Hey Steve - oh the garbage and plastic and noise is definitely there. Not as much in the little pueblos for sure but I noticed quite a bit of it along all the roads we travelled. There was copious amounts of garbage outside the Yaxkukul garbage dump. Not sure if it blew out from the walls of the dump or people just threw it out on the road. We have garbage pick-up 3 times a week in our area, Chuminopolis (east) and I'm sure it's the same in other parts of Merida. Most days they show up, although sometimes not until late at night after we've called it a night. I think habits are hard to break but it can be done. Remember the 70's when it wasn't uncommon to litter. Heck I remember where I grew up (Sayward) everybody throwing garbage off the wharf. I see a change here but it's slow to happen. But it's moving in the right direction - at least I think. The north of Merida is newer and typically attracts weathier people. It's interesting to see the differences in prices at a grocery store - north compared to south. Like I said, we've become accustomed to the noise but it can be overwhelming at times. I wish there was less traffic, especially in centro. The governor is trying to get the traffic out of centro by bringing in a new bus route for the perimeter of the city on the periferico. The busses are state of the art and can accommodate bikes. He was also instrumental in installing the new bike lanes - I believe over 70kms to the already existing ones (which is not many). Like I said, heading in the right direction but ever so slowly. If you saw our video about the shortcut between los heroes and chichi suarez, you can see piles and piles of garbage. Sorry about the porridge.

p.s. I found your videos fascinating. In an upcoming post to our blog I am going to blame you for my burning the porridge, because I was paying so much attention to your video, and none to the pot on the stove!

More thoughts: I went to our blog, where we approached Merida from the east, and guess what - things looked pretty idyllic as well. I think unless a "reporter" deliberately chooses to highlight and comment on a pile or spread out field of garbage (as we did when leaving Tulum), or heavy traffic or poverty, then the tendency is to focus the camera on what looks beautiful and interesting.

I am just thinking about a disparity between the Merida and surrounding areas that I see in your photos and descriptions, and the Merida that I just finished experiencing. In your photos there are no dumps of plastic waste by the roadside, no evidence of extreme heat, dust, noise, diesel dump trucks, or proliferation of tiny popup taco stands, whose operators are trying to scratch out a living.

We did notice and comment on in our travel that the northern portion of the city, sort of near the Decathlon, was much different from the southern portion. But yikes, you took dozens of photos and not one shows a discarded plastic water bottle. Even near Decathlon, Walmart, etc., or out in the pueblos you visited, I would have thought that hard to do.

In returning one day to Merida, I am not saying we would seek out just the paradise I see in your blog, but I sure would not mind visiting it for a bit. Can you make a map showing the border line?

Yes I actually feel very comfortable taking this approach. So far it's worked.

Walking past dogs - you can use your bike as a barrier between you and the dog.

Yes we have yelled at them and sometimes that works. We actually bought a small marine air horn that we can give a blast with if things get iffy. I'm always scanning the side of the road for dogs now.

We have found that loudly shouting !No! In any country seems to do the trick. It causes confusion in the dogs which seems to slow them down sufficiently to allow us safe passage. Loud growling sounds also seem effectively confusing, after all one does not expect one's prey to aggressively shout back.