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SmallBigWorld
Joined: 16 Oct 2007
Posts: 11
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 Posted: Sun Oct 28, 2007 10:22 am Post subject: Mexico's Best Cities... |
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...where are they?
My wife and I are two Angelenos with TEFL certification and experience, looking forward to a move to Mexico in January. Where should we go?We'd like to make big-city (not rural) money, and are interested in places which are clean(er) and hopefully beautiful*, with a lively cultural life. A large selection of language schools would be nice, too.
So what are your favorite cities, folks?
(An idea of money/hours/aparment cost would be very helpful, as we have very little up-to-date info. Thanks!)
*We used to teach in Korea... |
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TheLongWayHome
Joined: 07 Jun 2006
Posts: 1016
Location: San Luis Piojosi
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| Posted: Sun Oct 28, 2007 5:19 pm Post subject: |
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| Queretaro is fairly big, and one of my favourites but it sounds like Guadalajara, Mexico City or Monterrey woud be more up your street if you're looking for the big city experience. These are expensive places to live, though with both of you working you should easily be able to live well. |
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FreddyM
Joined: 05 Jan 2006
Posts: 180
Location: Mexico
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| Posted: Sun Oct 28, 2007 7:42 pm Post subject: |
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The current issue of Inversionitsta magazine has the Top 15 cities to live in Mexico (excluding the three biggest, D.F., Monterrey, and Guadalajara). It's based on a lot of factors, ESL teaching not being one of them.
Their top 15:
15. Los Mochis, Sinaloa
14. Ensenada, Baja California,
13. Villahermosa, Tabasco
12. Orizaba, Veracruz
11. Cuernavaca, Morelos
10. Puebla, Puebla
9. Ciudad Obregon, Sonora
8. Merida, Yucatan
7. Mexicali, Baja California
6. Toluca, Estado de Mexico
5. Torreon, Coahuila
4. Aguascalientes, Aguascalientes
3. San Luis Potosi, San Luis Potosi
2. Saltillo, Coahuila
1. Queretaro, Queretaro
I've never lived in any of these places. I've visited Toluca, and have heard a lot of bad things about Torreon. So, the list might be suspect.
The website is www.inversionista.com.mx if you want to read more. |
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travelman
Joined: 26 Jan 2007
Posts: 12
Location: Buenos Aires, Argentina
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| Posted: Sun Oct 28, 2007 8:31 pm Post subject: |
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Toluca sucks...
I taught ESL in it and just came back last month because it was terrible...
Seriously, that city is cold, boring, and the people are supposedly very cold (which I would actually agree with...).
Pay isn't that great either... |
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TheLongWayHome
Joined: 07 Jun 2006
Posts: 1016
Location: San Luis Piojosi
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| Posted: Sun Oct 28, 2007 10:32 pm Post subject: |
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| FreddyM wrote: |
3. San Luis Potosi, San Luis Potosi
2. Saltillo, Coahuila
1. Queretaro, Queretaro |
Queretaro's proximity to Mexico City makes it the perfect place to live and work if you can't stand Mexico City itself. I'm not surprised SLP is up there as it too is only 4 hours from Mexico City. It's not the most exciting place to live, and doesn't feel like a city but it is growing at an incredible rate - more industry means more people who need to learn English. It's still relatively cheap to live here too. |
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Guy Courchesne
Joined: 10 Mar 2003
Posts: 9650
Location: Mexico City
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| Posted: Mon Oct 29, 2007 12:10 am Post subject: |
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| Queretaro deserves that number 1 ranking...it's a boom town right now. I'm surprised to see Toluca and Torreon on the list. |
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dixie
Joined: 23 Apr 2006
Posts: 644
Location: D.F
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| Posted: Mon Oct 29, 2007 1:00 am Post subject: |
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I lived in Torreon, and would never live there again. Not an exciting city, far away from most places so it makes travelling difficult and long and in the school I worked at was horrible (and from what one current staffer says, sounds like it has only gotten worse [this is a private elementray school though, not a language school]). Actually, I don�t remember meeting anyone there who was teaching at a language school.
When I "lived" in Monterrey for three weeks, I found it to be surprisingly clean and it is certainly a large city. There are also culture points, musuems and the such to check out. |
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GueroPaz
Joined: 07 Sep 2007
Posts: 216
Location: Thailand or Mexico
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| Posted: Mon Oct 29, 2007 1:29 am Post subject: |
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Maybe I'm different, but in all the big cities where I've lived, they were just too big to know everything and everybody. So, I found myself voluntarily restricted to certain neighborhoods (such as work and home), venues, activities, and acquaintances. Houston, for example: five neighborhoods, and a couple of beaches an hour away. Has anybody ever had a thousand real friends, or known every nook and cranny of D.F.?
