Hotel Casa Mexilio In Merida Is Magical
Merida is an ancient colonial city and the capital of the Yucatan state located to the west of Quintana Roo, rich with historical churches, architecturally unique buildings, delicious flavors, music, night life, shopping and more. Every night, the Historic Center hosts traditional folk dancers, right in front of City Hall, dancing to live music, in traditional costume. On Sunday nights, salsa and cumbia dance liven up the streets. Restaurants and street vendors are abundant, as is the shopping. Staying near the Main Square is recommended.
My wife and I had the pleasure of staying at Casa Mexilio, a great Merida hotel, over the first weekend in August, 2009 and it was one of the most unique places we have ever stayed. Located near the town center, about 4 blocks from the main square, you'll find Casa Mexilio squeezed in amongst homes and businesses along one of the typically urban sections of Merida. All of the buildings in this section of town have no spaces between them and the only way to quickly discern where one ends and the next one begins is the difference in color. Each block is therefore rich in unique colors and individual distinguishable window boxes, signs, benches, and the like.
The main entry to Casa Mexilio is rather non-descript, with a few metal gates fronting wood doors right on the street. Do not be fooled by the lack of ordainment outside this exceptional small inn. When inside, the hotel is more museum than hotel with antique furnishings, artifacts, books and photographs throughout. It really is akin to stepping back in time. The lodge is a modified residence dating back to the late 19th century and is full of its personal interesting history as are the buildings and city of Merida that surround it.
The main courtyard of the hotel is located directly behind the front desk and service area where you will find a lush garden and "grotto" like pool with a Jacuzzi. It always stays nice and cool due to the shade of the gardens and sheltered location, a great place to cool off anytime and very romantic. We went for a swim to cool off before bed one night and the burning smell of copal was a nice touch (this is a local herb and incense noted for its cleansing properties). This area with the trees and plants almost reminds you of being in a jungle cenote except there are stairs and balconies almost everywhere you look. There is even an elevated catwalk that connects one of the top sections of the hotel. There are patios, landings and hidden garden nooks everywhere; the place begs to be explored.
Our room was wonderful with very high ceilings and quite clean with a comfortable king sized bed, extra pillows, ceiling fan and AC, though we only used the AC for a few hours at night, the ceiling fan was great for air circulation. The furnishings, like everything else we saw while we were there were classic, antique couches, chairs, dressers, bed and wardrobes, really nice touches. Our room also had eclectic tiled floors. I honestly don't know the actual name of our room, but each one has its own unique appeal with similar furnishings from what we could see.
Our only disappointment was missing a great breakfast! We got out of bed quite early...too early for breakfast seemingly as we looked around and did not see anybody (this was nearly 7am) so we walked a few blocks to one of the local cafes. Upon our return to the inn one of the waiters stopped by our room asking if we wanted breakfast. We will without doubt seize that on our next visit! We will be back to Merida in search of further attractive sites, sounds and flavors and recommend this hotel to anyone, as it is genuinely a magical place.
