Transcription
Hello, Oh, I forgot to put test. Okay. Hello, I am Jessica and in this video I want to share with you how my experience has been living in Mexico City for the last 5 years. I want to talk about the good, the bad, what I have liked, and why I want to continue living here, or perhaps not. I hope this topic can interest you, especially if you are thinking of moving to the city. But first of all, I want to tell you a little about my context, because from there I will be measuring all these topics that I have. I want to divide it into about five topics, and well, let's begin. My context. I come from San Carlos, Sonora. It is a very small place, I think it has less than 5,000 people. It is a beach, it is very quiet, and I lived a very beautiful childhood. The truth is that living close to nature is always very beautiful. It is a beach, so those kinds of landscapes will always remain in my head, the sunsets, etc. A very beautiful place, but well, in university I lived in Hermosillo, which is the capital, and I lived there for 8 years, and that's when my partner and I decided to move here. We have been living here for 5 years. We arrived in March 2019, and well, this is the context. From there I will measure everything. So, let's begin. I want to start with transportation. It is known that the city has very good transportation. It is very accessible, very cheap, it is very well connected in general. Broadly speaking, it is transportation that is compared on an international level and so on, but it has its good and bad things, like everything. There are many types of transportation, such as RTPs, buses, I have hardly used those. I have used the metro and metrobus, trolleybus more, and each one I categorize by its degree of safety. The metrobus and the metro are, I think, the safest because in each station there is a police officer, so that's all good. But well, the trolleybus and the Combis, etc., are a little more dangerous. And well, traveling here in the city can be something as quiet as going on a single metro or metrobus line and not having so many people, being fast, but all this can change when it's rush hour, at 5, 6 on a Friday of a payday. It gets very, very chaotic, and there is no escape. I used to transfer from the orange line to the brown line, and I had to see many fights between ladies. And when you decide to go by car, you are at a traffic light for 5 or 10 minutes, and you go on like that until you arrive, and in the end, you do the same, only a little more comfortably because you are alone, but in the end, it costs you up to 10 or 20 times more per trip because of dynamic pricing and all that. So, that is in Mexico City, but I understand that in all of Mexico, this is the only place where you can live without a car. It is here because you have all these types of transportation, and for example, in Sonora, the distances are very large, and besides, in the hot season, which is the vast majority of the year, it reaches temperatures of 45, 48, and walking five blocks can give you heatstroke. Transportation is not that fast, it takes a long time, and it is a bit more expensive. So, and the fact of walking, I mean, walking here in the city is a blessing for me because walking in Sonora in the summer at 48 degrees is not, it's hell. So that's what I love about living here. Now let's move on to safety. This is a very, very, very delicate topic. Safety here depends a lot on where you move. For example, this is the map where I move. The pins I have saved are where I move the most. I have only moved around the central area of Mexico City and I hardly know other places, but I think I have never had a bad experience, although I have always been very aware. For example, if I am on streets that are a little empty or something, I don't wear headphones, I am always walking very fast, so you have to know how to move. Unfortunately, not everything is good. My dad came recently, and his wallet and phone were stolen on the trolleybus. I, for being with my mom, didn't notice. I was with my mom, and suddenly, before the Bellas Artes station, I saw many people get on at the same time, and suddenly I saw them, and when we were about to get off, I saw them form a circle around my dad, and I felt that something was wrong. So, as soon as we got off, I told my dad, "Check if you have your wallet," and unfortunately, he didn't. So that's when we notified a police officer who was on the corner, and they closed the trolleybus and everything, but the person had already left. We filed a report, but nothing happened, and it was a whole chaos because we had to cancel all the cards. I have also heard that this type of thing happens a lot on the trolleybus, so if you are going to take this type of transportation, be very careful. Always keep your wallet in a place that is very accessible to you, like you can be holding it close, and always be looking to see who is near you to take precautions. And in general, nothing has happened to me. I have heard many very bad stories too, but here it's the "rata" (rat). Here it is called the "rata," and well, in general, I live in a quiet area, so I feel that Mexico City is safe compared to Sonora. This is a very, very delicate topic, and in fact, right now in Sinaloa, many things are also happening, but there was a time when Sonora was also very bad, and it makes me very sad to talk about this, but you already know what kind of insecurities there are in the north, right? It's very bad. It's very bad that people normalize it. It makes me very sad to see how these types of situations are normalized, and unfortunately, it is happening more and more often throughout Mexico. The truth is that I feel much safer living in