What would my neighbors be like in Yucatan: Riviera Maya, Playa del Carmen, Cancun, Merida, etc?

In Yucatan, who your neighbor is going to be will depend on your location or the neighborhood you are going to live in. People are all individuals so you might end up moving next to the nicest people in the world or you may end up moving next to the biggest curmudgeon in the world.

 

In general, the Yucatecans are very genuine, very nice, very outgoing, and decent people. They are not racist against foreigners from Canada, Europe, or the United States. They...

In Yucatan, who your neighbor is going to be will depend on your location or the neighborhood you are going to live in. People are all individuals so you might end up moving next to the nicest people in the world or you may end up moving next to the biggest curmudgeon in the world.

 

In general, the Yucatecans are very genuine, very nice, very outgoing, and decent people. They are not racist against foreigners from Canada, Europe, or the United States. They are very accepting.

 

A lot of Yucatecans are also very white so they appear to look Canadian, American, or European but they are not; they’re Mexican. There is misinterpretation in a lot of places as to what a Mexican looks like. People expect that Mexicans are short, brown-skinned people. That is really not the case at all. Mexicans come in all shapes and sizes. They come with all types of personalities. They could have a good sense of humor or a lack thereof.

 

For the most part, Mexicans are very decent, very generous, and very giving so they are very good neighbors. They watch out for each other. They do pay attention to what is going on in the neighborhood usually but that could also depend on the neighborhood. I live in the middle of the jungle so I don’t have any neighbors and I love it out there because it is tranquil, peaceful, there is a great wildlife and I have two big dogs that protect the property. If there is anybody who comes around, the dogs bark and they decide that they do not necessarily want to get into the property without permission of the owner. 

 

In general, your neighbors in Yucatan are going to be nice but I couldn’t say 100% certain because everyone is an individual and you will never know. It would be normal for an American to move down here and have Yucatecan neighbors. We started business here 20 years ago, when the area wasn’t very well populated with foreigners from the US, Canada, or Europe. Most of the people who I knew who were American expats had neighbors who were Yucatecans. All of my neighbors have always been Yucatecans and I never actually had an American neighbor that I can think of. I had some neighbors who were French and Italian when I was living in town but I never had a neighbor from the US. There is now a bigger concentration of Europeans, Canadians and Americans so it might not be unusual any more to have a neighbor who is Irish, German, or someone from anywhere in Europe. The vast majority of people from Canada, Europe, and the US are found in the central part of any big town or city in the Yucatan peninsula such as Cancun, Campeche, Chetumal, Valladolid, Progreso, Motul, and Tizimin.  We don’t have a community that is strictly all American; that just doesn’t exist here.

 

There are lots of cities in the Yucatan peninsula but Merida is the Rome of Southern Mexico-- all roads lead to Merida. This is where the universities are located. The big hospitals and the seats of government are also located in Merida. The largest companies are also in Merida.  

 

(Mestizos of Yucatan, Mexico, pictured.)