Living Fearlessly: Lessons I’ve Learned Since Moving To Mexico City
Relocating to Mexico City is an exciting prospect full of possibilities. If it’s your choice city for moving abroad, it will not take much digging to understand that it has a rich, ever-present culture and is one of the most vibrant and dynamic metropolitan cities in the world. I researched Mexico City for a full year via YouTube videos, books and articles before making the plunge. But despite the extensive exploration and the excitement of moving to a new country, there were a few things that gave me pause. I had a list of deal-breakers but otherwise tried my best to stay positive and refused to be discouraged. Well, I’ve lived in Mexico City for six months now and am realizing that although there were (and still are) indeed challenges, I didn’t have a whole lot to fear. Here are some of those topics:
IT WAS REALLY EASY TO GET MY RESIDENCY VISA
I immediately looked into becoming a resident and started the process of obtaining my residency visa prior to ever setting foot in Mexico City. My first step was to visit my local US Consulate of Mexico. Along with showing my passport, I needed to prove economic solvency, or the fact that I was able to sustain myself in Mexico by income or by savings and investments. I provided pay statements for 6 months along with a letter from my employer showing date of hire, salary and that I was in good standing with the company. It seemed to help that I spoke a bit of Spanish, I answered a few questions as to why I was moving and where. I walked out of the consulate with the US portion of my resident visa with 6 months to enter Mexico in order to complete the process. For a flat fee of $150, I hired an immigration specialists in Mexico City who helped me complete the process - highly recommended and worth every penny. We met at the Mexico City Immigration Office in the colonia of Polanco and were issued a date for my appointment. I returned to the office on that date and while my trusty specialist waited outside, I was shuffled around a bit, waited in a few lines, but walked out with my residency complete with my photo ID card. From my understanding, this process isn’t always so smooth so be well researched, prepared and bring your patience.
COST OF LIVING
Cost of living in Mexico can be lower when compared to other countries like US or Europe, making it an appealing option. However, I’d heard and have found to be true that cost of living in Mexico City is much higher than other Mexican cities. My cost of living is just slightly lower than what I spent in the U.S. Of course, most of this falls in line with my priorities and are not requirements for me to live, but are nice if I want to live a fun, happy life. Mexico City is not inexpensive and shouldn’t be a reason for moving here. Furthermore, fun fact: Mexicans find it offensive to hear of Mexico being referred to as “cheap”. I am finding that there are some things that cost less, but there are others that can be rather pricey like clothing, household items and in-person Spanish lessons. I’ve also become very familiar with what’s called “gringo pricing”, which is higher pricing for local goods for folks from the U.S., period, the end - there’s no getting around it.
Whether you can save money here depends on your priorities. I am currently working to reduce my expenses and it is totally doable. You can just about have any budget here, it all depends on what you’re willing to give up. But don’t be deceived into thinking that you will drastically reduce your cost of living.
TO LEARN SPANISH OR NOT TO LEARN SPANISH
I’d heard many times that you can live in Mexico City and get by without learning Spanish. I’m going to strongly disagree with this. There are certain neighborhoods or colonias like Roma Norte and Condesa where you may run into more Mexicans that speak English. I live in a touristy area near Angel of Independence in the colonia of Cuauhtemoc. It’s a business and tourist area chocked full of restaurants, bars and shopping that locals and tourists alike flock to on weekends for a night on the town. I find that I rarely run into a Mexican that speaks enough English to have a conversation with. We are usually piecing together a conversation from my limited Spanish and their English (if there is any). So far, I’m very good with shopping, ordering food, making small talk with the Uber driver, greeting the neighborhood regulars, but am working on my conversational Spanish. I’d learned quite a bit of Spanish before relocating and I wish that I had become much more proficient before taking the plunge. I’d considered myself intermediate - until locals made it very clear that I knew far less than I’d given myself credit for.
