Playa del Carmen
Yesterday I wrapped up a 5-week exploratory trip through Mexico. I arrived in Puerto Vallarta, and traveled across the country, mostly by bus, to Cancun.
Mexico’s proximity to the United States is exactly why I haven’t taken the time to visit in the past. It’s too close to be exotic, or so I thought.
In retrospect, that’s a self-limiting attitude. I much prefer to see a place firsthand, and then decide if it’s somewhere I’d like to spend more time.
Tip: Whether you’re looking to save money for a vacation, or extended travel, it’s possible to manage travel funds with separate current accounts. You can now find the best account for your needs online. To the degree possible, I always recommend paying for travel (or anything) in cash, versus credit.
Mexico left a very positive impression on me, and got me thinking about whether I’d enjoy living there as much, or more, than in Colombia.
Using the same 10 criteria Ryan used to size up Montevideo and Mendoza, here are my initial thoughts on a broader comparison, Mexico v Colombia…
Mexico. This is a close call, and made all the harder by the fact that I was always on the tourist trail in Mexico. I was eating at a lot of tourist-oriented restaurants, especially on the Yucatan.
I already know from friends that you can rent an apartment in Playa del Carmen for $300 a month, which is similar to what I’m paying for just a room in Medellin.
Of course you can find cheaper places in Colombia as well, but I haven’t found a beach town I’ve liked at first glance as much as Sayulita (north of Puerto Vallarta on the Pacific coast), or Playa del Carmen.
We also know Colombia’s economy is on the rise, and the government is actually taking steps to weaken their currency as a result.
Tie. I can’t award this to Colombia simply because I’ve gotten to know its culture more deeply over the years.
I have a feeling if I delved into Mexico’s regional cultures, I’d enjoy them to an equal degree. Minus the tequila, I still can’t stand the stuff.
One thing I did notice is they have beautifully preserved and painted pueblos like Tequila and San Cristobal de las Casas, and historic city centers such as Puebla and Oaxaca.
Central Oaxaca is another potential place I could see myself living in Mexico.
Mexico. This category is a slam dunk for Mexico. Tacos, enchiladas, moles, habanero salsas, chocolate. I could spend a lifetime exploring all the various combinations.
I ate an amazing meal at Pujol, a restaurant in Mexico City recently ranked #17 in the world. It’s one of a small handful of Latin American restaurants to make the list, along with Astrid & Gaston in Lima.
My taste for Peruvian food is part of why I spent 7 months in the country from 2011-12, and it might just be my stomach that leads me to do the same in Mexico.
Mexico. Also similar to Peru, Mexico has had a wide range of ancient civilizations set up shop throughout its history. While this isn’t something I’d encounter on a day-to-day basis, it does offer a lot of sightseeing opportunities.
I managed to visit 11 of Mexico’s 31 UNESCO World Heritage Sites. While some of those are nature reserves, most are related to ruins and Mexican history.
N/A. This category doesn’t apply to me, since I work for myself.
Broadband internet and Wi-Fi were easily accessible at decent speeds, and it cost about $45 to get a SIM card for my iPhone 4S, and 3 GB of data for 30 days (I actually used double that with no interruption in service).
Colombia. I love Colombian nightlife. I didn’t notice the same kind of ubiquitous bottle service in the Mexican bars and clubs, so I don’t think it’s cheap and normal like you find throughout Colombia.
I mostly drank Coronas, and strawberry daiquiris at the beach (dont’ judge).
I also didn’t dig the regional Mexican music and mariachi bands to the same degree I enjoy vallenato. I heard less salsa and reggaeton in Mexico as well, though it could be a different story in the non-touristy bars and clubs.
Playa del Carmen, for example, barely has a salsa-specific bar. One night I gave my phone to a bar manager to hook up to the sound system so I could give an impromptu salsa lesson.
If I were to live in Playa, I’d be missing Colombian-style nightlife for sure.
Tie. Both countries struggle with drug traffickers and street gangs. Peace with Colombia’s FARC would be good news, but I think most tourists face a greater threat from common street criminals.
