Is MERIDA worth visiting? (it got bad...)
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- Опубліковано 9 лип 2024
- Merida, Mexico Travel Vlog. This part of our Mexico trip did not go according to plan... Nevertheless in this Merida Travel Guide I show you the top places to see in Merida & discuss whether it's really best place for foreigners to live in Mexico. | Get MY BOOK 'I lived in Shanghai' on Amazon! amzn.to/3pLoeQ4
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0:00 The worse 24h of my life.. (is Merida worth visiting?)
1:18 I got sick
4:16 What to do in Merida? (Top attractions in Merida, old town & Plaza Grande)
6:40 First impression of Merida
8:55 Where to eat in Merida (best restaurants in Merida, Voltcafe Sanat Lucia)
9:40 Paseo de Montejo (must see in Merida!)
10:15 Forced positivity on UA-cam
11:22 Dinner at Museo De La Gastronomia Yucateca
12:35 Best Coffee shop in Merida (Pan & Kof.fee)
14:00 Traveling to Tulum
MUSIC from www.epidemicsound.com/referra...
Contact me at bykaja @ outlook.com
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#mexico #merida #yucatan
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As a mexican I recommend you not to eat everywhere because there are a lot of people that don´t even wash their hands to prepare food, manly people selling food on the streets. You should be careful because there are several deseases related to food in mex. I hope you are ok now
My first week back in Merida I got food poisoning from Costco rotisserie chicken. Never gotten sick from a street vendor or restaurant here
I have gotten Ecoli 2 of the 4 times visiting Mexico. Took me out for multiple days and I had to visit clinics both times. We are going to Oaxaca this Oct though but I will be visiting a grocery store first to pick up some food and staying meat free. Also packing charcoal and prebiotics. I love Mexico, and won’t be dissuaded!
I have lived in Merida for over 20 years, but I would never for example, eat locally made sausage. I haven’t gotten sick too often, but when I have, it’s been bad. Food sanitation is better than it used to be, but there are still risks.
You’re so right! Im grateful for your honest opinion. You just aren’t feeling it there. It’s not for you. And that’s helpful information to your watchers who like you! Thank you for being honest and discerning
Also it is said that with each meal you should drink 2 glasses of Chardoney or high alcohol white wine, will help kill the extra bacteria in your stomach.
I'm glad you are better and still managed to make a great video
I'm confused... You got food poisoning before you went to Merida. It felt like you were extra critical about your visit in Merida vs. Oaxaca just based on the fact that you were ill but it seems like you got sick in Oaxaca.
Sorry you got so sick, I hope you are much better now. I am Mexican and recently visited Mexico (Xcaret ) with my husband and two small kids and met my sister with her two kids there because they live in Cancun but they came to stayed with us at the resorts. It was my husband and children first time in Mexico and sadly 3 days later my boy got really sick of his stomach right after eating at a buffet. 2 days later my husband gets hit with the same illness. I felt terrible specially for my child, he had never experienced that kind of sickness before, thankfully he is much better now and I am so thankful that my 3 year old girl didn’t catch that because she is the youngest, but after we arrived back to the US, I got the same sickness which it make me wonder if it was viral and somehow we were giving it to each other at that point. So wherever my son got at the first hotel we stayed my husband catch it and then me and three days after our vacation was over I learned that one of my nephews got it and the fallowing day his brother got it too, they got it even worse because they did develop diarrhea and vomit. I too want to clarify that it wasn’t COVID because we got tested in order to fly back to US and we were negative for COVID.
I am not really sure exactly what we got but one thing I learned. The chances of getting COVID where much more less than getting ill from the stomach. Even my nephews that live there got very ill.
I will be much more nervous next time we travel knowing the risk. I will avoid buffets at all cost. We witnessed kids and adults touching food with bare hands and leaving there for others to eat it. A lot of people don’t wash hands regularly. I wish people stop doing such a thing.
Thanks for your great video, I hope you keep well
🙏🏼☺️
Hello from Australia! Really enjoying your videos, nice and realistic is the best way. It’s going to cost me a small fortune to fly to Mexico in a couple of months. So watching what you post has been very valuable to me.
thanks! good to hear :)
but she didn't deliver much value. it was all about her experience being sick and how she likes Oaxaca better.
