NEW BEGINNINGS

To be honest, we didn’t intentionally choose Merida to start. We were originally searching for a volunteer program as we were planning to slow travel our way through Mexico, and down to Central and South America for two years. We ended up signing up for a volunteer restoration project that happened to be an hour outside of Merida, but we only lasted 24 hours due to our lack of preparation for a rough accommodation. Merida became the logical choice for our next destination because of the close vicinity. Just to reiterate we found Merida by a fluke – our original inspiration for the move was Tulum, Quintana Roo.

After we had pinned down our volunteer project, we did a little research on Merida since we were staying there a few days beforehand. We were intrigued by all of the different barrios (neighborhoods), colonias (neighborhoods of large metropolitan areas) and fraccionamientos (can be gated communities with cookie-cutter houses but not always).  There were so many names dotting the city!

When we returned from the volunteer program we got a really nice Airbnb not too far away from Centro, which is the historic district in the center of Merida. Centro is the most popular area for tourists and expats. It is surrounded by a circular road named Circuito Colonias  and we were told this road lies on the foundation of the walls that surrounded historic Merida centuries ago. There are also four historic arches at the north, south, east and west sides of Centro which were used to only permit entry to certain people and kept out others. 

We stayed in Colonia Buena Vista just north of Centro. The Airbnb was only $20 per night. It was a studio apartment behind our hostess Laura’s house, who is now a good friend. The house is gated and guarded by two very friendly, giant sheepdogs who greeted us upon our entry. The place had a pool, which, trust us – is near essential in the dead of summer when temperatures that can rise well above 100 degrees with full humidity. 

At this point we had no idea we would be choosing Merida as our home base, we just thought, “well, okay. Let’s stay here for a few weeks and regroup on what our next plan is.”

TROPICAL WEATHER

The weather is definitely something to consider when thinking about moving here. Do you like hot, tropical weather? Or do you prefer the spring-like temps around Mexico City? Or do you prefer cold, snowy places where you can ski?

Finding a Home Base Tip #1

Look up when the most intense heat or cold hits and plan a trip around that. See if you can handle it.

If you’re thinking about actually moving to Merida you should try spending time here for at least a couple of weeks during the hot season, which is sometime between May-August. If you find the heat and humidity unbearable there are plenty of other dryer, cooler places for expats to live in Mexico, if Mexico is your preferred destination. 🙂

Also, you may consider becoming a “snowbird” and only living here part of the year during the cooler months of October/November – March/April (as so many expats do).

Check out our best tips on How To Deal With The Heat In Merida here.

OUR DREAM LOCALE

We had come from the rainy, cloudy and cooler temps of Portland, Oregon. For me, Yucatan’s weather was a huge relief. My dream vacations almost always consisted of tropical paradises with palm trees, clear, turquoise waters and copious amounts of sunshine. So if you’re looking for that holiday vibe, Merida is a great place to live. You will be smack dab in the center of so many amazing places bursting with natural beauty, tropical touches and tons of wonderful Mexican and Mayan culture. 

But here’s the thing that really stood out to us about Merida. In comparison to other more popular destinations nearby such as Cancun, Tulum or Playa del Carmen – there is real livability to this city.  

Finding a Home Base Tip #2

Test different areas:

Rent a place on Airbnb or a temporary room for a few weeks. Airbnb has been our go-to for affordable accommodations. And we just love the funky, unique, more personable experiences we’ve found through Airbnb while we travel around the world!

Also, it’s even better if you can befriend the local person renting it out to you. They will most definitely be a great asset – will give you tips, recommendations, and insight into the very place you are thinking of setting down some roots. Then, once you begin getting out and exploring during this initial period — you will begin to see areas of town that call to you and feel more like home compared with other parts. Again, we prefer to explore on foot as much possible.

So what are the main perks that make Merida stand out?

Cost of Living

In our experience Merida is much more affordable to live than other vacation spots in the Yucatán Peninsula. Check out this article if you want to know a little more information about cost of living around Mexico.

Food and Dining Out

Quality of Life Plus Affordability

This place has such an amazing quality of life with a fairly low cost of living. It feels like home completely, which can seem like a strange thing to say, since we are from a different country. But anyone who gives it a chance often finds Merida has a certain charm and warmth which makes them never want to leave.  As our friends at Donia Way (a Yucatecan specialty store) say: :Merida, Yucatan has a magical well and once you drink the water from it you will forever be in love.”

