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For expats, the holidays can be a reminder of all that’s missing

By
Sarah DeVries
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Lonely at Christmas stock photo
Even those who happily celebrate the cultural differences of Mexico during the rest of the year can find themselves wistful for traditions they grew up that they can't find here. Depositphotos

My first Christmas ever in Mexico was awful. Well, awful to me. 

I’d traveled to my first Mexican boyfriend’s hometown of Coatzacoalcos, Veracruz, with him for the week, ready for Christmas cheer and new adventures in a city with one of the coolest names I’d ever heard.

The first disappointment was the city itself. Yes, it was on the coast, but the water was too polluted for swimming, Pemex being the main local business. On the other hand, Salma Hayek is from there, and there was a place there with really, really good horchata. But other than that, the city’s charms seemed few and far between.

When my boyfriend and his sister made a big show of how hilarious they thought it was that I’d picked out off-brand cereal at the grocery store, and when his mom made a point of explaining to me that they were “actually white” (a confusing conversation because they were very much not), I began to suspect that things probably wouldn’t work out between us. But, hey, it was Christmas, and I was going to make the best of my very first one without my family, my culture or, I realized, any of the traditions I was used to.

The holiday season in Mexico is a different animal, and both newly arrived and long-term immigrants here often find themselves conflicted about how to handle what, for most, is normally a deeply meaningful time of year. 

We search for a way to do this in a land where some of our own traditions are glaringly absent, and where we’re surrounded by traditions that we did not grow up with. We’re doing this often without much family, in a place where family is king. 

As open and enthusiastic about one’s host country a person might be, it’s a lot harder to maintain that level of enthusiasm during the holidays if we just can’t help but feel that something’s missing.

I’ve been noticing this shared sentiment more often lately as I see questions from other expats coming up in common groups. 

“Who’s going home for Christmas?” 

“Is there literally any alternative to spending Christmas with my husband’s family this year if I just want us to have a small family gathering?” 

“Do you get your kids Christmas presents, or just do presents on Three Kings Day?”

As a result, I decided to talk to different foreigners about their experiences with the holidays here. Below is a summary of what I found:

What are the big differences between the holidays here and in your home country? 

One word: parties. As one person put it, “Holiday work parties are on another level.” 

Indeed, several respondents expressed their surprise about how Christmas seems to be a time for partying with pretty much everyone — often staying up all night on Christmas Eve — whereas the New Year seems to be more family-oriented. 

Someone else expressed that she was initially surprised by the lack of presents at Christmas in her husband’s family, something she noted was probably more common in their particular social class. 

“There’s no emphasis on presents; it’s all about Nochebuena (Christmas Eve) and a huge party … lots of food, lots of drinking, a bonfire outside all night long; they really don’t do presents.”

Yet another expressed her admiration for the sheer quantity of celebration that extended over several weeks: “The pilgrimage for the Lady of Guadalupe, Nochebuena, The Three Kings …” 

Opportunities for true veneration and celebration abound over a long period instead of being distilled into one day like many expats here are used to.

Several others mentioned the decorations: while municipal governments usually “deck the halls” downtown, most people don’t decorate the outsides of their houses with lights for Christmas. But many newcomers I talked to grew up as I did, remembering driving around to look at Christmas lights as a sweet holiday tradition, one that doesn’t make as much sense in Mexico.

For another person, the difference was more personal than cultural. 

“The main difference for me is that my family’s not here.”

What do you miss about your home country? 

Predictably, many listed their own families and family traditions as what they most missed from home. “Mostly the food” was another big theme. As much as we all love Mexican food, it can be tough to let go of the cacophony of recipes that remind us of fond childhood holiday memories.

Surprisingly, a lot of people mentioned missing seeing Christmas lights everywhere, a big deal for me as well, one I didn’t realize was a big deal until I got here.

One person said, a bit sadly, that she missed not feeling “othered.” 

“I’ve been here for over 10 years, and my Mexican extended family still doesn’t treat me like a person; I speak the language, but it’s like they still assume that I don’t know anything and that my ideas [about what to do on the holidays] are not good.”

What makes the difference between having a good or bad holiday season in Mexico? 

On this question, the responses were essentially unanimous: it’s all about having a good support system and a community — be it family or friends — to spend the holidays with. Developing that support system can be a real challenge, but is well worth the effort.

One woman put it perfectly: “If, as an immigrant to Mexico, you’ve managed to connect to a real community and have fellowship with them, then you have arrived.”

So what happened that first Christmas in Coatzacoalcos? We got dressed up on Christmas Eve and went to my boyfriend’s mother’s apartment for a nice meal; I still remember that there’d been extensive debate over where to buy the spaghetti. 

All tuckered out, I was ready to go back to the main house and dream of sugarplum fairies, but instead we went to a nightclub, where my boyfriend insisted that we stay all night.

