Touched upon, but I think CDMX for a normal person and for an ex-pat or poker pro are almost two different cities. Traveling on foot through miles of nice neighborhoods at your leisure is a different life from commuting to work during rush hour.

Having grown up in LA and lived a normal lifestyle there, I think of it as a terrible place to live for many of these reasons. I did find that the traffic in CDMX was contained mainly to rush hour, or maybe certain areas. Where in LA it has become merciless. It can strike anywhere. Sunday afternoon. Surface streets in residential areas. Even as a visitor with no agenda, I always find myself in horrible traffic. I'm sure a big part of this is that I walked a lot in CDMX, where in most of LA walking is neither practical nor enjoyable. But walking around Roma and Condesa, I rarely saw traffic outside of rush hour and walking was a pleasure.

Girls: I've always been more of a girl next door type. Prime Sandra Bulloch > Prime Megan Fox and it's not that close. I like girls who are cute, sweet, have some personality.

So, I concur that you see less model types in CDMX than in many places, but was attracted to hundreds of girls. Nice butts, nice smiles. A lot of the girls have these really soft eyes.

I interacted with a lot of women. I have a friend there and met a lot of his family. Talked to some in bars or whatever without it leading anywhere. A few dates. A little fling.

I found that they were both more feminine than American women, as far as being sweet and gentle. And at the same time, were more well rounded people who can hold up their end of a conversation and had a sense of humor. The latter could be selection bias, as I am mainly talking about English speakers, which should mean they are more sophisticated and/or intellectually curious.

I noticed that the women I talked to did very little whining and complaining.

Another thing: I'm not sure about Mexico being a more obese country than the U.S. Maybe more middle-aged guys have guts or whatever. But it's definitely less common among girls. I never really saw the 300 pound+ people I see daily in the U.S.

you don't say...

Looks amazing. I live in Southern California with a large Hispanic population and still the most adventurous I get is lingua.


Feels bad. Personally, I don't need immediate access to all the action. I would sacrifice all of it for some peace at the right times and fresh air.


Traffic is evil and it really does suck the life out you. One of my friends that commutes everyday in Los Angeles asked me what I wanted to do with my life and I replied, "Avoid traffic." He looked at me funny.

CDMX is the most progressive city in the country by a long shot and you were hanging out in the more affluent areas, so of course people will eat better and be very health conscious. It would be like living in SoCal or Denver where people take better care of themselves than the average American.

Mexico is pretty obese on average b/c of the pueblos and poor areas that don't have access to good food. Some areas have cheaper coca-cola than water, so of course they'll be developing bad habits and leading unhealthy lifestyles. But CDMX in the areas that poker players will be staying in is a pretty healthy area.

Also re: traffic, I've yet to have a really bad experience. Sure a couple rides took a bit longer than expected, but it seems incredibly easy to mitigate the problem if you work from home.

You said it perfectly, an online poker player earning an average American style will live a vastly different lifestyle than a local working and going to school.

GDL has lots of honies running around. I've dated several and am married to one now

But CDMX has like triple the population of GDL so I'd assume that the sheer volume there makes up for it.

I always wonder how so many girls stay fit with the Mexican diet and the amount of sugar/carbs in everything. Walking around on a daily basis will go a long way, but some girls have just amazing bodies.

Tinder on CDMX is just insane. One time I upgraded and swiped right on every single profile and the next day there were already 200 new profiles!

Let's stop being so cool. CDMX is one of the most heavily museumed cities in the world and I went to a few.

My personal favorite was El Carmen, which is a 400 year old convent with art and mummies.









I went to a few contemporary art museums, all of which were fine. A lot of contemporary art is lame imo, but it can be fun. I'd go to MUAC which is on the campus of the National Autonomous University because you also get to see the campus, which is really beautiful. Two places that are underrated tourist spots: universities and cemeteries. (pics lost).

The national art museum is pretty good, and the building is great.

The objective best is the anthropology museum. It covers all of the ancient civilizations and their history, which is pretty interesting. It is full of awesome Indian Jones stuff and, it should almost go without saying, located in a gorgeous park. There is also a contemporary art museum in the same park.

Pics also lost. But I was lucky enough to go when it was raining and to see this thing in action. Photos really don't do it justice, and mine weren't as good anyway.





The doors to the outside areas were closed. I don't know if that was because of the rain, or if it was normal. But there was a lot of cool stuff like this I had to see through windows.



Off topic. My advice to you and almost anyone in LA, or CA in general, is to get out. IDK anything about you, but unless you have a great career tied to the area and/or make serious bank, it's just so hard to get ahead. "Oooh, maybe one day I can be a huge success and buy a 2 bedroom condo." No way I'd be taking all of these trips if my rent was 3x higher and I was paying all those taxes, and gas money, etc.

Even if you do really well financially, the traffic, other daily frustrations, taxes, terrible social services... they're all even worse than you think. Once you escape it's hard to believe you dealt with it. One of the things that really struck me upon moving to Vegas was how much more free time I had.

This thread has been GOAT the past few days

This is the case in lots of 2nd class countries around the world. You see lots of overweight / fat people and think to yourself "well they can't be that poor, obviously they're getting plenty to eat!" when in reality they are very poor, which is why they eat primarily starches (rice in Asia / potatoes & such in Central & South America), along with increasingly highly processed foods, 'cause just like in USA, it's cheaper to eat packaged & factory-made food.

When I was in Peru last year I had a convo with a woman who worked at an NGO, she said they have issues with "fat starving people", i.e., people who are fat because their diet is largely starches & potatoes, but little else, so as a result they're ingesting very little in the way of real nutrition, resulting in extreme vitamin deficiencies.

Hope I don't **** it up!

This thread (as well as some other online blogs I've come across) has inspired me to throw on my backpack & do some traveling--I arrive in Mexico next week for a six week trip.

My plan (always subject to change) is to spend most of my time traveling by bus around central Mexico--I fly into Guadalajara and out of Mexico City. Currently I don't expect to travel farther south than Oaxaca.

I've already gotten in touch with Fossilkid & boliver & hope to meet up with them both. If anyone else is in Mex & wants to meet up for drinks, PM me.

If anyone has suggestions & advice about where to go & what to do--or conversely where to skip & what not to waste time doing--feel free to chime in!

If you want to up your spanish in a hurry I cannot recommend language transfer highly enough.

As the name suggests, it is about understanding how to utilize the commonalities between the 2 languages. You get some general principles for doing so and shazam, you're often able to communicate, albeit slowly, just by thinking of English words that should have Spanish equivalents and knowing how to modify them to spanish.

https://www.languagetransfer.org/complete-spanish

Al contrario (on the contrary), I'm sure we'd all love to hear about your adventures and pics are always welcome.

I think it's awesome to share any info we can about Mexico b/c beyond the 3 beaches (Cancún, Cabo, Puerto Vallarta) very few people in the USA and western world know much about Mexico.

I'm happy that my thread and some of my postings about Mexico in other forums have been a catalyst for people to visit. I was in the same boat not too long ago. About 10 years ago I could've never imagined that CDMX could be a place I'd actually consider living (not to mention the dozens of other awesome places in Mexico) and now I'm in love with it!

+1. Your Peru TRs were GOAT Cucamonga Looking forward to reading them. Safe travels bro

Hey guys, glad to find this thread, a lot useful info since this is my first time in Mexico. I visited Monterrey last week, mainly because of WSOPC Mexico event. A lot of differences compared to Mexico City. The main one would be that the city is not build for walking at all, so I was just mainly using uber. In Roma Sur where I am staying now its way better, I can walk in the streets almost everywhere.

If somebody wants to grab a beer, PM me. I am staying here for three more weeks.

Does anybody have an idea where will be the best to see some celebrations in the streets for Día de Muertos on November 1 and November 2 in Mexico City?

Anyone have an recent experience regarding buying sleeping medications (valium, xanax, ambien, etc.) in farmacias without a prescription?

10+ years ago you would walk into any pharmacy and get lots of things, but when I was in Playa / Cozumel a few years ago most of the pharmacies wouldn't sell me anything, though curiously the pharmacy inside the lobby of the small hospital on Cozumel was willing to sell me valium.

A couple people told me that the more you can get to a smaller town, rather than CDMX, the better and more authentic dia de los muertos will be.

I recovered most of my photos.

Anthro museum:



Street food strat: walk around a lot and jump in when you see a big crowd, or the food grabs your eye. Both occurred when I found this place that sells tacos the size of babies. $1.



A few shots of parks and pretty streets. The first is a restaurant in Condesa. Much of the neighborhood looks like that.







Even though restaurants are very cheap and good, I often regretted going to a mid level restaurant when I could have bounced around street stalls for pennies. One exception was Pizza Felix. Nothing is as subjective as pizza preferences, but this was one of the best pizzas I've ever had.

Had a little bit of charring and it was crisp, but the inside was soft and boarderlie doughy. It was very puffy. On a side note, while Mexican deserts per se are nothing special, I consistently got fantastic pastries. Like one hotel had these croissants that just floored me. I wonder if this all has to do with the altitude.



This is the gigantic market to which I referred. Other than food, it's unlikely you'd want to buy anything but the overall spectacle is well worth seeing. As you can see, this is not a well off, sheltered area. I felt perfectly safe here and in the surrounding neighborhood.

Nice pics, ES2.

Ha, this is what I do as well since the locals will know a lot better than me. Another tip I use is to see how they handle money. If they take the money in their hand and then are using it to cook a bit later, definite no no. The better places will have a different person handling all the money or sometimes the guy cooking will put on a plastic glove any time he accepts cash, then remove it to cook.

I wasn't that big a fan of Monterrey, mainly b/c it isn't walkable, as you said. Also a more industrial city so you won't really see the beautiful historical architecture everywhere like in the central cities. Still, it's an interesting place, and some people like it for the blend of Mexican/American culture. It doesn't feel like as big a shock going there. How was the WSOPC, were there decent cash games running?

Here's a tweet with the stuff going on in CDMX:



I've heard the best celebrations in CDMX area and some of the best in Mexico are located in Mixquic, a small town just outside of CDMX proper. Here's a video about that celebration:



I think I might try to check it out with my girlfriend.

This is next to my place, on Paseo de la Reforma, they've got a long stretch of it decorated with hundreds of painted skulls. And 2 weekends ago there was a festival with alebrijes (spirit animals that are popular in Oaxaca). It will still be decorated with skulls, but the alebrijes are gone. A couple photos:









If you want, I'm down for walking to Zócalo and checking out the ofrendas (spiritual offerings) that are set up there all week. I'll send a PM.

Excellent stuff Fossil. I'd love to be there for day of the dead. Certainly, one of the world's coolest holidays.

Check out Pizza Felix, man. I'm curious if others will like it as much as I do.

Some more fotos.

If you're not a big Futurama fan, or forgot... Bender is Mexican. I love that show so I got a big kick out of this.



Another lovely square.



Some of the wandering minstrels. I've never been to a city where this is both so common, and where the performers are so consistently good.



Some stoor fronts in a poorer area, near that giant market. I was really taken with these because I'm a weirdo. Many were attractive. Also, so small and limited. Tiny fabric stores. I saw a print shop using equipment that seriously looked 50 years old. These big, hand-operated presses. It's incredible that these people are making a living in some cases.

There are many businesses like this. I was walking along and saw an old woman with a couple of blankets on which she had goods for sale. Over half her meager inventory was toenail clippers. I happened to need some, so I bought a pair for 75 cents. What was her profit, 50 cents? How often did somebody who just happened to need a pair of toenail clippers walk by?







What about this guy? Is his plan to wait until someone filming in CDMX needs a set for a serial killer's secret lair?

1k Main Event was definitelly a success. There were more than 1000 runners after 4 starting flights. They had a live qualifiers in other parts of Mexico (mainly in Cancun). I didnt saw any cash tables running and side event schedule could be definitelly better. I think they already announced there will be WSOPC Mexico 2020.

Kind of an unexpected experience from Monterrey when I said that I am not picky and I eat everything. I definitely didnt expect this coming, but I have to say it wasnt bad at all . I dont know how common is it in Mexico in general. Anyway, the place is called "La Morelos cantina mexicana" and I dont think they have it on the menu, so you have to ask directly for scorpions.

The downside is that I have rented base floor apartment now so I am checking my shoes everytime altough I know that chances to find one here are very thin

That's nuts. Did you eat any/all of the scorpions?!

