In my last post, I challenged the idea of having an authentic experience when we travel and this time I will share with you my experience in exploring the Yucatan peninsula from my current base in Merida.
Following the Responsible Travel’s Inclusive Economic Growth guidelines, more specifically, not to contribute to housing displacement, we booked our stay in a family home just outside the historic center of Merida, in a “popular neighborhood” of Jesus Carranza. The term “popular neighborhood” might sound to you like it’s a popular place to stay, a trendy or famous hood, but that is actually a direct translation of barrio popular that in Spanish refers to a poorer residential home area.
Connecting with the community
The house we stay in has a bit of an older vibe, a lot of wooden furniture, there’s no TV but you can find some art pieces and books, alongside family photos and a relatively big portrait of the owner’s grandma, who used to live in this house till her very last days. It is interesting to look at the faces of those people who lived in the house we are now inhabiting. It feels as if we were taking care of the place for them, making sure the books are dusted and the lamps working properly. Sometimes when I sit down on the sofa with a cup of coffee, I imagine the grandma receiving her friends in the house, how they moved around the kitchen, and probably shared some town gossip over a drink sitting on the sofa where I’m sitting now. On the one hand, it makes me feel like an intruder but on the other, I do feel like a small link in the chain of keeping memories alive.
Walking down the street and around the neighborhood you can see that people are very relaxed, open and trusting here, they keep their doors open so you can even catch a glimpse of someone’s house interior – compare if they have the same furniture as you, or what they’re having for dinner, what caught their attention on the TV/radio. Of course, every house has at least one dog and maybe a cat so you can make friends with the neighborhood watch! Recently I discovered that there are some goats down the street too, two houses up across the street. My mum suggested we ask for some goat milk but I can’t digest that one either, so I will wait for a potential BBQ night! Just kiddin’! 😀
At the corner of our street, there is a playground dedicated to football and softball teams, and like in the Dominican Republic, softball seems to be a very big sport here in Yucatan. Almost every night there is a team gathered up playing, be it for leisure or a league match. A couple of weekends ago there was a big match between two women’s teams and it turned into a block party! All the official seats were full so people brought their own chairs from home and placed them all around the playground, right behind the fence, brought their food and drinks, put some music on the loudspeakers, and cheered for their teams – what was interesting was seeing a lot of older women watching, maybe they were supporting their granddaughters – and the entire neighborhood went partying and celebrating long into the night.
Travel like a local
The good thing about Merida is that you can do a lot of day trips from here. We joined a local group of travel enthusiasts gathered around economic travel. They organize Sunday trips when Mexicans have free entry into the archaeological sites. We were the only foreigners to join the group on both occasions. Together we visited the famous cenotes, archaeological zones of Kabah, Uxmal, and Chichen Itza, the nearby town of Izamal with yellow painted colonial houses, and made an unplanned stop in a village called Libre Union, when our bus broke down on the way to Chichen Itza.
It was an experience; as you might agree, the best ones are always the unplanned ones. Waiting for another bus to come to our rescue, we stayed in Libre Union for about an hour and a half, exploring the center of the village which consists of 3 streets and has 2 food stalls/stores where you can buy some refreshments. One made fried empanadas with meat or cheese and the other one offered sandwiches (in Mexico they call them tortas) with, what appears to be, slow-cooked pork in a really tasty sauce (a regional dish called cochinita). We chose the pork sandwiches since it was 9:30 am and a bit too early for fried food. After the breakfast break, I went to the bathroom inside of the store and realized that this place was also someone’s house. An old lady showed me to the bathroom in the back yard and there I found another surprise – a dog and a rooster running around having their friendly fun.
Coming into Kabah and Uxmal we realized there is no service on our phones, not only the Internet was gone but there was no signal at all. We saw houses in that zone and a few stores and restaurants meaning people do live and work there but their life is a very down-to-earth one, disconnected from all the media and connected with themselves, their physical bodies, and the people and nature around them. What a reflection moment!
There is so much to see in Yucatan, and you can definitely do it with a private tour, from a hotel or a super modern condo in an area where most expats live, you can go to some of these locations directly, without involving the locals or having a broken bus, but when all is perfect, there is a huge loss, when all is perfect you don’t get to feel the human touch, and then you miss out on the authentic experience. So be open to chatting up your neighbor, go to a block party, try local food even if it comes from a suspicious-looking side-of-the-road stall with a potential safety hazard (it’s all in your mind, if everyone else is eating over there, you’ll be fine unless you’re allergic to something), join a local group and feed the goats in the backyard! When something is really authentic, you will feel it, so go for it and let that feeling soak in.
If you have any questions about Mexico, don’t hesitate to reach out to me directly. For all the questions about responsible travel or being a digital nomad in Croatia and how you can support the local and authentic life there, join us on Facebook or Instagram. We are here for you!
by Antonija Bosanac
Antonija was born and raised in Split, Croatia. Now a restless traveller gone digital nomad in 2019, she’s passionate about building communities, volunteer work, education and human & civil rights. Currently working as a coach in the field of interpersonal communication and self development, she’s promoting change through individual work with clients; as well as being en route to getting a degree in psychotherapy. For her current location, check her Instagram profile.