the city than in Sonora, and I wish that would change so that we can visit other areas, because sometimes I think many people don't want to visit certain places because of what they see. I mean, you search for the place on Google, and you get many very bad stories, and you know what I'm referring to. Yes, the truth is that these types of topics, the truth is that they make me very sad. In fact, I have even heard, you know, fireworks, fireworks in broad daylight. It's very close. The truth is that the lives of Mexicans are getting closer and closer, and it's not as easy as saying, "Oh, let them do it." I don't know, the other day I was in a painting class, and a guy said, "No, it's because they don't let them do their businesses, that's why they are doing these things." And I said, "Well, it's not that easy." It's not as easy as saying, "Let them do it." I don't think the people here realize the kind of things that happen there. So, we need to be a little more aware, and I don't know what can be done. Let's hope it improves. Let's leave it there. Now, changing to a slightly calmer topic, I want to talk about the weather. This topic is important. Well, all topics are important, but this one more, because you know that coming from the desert, as I mentioned, with temperatures of 48 degrees, where the summer is unbearable, having air conditioning is not a luxury, it is a necessity. So, when we first lived here, it was like, "Wow, how pleasant the climate is." There are many trees, a lot of vegetation, and you can walk. I mean, the fact of walking is a blessing for me. It's something that cannot be done in many places, and here you can walk, and you find all the businesses you need. Well, there is a laundry, a tortilla shop, three Oxxos within five blocks, supermarkets within three blocks. In reality, everything is very accessible by walking, and because of the type of vegetation, it even makes you want to walk. In contrast, in Sonora, it is horrible to walk in the summer, and having a car there is almost like achieving independence more than, I think, living away from your parents is having a car. And it makes me laugh because at first, people from here complained a lot about 32 degrees, which is very hot, and it's because there is no air conditioning. That is the problem. Here, well, it is not necessary, but with global warming and all that, it gets heavier every year. I think this year we reached 34, and everyone was like, "Ah, everyone is like, roasting," and it was very hot, but they will never know what it's like to live in the desert. So, the truth is that the climate is a big point because of the fact that we live here. Also, the rainy season, I love it because you can make a coffee, enjoy the rain, well, unless you are in public transport, there are floods and everything. This year there were many floods in certain areas, so it is appreciated. It is appreciated that it arrived, but it arrived with power. Yes, it was a bit heavy this year for some areas. Now let's move on to another topic, which is, well, I called it social life, activities, and well, and everything related to third places, right? Those kinds of things. This is a section where, well, the fact of living in a city in itself, there is always something to do. There are many types of activities, from concerts, festivals, to free activities organized by the government, and that makes it very accessible for anyone. Literally, if you have a hobby, you can find a place to do it, build a community, and I think that's something we all need. So, unlike other places in Mexico where activities are limited to going to the plaza, drinking in certain places, like, for example, where I am from, it was going to drink at the beach, and that's it, gathering for a barbecue. There are hardly any activities. So, yes, there are, and I think they are doing more each year, but not at the level of here. So, it is a great advantage to have these types of activities so readily available. And another thing is that you don't need to spend a lot. I know that, for example, social life here, there are many very expensive restaurants, certain places where it is known that you will spend more, but it is not always necessary. You can go, the fact of walking to a park, that the park is suitable for families, or that there are many very nice cafes. I know that, for example, compared to Sonora, the parks are like deserted due to the climate. Social activity in Sonora begins when the sun sets, and the fact that there is a lot of vegetation here, that you can walk in the parks, I consider it a privilege. That is my perspective, but I think if you come from another place where perhaps there was more vegetation or the climate was much better, perhaps you will have another point of view on this. In summary, well, the fact of living in a city, you will always find many things to do of all kinds, from very accessible things to more exclusive ones. So, that is a great advantage of living here. Now let's move on to another topic, which is work. Here I will be very specific because I am a graphic designer, and I will speak from that perspective. In Sonora, I had worked in several agencies, but I felt that I was running out of job offers, and that was also one of the decisions why we came here. The fact that you put on your resume that you live in a big city, I think it gives it more weight internationally if that's what you are looking for. And even though I work from home, the fact of signing contracts and occasionally, I think I have gone to the office about five times a year, so for those kinds of things, it is very easy to live here. In general, there is more job offer. It is supposed that they also pay you more