Welcome back to the snail travelers YouTube channel.
In this video I'm going to be talking about the two sides to Mexico.
Every part of living in Mexico has a good side and a bad side.
There are good and bad things about the cost of living, there's good and bad things about
the security, about the infrastructure, about the healthcare about the community.
Let's get started.
Okay so I'm going to start with the cost of living because this
is by far the most common reason why people come to live in Mexico.
The good side to the cost of living is that overall
it is definitely cheaper to live here in Mexico than it is in the US and Canada.
How much cheaper?
Well it's going to depend on your lifestyle of course, but in general
we spent about half of what it cost us to live a similar lifestyle in the US,
and our spending averaged $2076 dollars per month during our six months here in Mexico.
Now keep in mind that we did a lot of traveling around the country,
and we rented through Airbnb which is more expensive than what you would pay
for rent if you're coming to live here permanently.
Now that's the good side, it's cheaper.
The downside? There are other countries in the world that are a bit cheaper than Mexico.
I'm thinking Southeast Asia here.
And not everything in Mexico is cheaper than the US.
For example many products on Amazon such as electronics can be more expensive.
Gasoline and road tolls can also be quite high.
The next thing I'll talk about is safety and security.
First the good. Mexico is probably safer than most
people who have never been here before think it is.
We didn't have any problems with the safety here in Mexico.
None of the people we met had any problems with safety here.
And the city of Merida? Well it was actually rated safer than any other large city in the US.
Now the bad. I'm not at all saying that Mexico is crime free.
There is some crime here. You do hear stories in the news about it.
And things can change very quickly here so you definitely want to do your research to
get the latest on the security situation, and that's true anywhere in the world.
All right the next category is food and there is so much good to say about the food.
It is delicious. Of course you're gonna find tacos all around the country.
You can get beef pork chicken fish shrimp and vegetable tacos.
But then there's dishes that are regional.
In Oaxaca mole rules the cuisine,
and mole is a type of sauce that is made from a mixture of many exotic ingredients.
My favorite is the green mole made from green tomatoes poblano peppers
cilantro mint sometimes licorice and many other delicious ingredients.
And the yucatan area of Mexico has many delicious dishes.
Our favorites were the cochinita pibil or shredded pork marinated in citrus, and also the lime soup.
The downside? We did get sick a few times but don't let that stop you.
We recommend a good water filter and also these iodine drops to purify your fruits and vegetables.
Let me talk about transportation next.
The good: the availability of public transportation is I think excellent.
There are buses that run within cities, buses that run between cities,
and I think it's pretty easy to live here without owning a car compared to the US.
Many people from the US do bring their cars down here because they've always had a car
and can't imagine life without one.
I personally do not miss owning a car.
I hope to get through the rest of my life without driving.
Except for the little cars at Disney World. Those are fun to drive.
The downside to driving in Mexico is that some of the local roads are
cobblestone which can put a lot of wear and tear on your vehicle,
and there are sometimes potholes and some unpaved roads as well.
But the big highways are generally very good here in Mexico.
Immigration is next and the great thing about Mexico is that people
generally get a 180 day length of stay when coming to Mexico,
and that is one of the longest in the world.
And to stay longer you can qualify for residency
by proving either a minimum income or minimum savings.
Now the bad: these minimum requirements are higher than other countries and change frequently.
There have also been some sporadic reports that Mexico is cracking down on visa runs,
but this information is constantly changing so check for updates.
Let's talk about the Mexican people next, and this is one of the best things about Mexico.
I don't know when I'm in the US i just feel kind of a sense
kind of an undertone of anger and stress.
I don't feel that here in Mexico.
The people in Mexico are generally very friendly and calm and easy going and relaxed
and patient and I could come up with many more similar adjectives.
And I could tell many stories about somebody helping us here.
So what's the downside? Well none really.
But i do want to point out that to better
experience the friendliness of the people it's good to learn some Spanish.
Next is healthcare and Mexico is a developing
country so you might expect the healthcare to be subpar.
But our experience with the healthcare here was excellent.
My wife had appointments with two doctors.
Both took their time,
the appointments didn't feel rushed and they both gave her their personal cell phone numbers.
And our other experience with the healthcare system was when we were in Palenque
we were having breakfast and I started feeling light-headed.
and I couldn't make it back up the stairs to our hotel room.
So an ambulance came took me to the emergency room.
I felt fine a little later and recovered quickly but I was especially impressed with the price.
The ambulance - it was free.
The emergency room visit - it was free.
The medication I needed - it was $3.
So that's our experience with the healthcare here.
The only downside to our experience was that nobody in the emergency room spoke English,
but Palenque is a very small town and hey we're in Mexico for crying out loud.
Fortunately I spoke enough Spanish to communicate.
As we all know Mexico is very close geographically to the United States,
this has advantages and disadvantages.
First flights between the US and Mexico are dirt cheap, quite often under $100 right now.
You can of course also drive between the two countries
which you can't do if you're living in Europe or Asia
unless you have a hovercraft car.
And with Mexico being in North America
you are also going to have a very accessible expat community of US and Canadian citizens,
which has both pros and cons depending on what you want to get out of life here in Mexico.
Let's talk about the weather next.
The central areas of Mexico have absolutely perfect weather all year round.
These areas are far enough south so that they don't get too cold in the winter,
and they are at a high enough elevation so that it doesn't get too hot in the summer.
Many people are comfortable living without heating or air conditioning
because the temperature is fantastic all year.
The country does of course have areas that get hot.
There are also areas that are prone to hurricanes,
and earthquakes can also occur in certain parts of the country.
So the next thing you should know about is the economic development in Mexico.
I think a lot of people in the US and Canada probably have a picture
of Mexico being completely undeveloped, impoverished, and maybe a bit primitive.
But this country is growing in its development and it's growing fast.
It's quickly becoming more modern, more educated, more affluent.
The Mexico we saw on this trip is not the same Mexico that we saw when we visited 10 years ago.
But there's still a ways to go. We did have some occasional power outages.
Once we had no water for a short period of time, and we had some internet downtime.
But overall we get the sense that the quality of life in Mexico is generally improving.
Celebrations are a big part of Mexican culture and what's not to like about a big fiesta right?
We happened to be in Mexico during Mexican independence day in September
and also for dia de los muertos in November,
and I've gotta say the Mexicans really know how to celebrate holidays.
The family-centric culture here makes the Mexican holidays even more enjoyable.
Really the only downside is that these celebrations can get loud,
and really just everyday life here in Mexico can involve noise.
Just a few examples:
sometimes cars and trucks have megaphones so they can announce products that they're selling
sometimes the garbage trucks ring a loud bell so people know to bring out their trash
and sometimes there can be some loud music
So those are the two sides to Mexico, and I really
absolutely want to emphasize that for us the positives far outweigh the negatives.
These downsides I mentioned are really more just like very minor annoyances,
while the things we love about Mexico absolutely bring us so much enjoyment
to our life being in this wonderful country.
And of course this is based on our personal experience
but what has your experience been with these things in Mexico?
Please leave a comment below.
I'm sure it would be helpful to others to hear your opinion too.
We're not done with Mexico yet,
be sure to subscribe to our channel so that you can be notified when our next video is ready.