While learning Spanish, try to use programs that teach MEXICAN Spanish. I spent a lot of time learning words and phrases that are only used in Spain and having to be retaught by my Spanish teacher. Mexican Spanish is a mix of Latin American dialects and Nahuatl, a language of the Aztecs. Mix in a whole lot of slang and Mexican Spanish is quite a bit different than European Spanish. Some great programs to start with are Baselang, Doorway to Mexico Podcast, Duolingo Spanish Podcast and the Bluebird App.
RENTING AN APARTMENT
Renting an apartment in Mexico City is uniquely unorthodox. I would highly recommend securing an Airbnb in your desired area to get a feel of the neighborhood or colonia before committing long term. Once you’ve decided on the area, websites like Vivanuncios, Immuebles24 and Houm are great places to start. It will be worth the time to educate yourself on any current scams to avoid and take your time to really feel out the area. Some aspects of the neighborhood take time to unfold and they could change your experience of the area.
My apartment rental process happened pretty quickly although I came pretty close to backing out. I later heard from other expats that they’d had the same frustrations. I’d worked with a real estate agent and grew more and more frustrated with the agency’s processes and misinformation - it was as if I were their first international customer. Just before moving in, I met the owner who put my mind at ease - and later he fulfilled all of the promises that he’d made during our walkthrough and even threw in free internet. He still texts me occasionally to check on me.
There is no mailbox in my building to collect mail from, but there is a maintenance person who lives on the first floor who distributes all mail and packages. The utilities are never in the tenant’s name and most are billed once every 2 months. The utilities are paid at various places including OXXO store (sort of like a 7 Eleven) and Bancomer and my rent must be paid at Santander bank. All of this took some getting used to as everything in the U.S. is paid online.
WALKABILITY AND ACTIVITIES
This is very important to me and I worried that I wouldn’t find this city as dynamic as New York (I’d lived there for years). There is always something to do in Mexico City. It bears repeating - there is ALWAYS something to do, always something going on. The fact that a lot of the city is walkable reduces or eliminates the need for a car. There are tons of museums, parks, shopping and restaurants to partake of. And if you haven’t heard Mexicans love a parade - and they are the best I’ve seen. You can partake of a sound bath in Bosque de Chapultepec, ride your bike or rollerblade on Paseo de la Reforma on Sundays when they close the street for these activities, stop in any ecclectic shop for locally made goods or peruse one of the 150 museums, relax in one of the many impeccably kept outdoor spaces or have local dishes at an outdoor restaurant. Plans aren’t always necessary - you can leave your home and just stroll, wandering from one activity to the next until you return home in the evening exhausted and content.
INFRASTRUCTURE
Sidewalks in Mexico City have often been a source of contention, as the city's narrow roads and lack of public space for pedestrians make walking a challenge. The sidewalks are often in disrepair where you will find trees planted too close to the walking path whose roots have now buckled the cement. Manhole covers are not secured and random holes in walkways and streets are left to increase in size. In recent years, the city has promised and even begun implementing solutions to make sidewalks safer and more accessible for pedestrians. However, there could be years or even decades until this initiative becomes fully realized. In the meantime, simply walking the streets of Mexico City can be a challenge to say the least. If you as a visitor or a new resident are not accustomed to watching every step, this could pose a real danger.
I highlight the sidewalks here because I’ve taken a few hard falls. One of them was a trip and fall landing directly on my face (you can laugh, it’s ok). I felt spared of an ambulance ride and a hospital trip as I thought that I’d surely broken my nose and some teeth, but instead I received just a few bloody bruises to the middle of my face. In another incident, I got out of an Uber and hit the ground immediately. No real injury there, but I’d stepped right onto a manhole cover that wasn’t secure.
GREEN PUBLIC SPACES TO COMBAT POLLUTION
You will be amazed at the care and attention given to green up Mexico City since the 1980’s to combat pollution, attract tourism, fight the effects of climate change and begin to brand Mexico City as a “green” city. Care of public spaces is something that Mexicans take great pride in. City workers care for plantings in public spaces and parks and the streets are swept and kept tidy by either city workers or shop keepers cleaning the front of their establishment before opening for business each day. I’ve seen workers sweeping the streets until very late at night - it shocks me every time.