I managed to do the opposite of impressing him and his friends by falling asleep on a bench as the music throbbed in my ears and then complaining about the risks of us driving home drunk at 7 a.m. 

I slept most of the next day, only waking up for a call from my family in Texas, who wanted to know what I’d gotten for Christmas and hear about the exciting festivities in Mexico. I wanted to cry, but I held it in, not wanting to make them sad — and also embarrassed to admit that the plans I’d made had not been a great choice.

After all that, the dude broke up with me a couple weeks later. 

That sucked, and Christmas had sucked. But I was still a kid then, really, one who hadn’t yet learned about the delicate balance of tamping down expectations enough to be open to new experiences. I also hadn’t yet learned to define, and then verbalize, my own non-negotiables. 

Staying out all night was a surprise non-negotiable — you don’t know what you don’t know, of course.  I made sure in subsequent years that this would not be part my holiday plans. 

Since that first one, most of the rest of my Christmases here have been nice. I’ve pretty much backed off on my expectations of presents, and I make up for it by putting up way too many lights and making everyone listen to Christmas music all the time.

For those of you staying in Mexico right now, happy holidays. And remember: if this isn’t the best time of year for you, that’s all right. Things can always get better, and we can always grow to embrace both old traditions and new.

Sarah DeVries is a writer and translator based in Xalapa, Veracruz. She can be reached through her website, sdevrieswritingandtranslating.com

Q.Roo taxi unions protest Uber’s efforts to avoid public transport requirements

By
MND Staff
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"By law, the transport of passengers for economic remuneration is public service," reads a sign held by taxi drivers who protested outside the federal courts in Cancún on Wednesday.
"By law, the transport of passengers for economic remuneration is public service," reads a sign held by taxi drivers who protested outside the federal courts in Cancún on Wednesday. (Elizabeth Ruiz / Cuartoscuro.com)

More than 40,000 taxi drivers from the unions of Cancún, Playa del Carmen, Tulum and Chetumal demonstrated on Wednesday across Quintana Roo against the possibility of Uber operating in the state without a public transportation concession.

The protests were organized in anticipation of a Wednesday verdict that could have allowed Uber to enter the Quintana Roo market.

But the scheduled court session was pushed to a future date, and taxi drivers ended the protests shortly after the announcement.

“We [taxi drivers] are not against digital platforms entering the state,” said Eleazar Sagrero, the leader  of a group of taxi unions to La Jornada, “but these platforms must comply with the regulations and guidelines of the law.” He added that Cabify, with over half a million units in the state, operates in compliance with local mobility regulations.

Sagrero added that despite the court’s adjournment, the union will continue to get legal advice. “We will keep on fighting to protect our taxi drivers’ work.”

According to Quintana Roo’s mobility law, public transport companies must operate through a state concession — a requirement Uber argues doesn’t apply to the ride-hailing company as it is not a public transport enterprise. Under such an argument, Uber filed an amparo in 2019 (a legal resource to ask the government for protection against human rights violations) saying that the company should be allowed to operate with a business permit, rather than a state concession.

Back in 2021, the Supreme Court of Justice (SCJN) favored Uber when it ruled that its business model is different than those of public transportation companies. The SCJN added that its decision went in line with two previous Constitutional Actions (Acciones de Constitutcionalidad) in Yucatán and Colima, in which the Court ruled that “due to the nature of the service, [Uber] is a private company.”

Users are also in favor of Uber operating in Quintana Roo. After reading support messages in social media, La Jornada reported that users think granting permission to Uber and other app-based brands would force taxi drivers to improve their services and lower their prices.

People interviewed on the streets also agreed, La Jornada reported. For instance, Carmen Cabrera from Tulum, told the newspaper that the local taxi service, in addition to not being good, is expensive. She also said that taxi drivers prefer foreigners over locals — an accusation confirmed by Selma Sánchez, another resident of Tulum.

Selma’s husband, who has a leg prosthesis, told La Jornada that taxi drivers often charge him more when he brings his wheelchair. “Instead of helping me out, they get upset and call me names,” he complained.

Sagrero said that the taxi driver’s reputation cannot be based on the bad customer experience of a few. However, he encouraged users to complain with the corresponding taxi unions when they receive bad service.

Although no date has been set for the next court’s session, unions have warned of a demonstration from Cancún to Tulum if the court rules in favor of Uber operating in the state, reported Milenio.

With reports from La Jornada and Milenio

450 Mexicans currently stranded in Peru

By
Cat Rainsford
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0
Protests in Peru since the arrest of former president Pedro Castillo have left several people dead.
Protests in Peru since the arrest of former president Pedro Castillo have left several people dead. Twitter @JuanfranTorres

More than 450 Mexicans have been left stranded by the political unrest in Peru, according to a statement by the Mexican ambassador to Peru, Pablo Monroy.

