Casa Santiago is our home and bed and breakfast. It is a lovely and tastefully modernized nineteenth century home located in the Santiago neighborhood of Merida's historic central city, just two blocks away from the great church and square of Santiago and four blocks down the street from the Cathedral and main square.
Casa Santiago has four very large bedrooms. Each has its own separate bathroom, individually controlled air conditioning system and ceiling fan. The ceilings throughout the house are 13 feet high and the old pasta tile floors, a splendid Merida art form, have been preserved. The bedrooms open into a wide 80 foot/24 meter common room lit by enormous Moorish windows looking out into the inner courtyard which is full of flowers and shaded by an ancient mango tree.
The fully equipped kitchen is modern and charming. The refrigerator automatically dispences ice made from purified water. This purified water, which is chlorinated city water secondarily purified by our own reverse osmosis system, tastes great and is also available on tap in the kitchen. In an effort to avoid increasing the number of empty water bottles in the world, there are large purified water reservoirs in each bedroom for your use.
The walled rear garden is amazing. There is a filtered 12' x 18' swimming pool bordered by a large bougainvillea-covered pergola sitting on Doric columns. There is no sense of claustrophobia here. The whole of the sky and its stars are yours to see. It is planted with flowers and different kinds of palms. There is even a lawn. Rocking chairs and a shaded glider provide perfect places to sit and enjoy the soft sounds of music and bells that drifts in the air from nearby squares. Birds, butterflies and the occasional iguana enjoy the garden too. Smoking is permitted outdoors. The pool has no life guard and is 5 feet deep. For this reason children under age 14 cannot be accommodated at Casa Santiago. Be in touch with us if you think this rule should not be applicable to your family situation.
Casa Santiago is equipped to serve your wireless internet needs.
Supposing that your Spanish is a little rusty or non existent, our home is a great place for you to stay. The neighborhood is very walkable. Within a couple or so blocks, there are three pharmacies, a taxi stand, a large grocery store, a bank ATM, a barber who does great manicures and pedicures, a 24-hour convenience store, a Starbucks, a beautiful old movie house with two screens, an old covered market, an inexpensive and very good cocina economica "Tio Will" for lunch and a park where you can sit in the deep shade, feed the birds and watch life. A laundary is around the corner. Casa Santiago is three blocks from the first and second class bus stations and you can use our home as your base for easy day trips to the great Mayan ruins at Chichen Itza, Uxmal and other ancient sites, or the beach which is about 20 miles away, or the many charming colonial Yucatan towns built around enormous sixteenth century Franciscan churches. Even better, go to Celestun, a natural preserve, and see the flocks of flamingos, a near religious experience. Taxis are plentiful and very reasonably priced.
Because everyone asks, you will be happy to learn that the temperature here is very pleasant in the mornings, evenings and at night, somewhere around 75 degrees F/25 degrees C. with a nice breeze from the ocean to the east. Around 10:00 a.m. the temperature begins to climb to about 92 degrees F/36 degrees C. its begins to cool at about 5:30 p.m. When it is hot, you will be in the pool or in the shade.
Check out time is noon. Check in time is 1:00 p.m.
Vince and Frank, and their friendly and quiet Boston Terrier dog Felix, would be happy to welcome you into the Casa Santiago family. The only requirement is that you be nice. we make our friends without regard to your race, color, gender, sexual orientation, religion, or lack of religion. We want you to have the best and most peaceful time of your life and come back.