- Today I am in Juriquilla
just outside of Queretaro, Mexico
and I'm gonna show you all sorts of different US businesses
that you can find right here.
Seriously, within like a three block radius
you would probably think you were in the US
if you didn't know any better.
So let's get right into it.
The first place is right behind me here, it's Denny's.
As it turns out, Denny's is a really
popular breakfast joint for Mexicans.
When I first saw Denny's here,
I went and I thought it was gonna be filled with Gringos,
but no it was filled with Mexicans
and you can get your grand slam breakfast here.
The menu is pretty much exactly the same as it is in the US.
And if you ever want your eggs over easy,
over medium, or over hard, Denny's is one
of the only places that's going to know
what the heck you're talking about.
And then I do a little 180 from Denny's here,
and you have Starbucks.
Starbucks is super popular in Mexico
and there's a ton of locations around the country.
But what is uncommon is this one has a drive-through.
I walk like 10 feet over
to the next little shopping center here,
and here you can find an Anytime Fitness and a Pizza Hut.
So I came right across the street
and you probably don't know this brand,
but Superama is actually a grocery store owned by Walmart
and you can actually do pickup orders here
from walmart.com.mx.
And just outside of superama,
there's a GNC and a Sally Beauty Supply
which are both very common brands in Mexico.
And then, literally right next
to those stores is a Home Depot.
From the very first restaurant I showed you,
Denny's, to Home Depot, you can walk here
in like one to two minutes.
They're all super close.
I was just asked, what kind of cars can you buy in Mexico?
Well, I'll show you a few in the parking lot here.
Here's a Volkswagen SUV, next one's a Suzuki,
next one's a BMW, Honda.
So you have a lot of the same brands here
that you do in the US.
By the way, if you're into cycling or mountain biking,
there's actually a Cannondale bike store here.
Now I have to figure out
how I'm gonna get across this busy road
because right across the street here
is the jackpot of US brands.
(car engine revving)
Okay, one more to go, victory.
I can't say that I've ever been to an IHOP in Mexico,
but here's one right here in Juriquilla.
And in this same area as IHOP, you have Domino's Pizza
and I do a 180, and there's a Carl's Jr.
If you look way across this busy street over here,
you'll see a Buffalo Wild Wings.
Buffalo Wild Wings is actually a restaurant
I was really missing for quite a while
when I was living in Mexico.
And I thought there weren't any locations in Mexico.
But as it turns out, there's at least two locations.
No, I think there's more than two here in Queretaro
and I've also since seen a location
in the Mexico city airport.
So I've had that quite a few times
since moving to Queretaro.
A lot of people are shocked when they find out
that there's HEB locations in Mexico.
HEB is a brand that I think started in Texas.
It's actually one that I wasn't familiar with in the US
and they have a lot of locations in Mexico
but almost all of the locations are in Mexican states
that very few foreigners live.
You have Tamaulipas, Nuevo Leon, and Coahuila
like the states right next to Texas.
But outside of those three states
there aren't very many locations
but there are two here in Queretaro.
I recently made a video talking
about various common products and brands in the US
that are quite hard to find here in Mexico.
And in that video, in the comments,
a lot of people were saying, "Hey, go check out HEB
because a lot of the the staff
you're having trouble finding, you can find at HEB.
And I hadn't been here, but I like the looks of this so far.
Like the first thing I notice is that almost
the whole parking lot has covered parking.
They have shade for almost every car in the parking lot
but let's go inside HEB and see which of those products,
those hard-to-find products, we can find here.
I felt like security was eyeing me outside
when they saw my camera.
So I'm guessing they're gonna tell me
not to record in here if they see me,
so I put the camera away to come in
and I'm gonna try to record discretely in the aisles.
The first thing I was looking for from that video
was in the produce section for lemons.
And I looked all over there
and there weren't any lemons to be found.
But it was a very impressive produce section.
I really like the looks of the store so far.
This is pretty cool.
They have a whole popcorn section
where they pop their own popcorn here and bag it.
I like that.
It doesn't seem like they have a big selection
of popcorn left because the store is really,
really busy right now.
You know what
I just found that I don't think I've ever seen anywhere
in Mexico before and I included in that video is Cool Whip.
This isn't the Cool Whip brand
but I'm pretty sure this is an off brand Cool Whip.
Now let's go down the candy aisle
and see if I can find Licorice.
I'm guessing no because I've literally only seen it
in one store in my four years in Mexico.
So I'm guessing HEB is not going to be the exception.
So I confirmed that there is no Liquorice here
but I did find some hard to find candies
like candies that are common in the US
but hard to find here, like Candy Corn
and they have some others like Smarties.
But I noticed the brand is Hill Country Fair
and that's the same brand that,
that off brand Cool Whip was.
So I'm guessing that's HEBs house brand.
So now I'm gonna check out the cookies and crackers aisle
because I mentioned three types of crackers in that video
that are hard to find here.
Wheat Thins, Triscuits, and Cheez its.
