Glad you enjoyed it.

Not too much to update. I've been in Michoacán with my gf for a bit over 2 weeks. We leave tomorrow and will go to Querétaro for 2 days before returning to CDMX. I'm excited b/c Querétaro looks really cool from what I've seen. Morelia is pretty cool, and a lot different from CDMX. It's pretty quiet and really cheap (even by Mexican standards). My gf likes the slower pace of life here and is working on her thesis while I grind online poker. Morelia is cool, the architecture is really great, tons of historic buildings and a great cathedral. The people are more friendly, lots of students, and it's one of the more left-leaning places in México. The women are really attractive, and seem bolder than those I've seen in other places. Mexican women seem a bit shy in general, but women here will hold eye contact and stare me down.

I like Morelia, but it feels just a bit too small and quiet for me. I'm not huge into nightlife, but most of the bars we've seen in the center are mostly dead even on weekend nights. I think the real draw of Michoacán is all the interesting small towns around. We've visited Pátzcuaro, Janitzio, Tzintzuntzan, and Cuitzeo. Tzintzuntzan is a super underrated archaeological site and Pátzcuaro is a really cool town. Michoacán is a bit notorious for narco violence, but none of the places I've been to have seemed dangerous in the least. I think narco violence is really concentrated to specific areas and if you pay attention to where you're going, you should be fine.

I play 99% online. I would dabble in live if there were good options nearby, but I don't think that's the case anywhere in México.

I'm planning to go back to Omaha to visit family for about a week in October b/c I have to leave before my 180 day limit comes up on Nov. 1, then I can return and get a fresh 180 days. My 6 month AirBNB rental ends on Nov. 15, and my gf is gonna help me find a place in Coyoacán that will probably be quite a bit cheaper than what I'm paying now.

I'm sure you'll enjoy the trip. Guadalajara is probably the place I'm most interested in visiting next, but there is a seemingly endless supply of interesting places here.

thx for the update Fossilkid. how is your Spanish proficiency coming along?

To be honest, it hasn't improved much in the last few months. It is intermediate level, which is enough to take care of all the basics, and I haven't needed to use it all that much. The girlfriend and I speak 95% of the time in English b/c her English is very good, but I think I might ask her to speak Spanish with me from time to time once I improve. I'm gonna start up some language classes at UNAM later this month for about 10 hrs/week and have been finding more movies, shows, and magazines in Spanish to practice.

I'd also like to get my French back to a solid level. I haven't spoken it pretty much at all since I left France about a year ago, and it's amazing how quickly you can lose a 2nd language when you don't speak it (at least for me). My gf has also lived in France and has decent French, so there's a little extra motivation to learn. She's gonna take a couple hours of private French lessons starting next week, and I might also use her tutor if she recommends him.

I just got back from Querétaro an hour ago. We spent a day and a half there, and I really liked it. It's more of a big city than Morelia, even though populations are roughly equal. It seems a lot more lively, but still more laid back than CDMX, so it's a good compromise. There are tons of little pedestrian streets which I love, and lots of cool plazas, which I also love.

In terms of my city rankings I would have to go:

1) CDMX
2A) Puebla
2B) Querétaro
4) Morelia
5) Mérida

CDMX I love b/c I don't mind mega cities, mostly b/c I avoid a lot of the negatives by working from home but I can see how it could be a massive grind for some. I think some day I'll probably want to relocate and Querétaro wouldn't be a bad place and is also pretty close to CDMX. I was looking into condos in QRO and you can buy a brand new small 2-br pretty close to the center for like 45k. So I'm debating buying a place like that so I can get out of CDMX for several weeks during the year and then renting it out the rest of the time.

As far as spending almost 3 weeks straight with the gf, it went very well. I'm super laid back and she's also pretty easy going, so we get along quite well. I think it also helped that most days she was working on her thesis in a café for about 7 hours, so we had time apart. We don't fight much, but it seems like once in awhile she'll pick a small fight over something (I consider) dumb. Almost like she has an alarm that goes off if things are going too well. But then like 2 hours later she pretends like nothing happened and we're back to normal. I think it's true that Latinas sometimes need the drama, and she's probably as stable as they come, so I don't mind putting up with the bad b/c 98% of the time she's amazing.

Great thread Fossilkid, thx for all the practical info..

When you're traveling to cities fairly far away from Mexico City, how are you getting there, mostly by bus or flying? Are flights w/in Mexico priced similarly to flights w/in the USA, i.e., in the $300-$400 price range, or are they significantly less?

If you're traveling by bus, how would you rate or describe them? I spent 6 weeks traveling in Peru earlier this year, and was amazed at how nice & comfortable the 1st class private buses were--LED TVs for each seat, fully reclining seats, in-seat meals, etc..

I fully understand that the hysteria over how dangerous Mexico is is overrated, but have you really had zero issues or problems? Not even any close calls w/ minor theft, pick-pocket attempts, etc?

expanding on PoC's post ... i've read in another forum that daylight robberies are becoming more common in CDMX. have you read about / heard about this ... do you think it is true. also are robbers using guns or other weapons like knives?

thx for any insight.

Flights within México are cheap as hell, at least from CDMX. I've only flown to Cancún, but it was about $40 from CDMX. I've checked flights to Monterrey and Guadalajara and they are $30-80, depending when you book. This is on a discount airline, VivaAerobus, but you can fly anywhere for very little if you want.

I usually go by bus, b/c there are probably 30-40 cities/towns within a 6 hour bus ride of CDMX that are worth visiting. Buses are very comfortable with reclining seats and normally a little TV for each seat. I've done maybe a dozen rides ranging from an hour up to 4.5 hours (to Morelia) and they were all fine. The most expensive ticket I've bought was about $20 to Morelia and $10-12 for some of the shorter rides like to Puebla. I would rate them an 8 or 9 out of 10. I used FlixBus extensively in Europe (mainly France) and would rate that a point or 2 down from Mexican buses.

I haven't had any close calls with theft or pickpocket and haven't felt unsafe in any place I've been. The only incident was one evening around midnight in Puebla when my gf and I were walking around for a while and a drunk guy kinda got in our face a bit and was giving her crap for being with a gringo saying stuff like "don't you have any pride?". He left us alone after about 15 seconds. Other than that I've never experienced any hostility either alone or with her. People are, for the most part, extremely warm, especially in the places less used to seeing foreigners.

I know it seems a bit hard to believe, and I'm sure I've run pretty well to experience basically no incidents, but thus far, Mexico has felt no different safety-wise than either USA or Europe. Certainly I've seen a lot of poverty, especially on long bus rides where sometimes you see massive favela-like areas with hundreds of thousands of people living on top of each other, but I've never felt too uneasy.

Regarding liga's comment, I really couldn't say. I hear about different incidents around the country and in CDMX, but haven't seen anything first hand. I'm not really sure what weapons they're using tbh. My usual dress is pants/jeans with a tshirt or sometimes button down shirt with no jewelry and I don't use my iPhone much in public and if I do it's usually in areas where I see others also using their smartphones. I think (hope) I'm less of a target and I also usually look like I know where I'm going and know which areas to avoid. My gf has been a good resource. We visited Michoacán, which is a state known for a lot of cartel activity. We visited a handful of cities/towns and she told me a couple cities that we shouldn't visit. The only difference in Morelia is that occasionally you see Hummers or American muscle cars, that are most likely being driven by people involved in the narco trade, but otherwise it appeared no different from the rest of the country.

Bad stuff that happens/is happening in Mexico often gets reported in the US (English) press.

Bad stuff that happens/is happening in the rest of Latin America rarely gets reported in the US (English) press.

You have to spend time in Mexico to start to grasp that it's largely about the pre-frame/filter. Terrible sh-t happens, and it's mostly (not entirely) confined to certain areas & activities. We don't panic about visiting Chicago.

Use the common sense you would in Brazil, Colombia, Costa Rica, et. al. and in many ways Mexico is probably less dangerous (especially if you never let your guard down/always maintain good process). Be that non-descript guero.

[If you're looking for drugs, going to sketch neighborhoods, etc., your risks just multiplied 10-100x. If you ask certain people in Rosarito who engage in the extracurriculars, they'll paint a much different/worse risk picture)

I'd say that's a pretty good summary. Also have to keep in mind, that I rarely go out to bars and clubs. I prefer cultural events, cinemas, cafés, yoga studios, etc. As such, and as Gramps aptly pointed out, my experience will be vastly different from someone looking for drugs or stumbling home through unfamiliar neighborhoods late at night.

Some of the reactions from people back home are pretty hilarious as well. One uncle told me that CDMX is "worse than Isis" whatever that means. Some people convinced I'll be killed. Of course not a single one of them have set foot in Mexico (or even really left the Midwest USA for that matter), but they're utterly convinced and don't care what someone who's actually been there has to say. Of course this is mostly the Fox News crowd. I do have a couple liberal relatives who are interested in hearing more and thinking about visiting.

thx Fossil & Gramps for the detailed replies. much appreciated.

There's a cognitive hack at play as well with our fear of specific horrible things:

If you ask people about their fear of dying in a plane crash b/c of "terrorists", they rate their fear higher than that of "dying in a plane crash" (which *also* includes plane crashes caused by terrorists, lol).

The specificity and horribleness of some things that have happened here shuts off that rational part of the brain that evaluates general risk. Hence Isis.

Nice thread OP, subbed!

I spent two years living in Mexico (Guadalajara) and have traveled around extensively. Spent a summer living in Mexico DF and loved it. Married a girl from Guadalajara.

Guadalajara is pretty nice, but not as much to do as CDMX. The girls are better looking in Jalisco and GDL in my opinion. Guadalajara has a couple casinos with poker rooms ... the rake is kind of high, but the games are incredibly soft.

Seems like you've been to a lot of places, so good on you for being fearless and exploring. I haven't made it to Merida, but it is my wife's fav city in Mexico. One area that I don't think you've been to that I'd recommend checking out is Oaxaca. The capital city is pretty cool, they've got their own type of mole which rivals Puebla. The coast of Oaxaca is beautiful and not that crowded. Spent a week in Puerto Escondido several years back and it is really cheap and a great place to chill.

Thanks for the recommendations.

Actually, Oaxaca and Chiapas are at the top of my list. I'd like to visit Oaxaca for a week+ in Winter and of course I'd hit up the coast.

I've heard that tapatías are very attractive along with girls from Sinaloa (sinaolenses?).

A former 2+2 who I lived with for a year in New Zealand (and now lives in Seattle) wants to come to Puerto Vallarta for a week in November so I think I'll join him. I'm pretty amped, even though it's obviously more of a gringo zone and less authentically Mexican. I like beaches a lot, but maybe wouldn't want to live right on one. Living in CDMX is a great compromise b/c you can fly to the big beaches for like $40 each way and find cheap accommodations.

Wow really interesting thread Fossilkid, paints Mexico in a much different picture to what I'd of expected, would like to visit sometime now

+1 to CDMX being an amazing, underrated place. Spent New Years there a few years ago, and had a blast. Never felt unsafe.

Check out Pujol or Quintonil for some great fine dining at a reasonable (at least by American standards) price.

Yah, I've been wanting to check out Pujol. My gf tends not to like the fancy places though. One advantage of dating a local is she knows a lot of hidden gem places and we like to eat at "comida corrida" places where you get a soup, rice/pasta, then a main (often fish, enchiladas, mole, etc.) and it all costs anywhere from $3-5. Some of them are crap, but some of them are so good.

Hi I might moving to Mexico city, I have few questions.

- It's easy to rent a place for 1-3 months at the beginning?

- Is easy to open a Bank Account as tourist?

Thank you see you later.

It should be easy enough to find a place on AirBNB for 1-3 months. I used AirBNB in February for a month and found a place in a really nice area for $650. You could find something for about half of that if you don't have to be in the nicer areas.

I'm not sure on the bank account as I haven't looked into it that much. From what I've read it's heavily bank dependent and there might be a handful of banks that would allow it on a tourist visa.

In order to open up a bank account in Mexico, they will ask you for proof of residence (visa) and also a utility bill. I had an FM3 visa when I was living/working there, but if you're on a typical 180 day visa that won't cut it (at least with the major banks).

In the absence of a visa, your best bet would be to have a permanent place that you are living with a utility bill and maybe they'll let you open an account.

Quick update on Tinder in CDMX:

I had always thought the main advantage over SEA over the rest of the world was the ease in getting girls to come directly to your place. But last week I wanted to see if it was possible in CDMX.

Before, my main focus was a LTR, but in the last week or 2 I've been a bit burnt out by the dating grind. On Tinder I have 2k+ matches b/c I swipe right on everyone and CDMX is massive (21 million people) and there are like 150 fresh girls on Tinder every single day. Up until last week I was only messaging the 7s and above for traditional dates. But I realized I had hundreds of decent looking (5s and 6s) girls just sitting in the queue.

So I decided, why not aggressively ask for sex, and if it doesn't work out, who cares since I wasn't gonna message them otherwise anyway. I'd send my basic canned opener, maybe 2-3 normal messages about them to build a bit of comfort, and then I'd hit them with "hey I'm looking for a FWB...(couple lines about why I'd be a good candidate)...I just wanted to be upfront with you and not waste anyone's time"

The results were actually quite good. I'd say I sent the message to about 40 girls, 20 of which just ignored or said "I appreciate the frankness, but no thanks", another dozen said they liked the idea, but we should get to know each first, and 7 or 8 basically agreed to it flat out.

So I put the plan into action on Wednesday. This girl works from 4-11, so we agreed to meet at the bus stop a minute walk from my place at 11:30. She showed up a few minutes late, we chatted at the bus stop for a minute, then walked back to my place, up to my room, had a beer on my couch and were making out about 10 minutes after we got there. Not the cutest girl ever and a couple lbs. overweight, I'd say she was a 5, but really good in bed, so I enjoyed it.

On Thursday I had planned to meet a 19yo around 5, but she ended up getting cold feet and saying maybe another time. I'm not gonna re-initiate with her.

On Friday, the same girl from Wednesday wanted to meet at 2PM, so I agreed. I also had plans to meet a new girl at 5PM at the same bus stop. So I let FWB #1 know and she was in and out in 2 hours. Met the new girl at 5:20PM. She's super cute, but probably 25-30 lbs overweight, she'd be a knockout if she were skinny. She seemed a bit more nervous, so we stopped at a bar on the way back and had 2 beers each, and then headed back to my place, sat on the couch and were making out shortly after. She ended up staying about 4 hours. Sex was decent, oral was incredible, but I don't like how she kisses and there wasn't much chemistry. So not sure if would repeat.

On Saturday, I planned to meet with a 35yo at 2PM. She was already sending full nudes the night before so it was obvious she was very DTF. Originally the plan was to watch Cpt. Marvel together and then head back to my place, but she audibled and asked if she could come directly to my place, which I obviously agreed. She showed up and we sat at my dining room table chatting for about 15 minutes, eventually she wanted to see the view from my balcony so we went over there and started making out.

Sex with her was among the best in my life, and she ended up being cuter in person, a 6 or slightly above. She's also super cool too and runs her own business, which is a much more compatible lifestly with a poker player than the normal 9-5. So even though I started out thinking she'd just be a FWB, I'm actually more interested in dating her and she seems open to that possibility too.

All in all, 3 girls in less than 24 hours, which isn't too bad. Although the 1st of the 3 was a girl I'd already seen 2 nights ago.

So I was pretty exhausted today, although I think I could have gotten another girl to come over if I really wanted to. There are 3-4 other girls who agreed to my proposal, 1 of whom has even been chasing ME down "hey, haven't heard from you today, still interested in FWBs", and there are probably another 300+ girls that I could go through the whole shtick with if I were motivated enough.

I would suggest that it's quite easy to get average looking girls to come directly to my place basically as often as you want, but it's a bit of a lengthy process. I'm too scared to try it with the hotter girls, b/c I would rather date them for the LTR possibility and don't want to burn the match going for the higher risk FWB play, but I'm sure if you were in full FWB mode that it'd be possible to get a few of the hotter matches to agree to the plan.

So, for me CDMX has been amazing. There are plenty of really cute, smart, educated girls familiar with American culture to date, and also plenty of decent looking girls willing to come directly to my place to bang. If you're a white guy with decent Spanish, it's hard to imagine a better destination. Also has the advantage of being next to America, and tons of direct flights to Europe/Latin America.

Here's a pic of the 2nd girl who came to my place on Friday:



Here are a couple more SFW pics the 35yo sent:

Next month I'm planning on driving thru mexico, stopping at places ive had on my mind for awhile before picking a spot to settle down for 6 months or so. On the list was mazatlan, mayyybe culiacan, guanajuato, san miguel de allende, GDL, puerto vallarta, sayulita, and also love cdmx. any suggestions? I skate and surf a lot and kinda need one of those to be closeby in order to stay sane. Speak spanish, hate spending too much money (applicable possibly in large cities or hyped up tourist towns). zero need for 8+ type instagram girls, immensely prefer any type of cool/intelligent chick. what say yee papito fossil?

Unfortunately I know basically 0 about skating or surfing, so I can't be a big help there. Culiacán is supposedly a city with big cartel activity, so I'd be a bit weary about that. I'm planning in visiting PV, Mazatlán, and Sayulita soon, but haven't been yet.

It probably depends what type of ambiance you like. PV is gringo central, Sayulita is a bit more laid back, and Mazatlán a mix of the 2.

You could also look into Querétaro. It's like the safest medium+ sized city in México.

I can say about CDMX that if cool/intelligent is your type, that you can basically date as many 6s/7s as you please, 2 a day if you want. It's so different compared to Medellín. Tons of well educated girls, liberal, pretty good English, well traveled, knowledgeable about western culture, etc. I prefer that type of girl to the fake, Instagram types, so I'm in heaven here.

I haven't really swiped much in other cities, so I couldn't tell you how much worse they are than CDMX. GDL is big enough that you'd probably be fine, although it does have the rep of being a lot more conservative. San Miguel is filled with old white people.

For spending, I'd say PV is probably way more expensive than CDMX. You could easily get by very cheaply here in CDMX if you don't have to be in one of the main Gringo 'hoods, and there are plenty adjacent places that are pretty cheap and still safe.

As an example, I'm living in one of the nicer 'hoods in a really nice large-ish 1BR and paying $800/month, all bills included, fully furnished. You could find a place for $400-500 without too much trouble, even less if you're willing to go further from the center. I think my ex was paying like $450/month for her 3-br and had 2 roommates, and it wasn't too bad. The neighborhood wasn't unsafe or anything either, just basically no white people.

I probably spend about $80/week on food, I get a lot of nuts, seeds, fruits, vegetables, etc. which can be found pretty cheap. If you like eating out, during the day you can find menu del día type places for $3 with tons of food and some are very good.

Ajijic (Lake Chapala, hour from GDL) had a skate park right along the lake/Malecon area.

Only spent several hours there & more of a retirement destination, but who knows what sub-communities an experienced traveler could find there.

uyyy mexico has too many cities that got me interested! really tempted for cdmx. parties, drugs, great skate scene, cool girls, just everything big city life allows which would be nice.

haha gramps I've heard of Ajijic before, I think from 'best retirement city' blogs or something

my original plan was to buy a car and drive around from city to city until I find a place I like, but that just sounds kinda exhausting honestly. I've been in a snowy village in japan for the last 6 months, so big city or beach both sound like a nice change. I'll be indecisive for another month before having to pull a trigger on something

how long are you there for fossil?

Ajijic and San Miguel de Allende are packed with old white people, which precludes me from ever choosing either as a place to stay.

The car idea doesn't sound bad. There are probably 50+ places worth visiting that are within a 5 hour drive of CDMX. Just so much to see in central Mexico. But it's also super easy to just take buses and they're usually super nice (think more Perú than Colombia) if you don't want to deal with a car.

I came back here in late February and have my current place for 6 months, but really I'm planning to stay here permanently. So unless some weird situation comes up or if I'm not allowed to stay, I think it will be my home for a long while.

Regarding the latter, I've heard that some Americans have stayed here for decades just taking the 180 day tourist visa, leaving on vacation for a week or so and coming back for a fresh 180 days, and doing that indefinitely. So hopefully that continues to keep working, although at some point I'll probably just get married to a Mexican girl.