In a video uploaded to the Foreign Ministry’s Twitter account, Monroy said that more than half of the Mexican citizens in Peru are in the touristic department of Cusco. Many are unable to leave due to the demonstrations that have paralyzed the country since the ousting of president Pedro Castillo last week.

“The demonstrations in several cities of the country continue,” Monroy explained. “Some road blockades are also maintained, so interprovincial transport is suspended in many localities.”

Members of the Atlante Metepec youth soccer team are among the Mexicans stranded due to the political unrest.
Members of the Atlante Metepec youth soccer team are among the Mexicans stranded due to the political unrest. (Courtesy photo)

The five airports of Cusco, Arequipa, Andahuaylas, Juliaca and Ayacucho also remain closed. Monroy assured that the Mexican Embassy is in communication with Peruvian authorities to evacuate Mexican citizens as soon as these airports reopen.

Monroy also gave updates on some well-known cases, including the Atlante Metepec youth football team, who have been stranded in the city of Trujillo since Dec. 12. He assured that the embassy is organizing for the 22 teenagers and six coaching staff to fly to Lima on Sunday night, in order to leave Peru on Monday.

The ambassador urged all Mexicans in Peru to contact the embassy in order to receive assistance.

“It is extremely important that you register in the record we have activated in the embassy, because this way we know where you are and we can communicate with you,” he insisted.

Over recent days, several Mexicans in Peru have told media outlets they feel abandoned by the Mexican government, and worried about how they will pay for ongoing hotel accommodation.

“The Mexican government is not worrying about us. We have absolutely no support,” stranded tourist Luz María Díaz told El Financiero newspaper. “They sent us a form to fill out and be on the waiting list. They already know I’m here, but they’re not doing anything for us.”

In his Friday morning press conference, President López Obrador also responded to questions on the situation of Mexicans in Peru.

“We are waiting for the airports to open and the Foreign Ministry is doing the paperwork to bring back the Mexicans who are in Peru,” he said. “There are tourists who were unable to leave, there is already a whole plan to go looking for them.”

With reports from El Universal, Infobae, El Financiero and La Verdad

News anchor Ciro Gómez Leyva attacked by gunmen

By
Cat Rainsford
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0
Ciro Gómez Leyva presents the evening news for Imagen, in 2017.
Ciro Gómez Leyva presents the evening news for Imagen, in 2017. (Paola Hidalgo / Grupo Imagen / Cuartoscuro.com)

Mexican journalist Ciro Gómez Leyva, presenter of Imagen Televisión’s nightly news broadcast, was shot at by gunmen as he drove through Mexico City on Thursday night.

The journalist survived the attack thanks to the fact that he was driving an armored vehicle, provided by the television station for the short nightly journey between the studio and his house.

“At 11:10 pm, 200 meters from my house, two people on a motorcycle shot at me, apparently with the clear intention of killing me,” Gómez Leyva said on Twitter. “I was saved by the armor of my truck that I was driving and I have informed the authorities of the matter.”

Así fue el ataque contra el periodista Ciro Gómez Leyva | EL PAÍS

Mexico City Public Security Minister Omar García Harfuch shared what was known about the attackers, including security camera footage, at a Friday press conference.

Despite a sleepless night, Gómez Leyva was back on air Friday morning, conducting interviews and thanking listeners for their support.

The journalist explained on his radio program that Imagen Televisión had put the armored vehicle at his disposal in 2017, after he received a threat in relation to his reporting on Mexico City’s Northern Prison. However, he stated that he has received no more recent threats, and the motive for Thursday’s attack remains unclear.

President López Obrador criticized Gómez Leyva in his Wednesday morning press conference along with two other journalists – Carlos Loret de Mola and Serigo Sarmiento -whom he described as “dishonest”. However on Friday, the president put aside his political differences with Gómez Leyva to send his best wishes to the presenter.

“The most important thing is to express our solidarity, to tell Ciro he is not alone,” he said. “We have our differences, they are notorious, they are in the public domain, we will continue to have them, but it is completely reprehensible that the life of any person is threatened.”

“There were no serious or fatal consequences, and we celebrate that because he is a journalist, a human being, a leader of public opinion, and a harm to a personality like Ciro causes a lot of political instability,” AMLO added.

He went on to emphasize that Mexico City authorities are investigating the incident and have already identified the motorcycle involved.

The attack on Gómez Leyva comes just one week after a press release by the International Federation of Journalists revealed that Mexico remains the deadliest country for journalists outside of war zones. Eleven media professionals have been killed in the country during 2022 so far, just one fewer than in Ukraine.

