We arrived in Mexico just before midnight, a little over two weeks ago. The journey from London via Germany and the US took over 24 hours and crossed 3 different timezones, which was a little disorientating to say the least. The wifi wasn’t working on our main 10 hour flight so we were behind on work, which was far from ideal for our new digital nomad careers.
Luckily our clients were very understanding. As we arrived into the wifi zone of Mexico City International Airport we got an email from the booking site that we’d used to book our hotel for that night saying that there had been a problem with our card and they had unfortunately cancelled our reservation.
This was how our adventure in Mexico started. Luckily it’s got better. Much better. Here’s what we’ve been up to since we arrived in Mexico City.
No Hablo Espanol
Before we left the UK on our lastest one way ticketed adventure to Latin America we had already decided that while here we were going to do our best to learn Spanish. This commitment was cemented within our first few interactions in Mexico:
- The unease I felt at taking a taxi with a spanish only speaking taxi driver in the middle of the night in an unfamiliar city.
- The gamble of not knowing whether we were ordering offal or not at the taco stands.
- The frustration of trying to discuss which SIM card package was best in a phone shop where no one spoke a word of English.
Of course only being fluent in English, we’ve travelled in plenty of countries where we haven’t spoken the local language and know we can get by, but this time is different. This time we’re travelling much more slowly with semi-permanent bases and even if not solely in Mexico, know we will be in Spanish speaking countries for around the next 8 months. And we feel so rude. People are so chatty here in Mexico and to have to respond to their warmth and openness multiple times per day with ‘sorry, I don’t understand’ just plain sucks.
So we’ve started Spanish school. It’s a big commitment because it’s 2 hours per day Monday – Friday plus at least an hour’s homework everyday, on top of our already busy blogging and freelancing working days. But we are loving it! Our teacher, Guillermo, is awesome. I mean, I’ve got three degrees so I’ve had some stock of teachers in my time and believe me he is up there. The courses are so reasonable too, we’re paying just over £200 each for a 40 hour course – something that would have cost us thousands in the UK.
All The Tacos
Now onto the food. Simply put it is incredible and everywhere. Seriously, from dawn until dusk you walk out on the street and there will be any number of stalls cooking up some tasty, spicy deliciousness. We are nowhere near trying everything on offer but we are giving it a good go. It seems like for every taqueria we eat at, we’re like ‘this is the best one yet’, only to have the same conversation the next day of ‘no, now this is the best one yet’. And it’s so affordable, for a couple of quid you are stuffed.
Then there’s the menu del dia options in the markets. We have one just down the road from where we are staying so go there most days. There are about 10 restaurants which all have multiple menu choices that change everyday and for the equivalent of £2 each you get a 4 course meal and a drink. It’s insanely good and it’s all fresh produce from there in the market. We’ve also been doing some shopping and cooking at our place some days too in the aim of not getting too fat. I’m not sure it will work. There are too many snacks for one thing. The corn on the cob smothered in mayo, cheese and chilli is one of the best things I’ve ever tasted.
Our Neighbourhood
The area in Mexico City that we are staying in, called Roma, is seriously cool. There’s so many trendy boutique coffee shops and gorgeous old bookstores to while hours away in – not that we have any hours to while away. But we have worked in few of cafes and the coffee is good, if a little overpriced for our taste. We’ve yet to fully explore the extent of the area because it’s huge, as is Mexico City in general. It’s hard to describe the scale, but at five times bigger than London that should give you some idea. But it does have a brilliant metro system that costs the equivalent of 21p per journey to anywhere in the city. That’s not a typo.
The place we have is great too. We’re paying about £20 per night and it has a big living area with huge windows, hot water all the time and a washing machine. The latter may seem like simple essentials but trust me if you’ve done any amount of backpacking you’ll know how luxurious they feel. And the wifi is good, which is obviously a must for us, there’s nothing more frustrating that having a day full of work and have to battle with a shitty connection. The only thing that’s missing is a decent cup of tea. I cannot believe that I forgot to bring a big box of Typhoo with me. Such a rookie error.
