Job Discussion Forums

Landon · Joined: 26 Sep 2011 Posts: 90

Hello, Just wondering what are some of your favorite places to live in Mexico? Or places that you wish you could have lived? Not necessarily the greatest place to make the most money in a school teaching. I'm thinking things like safety, affordability, comfortability, friendly people, good food, pretty, stuff like that. I don't think I am looking to live in a vacation resort town, a border town, or a giant city like Mexico city, but I know there are tons and tons of other great places.

Guy Courchesne · Joined: 10 Mar 2003 Posts: 9650 Location: Mexico City

Well, for me it's always been Mexico City, hands down. I've not lived in many other places in Mexico, but I've visited many different spots in the country and nothing ever compares to the capital. Culture, dynamism, business and work opportunities, climate, food...a lot of checks in the plus column.

Landon · Joined: 26 Sep 2011 Posts: 90

Thanks. We have visited DF and had a great time. But the city is gigantic. We are looking for a more laid back, slower moving, cost effective type of place. We have had a lot of fun in Yucatan, Guanajuato, and Queretaro. There were some good options in there for settling down and finding a teaching job; but I know there is so much more in Mexico, and maybe there are some other ideas.

notamiss · Posted: Fri Nov 06, 2015 4:45 pm Post subject:

I live in Mexico City. In a village so small we have a traveling market that only comes once a week. Some of the neighbours have chickens. One has horses.

Guy Courchesne · Joined: 10 Mar 2003 Posts: 9650 Location: Mexico City

I currently live in Guadalajara - 4 months or so now. The city is 7 million strong but it doesn't feel anywhere near that large. Folks around here call it Ranchalajara in that it feels like a ranch that just grew ginormous.

Things are laid back here...a little too quiet for my taste, but I am adjusting. Work opportunities are pretty good and the cost of living is roughly the same as DF except that rents are much cheaper and transportation more expensive and difficult without a car.

Landon · Joined: 26 Sep 2011 Posts: 90

Wow! In Mexico City? That is one the most densely populated metropolitan capital cities in the world. Last I heard there was something like 22 million people there. Was nothing but hustle and bustle when we were there.

Landon · Joined: 26 Sep 2011 Posts: 90

Thanks guys, I guess everyone has different tastes. We had something different in mind. We were thinking that maybe 150,000-500,000 is where we would be comfortable. I mean, that is still around the size of US cities like St Louis, Louisville, Las Vegas, Nashville, New Orleans; I think. And those are pretty big cities to us.

Guy Courchesne · Joined: 10 Mar 2003 Posts: 9650 Location: Mexico City

Don't let actual population numbers of Mexican cities fool you. What is 1,000,000 here is often smaller than what is 100,000 in the US or Canada. Mexican families are always larger and occupy smaller spaces than a typical American or Canadian family.

Landon · Joined: 26 Sep 2011 Posts: 90

That is a good point. But it has always seemed the opposite to me. People in Mexico, and all places south of the border are all crammed in the streets all day. It is a sea of people coming and going everywhere. It always seemed to me like it is a much bigger population than it is. Here in Texas the streets are quiet. No one is walking or standing or selling on the side of the roads here. And there are around 10 million people in this area. In fact, if you see someone walking on the sides of the roads here in DFW, that is because they are exercising. Guanajuato City has only around 150,000 people, but during the day I would swear that it feels like 4 times that many people.

BadBeagleBad · Posted: Sun Nov 08, 2015 11:57 pm Post subject:

MotherF · Posted: Mon Nov 09, 2015 12:16 am Post subject:

If I ever leave Oaxaca there will be kicking and screaming.

But I have favorite places around the country. Some are not viable for living because of the lack of reasonably paying jobs, others have been ruined (hopefully only temporarily) by cartels and other instability issues.

Oaxaca City is on the lack of reasonable paying jobs list. But you can live around the state.
Cuernavaca and Morelia are on the instability list.
My skin can handle the beach about 5 days a year so I love some of those places, but not for living.

I would absolutely love to live in Tlaxco, Tlaxcala or Tepoztlan, Morelos, the two sustainbility havens of Mexico.

Landon · Joined: 26 Sep 2011 Posts: 90

Well, my wife has a Masters in Education and is working on a doctorate. Up to this point she has only worked in Primary Schools, but if a university would take her, she says she would like to do that too.

We both communicate with each other only in Spanish; always have. Is that a plus or a minus in getting an EFL job in Mexico?

We think we are looking for a place with a population of a few hundred thousand. Somewhere with several schools to choose from, good restaurants, movie theater close by, easy transportation, safety, cost effective, etc. I will look into the places you mentioned.

MotherF · Posted: Thu Nov 12, 2015 1:06 am Post subject:

MotherF · Posted: Thu Nov 12, 2015 1:17 am Post subject:

One thing you have to think about is that in Mexico populations tend to be true to the number. With the exception of Mexico City, their "suburbs" are not routinely excluded from their population figuers the numbers in parenthesis are the metro area numbers for the cities you mentioned.

St Louis, 318,416 (2.79 million)
Louisville 253,128 (1.27 million)
Nashville 659,042 (1.8 million)

So that puts Puebla at about the size of Nashville.

(ETA: I just saw in the general forum that you're wife is Peruvian. Does she have a US passport? If not that may be a big hinderence to her ability to get a job in Mexico, even with strong qualifications work visas for foreigners are given on the basis that you are not taking a job away from a Mexican and that you are some how more qualified than a Mexican would be. Teachers of English or subjects taught in English qualifiy under the misguided assumption natives are better at this than a Mexican regardless of qualifications. Since you said she's working on her PhD--I think your best bet would be for her to persue some sort of Fullbright or similiar program.)

Landon · Joined: 26 Sep 2011 Posts: 90

I went to school in Nashville, so I know that is a place much bigger than what we are looking for in our mini retirement. So I guess Puebla is out. Something about a quarter or less of that size seems a little more pleasant.

Sure she has a passport. She is a US citizen, but was born in Peru. She is the language arts director at an elementary school in Texas.

Im not sure that we would be seeking a visa on the grounds of work qualifications anyway. Do you have to have a "work" visa in Mexico in order to work or is residency enough? I am getting a lot of these visa requirements confused for all the countries we have looked into. We have had Ecuador on the brain for months now. I will look into what the Fulbright program is.