because, well, you spend more. And with that, I come to another topic, which is the cost of living here. Let's talk about gentrification and how it has affected everyone. The truth is that I have heard a lot about this topic, and yes, I think it has affected me personally. When we arrived here, we lived in La Escandón, and we didn't know which were the safe and unsafe areas. We thought everything was unsafe. La Escandón is a neighborhood that is very close to La Condesa, so there is a certain privilege in living there, and the cost is also high. We lived in a very small 20-square-meter apartment. I don't know if you know how big 20 square meters is, but it's like a room. You know, those places that say "lofts." We paid 99,000 pesos, and the bathroom was outside, so it was a bit uncomfortable because at night, when it rained, we had to take an umbrella, go out to the bathroom, and sometimes there were puddles. In reality, it was a very old house, that's why it cost a bit cheap, but well, that was our first contact. Then we lived in this apartment, where we paid less than 11,000 pesos for a two-room apartment of approximately 60 square meters, and it is near Narvarte. So, it is a safe area, and they have increased our rent by 10% every year. And well, I don't know if it's normal, I don't know if it's part of gentrification or what, but every year they increase it by 10%. But compared to other places, like what we have seen, well, at least I am always looking on Inmuebles24, and I have realized that, well, in reality, this place where we live is quite cheap because almost everything is more than 13, 14, 15. This building is a bit old, so that's why it's cheap, but if you want an elevator, you want the finishes to be new, you want it to have a doorman, you want it to have parking, all that, then it goes up to more than 18. So, it is something to consider. It is expensive here. Besides the rent, well, social activities, there are many restaurants, but well, they are a bit, well, there is everything, there are even small eateries for 60, 80 pesos, which, oh, I think the small eateries have gone up a bit more, up to much more expensive restaurants. So, I think it depends a lot on what you come to do, what you want to do, if you come on vacation or if you plan to live here, manage your money, and so on. But well, that is a higher cost than in other places, but it is supposed that there is more job offer, better pay, and so on. And well, you have to weigh it and also make good decisions when spending. And compared to Sonora, I think for what we are paying here, maybe we could have a larger place, but in the end, you don't have everything that you have, the fact of living in a city. And as extras, to finish this video, earthquakes and pollution. I want to talk about earthquakes. We have experienced, I think, two that have been stronger. The fact of hearing the alarm, you feel the adrenaline rise, and well, even if you don't want to run, well, I run and go down the stairs very quickly. We have experienced two occasions where it was felt in La Escandón. I think the ground moved like on the highway, like water, and I think I know there are areas where rivers passed or where it was more like a lake where the earthquake is felt more, I think. And there in La Escandón, it was felt. I have also seen how the trees and cables move, and on another occasion, it trembled at night, and green lightning was seen. It was very curious that time. That was when Dualpa, I think, was in the city, Dualpa Pip was seen outside the nightclub. So, it is a big disadvantage of living here. The truth is that I am afraid to live in a building on a floor higher than perhaps four floors. Those are my beliefs, but well, that. Sometimes I hear an ambulance from afar, and I think it's the seismic alarm, and I have to pay more attention. I have anxiety, and the fact of always being with that fear is not good, but well, you win some, you lose some, I don't know. And another thing is pollution, which is much stronger around March, April, May because the rains haven't started, it's getting much hotter, and it gets horrible. The truth is that you feel it. You leave your apartment, and you feel the heavy atmosphere, and my nose feels like, it even gives me allergies. I have a device that is supposedly an air filter. I have to change the filter, by the way, but yes, sometimes it feels a lot. It feels like a very heavy atmosphere, and well, that's it. Those are some big disadvantages of living here. And in conclusion, finally, living in Mexico City is a great city to live in. It has good transportation, there are many activities of all kinds, it has good weather, security, yes, it depends where you move and also how you know how to move. And regarding work, there are many more job opportunities, better salaries, supposedly. So, yes, it has many great advantages, but also other disadvantages like, well, earthquakes, pollution, gentrification, which does affect everyone, the cost of living. But well, it depends on you, it depends on what you are looking for, what you want to do, and your decisions. The truth is that, at least for me, it is a decision that I would not change for anything, and I think it has put many things into perspective for me. And to finish this video, I just want to say thank you. If you are here, if there is even one person here, please leave me a comment. Tell me what your experience has been, or if you are thinking of moving here, or if you are living in a city, whatever it is, just comment. I want to talk to someone. I just want to know what you think. If I forgot to say something, please tell me too. And well, that's all. Thank you very much for finishing this video. Goodbye.