We had a wonderful week at Casa Aribe. Juan, the host, welcomed us when we arrived and showed us around the house -- it was late in the evening and there was a neighborhood electricity outage (a rare occurrence in Merida). Juan went out and found some candles and flashlights, and kindly offered us the option of staying the night in a hotel. We preferred to stay in the house. The electricity came back on at about 11, and stayed oon for the rest of our vacation (and probably is still going!) Casa Aribe is in every respect nicer than the pictures suggest -- especially the outdoor areas, where we spent 90% of our time, and the pool. The décor is sparse but authentic. The bedrooms are air conditioned and the courtyard gets a pleasant breeze, so we were never overly hot, even though the temperature reached 39 degrees. The kitchen is well equipped, although some of the appliances are quite old and take some inventiveness to operate. The location is perfect, within five minutes walk of some main squares and many restaurants. The exterior of all the houses are not impressive (some might say downright decrepit looking) but this is because of the municipal bylaws that prohibit changing the exterior of heritage buildings and all the buildings are over 100 years old (including Casa Aribe)..

Very enjoyable