Job Discussion Forums

Prof.Gringo · Posted: Tue Dec 27, 2011 4:36 am Post subject:

When I came to Mexico City 7 years ago, I made about $9,000 pesos in cash, and I worked a lot of hours, but thankfully not split shifts, all at one school. I had a 2 hour lunch break and I worked half-day on Saturday.

I didn�t save anything and I was living life as I would want to, going out on weekends, enjoying everything, going places, so YES I used my so-called savings.

Now, in Mexico DF you better make $15,000 pesos a month or life is going to suck. Yeah, sure, the subway and buses are cheap, but rent and food are more expensive as well. And with so-many places to go, things to do, stuff to see, why would you want to stay in your room or shack and stare at Televisa all day?

People that have been here for many years, are fluent in Spanish, own their own home or condo, know all the little tricks and ins and outs of living in Mexico, that live just as the locals do, make it sound so easy to live cheap. Sure, I can do that too, but the reality is for any newbies, your CoL will be much higher... Unless you want to live in a one-room place, eat street tacos 24/7 and watch pirated DVD�s from Tepito...

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

15,000 is good money...not fabulous but good. That can go pretty far in DF.

We're a family of 4 (not including four spoiled pets) and spend less than that on expenses per month, including a mortgage of 9000 per month. We live quite well within that 15k and if anyone had any doubts about it, children are not cheap! You can only save so much at the local tianguis knowing how to say jitomate instead of tomato.

I got here 11 years ago and made around 6000 per month, I did ok on that. My rent then was 1500 per month for a room. I don't see that prices have gone up on the basics all that much over the last decade...though my expectations did. What I spend on has changed over that time as I've learned, developed, had children, etc. Just part of life.

'Locals' have kids, pay for mortgages, buy furniture, pay car insurance, etc, etc...living like a local doesn't mean living cheaper...it means living like this is your locale...your home. Your average newly arrived foreign teacher doesn't bear these same expenses.

But then again, this is a thread about a Merida...sorry to the OP and others about the derailment.

Prof.Gringo · Posted: Tue Dec 27, 2011 2:11 pm Post subject:

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

No, I'm talking about expenses, including credit (which is not easy to get, nor is it free) and about cost of living. Staying short term doesn't bear that cost as well as a whole host of others associated with settling and living like a local.

New Haven · Joined: 05 Nov 2005 Posts: 52 Location: Merida, Mexico

EFLeducator, I am not quite sure where your listing of reasons to teach in Merida is coming from. I certainly don't see any upward mobility of the sort you describe. Upward mobility, when and if it happens, has more to do with who you know than merit. I'd venture to guess that that is true anywhere you go in Mexico, though private language schools are probably more inclined to promote based on merit than on connections.

Are Meridanos more friendly than Mexicans from other parts? I couldn't say. But anyone who's been here a while knows that friendliness can be awfully superficial and indeed can be a front for not very savory motives. In other words, friendliness is part and parcel of the culture and may have nothing to do with how locals feel about you.

Getting back to the issue of what attracts people to teach here if the salaries are so low: safety, burgeoning gringo community, good mix of cultural activities, and yes, a relatively laid back life style. Many non-local teachers are older, debt-free and have additional sources of income from abroad. So they can do quite nicely despite the low salaries. Meanwhile, those who must live entirely off their earnings tend to discover pretty quickly the near impossibility of making a go of it here.

Sharon

Phil_K · Joined: 25 Jan 2007 Posts: 2041 Location: A World of my Own

I've actually never been to M�rida. Is it as beautiful as the pictures, or like many towns/cities, fine as long as you don't stray too far from the central part? (Morelia comes to mind).

New Haven · Joined: 05 Nov 2005 Posts: 52 Location: Merida, Mexico

The downtown area is fairly extensive and beautiful with the plaza mayor as the focal point. There are other, smaller plazas in Centro, most with very old and beautiful churches. Moving north from Centro are the exurbs, where middle to upper class Mexicans live. Moving south from Centro is the poor side of town where most would not care to live. So it does, like most major cities, have an undesirable section, but perhaps it is smaller than in other places.

Sharon

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

The attraction for my cousins now living in Merida was simple - the heat. They love it and complained about how cold Mexico City was for them in the winter. Proximity to Progreso beach is a big plus for them too.

Heat and humidity isn't my thing but I will look forward to the beach access in visiting them.

New Haven · Joined: 05 Nov 2005 Posts: 52 Location: Merida, Mexico

Guy, that's what I don't like about Merida. But it's not just the heat...the humidity in combination with the heat can be brutal. I wouldn't venture here between March and October. Progreso is OK during the spring/summer; less so in the winter when the surf tends to get churned up, depositing lots of junk on the beach.

Still, if I were planning a visit, I'd come in the winter. Otherwise you could melt!
Sharon

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

I'm fine with it for short periods, like a vacation. I lived a pair of years in Acapulco and while that's nowhere near the levels you get in Merida, it became unbearable.

My cousins however must be lizards.

Isla Guapa · Posted: Tue Dec 27, 2011 9:28 pm Post subject:

Phil_K · Joined: 25 Jan 2007 Posts: 2041 Location: A World of my Own

geaaronson · Joined: 19 Apr 2005 Posts: 948 Location: Mexico City

Isla Guapa · Posted: Thu Dec 29, 2011 4:05 am Post subject:

Tretyakovskii · Joined: 14 Aug 2009 Posts: 462 Location: Cancun, Mexico

Merida has many things to commend it, but a look at the data will reveal just how hot it is, much of the time: we were there for eight days in February 2009, deciding whether we might like to live there, and found the heat to be unbearable.

http://www.weatherreports.com/Mexico/Merida/averages.html

Type in any city you'd like to compare- looking at the average number of days per month in which the high temperature is 90 degrees or more, for example.

Cancun, which can be miserably hot, has two months a year in which half or more of the days of the month have a high temperature of 90 degrees or above: Merida has eight such months a year, on average.