Mexico

[usualuse]

I love the City.
It's my dream to go there and see it!
What about you?

 

[rudeguy]

Mexico is a country...I hear Mexico City is a nice city to visit however

 

[PliotronX]

Which one?

 

[IGBT]

My brother-n-law is from SanSalvador and spent a lot of time working in Mexico City and says it's a grungy crime ridden place. If you go..consider Club Med..for security...

 

[0roo0roo]

don't breath deeply and have some bribe money

 

[usualuse]

Any Mexicans here?
What money do you have,and how is it compared to dollar?

Edit-Do you need visa to get into Mexico?

 

[Mucho]

Originally posted by: 0roo0roo
don't breath deeply and have some bribe money

He is talking about Mexico City not Washington!

 

[Howard]

Originally posted by: Mucho

Originally posted by: 0roo0roo
don't breath deeply and have some bribe money

He is talking about Mexico City not Washington!

Funny. But the air quality in Mexico City is garbage.

 

[royaldank]

Mexico is dirty and poor.

 

[Fausto]

Originally posted by: usualuse
I love the City.
It's my dream to go there and see it!
What about you?

I don't think the short bus goes that far, sorry.

 

[DurocShark]

Originally posted by: usualuse
Any Mexicans here?
What money do you have,and how is it compared to dollar?

Edit-Do you need visa to get into Mexico?

Peso

Last time I was in Mexico (many years ago) the dollar=3500 pesos, give or take. But Mexico's revamped their money, so I don't know what it's like now.

 

[Spac3d]

Originally posted by: Fausto1

Originally posted by: usualuse
I love the City.
It's my dream to go there and see it!
What about you?

I don't think the short bus goes that far, sorry.

:beer:

 

[zbalat]

I'm not Mexican but I have been to Mexico a few times. Last year $1.00 US = 10 pesos.

You do noy need a visa to visit, just a passport or drivers license & original birth certificate.

 

[violetman]

Mexico-I just love the city and the atmoshere.I was there not so long ago and i have to say -i liked it.
Too bad it's terribly expensive there.

 

[Sid59]

I love the Incubus song ...

meeeexxxxxiiiicoooooooooo

 

[violetman]

a good one Sid,goooood one!

 

[alexruiz]

usualuse, glad to hear you want to come and see the country. I am assuming you want to be in the big capital (Mexico city or DF for the locals...) We have also a state called Mexico (State of Mexico, where I am from).

Some suggestions:

The city metro area has almost 30 million people living there. Needless to say, you will find things and problems that are unique to big cities.... trafic is among the worst in the world, and if you have driven in NewYork city imagine the same but on steroids.... there are a lot of poor neighborhoods, as well of some of the richest areas in the country.

1 USD aprox 10.90 pesos. The air quality in the city is terrible, so get some eye drops with you (I cross it every weekend and my eyes still can't get used to it....) Altitude with pollution will make you feel tired easily, so don't get too worried about it.

Food is awesome, but for a foreign stomach I suggest you stick to the hotel food. The authentic Mexican food is nothing like you can get in the USA (forget taco bell or similar cr@p) and in some cases the spices will get you visiting the throne often.... take it with ease.

If you are quite fluent in Spanish you will have an awesome time, as a lot of things are not easily visible to the tourists. Someone said something about bribes, but don't worry, if you don't do anything bad you have nothing to fear. Finally, just imagine how you should act being in a city like New York and that is a good start.

In the airport, take ONLY taxi cabs inside the airport whre they sell the tickets. Taxi drivers are usually very smart and know when someone is not form the city. They charge by distance, so in some cases they could make the trip longer just to charge more. I strongly suggest to polish the Spanish. For quick travel you could take the subway (get a map of the routes), but I would advise against being in the subway at rush hour.

As I said, nothing that a 10+ million people city doesn't have.....

Have fun! Do you know what places you want to see?


Alex

 

[alexruiz]

By the way, a passport speeds thing up at immigration a lot. Get one, it really pays for the foreigners. Also, if ID is needed the passport is the top one.

 

[Ranger X]

It's funny how you want to go to Mexico but the Mexicans want to come here.

 

[Jzero]

Originally posted by: zbalat
I'm not Mexican but I have been to Mexico a few times. Last year $1.00 US = 10 pesos.

You do noy need a visa to visit, just a passport or drivers license & original birth certificate.

You may need a visa if you are not from the US (thought usualuse was from Poland?).

