Job Discussion Forums

[vic101]

I�m looking at arriving in Mexico at the beginning of July this year after teaching EFL in Guatemala.
I�ve been looking at the following places as possibilities to teach in; Morelia, Queretaro, Guanajuato, Pachuca, Toluca, Puebla, Xalapa.
Some things that are important to me when it comes to selecting a place are:
- a place which will present good work opportunities
- non touristy
- a mild climate with little air pollution
- people are friendly
and I�m a yoga enthusiast so I�m hoping to find somewhere I might also be able to train as a yoga teacher too.
I would really appreciate if anybody could share with me any experiences that they may have had in these places.
Thanks for all your help.
Vikky

[thelmadatter]

I live in Toluca, so I can answer most of your questions about here.

1) good work opportunities - check (for the most part)

2) non-touristy - definitely check... Toluca is an industrial town, in fact most locals here have little or no experience with foreigners and sometimes I get the "deer in the headlights" look when they realize I am not Mexican (which happens after about 3 words leave my mouth ja jaja )

3) mild climate? well, in comparison to the Northern US and Canada... definitely. However, Toluca can be quite chilly in the winter, mostly in late Dec and all of January. Low at or a bit below the freezing point but no insulation in any of the buildings makes it feel colder. Rainy season in the summer keeps Toluca from ever getting really warm. I think Toluca is the major city with the highest altitude, so give yourself a few days to a week to adjust to the lower oxygen level.

There is a fair amount of polluction, esp in eastern Toluca and Lerma (due east on the Toluca-Mexico highway) because of the factories. In the western part and if you go a little bit outside of Toluca, the air quality improves dramatically.

4) friendly - no check... Toluca has a reputation with other Mexicans for being "cold" and "closed" I have not had any of the heart-warming experiences that a number of other posters in other parts of Mexico have had with people helping them out and all.

5) I believe I saw a couple of places that teach yoga... what level... I dont know.. I know one of them is called the Relax Center in Metepec

[MELEE]

If your serious about the non touristy thing you can eliminate Guanajuato and Morelia. Guanajuato is one of the most touristy cities (is touristy an adjective that can have a comparative?) in Mexico. Right up there with Oaxaca, San Cristobal, etc. Morelia less so, but Morelia is very charming. I lived there for seven months last year, but wasn't teaching nor looking for jobs. There does seem to be a lot of potential there for work, but like I said, I wasn't looking at the time. There was some yoga going on there, but most of the yoga in Mexico is this one sort of wierd kind of yoga, whose name is GFU. I don't believe they have much of a presence outside of Mexico. But they make you wear all white during class, and promote taking cold showers before and after practice
The climate is also fairly mild in Morelia.
Queretaro is probably promising, I only was there for a week once, maybe someone else will have more to say about it. Xalapa is very nice, and its very cultural. Puebla is also a nice city, probably the largest on your list, I feel like the center of town is fairly polluted in terms of having narrow street with lots of traffic. Puebla has quite a few job openings, there is a poster or two in the area so I'll let them say more. Pachuca is a complete unkown for me. You should go there for the sake of informing the board!

[Cdaniels]

Isla Mujeres is famous for yoga and yoga retreats. It is kinda touristy, but the hurricane really damaged local reefs that are popular for snorkling and diving.
Actually I'm a bit puzzled about why you would think there would be much yoga around. Yoga isn't exactly a traditional Mexican past-time, in fact, exercise in general is still a strange idea for many Mexicans. Would you consider thinking of Mexico City or other larger cities? Of course, then the issue of pollution comes up. Maybe you should think about adjusting your expectations a little?
Sorry if I sound harsh but it does seem to me like the OP's asking a lot.

[thelmadatter]

I dont know if the yoga question was so strange...


For some reason there's A LOT of Tae Kwon Do instruction in Toluca and Mexico did all right in the last Olympics (I remember watching the Mexican young woman in the female heavyweight class competition and thought "you go girl!" )

[Brady]

Just a few words on Queretaro, its growing quickly, so theres work opportunities, especially for native speakers. the climates nice, but im from Canada, so i think anything other than freezing rain and sleet in march is nice. Friendly, not really. Closed minded folk everywhere, and i get a lot of prolonged stares, but then again im white 6'3 and have rastas. i think that also answers the not very touristly question too.

[M@tt]

hi
my very unscientific votes, mostly based on hearsay and very short trips to these cities, are: QRO, MOR, and XAL (in that order).

puebla is somewhat polluted, the people are not very friendly, and the weather is cold for mexico. toluca is polluted, and numerous mexicans have told me it's the coldest city in the country. guanajutao is nice but it's probably the most touristy of the places you mentioned. it's also very small, maybe 100,000 people. i would go stir crazy there.

i've been to pachuca, it' small and just struck me as unattractive and dull. i'm sure there are hidden gems there but i wouldn't want to call it home.

i really like morelia. it's slow, quiet, fairly clean, not too touristy, decent climate. QRO used to be like that but it's growing much much more, and probably offers more in terms of work. it's a nice city, i tried to get work there a couple years ago after spending months and months asking questions like yours. i think i drove half of this board nuts in the process. xalapa is about 300,000, lots of students, green and clean, probably some yoga going on, people are friendly. very hilly, somewhat hip but virtually no tourists. really, none of these three cities receive many foreign tourists.

i would start with QRO.

[Cdaniels]

[delacosta]

Actually here in Zipolite we have an incredible yoga center called Solstice. The teacher, Bridgette was trained in India and does occasionally offer teacher training. She is an incredible teacher and often does intensive retreats here and throughout Mexico and abroad.
Here's the link: http://www.solstice-mexico.com/

[MELEE]

One thing I was going to mention, but didn't because I'm not an authority on yoga, is that there are often short retreat type courses that are sometimes also teacher training courses held in Mexico. But they are run by North Americans, aimed at the North American market, they are in English and usually out of most Mexican's price range.
I currently work with a teacher who is also a yoga teacher, we don't have much free time in our job, but she does manage to teach a twice a week class in town. Most of her students are other professors or students from the university. There is one other yoga teacher in town who teaches the GFU style, which is also wrapped up in Catholicism, the locals who are interested in yoga seem to prefer those classes to those of my coworker (which are secular).

[vic101]

Thanks everybody for your information that you have taken
the time to share.

[sickbag]

Whoever said Puebla is cold is wrong. Puebla is hot - very hot at the moment. And very dry until the rainy season and consequently pretty chilly (at night at least) during January and February. The centre is pretty nice (colonial buildings etc) but the rest is pretty much a concrete sprawl. Yoga? No idea.

There may be a job going from August at our school. PM if you're interested.

[Guy Courchesne]

I liked Puebla...a photographer's dream. I see it as the city of churches.

I was there in a January, and it was warmer than DF.







Then you've got Popocatepetl, though I couldn't get a decent photo.

[MO39]

Guy,

If you want to get a close-up of view of El Popo, suitable for photographing, I seem to remember that there's a very nice national park at the foot of the volcano itself, complete with hiking paths and even a lodge for overnight stays. Check it out on your next visit to that area.

MO

[sickbag]

Went on a trip with the school and stayed in some cabins up near Popo - took this photo at about 7am. This was in December and the air was refreshing, to say the least.