Moving to Merida

[adamathefrog]

Evening (or afternoon, as the case may be), all.

I'm finally flying out to Mexico next weekend to spend 6 months in my new place in Merida.

I think I might start to go a bit crazy after a while with no other English speakers around, so if any other Yucatan-based expats fancy some English conversation over a beer or to give me a shout!

If you're a Brit, I might even have a Jaffa cake for you!

I'm hoping to plant a bit of bare earth out the back of my house with grass, have any of you tried to grow grass in Yucatan's climate? Most of the grass I've seen looks scary, like cow grass. Do we have any horticulturalists who can tell me how likely it is that Bermuda grass will grow? I'm a little petrified of the thought of sitting on it and meeting a scorpion, but that's probably just me, right?

I'm also planning on surrouding the entire property with loads of lemon grass and mint to try to ward off the moscas, good idea?

Cheers,
adamoelsapito.

[Debiinmerida]

I've been living in Merida for 6 years now. I have had sod planted and as long as it gets water and sun it is growing gangbusters. I've tried to seed bare spots, but am not diligent enough with the water, and always fall back to sod. It seems to work well.

You will find enough English speakers, and Brits to keep you from getting loopy!
How is your Spanish?

where is your new place, I am in San Sebastian/La Ermita.

When you finally get here ring me up, we'll chat about 'hangouts', well I'm not going to drop my phone number here, so here is my blog - Debiinmerida . blogspot . com, or I guess reply to this thread.

Originally Posted by adamathefrog

Evening (or afternoon, as the case may be), all.

I'm finally flying out to Mexico next weekend to spend 6 months in my new place in Merida.

I think I might start to go a bit crazy after a while with no other English speakers around, so if any other Yucatan-based expats fancy some English conversation over a beer or to give me a shout!

If you're a Brit, I might even have a Jaffa cake for you!

I'm hoping to plant a bit of bare earth out the back of my house with grass, have any of you tried to grow grass in Yucatan's climate? Most of the grass I've seen looks scary, like cow grass. Do we have any horticulturalists who can tell me how likely it is that Bermuda grass will grow? I'm a little petrified of the thought of sitting on it and meeting a scorpion, but that's probably just me, right?

I'm also planning on surrouding the entire property with loads of lemon grass and mint to try to ward off the moscas, good idea?

Cheers,
adamoelsapito.

[adamathefrog]

Originally Posted by Debiinmerida

I've been living in Merida for 6 years now. I have had sod planted and as long as it gets water and sun it is growing gangbusters. I've tried to seed bare spots, but am not diligent enough with the water, and always fall back to sod. It seems to work well.

You will find enough English speakers, and Brits to keep you from getting loopy!
How is your Spanish?

where is your new place, I am in San Sebastian/La Ermita.

When you finally get here ring me up, we'll chat about 'hangouts', well I'm not going to drop my phone number here, so here is my blog - Debiinmerida . blogspot . com, or I guess reply to this thread.

The house is near the ISSTE Lindavista. My brain is still totally incapable of remembering grid system addresses!

My Spanish is iffy. I can have Spanish conversations with my girlfriend, but I still don't have a wide enough vocabulary to be able to talk to anyone else. Only 2 of the people I know there are English speakers though, everyone else only speaks Spanish, so I hope to improve pretty quickly.

adam.

[Debiinmerida]

I know LindaVista, nice area, I am a bit East and South of there. So funny, I am struggling to have more mexican friends, and you are looking for us expats.

With a Mexican girlfriend and friend base your Spanish should progress rapidly.

Marina Aguirre teaches Spanish, she has a blog, marinaaguirre . blogspot . com

Well, back to topic, sod is fairly reasonable, but looks nothing like sod in the states. you can try to bring seed down, but it might get confiscated. last time I bought grass seed it was about 200pesos for a 1/2 kilo.

get in touch when you get here,

how is your girlfriends English? It's always tough when one of the pair doesn't understand what's going on.

Originally Posted by adamathefrog

The house is near the ISSTE Lindavista. My brain is still totally incapable of remembering grid system addresses!