If I were to live in Mexico, I’d be staying in either a beach town, or central Oaxaca. Without looking up stats, I think it’s safe to say such places would have much lower homicide rates than Medellin.
Colombia. I traveled from Mexico’s Pacific coast to the Yucatan, and it was mostly hot and dry. I even so a brush fire along a highway on the way to Guadalajara.
To be fair, the rainy season is about to begin, and I know it can get quite wet on the Yucatan once the tropical rains start pushing through, but outside of the jungle in Palenque, the scenery didn’t do much for me.
At least not compared to what you get in Colombia with the mix of beaches, mountains, and jungle. It’s hard to find a greener city than Medellin.
I do have to give the Mayan Riviera and honorable mention, as there are some gorgeous beaches on Isla Mujeres, Playa del Carmen, Cozumel, and Tulum.
Colombia. FIFA currently ranks Colombia #6 in the world, with Mexico a distant #16.
Beyond soccer, Mexico has access to the second largest barrier reef system in the world, which leads to a lot of snorkeling and diving opportunities along the Mayan Riviera. But I’m not a diver, so that’s not a draw for me.
Colombia. I don’t know of anywhere in Mexico with better weather than Medellin, all year. If I were to live in Playa del Carmen, I’d have to accept much hotter temperatures, and air conditioning.
Colombia. I reached the end of the 10-point list, and realized Ryan didn’t list “girls” or “dating culture” as criteria. I didn’t talk to many (any) Mexican girls, let alone go on dates, but from looks alone, I have to give this category to Colombia.
Overall, it’s a close call, but I’m giving the edge to living in (Medellin) Colombia.
That said, I do see myself spending at least two to three months living in Mexico within the next year, probably in Playa del Carmen during the shoulder season when prices are lower, and there aren’t as many tourists.
It’s too beautiful a coastline to resist, there’s still so much I can do, and the food is amazing.
Where would you prefer to live, Mexico or Colombia, and why?
___________
This post was written by Dave and brought to you by Lloyds TSB.
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I had to laugh at this one: "I don’t know of anywhere in Mexico with better weather than Medellin, all year. "
You obviously didn't head into the mountains in the center. I'll take Guanajuato or San Miguel de Allende's weather over Medellin's any day. Almost always sunny, never too hot, never too cold, almost no pollution.
Overall I'd say Mexico is FAR cheaper than Colombia in almost every respect. The fact you were mostly on the tourist trail really warped your impression I think. You were paying gringo prices all the way, which is never a good thing.
Hey Tim,
Great to see you here, and you're right, I'm not familiar with Guanajuato or San Miguel.
Thanks for confirming what I suspected about the cost of living/travel.
The weather argument is silly. I moved here (from South Florida) expecting it to be hot and difficult I enjoy Medellin for having a pretty moderate climate in comparison so I couldn't have been more wrong. Having spent time in Mexico he is right about the mountains, just like Bogota could seem cold as can be for people travelling from Medellin. It's a matter of preference in the end. I always found "better weather" a silly argument as some people love the volatile seasonal changes and some like a steady climate.
Interesting post. I've put off Mexico, but have grown more curious recently, especially because it's a short hop from the US... When is the 'shoulder season' exactly?
I think it varies depending where you want to go. The Mayan Riviera is hugely popular, and I was mostly interested in Playa del Carmen as a potential base.
High season in Playa is December to April (Americans and Canadians), then June/July for Europeans. After that, it's hurricane season and it rains a lot, and sounds like a depressing place to be since it clears out of tourists.
Based on my experience, April/May is ideal.
I´m Colombian, and I would love to live in Medallo when I get back, BUT I love México. People, food, history, culture... Residence visa is not good for us so, I´m leaning towards Brazil so far. I´m in Portugal, I have all of that but its time to head home...
Sounds like you've got choices, a good position to be in.
My husband and I are heading to Medellin for the first time in July, but I have been to Mexico several times. I have never felt unsafe in Mexico, and yes - the beaches on the Riviera are wonderful (much better than the Pacific side), and overall, it's just easy.
