Under the Fan in the Yucatan: The White City and Casa Campagna

Merida is known as the White City purportedly because of the white stone and plaster homes that onced filled the streets.  I however lean towards the theory that it was the color of your skin rather than the color of your house that determined your likelihood of living here.  It was the city where the fair skinned people lived and the darker skinned lived in the outlying areas on the farms that fed the city.  They may have left their buildings white in much earlier times but evidence shows that they were painted for the past few hundred years.


One of the things that most people come here for is to see the fabulous old colonial homes built during the Henequen boom time.  Of course, many were destroyed before people had the sense and collective will to preserve the remainder. A few major architects made their name restoring many of the smaller homes.  During the past ten or twenty years winter refugees from the north have been snapping up these "casas" in the Centro Historico for bargain prices so demand is beginning to excede supply. This is compounded by the fact that Meridians pay next to nothing in the way of property taxes.  (And income tax is optional!)  We recently visited some Saskatchewan expats who bought a two or three hectare hacienda on the east side of the city and they pay the exorbitant sum of $18 per year in property taxes. Hence, people hang on to their property here because there is no cost involved.  No need to keep the heat turned on either!


We've rented a lovely pink casa formerly known as Casa Rosa but recently renamed Casa Campagna.  Campagna is "bell" in Spanish and the new owner is a charming lady from Alabama named Bell.  The property is managed by realtor/manager extraordinaire Andrea Traconis and her team.  Her daughter Andy does the day to day management.  She is about our daughter's age, fluently bilingual, very competent and diplomatic.  


Casa Campagna is a two-bedroom colonial dwelling on the north side of Centro in the Santa Ana neighbourhood.  Centro is organized by neighbourhoods which each have their own historic church, square and park.  Almost all the buildings share a common stone or concrete wall so appear like row houses from the street.  Reminiscent of St. John's with the blocks of brightly colored houses next to each other.  All the houses/shops are flush with the street and one never knows what is behind the door because condition or location does not necessarily dictate the interior.  West of us is a green casa that is a print shop.  Next to it is traditional rusty red beautifully restored residence.  On our east side is a yellow two-storey residence owned by people from London also managed by the Andrea/Andy group.  


I have begun a photo study of the myriad gorgeous wrought iron in this city.  Welders here were and are artisans.  The designs are endless and so are the colors because only the most conventional homes have left it black.  All openings here, before glass and bug screen, were wrought iron "screen" with wooden shutters or doors.  So there was two choices:  light, air and bugs or none of the preceding.  Bugs seem to be an issue only in the summer rainy season. 
Most homes have an interior courtyard open to the elements in lieu of a front and back yard which harkens back to Spain.  There is also a real Moorish touch to some of the architectural features which probably made the Lebanese immigrants feel right at home.  Many of the haciendas have moorish arches on their front gates.


The houses of ordinary folks tend to be "shot gun" style, much longer or deeper than they are wide.  Casa Campagna is about 25 by 130 feet including rear courtyard.  We enter the sala (living room), then the dining room with adjacent tiny galley-style cocina (kitchen), then down a long beautiful hallway with two bedrooms and a bathroom off it.  The hallway opens on to a large covered patio which adjoins a walled open area with a concrete pool surrounded by trees and plants.  All very private and peaceful in contrast with the cars and people roaring and chattering by the front door all day long.


One can't talk about Meridian real estate without mentioning the "pasta" floors.  The rest of Mexico and the American Southwest boast those beautiful "saltillo" or "talavera" clay tile floors and accents which we tried to emulate in our own Casa del Lago but here in the Yucatan it is something altogether different.  Pasta tiles are one inch thick concrete squares with the designs and color pressed in using a hydraulic press.  No firing or heat involved.  The historic ones were all done by hand but tiles are now manufactured in factories although you can still get hand made reproductions.  Apparently they come out of the presses looking rather dull and dusty but once they are laid down they are buffed to a high sheen.  They are often arranged in "rug like" patterns in rooms.  There is no grout required.  It's a completely different process.  They last for years and years without fading unless subjected to direct Yucatecan sun.  Indeed there are some places where the lovely intricate pasta floor is all that remains under the rubble.  And these floors are everywhere from the grandest mansion to the tiniest cornerstore.  Another photo study in progress!


Streets in this part of Merida are laid out in the very logical pattern of odd numbers running east and west and even north and south.  Addresses read accordingly:  Casa Campagna is "Calle 53 #498 x 56 y 54.  That means we are 498 - 53rd Street between 56th Street and 54th Street.  (Actually that is NOT the address of Casa Campagna but I thought I should preserve at least some of Ms. Bell's privacy.)