Job Discussion Forums

[The Menace]

Hi there,
I have a few questions that are not job related. For example:
How should I go about renting a house or appartment? Things to watch out for that are Mexico specific. etc.
Or, If you were to do it all over again what would you do differently?
Is it cool to post here?
thanks

[thelmadatter]

Its cool to post this stuff here IMHO. These are the kinds of questions you need to ask in order to be able to adapt to life in another country. The better you adapt, the better you will do your job.

Renting a house/apt ... word of mouth (easier said than done for this gringa!). If you are in a big enough city, you can get some classified ads but they are not usually recommended. (They work pretty well in Toluca, tho) Decide what you need/what, then ask around for what the average prices are. The hardest thing for me to do was gauge prices and I got ripped off on my first place.

Some things I really recommend asking questions about/being leery about... Dirt or paved road? Go with paved everytime - whatever you might save with a place will not make up for the hassles associated with all the mud during rainy season (learned this the hard way!) Similarly, decide which is more important ... living in well-developed area(city) versus a less-developed one. City life has better infrastructure but you have noise and pollution. Life out of "centro" is quieter but you may have problems with the lights going out for hours at a time, lots and lots of stray dogs and perhaps problems getting to work.

Be aware that most places are NOT furnished and unless you are planning to stay less than a year, I do not recommend getting a furnished place. They are comparatively expensive. For less than the difference in cost over a year, you can buy some cheap furniture. Only exception I would recommend is, if at all possible getting a place that provides a hot water heater (no, not automatically included) and maybe a stove.

You may have better luck looking for a place near a university ... someplace where there are a lot of students in need of housing. Looking in summer in these places are a big plus as most students are gone. This applies of course if the university area is near enough to where you work. I live in a medium-sized town right next to my school. A university is nearby. While I run into my students from time to time, I cant beat the convenience of walking 10 min to work and the prices are really good.

All of the above is based on my own "woulda's, coulda's shoulda's"

Others include, asking more questions to the school about the work environment and equipment I would use. While most ppl here would tell you it is not worth having, I regret selling my car instead of driving down here.

[lozwich]

Hiya Menace,

I agree with Thelmadatter. But, if you want more info, look on this very board at posts from about a year ago. There are lots of posts from me and a few others about the same thing, as we hadn't yet arrived in Mexico and had tons of questions.

Good luck!

Lozwich.

[The Menace]

Thanks,
can anyone recommend other sites or good books

I have the People's Guide, but I bought it back in the early eighties, when I first went down there. Is it worth getting the latest edition??

[lozwich]

Contrary to what some people might think, I think the Lonely Planet guide to Mexico is great! Ok, you need to take some of their overly cautious statements with a large grain of salt, but its a really good way to get an idea of things to see and do in such a big country.

I have looked at the People's Guide, but since I'm not American, found it a little US-centric for my liking. Some of the tidbits made me think "Oh, wow, I never knew that" but for the most part, I've found just being here with an open mind and open ears and eyes a pretty good guide. Talking as much as possible to the locals helps too.

Don't buy the Lonely Planet Latin American phrasebook. Its unusable after your first 5 minutes in the country, but good for a laugh in the 'dating and romance' section.

Lozwich.

[MELEE]

[The Menace]

lozwich,
you don't have long dirty hair, do you?

[The Menace]

Melee,
great site,
thank you

[MELEE]

Menace, or is it Dennis?

I have a really long really detailed, quite specific to my city guide to finding a place and setting yourself up in it that I could send you--or anyone else, but I don't want to post it here because its part of our orientation pack for new teachers, and like I said, it's LONG, and ment for people who are in this specific city.

[lozwich]

[Punter]