With reports from El País and El Universal

How to save Mexico’s rivers? Take people kayaking down them

By
John Pint
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0
kayaking on the Piaxtla River in Sinaloa
Ben Stookesberry takes on a tall waterfall on the Río Piaxtla in Sinaloa on a SierraRios led-trip. The river runs through the deepest canyon in North America, located in Mexico's Sierra Madre Occidental. (Photo: Darin McQuoid)

Nonprofit organizations have long known that one of the best ways to get people to care about a cause is to make it real for them. Well, Rocky Contos, director of the nonprofit organization SierraRios, has found a way to make his cause — preserving the world’s rivers — very real to people: he offers them rafting trips down big, Grand Canyon-type rivers in need of conservation in places like Canada, South America, China, Africa, and, yes, Mexico.

Contos founded SierraRios with the purpose of preserving some of the world’s most beautiful rivers by introducing them to the general public. Many of them are in Mexico.

“A lot of these rivers go through beautiful canyons, and they are still clean,” he said. “Some of them are very reputable, and they make for great trips. But unfortunately, many now have dams planned for them.”

Because nobody goes to the rivers, there is little awareness, Contos said.

Sierra Rios nonprofit taking customers rafting down the Usumacinta River in Mexico.
A family enjoying a SierraRios-organized trip down the Usumacinta River. (Photo: SierraRios)

“So one of my goals is to bring more people to these rivers to see what they’re like and hopefully, that will help in the movement for conserving them.”

For example, Contos told me about the San Pedro Mezquital river in Nayarit, where he ran a trip last year, and where the Federal Electricity Commission (CFE) plans to build a huge dam.

“The San Pedro is one of the most incredible rivers in Mexico. It’s wild and beautiful and very long,” he said. “About seven years ago, they were moving forward with the dam plan, but there were a lot of protests from the local communities and the Huichol Indians who live in the area, and [so] they put the project on hold.”

It’s still on hold, he said. “But sooner or later, the CFE plans to build it… and it would be devastating.”

Rocky Contos of SierraRios whitewater rafting nonprofit
Rocky Contos’ nonprofit organization SierraRios gives people an up-close-and-personal look at some of the world’s rivers in need of conservation efforts. He leads trips on many Mexican rivers.

Besides offering guided trips down many of the world’s most enthralling rivers, SierraRios raises money to fund river preservation efforts, maps and documents Latin American rivers for outdoor enthusiasts, promotes sustainable river ecotourism development through a program that trains local river guides and aids river protection activism efforts.

Contos was previously known in the outdoor sporting world for having made pioneering kayak descents of numerous Mexican rivers.

“I started paddling in 1990, when I was at [the University of California] Davis,” he said. “At that time, there was a lot of exploration going on, new rivers being opened up by new technology in kayak development, and I could see that the new frontier for whitewater was going to be rivers in Mexico.”

“Other paddlers had explored the area and run some of the rivers, but they had done it in the wintertime, which is the dry season in Mexico,” he said. “When I went there, basically none of the rivers that drain into the Pacific had been run or paddled.

“So I went down pretty much every one of them. I was there for three full summers starting in the year 2000, whenever I could get time off from my studies working towards a PhD in neuroscience.”

Sierra Rios organization kayaking on the Usumacinta River in Mexico
Ancient Montezuma cypresses along the shore of the mighty Usumacinta, which defines part of the border between Mexico and Guatemala. (Photo: SierraRios)

I asked Contos which trip he would recommend most for ordinary folks.

“I think by far the best first river for anyone to do is the Usumacinta, which is the biggest, the most voluminous river in all Mexico and Central America. It runs along the border with Guatemala.

“You’re on the water [for] six days. You get the experience of camping; you get to run some rapids, but nothing too difficult or scary, and you get a marvelous experience because you’re floating through the rainforest, and the jungle is just incredible.”

The rainforest corridor has the highest concentration of howler monkeys in the world, for example. These were the sacred monkeys of the Maya.

kayaking in the Rio Chínapas in Mexican state of Chihuahua
Paddler Josh Anderson exits Tarnation Rapid during the first descent of the Río Chínapas in Mexico’s Copper Canyon in Chihuahua. (Photo: Daniel Anderson)

“And we also stop and camp at two Mayan sites: Yaxchilán and Piedras Negras on the Guatemalan side,” he says. “So the trip has a lot of cool things about it.”

What are you likely to see while rafting down the Usumacinta?

“The howler monkeys and the spider monkeys are really special,” says Contos. “You’re guaranteed to see a lot of those on the trip. You’ll also see scarlet macaws, and you may spot a crocodile in the water sometimes.”

“Of course, there are jaguars here,” he adds. “We may see their tracks in the sand and their markings on the trees, but we never see the actual jaguars. If we have a lot of people into birding, we’ll have a bird guide along to tell us all about them.”