I hope you don't really give her experience any weight to your decision.
when visiting Mexico just ensure you always drink bottled water, don't take ice in your drinks, unless it's from an upscale restaurant and you can ask the server if the restaurant used bottled water for their ice cubes, I always do.
I have gone to Central Mexico and Eastern Mexico over 20 times and I only had food poisoning once, which was from the ice at a local bar (it wasn't an upscale bar and I didn't ask if the ice was purified, hence the reason I now ask).
Eating street food is okay but you need to know how to discern between vendors, the general rule from Mexicans is that if the food vendor is very busy and has a line up then it should be safe in theory because they're using fresh food as they're constantly selling and the food hasn't been sitting there. Also, if it's any form of fried food, you should be okay.
Lastly, beware of eating fresh fruit from markets or food vendors, many people get Ecoli because the fruits weren't washed properly, regular Mexicans of middle and upper class wash their fruits and vegetables using this special spray that they sell at grocery stores and then they rinse them, the problem is that sometimes these food vendors wash their fruits with regular water and skip that vital step, thus, getting people sick who don't have the same immune system as them.
@@huntybaby excellent advice unfortunately I’ve been in Mexico for over a month now and have salmonella poisoning in my blood.
I went to hospital a week ago and they didn’t draw blood so they missed it. I had tummy issues a few days after arriving. All bottled water and restaurants. Although I’m pretty sure it was from an omelette.
I got triple antibiotics this morning and am
hoping I recover fast.
In saying that I’ve been loving Mexico! The times where I haven’t been stuck in my room that is
Please give us more info where you ate. I travel to Merida many times a year. The restaurants in centro are top notch. I have ventured through out the north to every little town towards the beach, and trying every local dish. Am a food aficionado at heart. I had never had a problem in Yucatán. And now I have made Merida my home, so am curious where you ate.
She was sick on the way there, which means she got sick from something she ate in Oaxaca.
Number One Rule
Always check reviews of restaurants before eating in them. Its better to be safe than sorry.
Lol don’t eat in restaurants? Dumbest thing I’ve ever heard
@@ej1692
Bon Appetit
Enjoy the risk of getting food poisoning. Eat Up 1692
I went to Merida last month and ate in restaurant all the time they’re are perfectly fine
That’s to bad. Glad you’re ok.
Hope you have better luck.
Thanks ☺️🙏🏼
You didn’t actually get sick there. Food poisoning takes time to occur,. Do you know what you ingested to cause it? Usually comes from water.
Don't feel bad about your comments. I was in Merida a week ago, and share a lot of your sentiment. It was one of those cities that neither disappointed me, nor astonished me. It was just, "whatever." My reasons are similar to yours. I went to Quebec City last year, and I thought Merida would have a very traditional colonial vibe like Quebec City, but there was nothing Merida that really stood out and made me go, "WOW!" Like you said, there were a lot of abandoned unmaintained buildings, the shops did give it a bit of a tourist trap vibe, even though not as much as in other Mexican cities, and the city was very noisy, chaotic, hot and not relaxing at all. And from my observation it seems to be more popular and geared more towards Mexican and Chicano tourists. The museum restaurant and mansions were very cool though, and I will compliment that I did feel very safe.
So to answer the original question in your title, I do think it's worth visiting, but for no more than a couple days. There isn't a whole lot to see. I would advise future travelers to stay in Progreso, and just visit Merida on a day trip.
And sorry about the food poisoning. I had in Peru and it's the WORST! Thankfully, I've never had it at the airport or during my flight! I can't even imagine. We only got mild diarrhea from a muffin from Chichen Itza of all things.
I will watch your Tulum vlog next, as I also did a day trip to Tulum and was extremely disappointed as well, though I went with a tour.
In Mérida you missed visiting the different Cenotes as well as Celestún where you can see the Pink Flamingos, the Ruins of Chichén Itzá, the Haciendas that date back to the Colonial Era and the nearby City of Valladolid.
