Merida and Patzquaro

Check out Guanajuato city. Small expat community, lots of cultural activities, major university, 40 minutes to international airport,  50 to big city of Leon for shopping at big box stores. mild climate.  love it here!

Thecolorguy wrote:

My wife and I are exploring moving to Mexico.  We have visited San Miguel and Ajijic and were not sure how we felt about all the expats.  We then visited Cuernavaca and didn't find any expats.  Indeed we didn't even see any other gringos in the week we were there.  So that is too far to the other end of the spectrum. 

We are looking to visit Merida this winter and feel out that area a bit.  Can anyone tell us about their experiences living in either city?   Is there a expat community of any sort in Merida?  What about the overall livability of the city- we are more inclined to a city because of the cultural amenities.

I read a post a few months ago from a woman who moved there from SMA but cannot find it now.
Any insights from anyone would be much appreciated.  Also any suggestions of other central Mexico cities  that we ought to be considering are also most welcome.

Hi mr. and mrs Colorguy ,

Merida might be your city, I don't live there, but travel to,and through there fairly often. I live two hours north of there. The city has good hospitals, and most of the amenities people look for.

Yes it has expats, but is not overwhelmed with them. Many of the natives are familiar with English. The mall is well supplied ( that's one of the reasons I go there) there are many good hotels, and restaurants, and yet the city has not lost the cultural charm of the old homes on the main street There is an airport, a costco, an American consulate, and many other important places,
They close the main street for walking and bikes on Sunday. 30 K away is a beach city Progresso, and there are numerous haciendas to visit. It's sort of a large hub.  I recently went to a food and craft fair there and bought a bunch of great organic and natural products. The on line magazine Yucatanliving in centered there , look there for what's going on culturally currently.

Thanks for your suggestion.  We did check out beautiful Guanajauto but all those hills and the treacherous stone streets are just too much to consider growing old walking on.

Hello!
Pls take my useful tip. While going through the country be sure to know locale area codes to be on connection. We used very good service areaphonecodes.com/mexico/ and it helped us greatly to solve some obstacles that occured during the trip. Good Luck in you searching the place!

We've heard nice things about Merida from people we know who have been but hear it is Really Hot there in the summer.  I fact I read a post somewhere from someone who had lived there for years and finally moved away due to the heat.  What is your experience of this?
Thanks for your reply by the way

Thecolorguy wrote:

We've heard nice things about Merida from people we know who have been but hear it is Really Hot there in the summer.  I fact I read a post somewhere from someone who had lived there for years and finally moved away due to the heat.  What is your experience of this?
Thanks for your reply by the way

Some months of the year, yes it can be very hot. it can be hot where I live also, but you adapt, and you plan on going on vacations and day trips to explore during some of the hot months which also are in the hurricane season.
Where I live there is a constant breeze off the bay which helps quite a bit. Consider that climate change is still in effect. It's hard to say what will happen next. This month it is cooler than last year. 

There is no fixed guarantees of specific weather in any area any more.  I like it here, I have air con, so I stay.  The mountains could become very cold and have feet of snow, or become warmer.  Hurricanes in Cabo are very unusual. Serial hurricanes are unusual, snow in the southern U.S. is not common, stay flexible wherever you live..

Thanks