We'll see how we like Medellin as we are looking for a place to retire, and want to check it out. The progress made by the gov. and FARC is encouraging, but like you said, the trouble is really just from basic street criminals - something you don't really worry about in Mexican Riviera. I spent a week in Guadalajara a few years ago - nooooo problems.
I was only in Guadalajara a short time, but enjoyed it. I met up with a friend of a friend there, and she mentioned that one of the reasons there's not a lot of serious crime in Guadalajara (drug violence) is that's where the cartel leaders live, and they don't want a war in their backyard. Makes sense!
It's the same in Medellin. It's really the gangs and cartels that control the level of violence. If they want to quiet things down to decrease attention from the cops, they do.
Janet
How did you find Medellin as a place to retire.
Colombia is much safer than Mexico.
In the past three years, 305 Americans have been murdered in Mexico while only 15 Americans have been murdered in Colombia.
And as you point out, women and nightlife are also much better in Colombia.
Narco violence in Mexico is devastating ! In the last three years, more than 350 Americans, Canadians, foreigners in general, have been killed ! Killers first kidnap victims, then ask for ramsom money. Ransom is paid, but victims never come back, their remnains found decapitated, dismembered, and those parts are found stcocked in freezers, in houses of very posh neighborhoods..... Beaches have been plagued by murdering , and rape, of turists, and nationals, just this past year.
It's really sad what's happening there, for the Mexicans as well as the foreigners. Even worse, much of the drug demand is coming from the USA. Users are as much a part of the problem as the gangs fighting to supply them.
You'd have to share the tourism stats as well, otherwise it's not a fair comparison. Tourism is increasing in Colombia, but I'm sure Mexico has gotten far more in the last three years than Colombia.
what an absolutely unfair and obtuse statement to make. As David lee mentioned you have to at least look at per capita incidents between these two. It took 30 seconds get some tourism stats on these two countries. In 2013, Mexico was visited by ~24 million tourists. Columbia, almost one million. So just looking at that alone you're talking about a factor of 24 when comparing any numbers. Not sure how the American tourists numbers specifically compare to others nationalities of travelers, but you could easily argue that you actually have a better chance of being a victim in Columbia than Mexico (15 deaths X factor of 24 more travelers = 360).
Then, many of these incidents are happening in the border towns of Tijuana and Juarez. Places not considered as points of travel in this blog and light years in opposite directions to places like playa or cabo.
Past all those fundamentally obvious points, even in the most dangerous places in Mexico, what are you're actual chances of being a victim. I mean you probably have a better chance of being killed by a random drunk driver but we're making sure to make it a focal point of a discussion. I mean really: 305 deaths over 3 years / ~60 million tourists visits in those 3 years...so a .00005% of being a victim. And I'm not even going to wonder if those deaths were because of a stupid drunk frat kid in Tijuana who picked a fight with the wrong guy or was a tourist actually traveling on drug business.
Sorry Jake, but I have bad news for you.
I've been living in Mexico for more than 7 years. I live in the lovely Ajijic, at Lake Chapala area, in the state of Jalisco.
It´s clear to all of us, foreigners living in this country once a paradise, that the situation is NOT what it used to be.
For the last two and a half years, we've been increasingly enduring kidnappings, extorsion and extremely bloody and cruel ways of killing (decapitating, dismembering, etc and, then, hiding the body parts in freezers in many luxurious, fancy neighborhoods , favorite areas chosen by drug dealers to live, of course).
We, foreigners, are great targets for them since they're dollars in the picture.
AND, THIS IS NOT JUST IN THE AREAS YOU MENTIONED, JAKE.
Here in Lake Chapala's area State of Jalisco, in Mexico's west/center area, and this is just as a single example, those freezers with their horrifying, macabre contents, have been found in our own neighborhoods, as well as "casas de seguridad" (houses where kidnapped victimas are kept ) just NEXT DOOR (literally !) to our own homes, in our upscale neighborhoods. Not to mention our dear neighbors (an American/Canadian couple) who were murdered in their living room a few months ago (these are just the LATEST friends murdered, among so many others !!).