And honestly, you missed out on a lot by not trying traditional Mexican food. Like the authentic Mexican tacos (al pastor, suadero, barbecue, flank steak, carnitas, dorados, basket, tongue, pumpkin flower, marinated, cesses, jerky, etc.), green or red enchiladas, red chilaquiles, or mole, the flautas, the toasts, the chalupas, the garnachas, the tlacoyos, the drowned cakes, the cemitas, the enormous variety of Moles, especially the Oaxacan and the Poblano, the Oaxacan Tamales, the Tlayudas, the Metate Chocolate , pot coffee, Yucatecan Panuchos, Papadzules, Cochinita Pibil, etc. And the immense variety of traditional Mexican sweets and sweet bread.
That’s what happened when you are a backpacker and then you get bad reviews for getting sick. Rather see you tubers that go with budget to see more standard places so you get a more realistic and honest view. You just walked around your hostal neighborhood and show nothing but o restaurant, streets and a coffe shop, wth?
Well we can't wait a lot from white people visiting Mexico
@@janette5053While I appreciate her honest commentary, you do have a point. I looked at her Tulum vlog, and there wasn't a single shot of the ruins. IDK why she even went to Tulum. These kinds of vloggers are the worst!
I has been in Mex many times and I never has being sick because the food or stuff like that. The normal flu that happen in any country.
Hey! I'm booking hostels for my upcoming trip right now, I was wondering how your experiences of your hostels in Oaxaca, Mérida and Tulum were? :)
She made videos on them
My trip was half a year ago but thank you for your comment, very helpful ;) @@mayelajohnson6893
Where did you eat? What did you eat? Have you been to Yucatán before this incident?
The only place we will be comfortable when sick is home. So any other place would not be comfortable and hence I can understand how you felt while being sick during the travel. Cheers
I'm pretty sure she got food poisoned in Oaxaca. Merida's Health Department is pretty tough on food vendors almost impossible to have a bad experience.
Interesting, and how is this policy to street vendor enforced actually?
Nasi znajomi niedlugo wyprowadzaja sie z Ontario do Meridy. Ponoc jest najbardziej safe miastem, bo wszystkie mafijne rodziny tam mieszkaja. Bylam kiedys na rejsie, gdzie zatrzymalismy sie w Cozumel i jedna dziewczyna zjadla na miescie slice of pizza i tak zachorowala, ze myslala ze umrze. Z kabiny 3 dni nie wychodzila... Bardzo fajne vlogi masz i mowisz po angielsku bez zadnego akcentu - zazdroszcze!
I love travelling so much - have been to 70 countries, so far. Greetings from Ontario 🤗
When are you returning to Poland
Is she polish? what a drama.
If she is not well that means she’s really not well and it’s not drama. Her vlogs are good and nice with information
Its been over a year but still when you search about Merida this video shows up. It is so frustrating the angry vibe of this woman. Hope she found hapiness in life!
Uyy sorry to hear that you should stay in oaxaca jeje hope you have a great stay in merida
Where die you stay in Mérida? The Hostel looks quite cute
Ooof I remember the first time I got food poisoning in Playa. I slept on the bathroom floor, my gf pooped in a trash can. It was a rough 48 hours.
It is one of the friendly places in Mexico, what could happen.
Oaxaca has Puerto Escondito on a Pacific beach and far away. You're miserably sick and don't know you are 25 minutes away from Puerto Progresso and beautiful white sand beaches. Dozens of small fishing villages are true authentic. You are in a city of over a Million. You have Walmart Sam's Club, Costco and zhome Depot. However Dozens of communities around it provide Cenotes and the History of the Extinction of Dinosaurs and the creation of the Chixilub Ridge were not explored. So much to offer, so little time to see it walking up and down Calle's of Merida. Just the blend of Spanish, Mexican and Yucatani foods is not duplicated in all of Mexico. Did you have Panuchos? Concinicha Pibil? Various soups like Sopa de lima? Gestational diversity is endless! Hope you go back well...and have a bit more time to appreciate the uniquely incredible Yucatan.