So let's see if they have any of them.
So it turns out they have a whole lot of Ritz crackers
and the Mexican equivalent of Saltines
but they went 0/3 in the cracker section,
no Cheez its, no Triscuits, and no Wheat Thins.
Their cracker section was actually pretty sad here.
I think I'd have better luck at Walmart.
I can at least get Wheat Thins sometimes at Walmart.
In that video I mentioned that it's hard
to find the original flavor of Fritos
and here they have lime and salt, and chili and lime.
But they do not have the original flavor.
However, they have HEBs brand
of Texas Corn Dippers or something.
So maybe that's like Fritos, but no they do not have
the original kind of Fritos.
And while I'm in the chip aisle, I also mentioned
that it's hard to find barbecue flavor chips.
So let's see if they have that.
So in regards to the barbecue flavor chips,
they don't have any in stock right now
but I just did see a couple of price tags
that are for barbecue flavor.
So it is something they carry.
They just must be popular.
Next, we have the soda aisle.
In that video, I mentioned it's hard to find Mountain Dew,
Root Beer, and Dr. Pepper.
So we'll see if they have those.
So it looks like they have real Dr. Pepper,
the HEB brand of Root Beer,
but Mountain Dew, nowhere to be seen.
I really liked HEB.
I think I'll have to start shopping here.
They had some of the things on that list
from that video I made about products
that are hard to find in Mexico,
but they didn't even come close to covering the whole list.
However, when you combine HEB with CHEDRAUI Selecto,
Walmart, Sam's Club, and Costco,
well, then I can probably find about half of the things
on that list, but it's still a challenge
and it means going all over the city.
But yeah, I'll definitely check out HEB more often.
Oh, by the way, for the first time ever
in my four years in Mexico,
yesterday when I was at the gym my phone said that I had 5G
and when I was out today in Juriquilla filming this video,
I noticed that everywhere I went, I also had 5G.
So it would seem that 5G cell phone service
just came to Queretaro.
And by the way, if you're curious
my cell phone service provider is Telcel.
For dinner tonight I decided to break
from the American theme
and come to one of my favorite restaurants
in the city, Korean Grill.
I got this awesome New York prime steak for 350 Pesos
that comes with all the authentic Korean accoutrements.
And I also got a tofu salad, which is totally incredible.
I first had the tofu salad when I got the tasting menu here
and I loved it, and I get it every time since then.
But I am excited for this.
I'm gonna cook up my meat and have an awesome meal here.
Normally, they cook the meats for you at the table.
But since I've seen them do it so many times,
I know exactly how it's done
and I just wanna do it myself tonight.
(upbeat music)
Oh, it's so good.
This meat is always so good.
It's the most tender easiest to chew, super flavorful.
I love it so much.
Korean Grill is always so satisfying.
I love this restaurant so much.
And by the way, I could totally do an entire video here
in Juriquilla on like the Japanese and Korean culture.
There's lots of Japanese and Korean stores and Asian stores
and hotels and restaurants, all sort of stuff like that.
But if that sounds like something that would be
of interest to you, let me know in the comments below.
So this morning I'm at one of my friend's dental offices
here in La Colonia La Joya in Queretaro for a cleaning.
And this is my friend Vanessa.
- Hello.
(both laughing)
- So this cleaning is gonna be 600 Pesos
but she also has a promotion every Monday and Friday
that if you have two people, it's two for 700.
(upbeat music)
(both laughing)
(upbeat music)
Bad news, I have two cavities, small ones
but they're still there.
A major difference between dentist visits in the US
and here in Mexico, is that in the US
the dental assistant will do the cleaning
and then the dentist will come in and do the exam
but here the dentist does everything.
And I have two cavities right down here
and she's going to fix them today,
same appointment so I don't have to come back
which I really appreciate.
(both laughing)
(dental machine drilling)
- So that cleaning was 600 pesos.
And to fill each cavity with 600,
so a total of 1800 pesos for today's visit.
If you come here, I'll leave her information on the screen
like her Instagram with the address
and phone number and everything.
But if you come here, you'll see that
there's no signage up or anything.
And it just looks like a house out front
that's because she recently switched locations
and is still waiting on the permits
to be able to put her signage up.
By the way she doesn't speak English.
So if you're okay with a dentist appointment in all Spanish,
I would recommend you come here.
And I know I'm going to get questions
like is that your girlfriend?
Are you two dating?
No, we have hung out in the past,
but I'm gonna crush your dreams right now
and tell you that we are literally just friends.
So I just ordered my Uber and now I'm gonna head to Costco.
(car engine revving)
So I had always had the regular Costco membership
which is 500 pesos here,
but I recently upgraded to the executive membership
which is 1100 pesos.
And when I did that, I got a bunch of coupons
for like 50% off a number of things in the store
as well as a free hot dog and fountain drink here.
So this is my first time ever trying a hot dog.
It's actually my first time ever eating
at a food court in a Costco in Mexico.
So I'm gonna give this a try.
