks the men’s room at the SoHo Galleries. I won’t even show you [Read more...]

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Taking a second look at Mérida’s merchandise

May 11, 2013 By 1 Comment

guayaberaOur last couple of days have been shopping days, and I am coming to appreciate the merchandise better now that I’m looking at it more closely. I’m usually hurrying part the stores to escape the narrow sidewalks and passing buses. And the merch is often so crammed together, it’s easy to overlook the more distinctive items for sale. I have to learn to slow down sometimes to see that, oh wait, that bedspread really is exquisite; that votive is really amazing. I’m inclined to think of all shops in the clatter of the “tourist zone” as junk shops, but really, there’s some good stuff to be had! And some of the stores display their things beautifully, as well.

When we decided that my Dad should have a guayabera, and Mom should have some embroidered blouses, we were forced to slow our gaze at the store windows of the Centro. First, we came across what looked like a guayabera outlet that had cotton ones for $300 pesos. I hadn’t really looked at prices before, although I remembered shirts at the Fiesta Americana for much more, so I figured we had a bargain. We snatched up a beige one with [Read more...]

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