That has totally been our experience here in every way.

Looking For An Apartment

As we walked around we saw where we wanted to live and picked our desired location. Which is super important for building the lifestyle abroad that you really want to create. We can’t emphasize this enough – if you have the means to take your time, and not be in a rush to commit to a place before landing here – we absolutely recommend that. 

Around the same time, we were checking online for apartment and house rentals. Both English speaking and Spanish speaking real estate pages popped up on Facebook. What we noticed (as expected), was that the English speaking offers were about twice the price of the Spanish speaking offers. 

We saw one ad that looked decent for only $75 USD per month for 1 room in a house filled with other students and travelers located in Centro. It sounded intriguing. The Mexican woman who owned the property showed us around; it smelled of cat and dog poo and was rather dingey. She was very kind however and we found out that she rescued many stray dogs and cats (which is a big thing here in Merida and the Yucatan). But the place wasn’t for us so we politely said goodbye and walked down the block. 

Then we just happened to see a cute pastel pink place with a “Se Renta” sign and number. We called, using the little Spanish we knew, coupled with a very handy Google-Translate app to communicate we wanted to see the place. A woman came to show us a little later. We learned it was previously used as the landlord’s law office. But it was bright, cheerful and clean with partial furnishings of a bed, table, and chairs.

Finding a Home Base Tip #3

When looking for a temporary or permanent place to live make sure you give yourself the flexibility and time to look locally before you agree to any online deal for a place to rent. And even more important if you are looking for a place to buy.

 

Additionally, another smart option is to hire a local (ask for recommendations on the facebook groups) to look for you and secure the agreement before you arrive or they can take you to look at places when you actually arrive. We did this when looking for our second home in Merida and couldn’t be more happy with the results.

THE FIRST APARTMENT 

We ended up renting the apartment on a month to month contract thinking initially it would be for a few months, but that turned out to be 17 months. We paid about $200 USD per month and it was within walking distance to everything we needed and more. One of our favorite French brunch and coffee hangouts was a block away – Bistro Cultural. And so many more restaurants, cafes, markets, shops, bars, and plazas were nearby too. 

UPSIDE OF LIVING IN CENTRO

It was a great first place, because we were in the middle of everything and the energy of being in the middle of the city was great. Hearing people biking down our street yelling “TAMALES” and other delicious Mexican treats, was something that always made me happy to be living in the vibrant culture of Mexico. There was a great mix of local Mexicans (we noticed mainly older generations) and expats in the area.

HISTORIC CENTRO, MERIDA 

We fell in love with Historic Centro when we first moved here. Everything was basically within walking distance. There are so many beautiful 19th century French-inspired and pastel-colored homes, storefronts, and medieval Spanish cathedrals. There is always so much life and bustling energy going on day and night. It’s on the streets and in the plazas. 

Every colonia, especially in the historic district has a really old cathedral with a plaza. It’s a great place to people-watch or find fresh produce, markets, and street food nearby. In Mexico, the plazas are the heartbeat of the neighborhood (or city). There are always cultural events, concerts and celebrations happening in the plazas. Watch our vlog “Merida Comes Alive At Night” to see what a stroll through Historic Centro looks like.

More Than What They Seem From The Outside

Many of these homes in Centro reminded us of our trip to Morocco several years ago (where we got engaged). While there we stayed at a large Arab “riad” in Fez, Morocco. You see many resemblances in Mexican architecture to Spanish architecture, which we learned was heavily influenced by the Moorish (Islamic) architecture in Northern Africa. Homes built like little fortresses, once you enter the front door through a tall, imposing wall, you feel like you are stepping into a whole new world. 

It’s completely hidden from the public world. There are very high ceilings, grand spaces, gardens, fountains, pools, and plaza type atriums in the back of these homes. This allows for a peaceful, serene outdoor experience within the confines of a secure home. It also offers a very economical source of free, cool airflow, which makes so much sense in hotter climates. 

DOWNSIDE OF LIVING IN CENTRO

The downside was all of the traffic, especially the buses that would drive down our road, vibrating our bedroom window. Downtown is also the major tourist district for Merida and can be busy at certain times of the year. You also find the restaurants because of the influence of tourism will be much more expensive.  

