Some background information on myself. I'm 25, from the US, and non-white (niganon). I plan to live in a hostel in Mexico City for 2 months and then move to oaxaca for the next month. My main focus is to learn Spanish and get in even better shape. I've never been to Mexico so I'm open to anything i need to know.
As far as my budget is concerned, I plan to spend about 3-5k for those 3-4 months. This includes gym and the intensive Spanish courses/private tutors
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> and then move to oaxaca for the next month.
> non-white (niganon)
damn, you'll even be darker than the oaxaca natives. you should be fine as long as you know how to start and end conversations in the beginning.
Mexican jails are NOT nice places so try REALLY hard not to commit crime
Why not choose a place in Latin America where your Black nature will feel more liberated and at home, like the Dominican Republic or the Caribbean coast of Colombia (Santa Marta, Barranquilla). Places where temps stay warm and things get lively after dark.
Oaxaca's indios are gentle people, but also quite subjugated by the state power, which concerns itself primarily with revenue from white (mostly European) tourists. CDMX gets quite cold at night. Oaxaca is somewhat warmer, but the climate is very dry outside the summer rainy season, and the city is a very hipster place catering to European winter visitors who drink artisanal mescal, dine at boutique cafes, and buy hand-crafted souvenirs. There is quite a stark divide between the indigenous locals and the foreign tourists in the city, and the locals prefer to keep it that way.
There are paramilitary forces and quasi-state actors who operate in Oaxaca. It's definitely not a place to get rowdy and act out, especially if you are nonwhite.
nta but caribbean spanish is an atrocity, learn highland colombian spanish, or stick with mexico, the spanish may be atypical but at least it's understandable and not ear rape
People in Oaxaca don't really speak Spanish.
can you elaborate please?
interesting...if that's the case I might have to skip it all together or just visit for a weekend. any other city you would recommend?
very insightful. Thank you
I've spent a lot of time in Mexico. $1500 a month which what you're working with is a fine amount to enjoy the country. The only issue is getting gringo priced with food and accommodation especially. It would help to make friends with a local to help you find furnished apartments or maybe just approach airbnb owners directly so you aren't paying more than a few hundred a month for living.
I essentially did the same thing and had plenty of money to eat out a few times a week, go to movies, between cities, go diving and surfing, chasing some women, drinking a little bit, etc. I didn't blow money on drugs or hookers though.
Try to cook your own food at least some of the time and go to grocery stores or local markets, buying mexican products (not imported) you'll save a lot of money on your food because mexican products are really cheap. Learn to cook from locals and use local ingredients you can eat good meals for less than $1.
You will encounter racism, it isn't really hateful like the US but people will catcall or you'll find a business owner or hotel doesn't want to serve you.
>can you elaborate please?
NTA but Oaxaca is the most indigenous part of the country along with maybe Chiapas which I'd visit as well. A lot of people speak native languages, some barely speak spanish. In the cities most people will understand standard Mexican spanish. In Oaxaca if you get outside of main cities you might be the first black person they've seen.
They're impossible to understand. Same with Argentines.
It's also like a 1/3 of a year. You're not going to screw your life up fricking off for 3 months.
I wouldn't spend a long time in CDMX its actually a pretty grimy, unpleasant place with a lot of pollution and its at high altitude so it feels worse.
If you can, I'd do CDMX-Puebla-San Cristobal. Maybe Cuernavaca or Veracruz too, you can do bus trips cheaply. Don't discount Mexico's smaller cities they are nice and very lively.
CDMX is about as "grimy" as any other LATAM city, fricking prude lol. Why is this board full of softbodies
Never said OP shouldn't go there, I've been to CDMX and enjoyed it, but I'd spend the bulk of my time elsewhere. Mexico's smaller, historic cities mog American cities hard. CDMX is a megacity though, completely different animal, I don't really like being around that many people.
Very insightful anon. Thank you. I'm going to research some of the smaller cities over the next few weeks to see if any catch my eye.
Definitely going to look more into what the language school can do for me regarding a place to stay.
>CDMX its actually a pretty grimy, unpleasant place with a lot of pollution and its at high altitude so it feels worse.
It has plenty of nice areas and the climate is pretty close to perfect year round because of the altitude. Pollution is overstated.
If you actually cared about doing these things you would have started a long time ago. Won't fix your life m8
>long time ago
>just turn 25.
You're right anon. I should've planned this trip after my junior prom.
Sometimes you don't know what you want/like in life until you live it no? I didn't know I loved guitar until i started playing 2 years ago. Not to mention I've spent the past three years working a decent paying job that not only gave me the ability to buy a home but also travel and see things I've never seen. In those travels I learned I want to learn Spanish.
It's not about "fixing" life. It's about doing things that you enjoy when you have the time, energy, health, money, and lack of responsibilities to do so.
k
based response honestly. I still have much to learn about internet shitposting.
🙂
>hostel in Mexico City for 2 months
I don't think they even have hostels in CDMX. Never saw one. In any case you wouldn't want to live in a hostel for two months. Hope you have a plan B.
In Mexico there are and also places called "pensiones" that usually have separate (but spartan) bedrooms with common bathrooms. It's an affordable option but not one I'd want to do long term. Hotels geared towards locals, sometimes not online, can found for 250 pesos in places which is nothing. Keep in mind Mexicans are small and a bed at one of these places might be a lot smaller than you're expecting especially if you're a basketball american.
There are hostels in CDMX, but relatively few. My search reveals only 39 hostels out of 1416 properties. $13/night seems the typical price.
250 pesos is more or less the starting point for a basic hotel room in Oaxaca. Often they are small windowless boxes, however. I found room prices and quality to be better up in Puebla state, among the best in the whole country.
You can pay cash and save on airbnb taxes and fees, but IME in Mexico, the airbnb owners will hold firm at the base nightly rate even if you stay a week or longer.
Language schools can often hook you up with a local apartment. When I attended language school in Morelia in 2017, I paid 200 pesos a night for my little rooftop apartment. It was pretty sweet.
Mexico restaurant prices are not particularly cheap, especially in Oaxaca where so many restaurants cater to tourists with their boutique setting and high menu prices. It does make sense to cook if you have a refrigerator and furnished kitchen on hand. But you shouldn't miss out on eating oaxaqueno cuisine, it's one of the most flavorful and unique in Mexico.
imagine being so moronic you cant literally just read a spanish book and understand it. like literally almost all the words are the same.
you should consider killing yourself
pelotudo
Not trolling or joking OP, the Mexicans I know are extremely racist against black people. You should be very careful there.
If your main focus is to learn Spanish then reconsider CDMX and Oaxaca and staying in a hostel.
If you're intent on learning Spanish, go to cities with less foreigners. Find a small, less touristic city that still offers intensive Spanish classes.
Also, don't stay in a hostel. You will be surrounded by people who speak English in a hostel and you will be in classes with people who also speak English so if your Spanish isn't half decent already you will resort to speaking in English with people you interact with.
Find a homestay or a room in an Airbnb with a local (who doesn't speak English) if your goal is to actually learn Spanish.
If you just want to frick around and have fun then your plan sounds good.
t. I have studied Spanish and these are things that would work for me.