Job Discussion Forums

[brian1972]

My family spent last year living in rural Honduras, so we are familiar with the whole living abroad bit. My kids adjusted really well and learned so much Spanish. We are looking forward to moving to Mexico next month and continuing learning and experiencing the Mexican culture.
We are moving to Pachuca, which from what I understand, is a fairly large place.
Is there anything in particular that other parents out there recommend I bring in the way of kids stuff? It was hard to find childrens over the counter meds in Honduras, will they be difficult to find in decent size town in Mexico? Clothing and shoes... prices and quality comparable with the US? Books in English, hard to find?? What about school supplies, cheaper in the States... or similar prices in Mexico?
I hear there is a WalMart in Pachuca, will it have US products? Silly question maybe, but I have no idea.
Thanks for your thoughts!

[Guy Courchesne]

I've never heard of Pachuca being described as large, but it is a city and will have everything you need.

English books will not be so easy to come across. Amazon and eBay can get books down to you without much trouble.

With a one-year old, so far I'm finding baby clothes cheaper and of better quality from outside Mexico.

Walmarts here carry Chinese - I mean US - products, though not so much in the food area. All the Walmarts in Mexico I've seen are Supercenters, so food and department store stuff. Lots of school supplies around, easy to find, but the electronic doodads are more expensive.

[notamiss]

Walmarts are more similar to the other Mexican supermarket chains than to Walmarts at home.

As for books in English, I agree with Guy: the world is your bookstore. Buy them online and have them mailed to you. Another good place to shop is http://www.betterworldbooks.com/, which has the cheapest shipping prices for single books.

[notamiss]

Clothing: ranges from very cheap to expensive, but in general, you will pay more for the same quality compared to US.

Shoes: leather goods are plentiful, and reasonably priced ones of decent quality abound. As for athletic shoes, though, you can get them cheap or good, but not generally both in the same shoe.

[Samantha]

You can always save money by finding a good seamstress to custom make clothing. It's what many people do.

[hamie]

There's a Walmart in Pachuca (stocked with American goodness, at a price though) and a Mexican equivalent about 20 minutes walk away from the school you're planning on going to.
There is also a toy shop (warehouse type) and well a Starbucks, McDs, BK and just about everything else you'll need.
Good luck.

[mejms]

Buy clothes before coming, especially for your kids, but for yourselves too. I used to shop a lot at discount retailers that carried name brands at significantly reduced prices. That doesn't exist here. People pay top dollars for brand clothes and shoes. You can spend less, but you can often really note the difference in quality.

I don't know in Pachuca, but in Queretaro decent kids clothes are hard to find and, when you do find them, even harder to pay for. If I buy cheaper jeans, they're a mess in a few weeks. So the only other option is to pay more, but a lot more.

I've found Ghandi Bookstore here to be a pretty good place to find English novels but the one I visited in D.F. once was a dump, so I don't know how it is in other places. And when I say a pretty good place, I mean compared to other bookstores in Mexico which have next to nothing. So bring books or be prepared to order them online and pay for the international delivery.

Electronics are much more expensive here. If you want to have a laptop, buy one and bring it here. The only problem with that is the region code, say for play DVDs, will be different and won't work on your laptop. I don't know if that's something a technician can modify. But you'll pay twice as much easy for the same computer (or lesser quality) here.

Hope that helps.

[brian1972]

Thanks so much for all your thoughts! Pachuca SOUNDS huge to us, compared to where we were living in Honduras. There was NO options for purchasing anything... unless you took a chicken bus for an hour and a half. Also, being so close to Mexico City sounds great to us as well. Thanks again for your thoughts. Keep them coming if there is anything else!

[MotherF]

[Enchilada Potosina]