International Airport

Finding a Home Base Tip #4

When you are choosing a home base make sure it is easy to get into and out of if you are choosing to travel from the destination. Merida’s airport is small and easily manageable if you need to get through the airport in less than an hour.

A couple of occasions we have taken the 4-hour shuttle from Merida to Cancun to fly out, but if you look hard enough you can find most destinations available.

RETURNING TO MERIDA

After my scare with dengue fever in Southeast Asia, this past summer then spending time recuperating with family in California and Portland – we made a few key decisions in regards to our return back to Merida.  We were itching to return as we missed both of our cats. They were being kindly looked after by a friend we had met during a Location Indie conference in Queretaro, Mexico the previous February (2019). Isaac graciously agreed to stay at our apartment in Merida and live the Mexican experience for a few months during the hottest time of the year.

ROAD TRIP FROM PORTLAND, OREGON TO MERIDA, MEXICO

Our next step after fixing up the car was reaching out to the Mexico based community….

Being Social in your New Home Base

Finding a Home Base Tip #5

To learn the local language, meet new friends and find help in a local community get out and shake hands with people and don’t be afraid to try something new even if it is scary.

Join as many Facebook Expat in Mexico groups as you can. 

This is where we have found most of the pertinent information and advice that we needed to make key and informed decisions. For example was it safe and possible to drive our car all the way through Mexico? They gave us detailed info on the best and safest route to take (we went through the Laredo, TX border crossing an hour south of San Antonio). They gave us safety tips for example only take the toll roads. And to go down through Monterrey, San Luis Potosi, Queretaro, Mexico City and south toward the Yucatan. We did go a little off route in order to see Oaxaca City and San Cristobal de Las Casas which was incredible. 

Picture above: Nate overlooking the Jardins de Oaxaca, Oaxaca City

They also told us to only drive during the day – and to be very careful and cognizant of our belongings that we were carrying in our car. So we took three weeks to complete the road trip and only drove a few hours per day, which was more fun anyway. We chose Airbnb’s using the filter to only show places with covered and secured parking for our car. We looked at the map view in Airbnb and checked the safety of neighborhoods before we booked, as well.

We got all the way back to Merida completely safe and sound with our car, some more belongings from Portland, and an amazing road trip under our belts!

WHY WE CHOSE MERIDA AS OUR HOME BASE

For so many reasons! After about a year and a half of travel yet continuously coming back to Merida, we decided we wanted to make it more of a permanent home base.  We still want to continue traveling and being part-time nomadic. We have found different ways of earning income online/remotely that we can do from anywhere in the world. With basic needs of electricity and a wifi connection we can continue to work. (We will be rolling out a blog post about earning income as a digital nomad soon!)

Our vision and goal is to have the best of both worlds and be able to travel whenever we want and when we can afford it. We want to be able to work and make money while traveling. But we also want to have the comforts of a home base that feels safe, happy, secure, luxurious, beautiful, grounded and inviting. The fact that Merida is not too far away from our family in the USA and in a similar time zone, is just one added bonus.  

Merida has definitely checked all the boxes and become the perfect home base for us! Its combined factors of affordability, friendliness, rich cultural and historical background, social networking opportunities (amazing locals and expats), and safety are all reasons for this. Merida has recently ranked the second safest place to live in all of North America after Quebec City, Canada.  There is also such an amazing mix of authentic, laidback Mexican lifestyle with modern, American amenities you might not want to live without.

Ready For Something New

When we got back we realized we had outgrown our tiny one-bedroom apartment, which was great for us initially because it was in such a great area. However we were ready for something a little bigger and nicer.

You can listen to more about our initial experience in Merida in the Location Indie podcast with Travis Sherry here.  (Plus if you are thinking of becoming location independent we highly recommend becoming a part of this amazing tribe of people).

Looking For A New House Rental

One month after we got back in our car we called on a local friend. We heard she had helped so many other expats like us find the home rental of their dreams for a very good price. Her name is Barbara Blanco of her company Merida Moves. She just aired on House Hunters International for helping another expat friend find her home here.

We first had an initial consultation, where we gave her our list of all of the things we wanted to have in our home base. We paid her a reasonable sum to take us to several different house rentals she found over the course of a couple of days. Within the first day, we found the home of our dreams and with her legal help signed the one year lease two days later.

THE NEW CASA!

