What is Henequen?

If you ever choose to visit or live in Merida or the surrounding area, you will eventually hear someone bring up the subject of Henequen. Late in the 19th century and the early 20th Century, the area surrounding Mérida prospered from the production of Henequen. It is an agave whose leaves yield a fiber also called henequen which used to make rope and twine in the early to mid 20th century. It is the major plantation fiber agave of eastern Mexico, being grown extensively in Yucatan and Veracruz. It is also used to make Licor del henequén, a traditional Mexican alcoholic drink.

According to Wikipedia, The plant appears as a rosette of sword-shaped leaves 1.2 to 1.8 meters long, growing out of a thick stem that may reach 1.7 meters (5 ft). The leaves have regularly-spaced teeth 3-6 mm long, and a terminal spine 2-3 cm long.

For a brief period, around the turn of the 20th century, Mérida was said to house more millionaires than any other city in the world. The result of this concentration of wealth can still be seen today. Many large and elaborate homes still line the main avenue of Paseo de Montejo, though few are occupied today by individual families. Many of these homes have been restored and now serve as office buildings for banks and insurance companies.

Just out of curiosity, I recently asked a friend of mine here in Merida what happened to all of the Henequen production and why it disappeared. Among a few other reasons, this person informed me that government interests came in and bought up the plantations from private owners and well......everything just sort of disappeared after that. Enough said I guess......Also, just as an interesting fact, Les Stroud used the henequen plant on his T.V. show Survivorman to make a needle and thread for making both medical stitching and a sewing needle for clothing on one of his episodes. This "plant" does in fact have many purposes.

New Family Member

Missy is the newest member of our family! We found her at the local Pet Sanctuary run by Sylvia, Jill & Steve. We have not had a dog in several years, and we promised the boys we would look once we moved in. We went to local Mall to see all the pure bred, 100's of dollar dogs & then started to inquire about a local dog pound.

We thought it strange that several of the locals did not even know they had a dog pound. Jill was gracious to explain to us that the Mexican culture here in Merida does not usually look at dogs as pets, they are interested in guard dogs. They also do not subscribe to spay & neuter, so the Sanctuary has workshops to educate the locals. Many mixed mutts run the streets here and calls will come into the Pet Sanctuary to pick them up.

Missy was found on the street several years ago and was taken to the Sanctuary with her newborn puppies. Her pups were all adopted out, but Missy was overlooked for 2 years. Surprizing to us as she looks mostly chocolate lab & has a great disposition. Sylvia named her Mama, but our son, Joel was confused about having 2 Mamas in the house, so we chose Missy as her name.

Santuario Evolucion always needs donations of dog food and other items. If you are local and wish to help, please contact Jill Benson at  http://www.santuarioevolucion.blogspot.com/

Hibiscus Tea

We had been in the Yucatan only three days when we ran into Larry & Tammy Allred, a family originally from Alabama that has been here for 10 years. We have become fast family friends. The following weekend, Tammy fixed us a wonderful dinner and introduced us to a few native Yucatan foods and drinks. The watermelon juice was a little too rich for me, but we loved the Hibiscus tea, which is a prominent drink here in the Yucatan of Mexico. I was excited to also find out the great benefits of drinking hibiscus tea.

Hibiscus tea is the infusion made from the calyces (sepals) of the Hibiscus sabdariffa flower, an herbal tea drink consumed both hot and cold by people around the world. It is also referred to as roselle (another common name for the hibiscus flower), flor de Jamaica in Latin America, karkadé in Egypt and Sudan, bissap in West Africa, sorrel in Jamaica, and red sorrel in the wider Caribbean, and other names in other regions. Hibiscus tea has a tart, cranberry-like flavor, and sugar is often added to sweeten the beverage. The tea contains vitamin C and minerals and is used traditionally as a mild medicine.


Hibiscus tea contains 15-30% organic acids, including citric acid, maleic acid, and tartaric acid. It also contains acidic polysaccharides and flavonoid glycosides, such as cyanidin and delphinidin, that give it its characteristic deep red colour.


Health Benefits of Hibiscus Tea

Blood Pressure

Studies have shown hibiscus tea to be beneficial in lowering blood pressure and may control cholesterol.

One study was done using adults with pre-hypertension or mild hypertension. Those who had three cups of hibiscus tea a day had better results than those who didn't (a 7.2 point drop in systolic blood pressure compared to 1.3 points). Those who had the highest blood pressure reading at the start of the study, showed the greatest results.