SierraRios-led kayaking group swimming in Usumacinta River in Mexico
A SierrasRios group stops for a swim in the Usumacinta’s pristine waters. (Photo: SierraRios)

Contos has organized the Usumacinta River trip 56 times and personally led it 17 times.

“I never get bored,” he said, “because of the monkeys and Mayan ruins. It’s an incredible place to go, and we take extra security precautions because it is in a border zone. But I know the people around there and everything that goes on, and we’ve never had a problem.”

Because some of the Mexican rivers where he leads trips run through states notorious for criminal activity, I asked Contos if he had ever run into drug traffickers in any of the remote places he’s paddled into.

“Drug traffickers are down there, alright,” he told me, “but they don’t tend to bother tourists on rivers. I’ve met a lot of them when I paddle rivers, especially in the Sierra Madre Occidental. They want to know who you are and what you’re up to, but when they realize you’re there as a tourist paddling the river, they tend to be nice, in fact sometimes very nice. We went down one river last year where the Sinaloa Cartel guys actually gave us beers and food and tried to help us out.”

  • To know more about SierraRios’ various rafting trips in Mexico and around the world, and how to support their efforts in documenting them, check out their website.

The writer has lived near Guadalajara, Jalisco, since 1985. His most recent book is Outdoors in Western Mexico, Volume Three. More of his writing can be found on his blog.

‘Nearshoring’ benefits airlines serving industrial regions

By
MND Staff
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The effects of the nearshoring boom are starting to be felt beyond the industrial sector.
The effects of the nearshoring boom are starting to be felt beyond the industrial sector. (Carlos Aranda / Unsplash)

Nearshoring is fueling the airline industry by driving traffic to the areas in Mexico with the highest foreign investment: the Bajío area, Central Mexico, and the northern states.

A study conducted by Monex, a Mexican foreign exchange company, revealed that following the industrial real estate sector, the airline industry is the second-most-benefited from the nearshoring phenomenon, which has made the country a favorite for relocating operations to be closer to the United States.

Monex found that the boost in incoming flights is due to a number of reasons. Agreements like the Mexico, United States and Canada treaty (USMCA), which promotes connectivity between the three countries, and the Free Trade Network of Mexico, which grants the country preferential access to 50 nations, have fueled part of the air traffic.

The rapid recovery of passenger traffic post-pandemic and average airfare costs lower than other countries, have also helped. A coordinated planning with regional airport associations has helped ease saturation at the Mexico City International Airport (AICM) and meet the demand added by nearshoring.

An industrial broker told newspaper Reforma that “after disruptions in the supply chain, many companies are accelerating their plans to relocate to Mexico.” He said that the pandemic paused business travel but as businesses relocate, corporate travel has made a comeback among executives who must travel to different locations in Mexico to decide where their companies will settle down.

Despite the increase in business travel, tourism and family travel holds the largest share of the market with a whopping 79%. The remaining 21% of all air traffic coming in and out of Mexico is business travel.

Finally, Monex said that with China no longer at the center of the supply chain, air cargo is now a more viable option and the airline industry is starting to convert passenger planes into cargo planes.

With reports from Reforma

En Breve Travel: Yo Amo México festival, Islas Marías opening, snow and ice in CDMX

By
MND Staff
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The Rosewood Mayakoba's beachfront resort, "Aquí Me Quedo," with fireworks in the sky above.
At the end of each weekend of Yo Amo México, the event will conclude with a beachfront celebration including live music, guest experiences, fireworks and more. (Rosewood Mayakoba)
Yo Amo México Festival in Playa del Carmen

During the weekends of February and March, the Yo Amo México Festival in Playa del Carmen, Yucatán, will host different activities supported by guests who have one thing in common: their love for Mexico.

Set to happen at the hotel Rosewood Mayakoba, artists, artisans, chefs and mixologists from across Mexico will share the work that led them to become cultural ambassadors of the country.

During the two-month event, each weekend will be dedicated to a specific region of Mexico, covering that region’s gastronomy, mixology, arts, design and more.

Islas Marías will open before Christmas

Mexico’s former penal colony in the Mexican archipelago of Islas Marías will now by an eco-friendly tourist destination. According to President López Obrador, the islands will start receiving visitors before Christmas.

The archipelago, located off the coast of Nayarit, is a UNESCO world heritage site and is conformed of the islands María Madre, María Magdalena, and María Cleofas.

The prison, located in the island of María Madre, closed its doors in 2019 after 114 years of operation. The prison buildings have been renovated and will now operate as a hotel.

The entrance to Puerto Balleto, one of the main settlements in the archipelago.
The entrance to Puerto Balleto, one of the main settlements in the archipelago. (Víctor Ortíz / Semarnat)
Snow and ice in Mexico City 

Mexico City’s Christmas spirit can be found across the city with different shows and activities organized for the holiday break.

