1. Down here in Yucatan, it is always summer, heat is a constant and the secret is to always use your summer wardrobe and just make a few additions to it..
2. If a Yucatecan friend says “Lets take two” (beers), or “let’s have a couple of drinks”, you might think it’s just a relaxing moment after work and nothing else, but the truth is that in Yucatan these 2 become 4 and then 6 and so on. So, whenever you hear the expression “Vamos a tomar 2 como la gente“, get ready for a long evening.
3. Never use sandals with socks… we know it is a usual thing to do for many foreigners (like the Mark Zuckerberg character on “The Network” movie), but down here in Yucatán, we strongly recommend to avoid this practice.
4. Living in Yucatán, sooner or later you will need an air conditioning unit. Sure, the first few days of January the temperature feels good, but you will remember this little piece of advice by May, that’s for sure.
5. If someone asks you to “acechar” (which translates in the Webster Dictionary as “to stalk) do not worry, they just want you to stay put looking in one direction for a while.
6. Whenever you go to a restaurant, remember that the green sauce is always hotter than the red … 90% of green sauces in Yucatecan restaurants are made with pure chile habanero, usually without another ingredient besides the “Mayan fire”.
7. The first few times it will be confusing but “prestar” (to loan) is a verb that you must master here in the Yucatan, the meaning is different from other countries.
“Do you remember those two hundred pesos I lent you – well, I need them back right now”
8. The winter in Yucatan is up in the neighborhood of the 20 degrees Celsius (82ºF), but locals say that the high humidity gets “into your bones”, so get ready for “La Heladez”, as they call it.
9. The people of Yucatan have colors that no designer or artist out of Yucatan could understand, usually taking the names from birds or other animals, for example: “Peacock Blue” (that is like the navy blue but stronger … ), “Parrot Green” or “Canary Yellow”?
10. Never show up for lunch or dinner at a Yucatecan`s home without previous invitation. Here they do not like “Hoch’obes”, which means those who come home for lunch uninvited.