Huge problems ? They´re essentially two :
1- Police are involved in those crimes, believed or not, due to their known connection to drug dealers. A PROVEN fact...not just speculations !
2- Media are not allowed to publish about this (specially about the most gruesome cases ....) to
a) avoid panic b) Not to scare tourists away.
It saddens me that this beautiful paradise has now come to this .
Blessings to all.
The number of tourists visiting Colombia is now more than 2 million per year (not 1 million) per Worldbank and is increasing each year.
I've made lots of Mexican trips, only one to Colombia.
1. Climate: during my stay in Medellin I constantly compared its climate to Guadalajara, which I've visited several times. Other places on the Mexican central plateau also boast a pleasant climate.
2. Music: not a specific category, bit Colombia wins easily (though I do enjoy mariachi).
3. Oaxaca: I love this city. It also has a nice year-round climate.
Nice to hear Oaxaca has a good climate. I'd like to go back.
I liked Guadalajara's city center, but I already know it's too big a city for me to want to live in.
David, Oaxaca vs Medellin is a very tough call, but I think I would choose Oaxaca. I would give music and climate (barely) to Medellin, food (though I had two superb dining experiences in Medellin) and colonial atmosphere to Oaxaca. Oaxaca is one of my favorite cities. Medellin feels more urban, Oaxaca more ancient. It's a win-win.
Wil - yes, they're two different types of cities, and I imagine, living experiences. I liked Oaxaca because it's historic center reminded me of Colombian pueblos with the painted buildings. And I do like the feeling you get hanging out in pueblos.
I'd also like to see more Mexican pueblos. The only one I really got to see was Tequila.
The best town ever to live in is Richmond Virginia. We have 5 rivers to water ski in, the best mountain bike trials, clay tennis courts all over town, waves are only 2 hours away and we are getting a surfing pool with 10 foot waves soon, we are ranked as having the highest female population.....better than NYC. We have 6 universities and UVA is an hour away. Forbes ranks virginia as a great state to own a business.....thus why I have 7,000,000 in the bank! I have been to Medellin 15 times and I am always happy to be back home.....I have to work in san fernando plaza in poblado 2 weeks a year. I don't like it at all.............ghetto.
Hi Gabriel,
Thanks for introducing yourself. I've lived in northern VA 18 years (been to Richmond), and before that suburban NJ and NY. I have my opinions on all of them, just as you do on Medellin.
Maybe you like to water ski, in which case Richmond rocks for you. I'm not saying Medellin or Colombia is right for everyone. But I do think it's highly underrated, and has a lot to offer those willing to give it a try.
At this point in my life, I'd prefer to speak Spanish every day and that's only going to happen in Spain or a Latin country, not VA. I also prefer Latin music and dancing compared to what you get in the US (even though there are some excellent places to dance around DC, NYC, Miami, Vegas, and LA.
For the most part, I just do not want to live in the USA right now.
That doesn't make where I do choose to live any better or cooler than where anyone else calls home. I'm spending time where I'm happy. As you are doing in Richmond.
Maybe you think Medellin sucks, that's fine, I respect your opinion, because you're coming from a different place, and we care about different things.
Oh David, good one. You just went up 10 points in my list.
Great answer, David. Thanks.
For what it is worth, I also live in Richmond, Va. Been here about 7 years and I agree with the earlier comments about it being a pretty cool USA city. But regardless my wife and I are seriously thinking about retiring to Medellin. We've spent time in Oaxaca as well and looking forward to checking out David's comparison.
admiration right there. I too live in Northern Virginia, have for 30 years and am tired of it. I desperately want to move, to either Colombia or Mexico (or 3rd place Italy). I feel Colombia is safer, but idk. I need to figure out how to get a visa to work, and get a job in those areas.
I think the fact that you only know Mexico as a tourist really warped your perceptions of it. I'm mainly talking about the 'