Job Discussion Forums

[Fitzgerald]

For the past four years, I have been teaching internationally - one year at a language school in Changwon, Korea, three years at a prepa in Culiacan, Mexico. Having tired of Culiacan - a famously dangerous and also somewhat dreary city - I decided to look for a job teaching at an international high school elsewhere in Mexico. It is looking like a near-lock that I will be teaching at one of several prepas on the west side of Mexico City, in the Cuajimalpa and Alvaro Obregon boroughs, thanks to professional assistance from a participant in this forum.

Mexico City will be entirely new to me, and I am very interested in getting to know it. My reading Spanish is passable, my speaking-and-listening Spanish not what I'd wish it to be (which is surprising after three years here, but I hope to improve it).

I'll be looking for a similar living situation to the one I've had here in Culiacan - a nice two-bedroom furnished apartment in a pleasant neighborhood. I live alone with three delightful cats, all adopted locally, who will be coming with me.

I will not have a car, so I'll be using public transportation, and taxicabs to some extent. I'm curious, is the subway system reasonably safe? I've heard that one has to be careful about street taxis (which I've had no trouble with in Culiacan).

I would certainly like to live close to the school I wind up at. In Culiacan I have a two-bus commute (the school where I work is not in a residential area). This takes 45 minutes in the morning, 75 minutes at night. Although I do get reading done on the bus, I'd like to reduce that time.

Any insights are appreciated, especially with respect to those two particular boroughs. What boroughs or parts of the city are to be avoided?

[Guy Courchesne]

Very generally speaking, you'll want to avoid the entire east end of the city, drawing a line at Tlalpan north to south (not so much for danger but as for inconvenience in transport).

Pretty much everything west, south, and southwest is middle to upper-class area.

The Cuajimalpa area is southwest Mexico City and mixed between very plush and middle class. It will be a bit difficult to find a 2 bedroom furnished apartment at a decent price.

A good area to be in at a decent price is San Miguel Chapultepec. You'll have a relatively decent commute at 30-45 minutes and your rental prices reasonable.

It's possible to check into the old part of Cuajimalpa and find very good prices on rentals. I've spent a lot of time recently in this area and really like the family feel of it, though it is now being surrounded by new money and big box store construction.

[Fitzgerald]

[mtiz]

Yes, the rent in Mexico City can be pretty high, especially for the kind of quality you may be used to. Housing can be one of the biggest expenses if you are not willing to compromise on some things. Public transport is super easy to use, the metro is great and is definitely safe, just guard your pockets, as on any metro anywhere.

[BadBeagleBad]

[Fitzgerald]

[MotherF]

I don't have experience in Mexico City, but in other parts of the country, it's not that hard to find a used fridge. Most repair places will sell refurbished ones and even give you a warranty of a couple of months on it.