At approximately $500 USD per month, we have a two-bedroom, two-story, brand new never-lived-in-before house. It came furnished (other than the most comfortable couch we picked up at FAMSA for approximately $200 USD). With so much storage space, closets, drawers, and cabinets, it also has the prettiest light fixtures and touches. There is a tile floor downstairs, marble countertops, and A/C units in every room. There are custom, wavy marble walls in the bathrooms (we actually have FOUR bathrooms – unbelievable). It also has a beautiful, artsy chandelier over the stairs, pretty track lighting, an induction stovetop, and beautiful natural lighting. 

THE NEIGHBORHOOD 

It’s in a neighborhood called Nuevo Yucatan, which is very close to Colonia Aleman. Aleman was the first “suburban” neighborhood to be developed close to Historic Centro. This place feels like heaven. It’s like living in the country with all the nature, trees, and tranquility but it’s still inside the city limits and only 15 minute car ride to Centro. We even walk to Centro sometimes, which takes about an hour by foot.

We have a pool guy who comes once a week to keep the pool lookin’ fresh (say what!!!???). We drive to a modern grocery store like Costco or Chedraui Selecto (which has so many organic, gourmet and vegetarian brands). Or we go to more traditional local mercados for fruit, produce, spices, eggs, and honey. 

This is definitely a dream home for us. It has helped us really thrive and live an amazing quality of life. It also supports our work/business/creative lives since we often work out of home. 

It definitely feels surreal at times and we pinch ourselves everyday we get to live here.

REALITY CHECK

We wouldn’t have been able to afford this kind of place in the United States, especially in Portland, which is getting more expensive every year. We definitely plan on staying at this house rental for at least the next year. We’ve also talked about even staying for the next few years if possible.

It would be amazing to stay here and begin the search of buying a dream home/lot, where we can either renovate a house that we find or build a new house. We’d love to be able to rent out part of it, either year-long or part-time (when we travel) and let the investment work its magic. We also envision it being like a haven where our family can come and stay as long as they want and where we can host friends. 

In the house rental, we have now, we’ve already had several friends come and stay with us for a few days here and there. It has been amazing to have them come and be a part of our lives.

THE NITTY GRITTY DETAILS

ADDITIONAL INFO & OTHER THINGS TO CONSIDER (IF YOU ARE THINKING ABOUT MOVING HERE):

• Residency – we’re still working on getting our temporary residency. So for now we are just six-month visa hopping. There are rules about how much money you make every month and you have to show at least 6 months’ worth of bank statements along with your application in order to get approved. Depending on how many people are applying for the residency you have to show you make $2200 per month for a couple or $1700 per individual (disclaimer: this amount could go up as the Mexican minimum wage increases). We plan to apply next year. You can find more info on it here 
• Kids – we want to have kids one day and have started to think about what that would be like living here and/or traveling abroad. What would their schooling and life be like based on other expats’ and travelers’ experiences who have kids? There are lots of cool options that can be combined such as bilingual schools, World School and UnSchooling , some online class options as well as a Montessori school we have heard about here in Merida, 
• Learning Spanish – We have used private tutors previously which helped a lot with learning basic conjugations of verbs rules, etc. We also use Pimsleur (a great program but we’ve had a couple of issues with the subscription and online payment options), and the Duolingo app. We also have heard that Habla Spanish School and La Calle school are great places for beginners to learn here. They have a focus on interacting with others and learning more conversational Spanish.

Finding a Home Base Tip #6

We suggest getting the Google Translate app on your phone! We love their camera option when looking at signs, labels, and menus anywhere for quick translation

• Pets – We knew we wanted to bring our beloved cats down to Merida. So we flew them both down and other than a couple of slightly traumatic moments up in the air when Annabelle was scratching out of her carrier crying, it went smoothly. We were sure to research and get all of the vet checkups and documents done before we left Portland. Even then still, they left one paper unsigned accidentally! Thankfully the Cancun airport we flew into had a vet onsite who quickly looked the kitties over and signed the paper for $50 USD in about 30 minutes. We got lucky. But do your research before going overseas with your pets. We were also lucky to have a doctor’s note that said they were both “emotional support animals.” This helped a lot because we could take them out of their carry-on with leashes on and hold them when they needed comforting on the plane. Here in Merida, they have a Petco and everything we need for them – food, litter, toys, etc. They also have good vets here for cats and dogs!

