As you know, things are getting wild in the US of A and Abby and I have been considering our options, with Europe always a possibility due to Sean’s Irish passport. There are some downsides to the EU mostly associated with double taxation (Uncle Sam will always get his cut until we pop our clogs) and the cost of living, particularly housing. The 8-10 hour time difference from the West Coast doesn’t help either. So, here we are heading to Mexico City and its surrounds to check out the living situation.
In early February we fly to Phoenix and onto Mexico City, without mishap. On arrival, MEX airport is under renovation including the immigration area but, still, there’s no problem getting processed quickly, and we get our “Canje 30 days” notation (will explain later). The entire airport including arrivals is in construction chaos – In the US you typically remodel a section at a time, here it’s everything happening everywhere at the same time! Watch out for the ATM/Cajero Automaticos of the BBVA bank asking for a $10 US fee plus an appalling exchange rate, yet many people were still lining up to use them. We found another batch of ATMs being used by flight staff which got the fee down to $4 but I still screwed up and paid in USD which is a dumb mistake. Always keep the transaction on a card in the local currency, kids. Anyway, it was the usual airport arrival in a foreign country where you’re not familiar with the system. We went with Uber to the apartment and it was fine, whereas the unofficial taxis are to be avoided like the plague. There is heinous traffic on the way to the Juarez neighborhood as, on this route, there don’t seem to be turn filters on any of the traffic lights, or roundabouts for that matter, so it was a real grind getting to the Airbnb. We ran into a demo by employees of the public transportation system protesting about the lack of preventive maintenance on the subway system. Yikes! So glad not to be driving.
This Airbnb is privately owned with the owner living next door, so we don’t feel excessively guilty. As it turns out, Juarez is being rapidly gentrified, though we really had little idea of its current status other than that it is “safe”. It’s close to Roma, of recent movie fame, but also adjacent to the Doctores neighborhood, which is rough around the edges and dodgy in the middle. Our apartment is in an old building, spacious but very plain. These older buildings have no central heating or A/C and, it being early Spring, it gets cold at night so come prepared with appropriate clothing. Thankfully there are plenty of blankets and the two tiny space heaters get a workout once the sun goes down. Warmer weather is in the forecast for our stay.
We are right in the middle of the action with restaurants and bars a go-go but also many schools and colleges, churches and art events. On arrival, though, we are in survival mode and rush to collect supplies including large quantities of potable water as its out of the question to drink Mexico City tap water. By the way, Mexico City is now a state known as CDMX (Ciudad de Mexico) so the old “DF/District Federale” a la Washington DC is no more. Maybe not a big surprise, but the upmarket neighborhoods in CDMX are not cheap by any standards, in some respects not much cheaper than Portland. However, it varies greatly based on the demographics of a business’s customers. There are many painfully hip establishments with prices to match and, correspondingly, some very down-home economical joints. Some large discrepancies but, perhaps, not so different than home.
CDMX is up at 7000’ so be prepared for your body to notice that as your resting heart rate will, initially, increase by 10-30% and some may have headaches or slight nausea. That elevation does provide a very temperate climate with typical Spring high temps of 70-80F. but dipping down into the low 40s sometimes at night so, if your only experience of Mexico is the beach resorts, you’ll be in for a shock. The city has the second largest underground Metro system in the Americas, second only to NYC, plus a Metrobus system with dedicated lanes, so getting a Metrocard (MI) is essential given traffic is unrelenting awful, and we do that as a top priority. The fare is $5 MXN or, an amazing $0.30 USD. We will report back on our experiences on board.
The first couple of days are spent just getting set up in our new, temporary, home as we’ll be in town for a full month, plus preparing for our “Canje”(exchange) appointment on Friday at the INM immigration office where we’ll exchange our visas for residency cards. The elevation takes a bit of an adjustment, and the city is full-on, so it’s a lot to process initially. Will let you know how the Canje goes.
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