My Spanish is iffy. I can have Spanish conversations with my girlfriend, but I still don't have a wide enough vocabulary to be able to talk to anyone else. Only 2 of the people I know there are English speakers though, everyone else only speaks Spanish, so I hope to improve pretty quickly.

adam.

[adamathefrog]

Her English is pretty good, none of her friends speak any English at all. They all get taught at English school, but no one seems to absorb it. I learnt French and Latin at school, which has helped a huge amount with picking up Spanish (romance word order, grammatical gender, etc).

I can only stay in Mexico for short periods as I have to go back to the UK to earn money, I think that's going to make becoming properly fluent troublesome.

How safe do you find the grass? I'd not give it a thought in the UK, but all of the bugs in mx are terrifying. Watching the insect life on a nopal in a puebla is like watching Starship Troopers. Except for the spiders, which are pretty conspicuous by their absence!

[Debiinmerida]

Oh Man! You are in for a rough time - There are bugs, and mosquitos, and snakes, and scorpions. It's just the way it is.

I was weeding the other day and killed two scorpions, only because they were living in the garden closest to the house. I have a small snake that I see only rarely. Spiders abound, every first trip in the morning has me clearing a path. Little roly poly's here they call the cochinitas make the ground appear to be moving at night.

I NEVER walk in the garden barefoot, and I don't sit on the grass. I have areas throughout the garden to sit, benches, chairs, etc.

Sorry! I know that's not what you want to hear!

Originally Posted by adamathefrog

Her English is pretty good, none of her friends speak any English at all. They all get taught at English school, but no one seems to absorb it. I learnt French and Latin at school, which has helped a huge amount with picking up Spanish (romance word order, grammatical gender, etc).

I can only stay in Mexico for short periods as I have to go back to the UK to earn money, I think that's going to make becoming properly fluent troublesome.

How safe do you find the grass? I'd not give it a thought in the UK, but all of the bugs in mx are terrifying. Watching the insect life on a nopal in a puebla is like watching Starship Troopers. Except for the spiders, which are pretty conspicuous by their absence!

[adamathefrog]

Originally Posted by Debiinmerida

Oh Man! You are in for a rough time - There are bugs, and mosquitos, and snakes, and scorpions. It's just the way it is.

I was weeding the other day and killed two scorpions, only because they were living in the garden closest to the house. I have a small snake that I see only rarely. Spiders abound, every first trip in the morning has me clearing a path. Little roly poly's here they call the cochinitas make the ground appear to be moving at night.

I NEVER walk in the garden barefoot, and I don't sit on the grass. I have areas throughout the garden to sit, benches, chairs, etc.

Sorry! I know that's not what you want to hear!

Haha. I hardly saw any spiders when I was over last time! Plenty cockroaches, ants and mosquitoes. The first time I lifted a bit of wood and saw a scorpion I almost swam back to England. I was thinking it'd be kinda cool to build a treehouse or similar in the back garden, but all I can imagine now is an Indiana Jones-esque cave full of scorpions and cockroaches.

I've read about hookworms, which make me never, ever, ever want to go outside without shoes on, or expose any flesh to the ground.

Oh, that reminds me of walking around at night crunching those large-ish ants underfoot, it was almost as satisfying as bubble wrap!

You're still allowed to find things like that entertaining at 30, right?

[RVGRINGO]

Why live there? You have reminded us of the pleasures of a higher altitude and a less hot and humid climate.

[Isla Verde]

Originally Posted by RVGRINGO

Why live there? You have reminded us of the pleasures of a higher altitude and a less hot and humid climate.

No doubt because that's where his girlfriend is from, don't you think?

[adamathefrog]

Originally Posted by RVGRINGO

Why live there? You have reminded us of the pleasures of a higher altitude and a less hot and humid climate.

Because Mérida is a lovely city, and my stubborn-headed girlfriend refuses to live more than 1km from where she grew up.

I could probably get a decent job in DF or Guadalajara, but she refuses to move. I don't really blame her, Mérida is probably the safest place I've ever lived.