Hace dos años, me mudé a México. (Two years ago, I moved to Mexico). While there was (and still is) lots of talk about building a pared (wall), I prefer building puentes (bridges). It was one of the best decisions I ever made! My friends and family are always wondering “¿Por qué me encanta vivir en México?” (Why do I love living in Mexico?). Well, I’ll try to answer that question in this post.
Soy de los Estados Unidos, pero vivo en México.
Lo que amo de México
What I love about Mexico
There’s a lot to love about Mexico – la cultura, la comida, la gente, el estilo de vida y mucho más (the culture, the food, the people, the lifestyle, and much more).
I’ll take a closer look at each one of these and share some thoughts about why I love living in Mexico.
La Cultura
Estoy muy interesado en la cultura mexicana (I’m very interested in Mexican culture). Ever since I broke into my first piñata at a birthday party as a young niño, I’ve been interested in Mexican culture.
Me gustan las fiestas mexicanas, por ejemplo el Día de Muertos (I like Mexican holidays, for example Day of the Dead). I’ve always been fascinated with the Day of the Dead, and it’s not just because I’m an avid Grateful Dead fan!
Image by Thacher Gallery at the University of San Francisco from flickr.com.
I love how Mexico celebrates the dead and the lives they led rather than just mourn them. It’s such a colorful festival, highlighted by the ofrendas (altars) full of flowers, incense, pictures and more. People put these in their homes and at the graves of loved ones.
I mean, just look at this desfile (parade) from Day of the Dead in Mexico City! How amazing does that look?
También me encanta el arte y la música mexicana (I also love Mexican art and music). Whether it’s famous artists like Diego Rivera and Frida Kahlo or the cool arte callejero (street art) that seems to be around every corner in CDMX, there’s so much amazing art all over the country.
Mariachi en la plaza.
As a music lover, Mexico is a great place to live. From mariachi in the plaza, to banda at the Carnaval celebrations in Mazatlán, to rock bands in dive bars cranking it up to 11, there’s awesome music everywhere you go here.
La Comida
I know that food falls under the general umbrella of culture, but la comida mexicana es muy especial (Mexican food is very special). It definitely deserves its own heading in this blog post!
It’s well known that me encantan los tacos (I love tacos). Who doesn’t? Forget Taco Tuesday, I want Taco EVERY Day! I’m not kidding – puedo comer tacos todos los días (I can eat tacos every day). Tacos dorados, tacos al pastor, tacos de pescado – ¡Quiero comer todos los tacos! (I want to eat all the tacos!).
Mmmm… tacos.
While tacos are great, there’s so much more to Mexican cuisine. I love eating a good bowl of pozole, digging in to a spicy plate of aguachile, sitting down to some enchiladas, or just snacking on some totopos y guacamole. There’s a reason Mexican food is popular all over the world – ¡Es múy délicioso! (It’s very delicious!).
La Gente
Los mexicanos son muy amigables (Mexican people are very friendly). From the very first day we set foot in Mexico, we’ve been welcomed with open arms. Let me tell you a little story about our journey into the country to show you…
We took the bus from Austin to Monterrey when we moved to Mexico, and were the only gringos on board. At the border crossing, we had to get off to get our paperwork as tourists. The guards not only cracked jokes with us, but also offered us some of their dinner as they knew we had been waiting a while!
Our amazing hosts.
Once we got to Monterrey, our Airbnb host picked us up and brought us to his place. The next morning, he brought over a delicious homemade breakfast that his mom whipped up for us. He then took us on a tour of his city, helped us get SIM cards, and brought us to one of his favorite restaurants for lunch. In all our years of traveling in two dozen or so countries, we’ve never experienced such hospitality!
El estilo de vida
To be entirely honest, I’m not cut out for the estilo de vida americano (American lifestyle). People are way too obsessed with work, money, and material things. Sure, people care about their work and like to have nice things in Mexico, but these things don’t take priority over family, friends, and enjoying your life.
One thing I love about living in Puerto Vallarta is how people always gather in the town’s plaza on the weekends. On Friday evenings, there are often payasos (clowns) who entertain the children. The place is packed on Sundays, when locals come out to eat comida de la calle (street food) and bailar (dance). ¡Es una noche muy divertida! (It’s a very fun night!).
The plaza in front of the church is a popular meeting place.
I really enjoy how people of all ages come out to these public spaces on a regular basis to have a good time together. Forget “Netflix and chill” – I’d much rather be outside enjoying an evening with actual people.
I also have to add that I love a good siesta (nap). I’m so much happier and more productive when I get to take a little snooze in the middle of the day! I’ll never understand why Americans brag about working overtime and not taking their vacation days…
Hopefully this post has shown you a bit about why I love living in Mexico so much, and I hope you learned some useful Spanish in the process.
To be honest, mi español no es muy bueno (my Spanish isn’t very good). That’s yet another thing I love about living here – people are very patient and encouraging with my crappy gringo Spanish. It’s been an amazing couple of years in Mexico, and I just got back a few weeks ago for another long stay. ¡Viva México!
**If you’re curious to know more about life in Mexico, we just put together our first video podcast about living in Puerto Vallarta. I’d love it if you checked it out. ¡Muchas gracias a todos!**
About the Author:sasha
Sasha is an English teacher, writer, photographer, and videographer from the great state of Michigan. Upon graduating from Michigan State University, he moved to China and spent 5+ years living, working, studying, and traveling there. He also studied Indonesian Language & Culture in Bali for a year. He and his wife run the travel blog Grateful Gypsies, and they’re currently trying the digital nomad lifestyle across Latin America.
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