Weight Loss

Hibiscus tea contains an enzyme inhibitor which blocks the production of amylase. Amylase is an enzyme that breaks down complex sugars and starches. Drinking a cup of hibiscus tea after meals will reduce the absorption of dietary carbohydrates and will assist in weight loss.

Immune System

Hibiscus tea is rich in vitamin C and makes a wonderful herbal remedy to fight off colds and infections by strengthening the immune system.

Other benefits of hibiscus tea include preventing bladder infections and constipation if taken regularly.

Read more: http://www.brighthub.com/

Life In Merida

Merida is modern and traditional all at the same time. Yes, you will find many American companies here. They all look the same as the ones in the States. Just picture Costco, Sam’s, Wal-Mart, Home Depot, Burger King & McDonald’s, all the major car dealers, Office Depot, Blockbuster, …..then add some palm trees to the parking lot and you’ve got the picture.

Then to imagine the traditional side~

My first thought as we got closer to our new home was that these people should be getting notices from there Homeowners associations, if in fact they had any. They do not always separate commercial and residential dwelling on some streets. In some of the older areas you will see a home next to another home that has been turned into a café or store of some sort. Then you can go 5 streets over and see several of the most gorgeous Meridian mansions in a row and then one block over is a partially vacant lot, with a torn apart building on it, and then several three room homes with clothes lines hanging in the front yard one street over from that. In some strange way though, it is still very picturesque. Real eye candy on a regular basis. I find myself wanting to take pictures constantly as this is very different from what you see in America. I am lured at times with a desire to go sit on the sidewalk and just people watch for hours, or drive around in the evenings when people stroll in the streets.

So far, Jay does all the driving here and I am real okay with that. I think my husband described the traffic movement here perfectly. If you have ever seen the animated Bee movie, were the bees race around in perfect close harmony and never run into each other…..that can be driving in Merida. I have never seen anything like the way people drive here in Merida. From the faint lines in the street, you can assume at one time they did have lanes and then someone came along and painted new lines a few feet over. So you have to take a good look at the street and decide where the new lane really is. Nevertheless, you see very few wrecks here as compared to the states. You just have to make sure you are always going fast enough, turning quickly enough and if you don’t, someone will let you know with a prompt blow of their horn. I could safely say that traffic movement here is managed mostly by horns blowing.

Driving To Mexico

There goes my brave husband, driving our truck from San Antonio, TX to Merida, Yucatan, Mexico. He crossed the border in Brownsville were it is still safe to cross. It took him about 3 days to make the drive, with a sleep stop in Tampico and one more in Campeche.

Jay said the best part was the change in scenery as you go from texas flat to palm trees and some mountaineous terrain in the distance, very tropical. Some of the prettiest scenery you will ever see.

He said the stressful part initially was getting over the border and through the various checkpoints he drove through down the coast line as you never know when the rules will change or when someone will want to search your truck. That is why you will see in the picture, he had very little in the truck as we were advised by our Mexican National friends to not bring attention to the truck .
All and all he had alot of grace on him to make the drive.

He can laugh now at the strange reactions he would get from the border guards when they saw a cage with gerbils sitting on the front seat next to my husband. One even joked with Jay about sticking his hand in the cage. Not a great idea as gerbils have a pretty nasty bite. You can bring your pets into Mexico, just make sure you read their regulations first.

Jay found some great detailed driving info on the web. If you want to see what the drive is like, This site  gave the best detailed information on driving from Brownsville to Merida. Make sure to obtain Mexican Vehicle Insurance well in advance of your trip.

Garage Sales

When you move to another Country, you have to decide whether to ship your stuff with you at a pretty high cost, or sell it all. We decided to sell it all, not that selling all mean't much to as as we had already been downsizing for several years in preparation for this move. As A family of 4, we downsized in steps from a 2500 sq ft home in the Dallas area to a 1200 sq ft home in San Antonio.

This is where Craiglist & Garage sales become important. We started by Craigslisting our biggest items & then went through 5 garage sales to clear out most items.

The trickiest items were the refridgerator, washer and dryer as we needed those until last & selling our Chevy Van. So we collected phone numbers from interested parties and let them know when we would be ready to sell.

We just finished our last garage sale, so now I go to my other favorite site Freecycle, a great place to just donate stuff to other people who like to recycle items.

It is easy and safe to use. Alway request and do porch pick ups. Never let someone in your house.

Looks like we are just about ready to go. My Husband Jay will drive our truck down to Merida next week and fly back to pick us up, then we will fly down as a family.

Stay tuned for our next update!