Finding a Home Base Tip #7

We just signed up for Trusted house Sitters in order to find great pet sitters when we travel. As well as find connecting free house sits abroad. They are a great network for travelers and only $80 a year with this link for membership.

• Credit Cards – A necessity is to get a credit card with NO international fees. We like using Chase Sapphire and United’s credit cards which also give us points toward flights and other perks when traveling.
• Money App – We use Remitly for our large transactions in Meixco. Initially, many people such as our landlords only wanted to take cash so to avoid taking cash from the ATM which usually ends up costing us anywhere from $5-10 USD per withdrawal we use this app to transfer the rent money to them every month directly from our bank’s checking account to their checking account, with no hidden fees. 

• Phone Plan – this one has been a little tricky. We ended up dropping our T-Mobile plan because their service was expensive and quit working after a short time of living abroad. We realized this was because they only provide service to international travelers for several months, but past that they realize you aren’t in the USA and start cutting back service. So we dropped the plan, got them to unlock our phones and we simply buy a local sim card wherever we travel to (Mexico, Thailand, etc) and that drastically has reduced the costs and upped the level of service for that place. Whenever we need more data we add more through the plan, on a pay as you go basis. 

Finding a Home Base Tip #8

We’d also recommend downloading Whatsapp app on your phone in order to easily communicate with people internationally. They offer free text, phone.

• Keep Your Phone Number – We also recommend using Tossable Digits if you want to keep your old phone number, yet be able to have a new phone plan/sim card wherever you go. The service only costs a few dollars per month and makes it possible to keep and connect your old phone number to forward to whatever new number you have. (We learned about this from Traveling Jackie’s blog post).
• Internet Hotspot – You can also use your new phone plans/local sim cards to set up a  hotspot if you happen to find yourself traveling in the jungle without WIFI service and need to be able to get your laptop online to work, etc. This is a great backup plan!
• Skype – a cheap subscription can make it so you can make calls back to the USA or internationally for free (only about $5 per month). The only downside is they can’t see the number who is calling them. 
• Mail – we still haven’t got this set up but other expats have recommended using Post Scan Mail which costs about $10-20 per month. They are based in the USA and will take your mail, and scan all of it to you. If there is anything you need to see the whole scan of they will do that as well, and even mail you hard copies in Mexico additionally
• Handy Packing List and Traveler’s Wish List – Here are some cool “travel items” for when you first arrive and most likely will be living a rather temporary existence until you figure out where you want to live, and set down some roots.
• Health & Wellbeing – Staying healthy, fit and happy on the road and living abroad is important. You can see our morning routines list here that we try to stick to whether we are in our home base in Merida or traveling.  
• Water
  • Drink only filtered water. 
  • Option 1: We don’t like supporting buying plastic water bottles so we fill up a garrafon at the countless water refilling stations here in Merida for about 10 pesos (about 50 cents). A garrafon holds 20 liters and you can buy one for around $3 at any OXXO convenience store. Of course we also suggest you bring a stainless steel water bottle to carry throughout the day!
  • Option 2: we use our Lifestraw to filter tap water when in a pinch. It’s small and light enough to pack in your backpack/luggage as you travel to unknown places that might not have clean or safe drinking water from the tap.

• Fresh Produce & Food
  • We use bactyne to wash all of our veggies and fruits that we want to eat raw. You can find this product at any grocery store or market.
  • Loxcell. You can buy this pill for about $5 at any farmicia here. Buy two. Take one when you FIRST arrive. Then take the 2nd one 30 days later in case any parasites have entered your body; it will be sure to kill it off. It will take time for your body and gut to adjust to being in a new place. The USA is notoriously over-sanitized.
• Going out to eat 
  • Stay away from any food (especially salsa) that is stagnantly sitting around in the open-air all day 
  • Instead request only fresh salsa, etc. that comes from an enclosed fridge/cooler
  • Most restaurants in Merida are very cognizant of using only filtered water to clean veggies for salads, etc. and use filtered ice in drinks. (You can tell because the ice comes in a cylinder shape tube with a hole down the middle). But if you are eating street food, which we highly recommend, just be precautious and remember the golden rule: only eat it if it is peeled, boiled or cooked!