Work Life Balance
I’m not gonna pretend that being in such an awesome new place and being chained to our laptops isn’t a bit crap some days. I don’t buy into the ‘do something you love and you’ll never work a day in your life’ sell. I genuinely do love what I do but I’d rather not have to work.
Plus we’ve never done this before, last year while we were travelling, we were living off our hard earned savings and just doing whatever we pleased everyday so it’s taking some adjusting. But whether we are inside tapping away on our keyboards or outside exploring, we are living our dreams in being able to work completely location independently and it is great.
So the weekends are for exploring and we’ve got action packed adventure after adventure lined up that we’ll be bringing to you here on the blog. We also made some new friends this week who we went out for drinks with which was lots of fun.
Travelling and not staying in hostels really isn’t the best for your social life and you do start to crave emotional connections with humans when the only conversations you have with your mates are through an electronic device. So anyone reading this in Mexico City who fancys listening to all my insecurities, regrets in life and general dysfunctional thoughts please get in touch. I’m joking. But seriously if anyone in the proximity fancies grabbing a beer and laughing at our terrible Spanish accents, let us know!
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Yorkshire born & bred, Sarah is a professional blogger who loves to travel. Pushing her boundaries with new adventures is her jam, so you likely won’t find her in one place for too long. Also a serious Marmite addict.
All in all sounds like you guys are living the dream! Can’t wait to read more about your adventures!
Hi Kaitlin, so pleased you are enjoying reading the blog! 🙂
Sarah that place looks awesome. SO cool. Spanish is not too hard to pick up, hablo un poco, mas o menos, and the locals will respect your attempt, and often, will slow things down if you are trying and give them a "despacio" or "slow". I learned it in high school. Not super fluent but living in a remote Costa Rican jungle for 6 weeks last year it was all I spoke when I went into town to get provisions for the week. Enjoy it guys.
Thanks Ryan! It’s really is surprising how much we’ve learnt in a just week already – we can already talk in past and future tense! And you’re right, people do slow right down and speak really clearly which is so helpful. Costa Rican jungle living sounds amazing. Would love to give that a go!
We are so happy you are finally in Mexico City! It sounds like you both like it so far. Find some of the old style cantinas in the historic center that serve free food (botanas) with each 35 peso beer. Check out Bar La Faena on Venustiana Caranza for something really quirky. Also, go to see a luche libre match at the coliseo on Saturday evenings; it is great fun. For your hard rock/ goth/ metal fix, check out the Saturday market Tianguis Cultural del Chopo by the Buenavista Metro station; also great fun. Pop into the library outside the station there and be blown away by the interior design. You will fall in love with Mexico City. We did.
Ah thanks guys! There’s so much to see and do. Our Airbnb host took us to one of the old school cantinas last week – so much fun – we’ll definitely be gong back so will try the one you suggest. And yes the luche libre! That might be one for this weekend. Thanks so much for your tips – super useful having inside knowledge of the best places.
By the way, we noticed your featured image for this post. It looks like you are discovering all the urban art in the city; it is amazing! We have a post on our site highlighting some of our favourites. Great pieces are everywhere! If you haven’t already, look for some great works just east of the Zocalo, near the corner of Emiliano Zapata and Manuel Doblado. Use the Templo de la Santisma as a landmark. Have fun and send us your own discoveries!
Yes! We’ve been loving just wandering around discovering it. Cool, we’ll check out your post – again thanks for the awesome tips. Really appreciated 🙂
This is going to sound geeky but I’m so jealous of your Spanish classes! I definitely want to do the same when we get to South America/possibly Mexico next year. Are you learning fast? Sounds like you have a great quality of life there, is that just a hotel you’re staying in? What would it be like food-wise for veggies?
Ha ha! We feel geeky ourselves dutifully doing our homework & heading off everyday with our school books. It’s so much fun though, we are loving it. We can already speak in the past & future tenses so yeah I’d say we’re learning pretty fast – we’re getting to stage now though where there seems like so much to remember & we wish we had more time to practice. It’s an Airbnb that we have for a month, that photo is of the living room. It’s in a place called Roma which is really nice. There’s definitely lots of veggie options around here & in Condesa too. Also the fruit & veg at the markets is so good & so cheap.