For starters, free ice skating rinks have been set up in the boroughs of Cuauhtémoc and Iztacalco, in addition to the permanent ice-skating rink in Iztapalapa.

Ice slides can also be found at Iztapalapa’s Macroplaza as well as a 42-meter-high Christmas tree — the tallest in the country — and a gigantic nativity scene.

Fake snow will also fall over different parts of the city as part of the paseo nevado (snow walk), an attraction that will tour Mexico City throughout the holidays. However, it will permanently be found in the Vicente Guerrero linear park (between Eje 6 and Periférico Oriente) until Jan. 8.

Increased paid vacation approved by the Senate
The Senate in session on Thursday.
The bill, first approved by the Senate in November, has now been finalized. Senado de México

The Mexican Senate unanimously approved amendments to the labor law to double paid vacation days for workers, which passed the lower house of Congress on Dec. 9. Under the new terms, employees are entitled to twelve days of leave after completing their first year of service.

Legislators of all benches agreed the amendment fulfilled “a historic debt” with Mexican workers, who for decades were only entitled to six days of leave after the first year.

The approved law will now be sent to the president’s office for it to be published in the country’s Official Gazette. The new terms will enter into force on Jan. 1.

State of Guanajuato expects more than 1 million tourists for December

From Dec. 16 to Jan. 8, the cities of León, Guanajuato and San Miguel de Allende will be the most visited destinations in the state. The local Ministry of Tourism said it anticipates an economic revenue of 3.1 billion pesos (US $158 million).

San Miguel de Allende, recognized as the “Best Small City in the World” by travel magazine Condé Nast, expects a hotel occupancy rate of 42%, slightly lower than that of Guanajuato, which expects a rate of 43%.

The cathedral in San Miguel de Allende
San Miguel de Allende (pictured) along with León and Guanajuato are preparing to receive the bulk of Guanajuato’s holiday tourism. (Miranda Garside / Unsplash)

Different events are set to happen across the state. Luztopía, the largest light festival in Mexico, will open its gates until Jan. 8 at Explora Centro de Ciencias (Explore Science Center) in León. Navidad en el Parque sobre Hielo (Christmas at the Park on Ice) in Silao’s Parque Guanajuato Bicentenario, will also run until Jan. 8 and will welcome guests with an ice skating rink, snow slide and Santa’s house.

For more information, visit guanajuato.mx.

Waldorf Astoria to open in San Miguel de Allende

On Dec. 15, Hilton announced its latest addition to the firm’s luxury portfolio: the Waldorf Astoria Hotel in San Miguel de Allende. With plans to open early in 2025, the property will join Waldorf Astoria Los Cabos Pedregal, Conrad Punta de Mita, Conrad Tulum Riviera Maya and the recently opened Waldorf Astoria Cancun.

The growth of Hilton’s luxury portfolio in the country is part of the company’s broader expansion plans in Mexico, where guests are welcomed at approximately 90 hotels and resorts across 12 Hilton brands.

With reports from La Jornada, La Jornada Maya and La Lista

Mexico in Numbers: Just how big is Mexico City?

By
MND Staff
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Aerial view of CDMX
An aerial view of Mexico City (Shutterstock)

Everyone knows Mexico City is massive. You might have seen the enormity of its sprawl while flying into Benito Juárez International Airport. If you’ve ridden the metro at peak hour or crammed into the Zócalo for a popular event (say the Paul McCartney concert in 2012), you’re no doubt intimately familiar with the capital’s crowdedness, which, to put it mildly, can sometimes be just too intense.

In this edition of “Mexico in Numbers” (see three others here, here and here) I’ll aim to give you an insight into some of the figures that matter when it comes to trying to make sense of the size of the Mexican megalopolis, the city formerly known as “El DF” — the Federal District — and colloquially called Chilangolandia, chilango being one of a few demonyms for Mexico City residents.

First a very brief summary of some basic history: Tenochtitlán, as Mexico City’s pre-Hispanic predecessor was called, was founded in about 1325, and was one of the largest cities in the world when it was conquered by the Spanish in the early 1520s. During the colonial period between the early 16th and early 19th centuries, Mexico City was the capital of the Viceroyalty of New Spain, before becoming the capital of an independent Mexico in the 1820s.

It was during the next century — the 20th — when the population of CDMX (the official abbreviation of the capital today) really began to explode as people seeking to improve their lot in life flooded into the city, especially from rural parts of the country. Data published by INEGI, Mexico’s statistics agency, shows that the population of the capital was just 500,000 in 1900 but had reached 3.1 million by the middle of last century, a 520% increase in the space of just 50 years. Mexico City gained another 5.5 million people in the next 50 years to finish the 20th century with a population of 8.6 million, while INEGI’s most recent census found that just over 9.2 million people called CDMX home in 2020.