Yes, I had one. From what I understand the only part that is not for eat is the last part of the tail with sharp end. We didnt eat two "front arms" as well. You can eat it, but most people prefer to not. The structure is totally fine and I was surprised how well the taste goes with cucumber. Without cucumber I would find just a scorpio alone tasteless, but both together plus seasoning was nice match. Interesting experience, but I still prefer the tacos obv

Quick recap of my trip to Mexico so far:

Spent 2 nights in Guadelajara--walked around the historical zone, spent a couple interesting hours roaming around the main market Mercado Libertad, rode a double-decker tourist bus around the city, spent a few hours in Tlaquepagpue (probably cool at night, especially if on a date, but kind of a tourist trap during the day), ate & drank my way up & down Chapultepec avenue, and ate tacos pastor in a handful of places. Nothing I ate was bad, but nothing was great, either. Best thing I ate--a 16-20 ounce cup lined with sweat cream, filled with fresh rasberries, blackberries, strawberries, pineapple, bannana, and some purple fruit I didn't recognize, topped with yogurt & granola, for 25 pesos (about $1.50). It was delicious. Spent $10/night for an airbnb (private room, shared shower), basic but clean. While clearly I just barely scratched the surface of what the city has to offer, but I wasn't overly-impressed with Guadalajara. As far as the women go, I saw a few cuties, but overall not so impressed.

Spent four nights in Chapala (on Lake Chapala), which was a 10 minute / 9 peso ($0.50) bus ride to the main expat area called Ajijic. Stayed in a very nice airbnb there ($35/night). It was a 3 bed/3 bath house, but the American owner was not there, so it was just me and a couple from San Francisco who were in the area getting dental work done and looking at property to buy and eventually retire to. Not too much interesting to relate about my time there. Ajijic is a quaint town (you can see most of it in half a day) with narrow cobblestone streets, lined on both sides by tons of bars, restaurants, shops, etc.. I ate a lot...no bad meals but again no great ones either. Stumbled on an expat-filled poker game (well a tournament actually, 200 peso buy-in). Three tables to start, I made it to the final table and got felted one before the bubble when I went all-in with pocket 10s and got called and beaten by K/J.

One table was the designated "smoking table", meaning cigs, cigars, and as it turns out, lots of joints. Seems the senior citizens like to blaze away--I counted 4 or 5 roaches in the ashtray. Out of curiousity I asked them how much a quarter cost in Ajijic...a couple of them started laughing, and one guy kind of yells at me--"A quarter?!? Ain't no one will sell you a quarter here, it's ****in' near impossible to buy an ounce! Usually a half dozen of us go in and buy a pound." Not sure if I understood them correctly (as there was some argueing back and forth about how much weed cost, how much it cost depending upon quality, etc.) but it sounds like weed cost about 200 pesos (a little less than $15.00) an ounce.

Spent Dia de los Muertos (Day of the Dead) in Chapala. The locals went all out creating very colorful memorials to their dead relatives, but the mood was very, not mournful at all. I guess it's more about celebrating their life than it is mourning their death.

A few days ago I booked a tourist bus to Guanajuato which is where I am now. The bus ride took about 4-5 hours and cost about $25. I booked a first class tourist bus by a company called "Primera Plus" and while it was quite comfortable and more than adequate, it wasn't as nice as the tourist buses in Peru.

Other thoughts & impressions:

Mexico is definitely cheaper than the United States, but it's not crazy cheap like it once was.

I know there's great food to be had here, but so far I haven't found it. I'm eating mostly in the local mercados, on the streets, taquerias, etc., and wherever I see lots of locals lined up to eat, but so far I'm running bad. Ironically, the most expensive meal I ate was also the worst.

Mexicans love to eat--anywhere, anytime. You can't walk 30 seconds before you pass by someone selling something to eat.

You can't buy valium and such in the pharmacies w/out a prescription like you used to be able to. I'm pretty bummed about that.

I assumed a decent amount of high school / college age kids would speak some basic English, but that's not been my experience. Nonetheless, without exception everyone I've stopped and asked for help had been super friendly and been as helpful as possible. Gotta' love Google translate.

There's no need to get up early in order to maximise your vacation time--the streets don't fully wake up until about 10:30--11:00AM

Patron is not considered to be particularly good tequila.

The ice cream here is the stone cold nuts.

Nice report. Keep em coming.

According to my friend who lives there, GDL is all about the sea food.

Edit: and tortas ahogadas