• Hospital visits – a new term called Medical Tourism came out recently because people realized they could go to countries other than their home (like in the USA) to get state of the art procedures and checkups for way less paying out of pocket than going through crappy insurance plans at home. We have found that to be fairly true in Merida, although we haven’t needed any big or costly procedures (thank goodness). One experience was when Cassie had a lot of pain in her lower back, we went to the emergency room at Star Medica, which was state of the art and modern. She was seen within 15 minutes by a doctor who did his best to understand us in broken Spanish (plus we used google translate) and sent her to get all the urinary and blood diagnostic tests she needed. She was treated for a kidney infection with all of the proper antibiotics within the same day for a whopping $30 USD. Our experience here has been very good.
• Health Insurance – it’s always a good idea to have an international insurance plan when traveling or living in countries abroad, that at least cover any unexpected and costly life-threatening emergencies. We’ve heard over and over World Nomads insurance is fantastic. We will keep you updated as we plan on getting this eventually.
• Transportation in Merida – We use uber (an app on our phone) all the time and it costs anywhere from $1-5 USD per trip all over the city; it’s very affordable. We have also used the “collectivos” (small vans carrying lots of people) and the bus which costs about eight pesos per trip. They are a little more tricky to navigate your way around but getting anywhere outside Centro and back into Centro is very easy as the word CENTRO will appear on the front windshield of the vehicle!
• Facebook Expat groups – These have been a lifesaver! When it comes to any kind of information and advice to questions you may have from small to important, these are very active and insightful. We have also used them for meetups and have met a thriving expat network of friends here in Merida. “Merida Coffee Club” and “Expats In The Yucatán” are great groups.
• Other Resources we love – Merida English Library, Yucatan Expat Life, Yucatan Today
• Volunteering – a great way to be a part of the local community, make friends, connect and feel good giving back. Read more about our top tips for Volunteering Abroad here.
  • We have volunteered with these two amazing organizations in Merida:
    • Yucatan Giving Outreach
    • Fundacíon BAI
• Having a Car –
  • Temporary Import Permit (TIP) cost us $250 and lasts for 180 days
  • You have to get it renewed every six months, and we still have to figure out what we’ll need to do in 2020. We will keep you all posted. 
  • AXA Mexican car insurance – we use and enjoy full protection to drive in Mexico. 
  • Also, we have registered our car in Oregon, but are fully protected to drive it in Mexico
• Car rentals – Do your research on the many options available in Merida but our one tip is to get the full insurance on your rental. We like Payless car rental at Fiesta Americana location in Merida and the rates are about $22 per day with fully insurance (prices vary in the holiday season)
• Safety – Merida has just been rated the second safest city in all of North America and one of the top small cities in the world according to Conde Nast magazine.
• Stuff To Do – Here is a list of our top favorite Day Trips From Merida.
• Cultural events –  They are happening all of the time here! One of the many things we love about living here and another big reason we decided to make this our home base; you will never be bored! Check out one of our favorite free local magazines for all the current events happening on Yucatan Today.
• Airlines / Bus Travel –
  • Airlines – our favorite online search engines to look for cheap flights back and forth from the USA to Merida or Cancun are Kayak, Skyscanner and Expedia. We also love using credit card points with our international travel credit cards. It also helps with free luggage (like on the United travel credit card). You can travel within Mexico on national airline brands and it typically only costs around $50 USD per way.
  • Ado Bus – a great bus company that will take you all over the Yucatan and Mexico and has several stations in Merida. They are cheap, clean, more comfortable than most plane rides and great and easy to reserve your seat online. 
• Mobile passport – a free app you can get on your phone to bypass the lines in customs when flying back in the USA from Merida or anywhere else in the world.

MERIDA: A Special Place

What is the last reason we love living here? This place is becoming a real international hub for all great things like culture, artists, international communities (the International Peace Conference was held here recently), and more. Yet Merida remains relatively unknown. We think that might be why it is so special – it isn’t overrun with tourists. It still feels very authentic yet it is bustling and active, with always new and exciting things going on around the next corner…

Our Greatest Takeaway?

Most importantly, the greatest reason we have chosen Merida as our home base is because it is full of so many amazing, friendly and warm people everywhere we go!!!

Thanks so much for reading! If you found this article helpful please be sure to like it, leave a comment and share it on all the platforms – Facebook, Twitter, and Pinterest.