Mexico City is full of parks and public spaces that are heavily planted and tended to. Yes, pollution is still an issue and some days the air quality is not safe. But I’ve never seen such a concerted, collective effort in greening up a city’s spaces. Some streets are tree lined whether they were built for it or not. Mass plantings are regularly maintained - for Day of the Dead or Dia De Los Muertos, it’s marigolds; every public space is covered in yellow flowers. Then without warning, the plantings are removed and for Christmas or Navidad, it’s red poinsettias everywhere you look.
WHERE TO FIND THE BEST FOOD
Some of the best and least expensive food that you can find in Mexico City are from the food carts or Los Puestos, hands down. I had trouble finding really good food upon arrival. I was eating from well known restaurants and ordering home delivery from a service called Rappi. The street carts intimidated me because the locals would crowd around them during lunch or after work. In order to buy food I had to push my way through the crowd ask questions and figure out pricing. One day, I just decided that I would suffer the embarrassment (and yes, I was laughed at), but I asked quite a few silly questions and ordered 3 chicken quesadillas. They cost $60M pesos or approximately $3 US total. They were literally the best quesadillas I’ve ever had and not what we think of in the US as a quesadilla. These were well-seasoned chicken folded empanada style into a crispy dough and fried. You will find that the best food is there - suck it up, get over your fears and get in there. You won’t regret it.
MEXICO CITY SUFFERS FROM SUBSIDENCE & EARTHQUAKES
Subsidence is something that is a known fact about Mexico City, but not something that I thought I’d feel on a daily basis. Because Mexico City was built partially on a lake, underneath the pavement is mud. When a truck passes nearby, my apartment sways. In my initial days, I thought these were baby earthquakes until I quickly learned that this is just a normal occurrence that I needed to get used to.
And of course I knew there was the occasional earthquake, but there have been 3 since I moved to Mexico City 6 months ago - much more frequent than what I originally understood. The first one was on September 19th, the same day that 2 previous earthquakes from years past shook Mexico City to it’s core and caused lots of damage and deaths. Fortunately, the 3 earthquakes that I’ve experienced were mild in comparison. I’ve never lived on the west coast of the United States, so this is new to me and frankly pretty frightening, but not enough to scare me out of this city that I’ve grown to love.
FRIENDLY MEXICANS
I will have much more to add on this subject after I’m fluent in Spanish. But as of now, I find Mexicans very friendly and curious about foreigners. Especially a black foreigner with let’s say “interesting” hair. I get frequent stares and questions from folks who simply must know where I’m from. I absolutely did not expect this level of inquisitiveness. While discussing this with someone who grew up in Mexico City, he revealed that not all Mexicans are able to travel and that he himself wasn’t exposed to many black people until recent. He also explained that Mexicans don’t understand why foreigners choose to move to Mexico. I’ve been asked many times by locals, “Why Mexico City”? I feel that if they are not themselves well-traveled, they just don’t understand how good they have it.
I’ve heard that there are some Mexicans that want expats out of Mexico City, but I don’t think I’ve met any of them personally. In general, I have a ton of respect and admiration for the culture and can understand their perspective as I’ve been exposed to gentrification in several cities in the U.S. In general most people are extremely helpful, outgoing and welcoming. They also won’t hesitate to laugh at you teasingly when you show that you’re just a goofy foreigner whose trying to figure it all out.
BE AFRAID, BUT FEARLESS
Looking to move abroad, but finding that fear is paralyzing you? Fear is certainly natural and to an extent even healthy. I encourage anyone looking to relocate to understand what you’re looking for in a new country, make a list and research, visit and don’t let anyone discourage you - especially folks that haven’t lived in your target country. If you really want it, you’re gonna have to breathe through the fear, check one box, then 2. Take one step and then another. Just on the other side of your fear is your fearlessness.
See Mexico in all its glory here in this relaxation film: Magical Mexico