I'm thinking that Puerto Veracruz has the size, antiquity, vibrancy, culture and ambiance that I'm looking for. Hope I'm right! |
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Guy Courchesne
Joined: 10 Mar 2003
Posts: 9650
Location: Mexico City
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| Posted: Mon Oct 29, 2007 1:38 am Post subject: |
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| Quote: |
| or known every nook and cranny of D.F.? |
Too big...even if you tried, things change quickly enough that you'd miss out on things.
I find chilangos themselves stick to certain areas. You could live your whole life in a place like Ecatepec in the north and never see Xochimilco.
I've traveled around most of the city, but there are still huge swathes I've never been to, mostly the east side of town. But, having traveled around most of it, I've gotten good at giving directions to taxi drivers, who are often at a loss if you ask them to take you out of their 'zone'. |
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M@tt
Joined: 16 Jan 2003
Posts: 473
Location: here and there
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| Posted: Mon Oct 29, 2007 4:09 am Post subject: |
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sorry to be a wet rag but there isn't much culture to be found in veracruz (city) unless you are looking for a vibrant transvestite scene. it's surprisingly one-track minded--parties.
orizaba is definitely a miss, too.
the other cities i know are merida and queretaro and puebla.
i liked qro best, then merida, then puebla. |
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SmallBigWorld
Joined: 16 Oct 2007
Posts: 11
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| Posted: Mon Oct 29, 2007 5:48 am Post subject: |
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Wow. One day and nine responses. Thanks for your opinions, everyone. I'd never heard of Queretaro, but I've just done a bit of preliminary research about it and it sounds perfect for us!
I'm guessing from your enthusiastic responses the city must also be a good place to find ESL work. Is this true, or will it be much harder going because it isn't one of te 'major' cities? (That is, are there a number of schools hiring in the area? Could my wife and I arrive in January with the expectation of finding work reasonably quickly?) |
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Phil_K
Joined: 25 Jan 2007
Posts: 2041
Location: A World of my Own
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| Posted: Mon Oct 29, 2007 5:36 pm Post subject: |
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| I will throw in my 2 cents for Quer�taro as well. Add the proximity of San Miguel Allende, DF, Bernal, Tequisquiapan, SLP - well, just about everywhere. There are lots of schools, and the weather is just about perfect - not too hot or cold. If fact, we are thinking of buying a weekend home in the state of Quer�taro! |
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hlamb
Joined: 09 Dec 2003
Posts: 431
Location: Canada
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| Posted: Tue Oct 30, 2007 4:47 pm Post subject: |
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| GueroPaz wrote: |
| Maybe I'm different, but in all the big cities where I've lived, they were just too big to know everything and everybody. So, I found myself voluntarily restricted to certain neighborhoods (such as work and home), venues, activities, and acquaintances. |
I actually find myself running into friends and acquintances more often in Cuernavaca than I ever did in small-town Veracruz. It seems like every time I'm in the centre I see someone I know. I don't pretend to know this city well but it feels a lot friendlier to me. |
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GueroPaz
Joined: 07 Sep 2007
Posts: 216
Location: Thailand or Mexico
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| Posted: Wed Oct 31, 2007 1:30 am Post subject: |
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| hlamb wrote: |
| GueroPaz wrote: |
| Maybe I'm different, but in all the big cities where I've lived, they were just too big to know everything and everybody. So, I found myself voluntarily restricted to certain neighborhoods (such as work and home), venues, activities, and acquaintances. |
I actually find myself running into friends and acquaintances more often in Cuernavaca than I ever did in small-town Veracruz. It seems like every time I'm in the centre I see someone I know. I don't pretend to know this city well but it feels a lot friendlier to me. |
Come to mention it, I was going through security in the Veracruz first class bus station in 2001, after I hadn't been in Puerto Madero for many months. Then I ran into Carlos, my old buddy from the beach (and from Honduras), who let me know that my old Hondureno houseboy had finally made it past the checkpoint by the King Ranch and got all the way to Houston. That same day, wearing a tshirt from Acteal and X'oyep, I walked into an internet cafe in Veracruz and the lady there was ecstatic to view the tshirt.
The buses that cross the Isthmus of Tehuantepec always stop at a certain all-night restaurant, where more than once, survivors of the massacre of Acteal recognized me! Maybe it was the blond ponytail.
"Small town Veracruz?" Are you referring to the puerto, with almost a million habitantes in the metro area? I notice that very few expatriates appear to be there (judging from these internet forums).
More on topic: speaking of favorite Mexican cities, my daughter who teaches geniuses and artists in San Antonio takes a big group of students to Zacatecas every year, and they stay in Mexico's highest state capital. Not that I want to be so high and cold, but are there any jobs in Zacatecas City? |
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dixie
Joined: 23 Apr 2006
Posts: 644
Location: D.F
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| Posted: Wed Oct 31, 2007 2:07 am Post subject: |
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| are there any jobs in Zacatecas City? |
Not that I have ever heard of. I took my grade fours there last year on a week trip and it was a nice city (my first time there) but certainly cold!!
I don�t think, for whatever reason, there is a high demand for English teachers there (be it language school or private). |
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