Mérida Then and Now

Dear International Living Reader,

Volume 1, Number 1, of International Living, published more than 25 years ago, featured a three-page article on Mérida, relatively unknown in tourism circles, in the Yucatán, about 30 minutes from the Gulf Coast of Mexico. We recommended readers rent a car and drive this part of the country (why not, when gasoline in Mexico was selling for 50 cents a gallon?), stopping, for example, at a restored 15th-century Spanish convent that offered rooms for $16 a night. We reported on coastal lots in this region of the country selling for $10,000...and houses on the beach on offer for $30,000.

Cheap real estate is great, we pointed out, but it's not everything. And, at the time, it was the primary selling point for Mérida and its environs. Twenty-six years later, we continue to recommend Mérida. Those $10,000 lots? Today, they'd go for substantially more...as much as four or five times more. And Mérida itself has grown from a town with a population of about 400,000 to a cosmopolitan center of close to one million inhabitants.

Today, as it was 26 years ago, the Yucatán is one of the safest states in Mexico, and Mérida claims to be the "safest city in the country." Because of this, many Mexican families--and expats--are moving here. Mérida is a prosperous and cosmopolitan colonial city with an international airport, four universities, excellent public and private primary and secondary schools, top-notch hospitals and health care facilities, and modern shopping centers and malls with movie theaters.

This part of Mexico is also one of its most historic and culturally rich. Mérida was designated as American Capital of Culture for the year 2000 by the Organization of the American States--the first time that a city in one of the 35 countries in the Americas received this designation.

Our team on the ground in Mexico, led by Suzan Haskins ( mexico@internationalliving.com), has Mérida squarely in the center of its radar screen...as we did so many years ago. Suzan, recently returned from a trip to Mérida, reports:

"Mérida is one of my favorite places in Mexico, a fantastic city with a beautiful colonial center, excellent hospitals, and modern shopping centers. The city comes alive after sunset--music and dancing in the streets (which they block off for the occasion). Plus, the Mayan people are so warm and friendly, that it takes you back a little; you wonder what they want from you...and it’s nothing more than to make conversation and be helpful.

"Deals still exist in Mérida and along the coast (compared with other parts of Mexico). In a developed area like San Benito, I saw 1/5-acre lots with 65 feet of beachfront for $96,000; 1/3-acre lots with 100 feet of beachfront go for $137,000.

"A contact on the Gulf Coast told me that beach homes (good quality, with beachfront) priced under $300,000 are not staying on the market long. A year ago, that ‘snap it up fast’ price was at $200,000. In Mérida, houses priced at $200,000 and below are now going quickly. A year ago, that top-line price was $100,000.

"My contact told me he thought it would take another five years before U.S. boomers started coming to Mérida in numbers. But, with the increasing media coverage this corner of Mexico is getting (like this New York Times article from last month), I think within a year, Mérida will be firmly on the map."

So things change...so they remain the same.

Kathleen Peddicord
Publisher, International Living