In the recent days probably you have heard a lot of media coverage talking about violence in Mexico. It is difficult for us to hear that because that’s a very distant reality for the Yucatan Peninsula. Most of the violence you hear about is related to drug cartels. The irony is that the increased violence is because the Mexican government is actually gaining ground on the drug problem. Drug cartels feel less secure and are fighting more between them for drug traffic territory control however this entire situation is limited to the people directly involved in the distribution of drugs or controlling the drug traffic. The U.S. State Department’s most recent Travel Alert emphasizes the U.S. – Mexican border areas as the highest risk and Yucatan is far away from those cities. In fact, Yucatan is a magical state. There are many things to do and many incredible places to visit during your stay. With the Spanish Institute of Merida you can find one of the best ways to get immersed into one of the strongest cultures around the world inherited from the old Maya civilization.

At the Spanish Institute of Merida we want to help you communicate in Spanish with a very unique program where you will have one-on-one hands on practice using the grammar and vocabulary you are learning in the program as you practice with a Conversation Guide who is a Native Speaker that will take you to places of interest and correct your Spanish. With the Spanish Institute of Merida you will see that Merida achieves the perfect balance of history, culture, contemporary style, traditions and economic prosperity to make your learning experience as fruitful, unique and comfortable as possible. We know that you might still distrust about Safety in Merida but we invite you to imagine just for a minute that you are a foreigner thinking about traveling to the United States, knowing as much about it as you do about Mexico. You might read headlines about snipers randomly shooting people near the nation’s capital, or men locking themselves in classrooms to rape and kill schoolgirls, or drive-by murders between gang members, or mothers drowning their babies.

You might read about brutal police tactics using rubber bullets, tear gas and Tasers against peaceful demonstrators. We know that as a U.S. citizen, you might be offended to think that the country where you have lived in peace your entire life does not seem so wonderful when a foreigner reads about it in the papers. You might want to say, “Wait a minute, reality is not like that!” As a U.S. citizen you know these incidents – while unfortunate and true – do not affect everyday life for the majority of people. You know that there may be problems, but there is so much more to experience in the U.S. than these stories tell. Well that’s exactly what we feel like sometimes when we hear or read about the terrible publicity that some media shows to the rest of the world about our country but as we said Yucatan is far away from that. If you decide to take the chance to visit the Spanish Institute of Merida you will see that the Yucatan Peninsula has something special going on. There’s a peaceful co-existence here between people from many different cultures and walks of life that you seldom find in other parts of the world. “Yucatecos” live and let live. That’s exactly the reason why many people from other countries come once and decide to stay forever. That’s why Merida is full with “expats” living and enjoying the wonders of an amazing place with astonishing people.