Vernacular Design In Chetumal
Chetumal is all about poured concrete. Although I have no documentary proof, it must be because of the salt air. The paint on the concrete may fade or chip, but the structures retain their integrity. Not a lot of wooden structures here, and the few that do exist look like shit.
The concrete shows up both as a construction material and as the primary source of ornamentation. The other recurring material is decorative ironwork. All of this is topped off with a typically Caribbean color palette, in inviting shades of sherbet and cocktail umbrellas.
Breeze Blocks
Breeze Blocks are pre-poured decorative concrete blocks, and are the primary form of residential ornamentation in Chetumal. They can be standalone designs, or they can be stacked to make repeating motifs, like quarter tile rosettes.
I’m not honestly certain whether the square holes are made from breeze blocks, or whether this is part of the pour. No matter the method, the result is consistent visually. 
No breeze blocks, but the best ironwork we’ve seen, hands down. 
Again, no breeze blocks, but we’d walked past this half a dozen times before we saw the scorpion. It made us laugh.
Public Works
In addition to its residential use, poured concrete is also used for the public structures at the Malecón.
Weird Shit We Found On The Street
And sometimes there’s just weird shit out there that just needs to be seen.
This is a street sign in Chetumal. Nothing on the sides of buildings, just the vertically stacked street names, like Deco hotels and theaters, on corner power poles.
I found them super weird looking, but couldn’t put my finger on it. I think it’s that they’re painted by stencil, so they’re monospaced, like Courier. As a result, there’s no vertical kerning between the letters.
Look how much visual space there is between the H and I, and how tight the L and G are, even though they’re the same distance apart.