This can happen anywhere . My sister in law is in Panama City right now and her and her husband currently have food poisoning . They got sick from the hotel’s restaurant food
Nice video and also very important thought about UA-camrs being overly positive, which doesn't always reflect the actual situation and people follow the places and sometimes left feeling disappointed. I think it's important to be able to express your honest opinion.
So true they get mad when u talk about where they are from
Montezuma's revenge..I had it..the room was literally spinning. Dehydration.
Vegan food is the best 🥰
Sorry you got sick glad your okay
The way you started the video you made it sound like you got sick in Merida, but, if I heard correctly you actually got sick in your beloved Oaxaca and just wanted to blame it on Merida.
Merida is beautiful. You can do tons of day trips then do evenings and nights in Merida.
It's unfortunate that when searching Merida on youtube the first thing many people will see is this woman being extremely negative and closed minded. You arrived to Merida sick meaning you got sick before you got there and continued to make little to no effort to actually see what the beautiful city had to offer. Americans and Europeans are already very one track minded when it comes to brown and black countries that are so often only shown in a negative light. If you went on a trip to Paris in a negative headspace it would be very easy to only see and show the many ugly parts of Paris, France. This video does more harm than good and it would have been more responsible for you to not post it at all and maybe return to the city of Merida when you were in better spirits. While forced positivity on youtube is a thing, I would argue biased ignorance is much more dangerous.
Why? I was just there and she's telling the truth. The city is safe, but so what? It doesn't have anything special that will make you go "WOW!" How is it a racial thing? Did you even watch the entire video? Though, White Western countries do have a higher standard of living and are more orderly. That's just a fact! So of course people coming from the countries to a place like this are gonna be disappointed/culture shocked. Don't be mad at us, because ya'll can't get your shit together.
I wouldn't want to live in such a hot humid city here in Mexico. I prefer cooler weather of Cuernavaca, San Miguel de Allende, Ajijic.
I just came back from mexico and had a fear that i would get sick eating street food (luckily i did not). Nonetheless, hope you recover soon as i know stomach viruses are a pain in the *** to get over with. Stay hydrated and try to enjoy the best of my country!
Also fun fact, the name of white city attributed to Merida is not because of the architecture or the city itself, but because of the population that was largely of European origin and in majority hacendados lived in the city, whereas the indigenous people were pushed outside of the center of the city which in turn would lead up to the guerra of castas.
I am from Durango, but hope to one day go to the Yucatan peninsula! Courage!
Food poisoning, or possibly the Nora virus (common stomach infection, very transmissible. Symptoms come fast).
Music in this video too good to overlook: king sis, better not bitter; spring gang, why does love like this hurt.
❤️
Triple poisoned like OMG girlfriend 😳🤷♀️🤣🤣
this place honestly looks fun! sometimes the touristy places are the best lol
I spent a whole month in Merida and definitely your video and your opinions are VERY wrong. Don't take your negativity out on people and places. Merida is incredible. You're terrible.
Merida is boring and it sucks honestly I can’t wait to leave
omg same, I fucking hate it here lmao. And I'm half mexican and really appreciate the chiller more authentic parts of the country. But mérida is awful, has nothing nice about it. Just lame tourist attractions that aren't even pretty and overpriced food
How very whiny and negative.😢
Your point about “false” positivity is valid. You can be honest without whining or being so negative.
Your title is WRONG. You got sick on the way to Merida. It is sad that your title is wrong.
That’s what happens when you are a backpacker and then you get bad reviews for getting sick. Rather see you tubers that go with budget to see more standard places so you get a more realistic and honest view. You just walked around your hostal neighborhood and show nothing but o restaurant, streets and a coffe shop, wth?
Whoa…just read some of the comments. There are some touchy and NOT very nice people out there. I personally find you very genuine and very insightful. It’s true that nothing seems as great when you don’t feel great. Also true that expectations affect your experience and that if you were enchanted by your last place, your new place won’t seem as good. I’m glad you realized that and took it into account. I always pack charcoal tablets and pepto bismol on my trips to Mexico, though I’ve never needed them and I’ve been many many times to many parts. I eat plenty of street food and mercado food…my fave! Btw, I loved you in your black slip dress. Keep up the great vlogs and don’t lose your authenticity.
The worst 24 hours in your life (in a while), doesn’t sound good !
Tulum is in a different state than Merida. Theres stunning beaches 15 minute drive from Merida, Progresso, Chelem beach
Your experience in any other country is going to depend entirely on your expectations. The same is true from state to state in both Mexico and the US.
It is called The White City for 2 reasons: Very clean in comparison to another Mexican cities and also at some point roof tops of the houses where all white or mostly white ( well I was born and raised in Merida and this is what I was told, I could be wrong). You are allowed to have your own opinions and impressions about a city. When it comes to food poisoning it can happen to you anywhere. it has happened to my in Canada and Mexico . You need to be extra careful in places with extreme heat but life is life and it happens even when we can be the most careful about it.
The problem isn't the fact that you're sharing "negative opinions" as much as what a superficial, unresearched whine-a-thon this video truly is. You start by launching into details about your getting sick - elsewhere, which has NOTHING to do with Mérida: how many times do we have to hear the words puke and nausea? What has that got to do with the quality of your location? Then you walk a bit around the most touristy streets in centro and complain that it's... touristy. You barely scratched the surface on all the cultural things to do and see in this huge place of over a million people, and can't even google basic facts like the reason it's called the White City in the first place! You mentioned Oaxaca and Tulum more often than the actual place you're in, how is this possibly informative in any shape and form to any prospective traveller? It's like filming yourself in Time Square and whining that NYC is touristy and boring... which says much more about you than the destination 😅😅👎🏼
Travel with probiotics when visiting Mexico, you will be golden!
So the video couldn’t be titled food poisoned in Mexico? What a freaking click bait, basically your food poisoning had nothing to do with Merida. Makes me rethink about ever watching a video from you again.
Take it easy mijo XD
@@erickgasuz5580 you like click baits ? Keep watching mijo.
That's what these people do Mayan aztec there awful they don't show the beautiful country and its people, or even interact with the locals they just care about themselves and views
I hope you never experience food poisoning.
Wow. That sounds crappy. (See what I did there? 😂)
Merida is called the "White City" because the Spanish took over the city, enslaved the locals and walled it in. They did not let the Mayans in the city. To the Mayans the Spanish were white, hence it was called the white city.
Love your honesty
“Basically, honestly” what a boring video. I just returned from Merida and I too found it underwhelming: dirty, neglected, and tourist driven. I’ve lived here in Mexico for 11 yrs and this was the only city I’ve visited that I didn’t like at all.
But your video was pretty useless unless sent to a family member who really really wanted to know about your stomach.
I love 💕 you
You said you almost never get sick... I am 10 minutes into your video and ALL YOU HAVE TALKED ABOUT is how you got sick! Sick in the car, sick in Mexico, sick in India... Sorry, you lost me after you talked about the 3rd occasion you got sick.
Righttttttttt
really sorry you got sick but honestly you should have a doctor put you on a special diet , my family and I have been visiting Meridad for years have never had any GI issues.
Expat? You're inmigrants.
Never buy food from the streets anywhere. Even in the US where do you ever see a sink to wash hands to next to food vendors,hardly ever.
Please do not go to Merida. It is fine without tourists.
Blah, blah, blah. Boring just talking about being sick.
Sorry. Not sorry.
Edit:
Haha!
I posted this and then you complained about noise. Geez!
Everybody wears a mask everywhere all the time forever. Keep that in mind.
I know its spelled Merida. But its pronounced Meditha. Number one never drink the water or food cooked in the water. The people there are immune to what is in their drinking water. Eat fully cooked meats and drink bottled drinks. Like beer, water and soda.
Boring
Just because your vaccinated (3x vaccinated) doesn’t mean you can’t get sick from COVID 😂
we all know that by now ok :p
This should be titled Why Oaxaca City is better than Merida because that’s all you did the whole time was compare the cities and talk about your sickness, which we don’t care about.
Triple vaccinated, that’s the first problem