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CarlaYour city · Local FriendStreet food at night
Roavi · Mérida
Become a Local Friend in Mérida
Travellers who want to see it the way you do. You set the price, they pay you directly.
Free · 18+ · No experience needed
0%commission
Your rateyou set it
Freeto publish
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A day as a Local Friend
It's a day with a friend who's never been here.
No script, no flag, no group. You go where you'd go anyway.
Try it
See your card.
Three words and it's yours. It stays on your phone until you decide.
Your numbers
You set the rate. You keep all of it.
Travellers pay you directly. Roavi takes no commission and never touches the money.
Your hourly rate
Hours a week
Example, a month$012345678901234567890123456789
On your terms.
- You reply to who you want. Say no to anyone.
- Your days and hours. Pause with one tap.
- You pick where to meet. Public places first.
- Block and report in one tap. A person reads it.
What happens next.
Three short parts. Stop and come back any time.
- 1About youYour city, and what you're great for.
- 2Stand outThree real photos and a few lines in your words.
- 3FinishWhen you're free and your rate. Then a person reads it.
I'm Roa. I'll be there on every screen.
What a meridano can show that a Chichén tour can't
Mérida's visitor does Chichén Itzá, Paseo de Montejo and dinner in Santa Lucía, and leaves without Sunday cochinita in a market, a village cenote with no queue, or Celestún and Progreso with someone who knows what time to go. And Mérida has something few cities do: thousands of foreigners moving in who want someone from here to explain how the city works.
What you can show
- 1
Real Yucatecan food: cochinita and relleno negro in the Santiago or Lucas de Gálvez market, marquesitas in the plaza, and which downtown cantina is the one.
- 2
A village cenote in Homún or Cuzamá on a weekday instead of the ones on every tour.
- 3
Progreso and Chuburná on a Sunday like meridanos, Celestún for the flamingos at the right hour, Uxmal without Chichén's crowds.
- 4
How life works in Mérida: the heat and its hours, the neighbourhoods people rent in, downtown at night and Monday's vaquería.
Mérida has readers on Roavi and no Local Friend listed yet: the first appears first. Part of the demand is newly arrived foreigners who want company to understand the city, not a tour; say on your profile if that interests you.
Travelers are looking for locals in Mérida
Be one of the first Local Friends they meet. Build your profile today and get discovered by travelers heading to Mérida.
Other cities in Mexico
Good to know before you begin
A few honest answers, so there are no surprises.
No. Certification applies to people who sell and lead formal tours. Roavi is a meeting between people: a visitor pays a local for their time and company. You sell no tour and lead no group.
Many don't: Americans, Canadians and Europeans, including the ones moving in. With English you reach almost all of them; without it, the Mexican and South American visitors, who are also many.
Yes. Creating and publishing your Local Friend profile is completely free — there’s no cost to appear in the directory or receive messages.
No — and that is the point. A Local Friend is not a tour guide: you spend time with someone as yourself, you do not run a tour. Professional guiding is a licensed profession in a number of countries; spending an afternoon with someone is not. And if you do hold a guiding licence, put it on your profile — travellers look for it.
Yes. You set your own hourly rate, and you can change it anytime from your profile.
No. Roavi doesn’t process payments or take a commission on what you arrange with a traveler.
No. You decide who you respond to, and you can say no to anyone, for any reason.
No. Verification is optional. It’s completed through Stripe Identity and adds a verified status to your profile, but your profile, visibility, and messaging stay free either way.
Travelers message you directly through Roavi once they find your profile in the directory. You choose whether and how to reply.
Yes. You can pause your visibility or delete your profile at any time from your account settings.
Your city is
worth sharing.
Free. No commission. You say yes or no to every message.
18+ · Every profile is read by a person