About now you might be thinking, “Wait, Mexico City is way bigger than that,” and you wouldn’t exactly be wrong. The numbers above apply only to Mexico City itself — the 16 boroughs that officially make up the capital — rather than the greater Mexico City metropolitan area, which includes 56 municipalities in México state and one in Hidalgo, according to the Development Bank of Latin America.

The population of greater Mexico City, the ballpark figure you’re perhaps more familiar with, is well above 20 million, pushed up by populous municipalities in México state such as Ecatepec and Nezahualcóyotl (Ciudad Neza), both of which have more than 1 million residents.

In Mexico City proper, Iztapalapa (home to the capital’s main wholesale market) is the most populous borough with 1.8 million residents, while Gustavo A. Madero (where the Basilica of Guadalupe is located) ranks second and is the only other borough with a population above 1 million.

The total population of the 16 boroughs — the 9.2 million total is made up of 4.8 million females and 4.4 million males, 19% of whom are 15 or younger — makes the capital Mexico’s second most populous federal entity after México state, which has a population of just under 17 million. Just over 7% of the country’s 126 million residents (according to the 2020 census) live in the capital proper, but almost one in five Mexicans live in the greater metropolitan area.

Among its megalopolis peers around the world, greater CDMX ranked as the fifth largest in 2018 with a population of 21.6 million, according to a United Nations report. Only Tokyo, Delhi, Shanghai and Sao Paulo were found to be bigger.

Let’s wade further into population stats and talk density: In 2020, there was an average of 6,163 residents per square kilometer across the 1,485 km2  that make up Mexico City proper, according to INEGI.

While CDMX’s density is no match for immensely crowded cities such as Dhaka, Hong Kong and Mumbai, it is easily the most densely populated entity in Mexico. México state is the second most densely populated entity but with 760 residents per square kilometer, its density is just a fraction of that of the capital.

Where do all these chilangos (people who have moved into the capital from elsewhere) and capitalinos (Mexico City-born residents) live? In 2.75 million dwellings spread across the 16 boroughs, according to INEGI, meaning that an average of about 3.3 people live in each home.

How do they get around? Many drive, according to official data, which shows that there are 5.8 million cars in greater Mexico City, and approximately 4.8 million of them are on the streets on any given day. Another option residents have is to take public transport, and while there are various modes including buses, shared vans, light rail, cable car and the suburban rail system, the mainly underground metro system is undoubtedly king.

A map of Mexico with a zoomed-in pane showing the size and shape of Mexico City,
Small but mighty: over 9 million people make their home in Mexico City proper. (CC BY-SA 3.0)

The Mexico City Metro, which opened in 1969 with a single line, runs through 11 of the 16 boroughs and even reaches a few México state municipalities. It has a total of 163 stations along 12 lines and ranks as the ninth busiest metro system in the world in terms of annual ridership, with over 1.6 billion trips taken in 2019.

The numbers that could be cited to help illustrate the immensity, complexity and diversity of Mexico City are virtually endless (like the urban sprawl), but to avoid this piece growing haphazardly like a shanty town, here are just five more CDMX stats to ponder.

Culture Ministry budget cut by 50% since 2017

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MND Staff
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Visitors at a recent exhibition of works by Mexican painter Remedios Varo, at the Mexico City Museum of Modern Art, part of the National Institute of Fine Arts and Literature (INBAL).
Visitors at a recent exhibition of works by Mexican painter Remedios Varo, at the Mexico City Museum of Modern Art, part of the National Institute of Fine Arts and Literature (INBAL). (Mario Jasso / Cuartoscuro.com)

As Mexico has pushed austerity measures under President López Obrador, public funding to the Ministry of Culture has been reduced 50%, a budget review conducted by the news outlet Animal Político shows.

Álvaro Octavio García, an employee of the Baluarte de Santiago Museum in Veracruz, told Animal Político how he and other colleagues have had to personally pay expenses to make ends meet at the museum. He said they have had to buy cleaning products, gasoline for lawn mowers and even light bulbs to light the museum’s entrance — all using their own money.

Similar difficulties have been seen across the country and at all levels within the Ministry of Culture — from the lack of printing paper to obsolete computer systems to lack of gasoline and vehicles to transport architects to archaeological sites, the austerity policy has been hard on both employees and cultural institutions.

“It’s very nice to show up and talk about the importance of Mexico’s heritage, but unfortunately that talk is not reflected in concrete actions,” Luis Ojeda, head of the national union for Culture Ministry architects, told Animal Político.