When I was putting on the toppings for this
I noticed they had different toppings
than they do in the US.
Here they have mustard, ketchup, onions, or jalapenos.
There was no relish.
Hot dogs normally grows me out
but like they're all beef here.
So that makes me feel much better about eating it.
Pretty good. That hot dog was actually really darn good.
I might have to get that more often.
I just came into the main entrance here of Costco
and for the first time in a long time
basically since COVID started,
they weren't doing temperature checks at the entrance here.
When shopping at Costco in Mexico,
I find that about half or maybe 75% of the products
are about the same as what you're gonna find
in the US Costco and the rest is catered
towards the local market.
And as for prices, they're similar to the US.
However, here in Mexico you have to remember
that everything on every price tag includes a 16% sales tax
whereas the prices you see in Costco in the US
that's before sales tax is added.
So I'm looking around the dog section
and it appears they have no more Bully Sticks.
I talked about those in a recent video.
So if you're one of those who came to the Queretaro Costco
after you saw that video to buy your dog those Bully Sticks,
you have deprived Laska of them
because there's none left. (laughs)
I'm not saying I blame you, but Laska might. (laughs)
So I was getting Laska this purple adult dog food,
Kirkland Signature brand.
But my vet told me to start getting her this one.
It's the Mature Dog for older dogs
and that has like glucose mean
and a other stuff that helps older dogs.
I am actually shocked right now.
This is the first time I've ever seen anything
golf related in store in Costco in Mexico.
They have some golf related stuff on costco.com.mx
but they do not carry the Kirkland golf balls
on the website.
I have bought the set of three wedges
on the Costco Mexico website,
but I've literally never seen these.
So it looks like it's 670 pesos for two dozen.
I'm becoming more and more Mexican
because anytime I have a stomach ailment,
anytime my stomach is upset at all,
this is my one stop cure all, Yakult.
Ran into some fans here. (laughs) Say hi.
I was hoping they would have
the Tillamook brand Sharp Cheddar Cheese here,
but no luck for me today unfortunately.
(upbeat music)
What are the odds? I ran into some more fans.
(upbeat music)
These are the longest checkout lines
I've ever seen in my life at Costco.
It's not like it's black Friday or something.
This is just your average Tuesday.
So I'm wondering if maybe there's something wrong
with their systems because the lines
are almost to the back of the store, it's crazy.
All right, all checked out
and now I just wait for my Uber.
By the way, whenever you're at a grocery store in Mexico
or like a Walmart, anywhere where there's a bagger
or someone bagging your groceries,
you always tip them because these are unpaid employees.
Well, they're not actually employees,
they're unpaid helpers who rely solely on tips.
The one exception is Costco.
Here, they do not work on tips
and they're not even allowed to accept tips.
By the way, every time you come out of Costco
there will be guys at the exit asking you
if you need help to your car,
they'll push your cart to your car,
help you load everything into your car if you want that.
And these guys also like gather up the carts
in the parking lot.
They do work on tips, unlike the baggers here.
So be sure to throw them a little something
if they help you out.
I've noticed that throughout Mexico,
almost every nice car has license plates
from the state of Morelos.
And Morelos is one of the smallest
if not the smallest state in Mexico.
So I looked into why that is of the case.
And it's because you don't have to pay taxes
on your car every year if you have it registered in Morelos.
And now that I'm in the market for a car,
I would like to know how do I get my car registered
in the state of Morelos?
So if you have any more information
or any insight on how to get a car registered
in the state of Morelos,
comment down below I'd like to know.
Since I've started going to and from Costco in an Uber,
I felt a little weird about it at first
because you know like you have all this stuff
coming out of Costco and I thought that would be
like a big pain in the butt for the drivers, right?
And I didn't wanna bother them with that.
However, I've found most of them
to not seem to mind too much and most are pretty helpful.
I just leave them an extra tip at the end for their trouble.
So as you can see if you're coming to Mexico,
you will find a lot of the stores and restaurants here
that you see in the US.
However, when you go back to your Airbnb
at the end of the day
and you fire up your computer and you do a Google search,
all of your results are going to be in Spanish.
In addition, a lot of the websites
you visit will be in Spanish.
Well, one easy fix for this is to get a VPN
and with a VPN and a click of a button,
you can change your location virtually
and have your computer be located in the US or Canada
or wherever else you want to be.
If you want to check out my favorite VPN
you can go to Tangerine VPN.com.
That's my affiliate link and it will take you right there.
It's the only major VPN company I know about
that for one subscription
it gives you access to unlimited devices.
It will cover your entire family's computers,
phones, tablets, TVs, everything.
So go check that out Tangerine VPN.com.
They're running a sale.
It's 83% off plus three extra months free.
Again, Tangerine VPN.com.
I recently made a video about common US products
that are difficult to find in Mexico.
So click on that video until I see you next week.
But before you go, please subscribe to the channel
and (bell ringing) gong that bell
so you're notified every time I release a new video
and I will see you on Saturday.