It's acctually more like 11 pesos = 1 dollar these days which often gets rounded to 10.
Which is good b/c when I was there the peso was like 8 to the dollar which resulted in this trick:
"How much is this?"
"8 dollars or 80 pesos."
I give 10 dollars.
I get back 16 pesos change.

Keep pesos around, but remember that the US dollar gives you good bargaining power. I found that a lot of merchants were willing to take a lower equivalent price in US Dollars than pesos. Like I was haggling over a bracelet with a guy and he said it was 100 pesos (~$10USD). I offered him 80 pesos (~$8USD) and he said no. I offered him $7USD and he ate it up.

 

[CanOWorms]

Originally posted by: alexruiz
Food is awesome, but for a foreign stomach I suggest you stick to the hotel food. The authentic Mexican food is nothing like you can get in the USA (forget taco bell or similar cr@p) and in some cases the spices will get you visiting the throne often.... take it with ease.

You can get authentic Mexican food in the USA Just because a Mexican leaves Mexico and cooks doesn't mean it's not authentic Mexican food!

If its like any other third world country, you shouldn't be eating the food from vendors on the street! Boil water or use bottled water, etc.

 

[StageLeft]

I'm in no great hurry to visit mexico but I'll be honest - after reading what alexruiz has said in this thread and the mexico parasite thread I'm starting to think that MAYBE it's not quite as bad as I'd heard

 

[zbalat]

It's funny how you want to go to Mexico but the Mexicans want to come here.

You are kidding right? It's a vacation not an opportunity for a better way of life.

 

[Ophir]

Originally posted by: Skoorb
I'm in no great hurry to visit mexico but I'll be honest - after reading what alexruiz has said in this thread and the mexico parasite thread I'm starting to think that MAYBE it's not quite as bad as I'd heard

It's good to hear you're changing your opinion. You'll find out that most of the people that bash Mexico and detest Mexico City have never even been there; the rest have never been anywhere outside of the border towns and resort towns. These people are not qualified to comment, but do so anyway based on what they've read or heard or contrived from movies. Obviously most of these reports are exaggerated or even false.

Mexico City is a dangerous place IF you get stuck in the wrong place at the wrong time. If you visit, make sure you keep out of the dangerous areas basically altogether, and use common sense when travelling. Most of the problems arise when tourists get too trusting and do things without thinking. The city is amazing, though, and not to be missed.

One more thing, make sure you don't restrict your visit to just one city/area, the entire country is beautiful. For a first time visit, I would recommend visiting the Oaxaca/Huatulco area first, it is much more tourist friendly and not yet a full tourist trap (you can still see real Mexico in Oaxaca, which is a beautiful colonial city, with Zapotec ruins in Mitla and Monte Alban. The Huatulco resort is often quite overlooked by paradise-seeking travellers).

PS - Whoever said you can find authentic Mexican food in the US is wrong. There is more to cooking than the recipe. Many of the ingredients used in real Mexican (in Mexico) cooking are either not available here or are of poor quality. You can taste the difference.

 

[CanOWorms]

Originally posted by: Ophir

Originally posted by: Skoorb
I'm in no great hurry to visit mexico but I'll be honest - after reading what alexruiz has said in this thread and the mexico parasite thread I'm starting to think that MAYBE it's not quite as bad as I'd heard

It's good to hear you're changing your opinion. You'll find out that most of the people that bash Mexico and detest Mexico City have never even been there; the rest have never been anywhere outside of the border towns and resort towns. These people are not qualified to comment, but do so anyway based on what they've read or heard or contrived from movies. Obviously most of these reports are exaggerated or even false.

Mexico City is a dangerous place IF you get stuck in the wrong place at the wrong time. If you visit, make sure you keep out of the dangerous areas basically altogether, and use common sense when travelling. Most of the problems arise when tourists get too trusting and do things without thinking. The city is amazing, though, and not to be missed.

One more thing, make sure you don't restrict your visit to just one city/area, the entire country is beautiful. For a first time visit, I would recommend visiting the Oaxaca/Huatulco area first, it is much more tourist friendly and not yet a full tourist trap (you can still see real Mexico in Oaxaca, which is a beautiful colonial city. The Huatulco resort is often quite overlooked by paradise-seeking travellers).

PS - Whoever said you can find authentic Mexican food in the US is wrong. There is more to cooking than the recipe. Many of the ingredients used in real Mexican (in Mexico) cooking are either not available here or are of poor quality. You can taste the difference.

My parents are from India so I'm pretty sure it's even harder to get some ingredients. If you're telling me my mother doesn't make real Indian food, then you're mistaken.

Maybe you're saying that b/c our ingredients would lack roaches, urine, feces, etc just kidding