Convent in Tepoztlán
An INAH restorationist at work at an ancient convent in Tepoztlán, Morelos. As part of the Culture Ministry, INAH has also suffered from the budget cuts.Photo credit: José Morales

Ojeda stressed the sense of responsibility that Culture Ministry employees feel for their work, saying that if he and his colleagues did not properly care for Mexican monuments and historical areas, they “would be facilitating the displacement of historical memory, cultural heritage and elements of identity.”

With no budget for gasoline and transportation units to go to the communities, architects have had to use their own vehicles to meet the requirements of the job, Ojeda said.

In addition to a lack of supplies, lack of staff is also a recurring problem: There are currently only 192 architects responsible for ensuring the conservation of 60 areas of historical monuments and 106,000 historical monuments throughout the country.

Jose Enrique Vidal Dzul, chief of the National Ministry of Culture Workers Union, said that the situation Ministry employees find themselves in is “heartbreaking” because they deeply trusted AMLO’s government to have a more social and cultural vision. “Unfortunately, there is a very cruel disappointment,” he said.

Since 2020, the Bosque de Chapultepec’s Nature and Culture project, in México City — set to become one of the largest spaces for cultural recreation and social integration in the world, according to UNESCO — receives the largest share of the Ministry’s overall funding.

Tatiana Huezo, the director and screenwriter of the winning film 'Prayers for the Stolen,' speaks at this year's Ariel Awards.
Tatiana Huezo, the director and screenwriter of the winning film ‘Prayers for the Stolen,’ won at this years Ariel Awards (“the Mexican Oscars”). But the 2023 Ariel awards will not take place, due to dwindling federal support for cultural events. Facebook @academiacinemx

Prioritizing the project was the subject of constant debate when Culture Minister Alejandra Frausto appeared before Congress in late November. Defending the austerity policy of López Obrador, she said that “republican austerity consists of eliminating superfluous expenses.”

However, Animal Político confirmed that budget cuts and the current austerity agenda have directly affected research and cultural conservation projects, as well the daily performance of staff and the public services the Ministry offers.

Public figures like filmmaker Guillermo del Toro have also lamented the government cuts expenditures, which have affected the Mexican film industry.

Moreover, suppliers to different federal government entities have complained about late payments, as is the case of the National Institute of Fine Arts and Literature (INBAL). El País newspaper reported in November that INBAL was four months behind in payment to the company that manages security in museums.

In an interview granted to El País before the INBAL’s debt went public, the Culture Minister said that under her administration, the funds for museums in the public system had been reinforced. However, as newspaper puts it, the funding doesn’t seem to be enough.

With reports from Animal Político and El País

Mexico’s revenue from international tourism continues to rise

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MND Staff
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Tourists explore the Uxmal archaeological area in Yucatán, in early December.
Tourists explore the Uxmal archaeological area in Yucatán, in early December. (Martín Zetina / Cuartoscuro.com)

In October, total expenditure from international visitors amounted to US $2.05 billion, 13% more than that registered in the same month of 2021, according to INEGI (the National Institue of Statistics and Geography).

INEGI announced in September that over 36.8 million tourists and visitors spent US $16.48 billion in Mexico in the first seven months of the year. Data from the Tourism Ministry (Sectur) published in December shows revenue from January to October exceeded the same period in 2021 by 49.2% and increased 11.6% compared to the same period in 2019.

In turn, the World Tourism Organization (WTO) reported that Mexico ranked 29th in international tourism spending last year, a figure representing a 19-point rise from 2018 — before the COVID-19 pandemic — when Mexico came in 40th in the world.

The WTO ranking means that in terms of international tourism spending, Mexico has fully recovered to pre-pandemic levels, along with countries such as Portugal, Serbia, Seychelles and Romania.

In a statement, Mexico’s Minister of Tourism Miguel Torruco said he wanted to remind people that “the potential of a nation should not be measured by the number of tourists but by the foreign funds brought in [to the country].”

He added that the WTO data also puts Mexico as the second-most-visited destination by international tourists in 2021, just behind No. 1-ranked France. In 2019, Mexico was the No. 7 most-visited destination by international visitors.

According to data reported by INEGI early in December, in October 2022 more than 5 million people entered the country, of which more than 3 million were international tourists. This figure represents a growth of 15.5% compared to the same period of 2021 and a whopping 44.5% compared to 2020.

Mexico’s tendency to grow goes in hand with the WTO’s regional data which shows that Europe and the Americas have reported the best tourism results for 2022. Furthermore, tourist arrivals in the Americas could climb to 63% or 80% of 2019 levels by year end.

In a global context, there are strong signs of recovery in the international tourism industry, with foreign visitor arrivals worldwide reaching 57% of pre-pandemic levels in the first seven months of 2022, according to WTO. An estimated 474 million tourists traveled internationally over the period, compared to the 175 million in the same months of 2021, the trade organization said.

With reports from El Economista and La Jornada

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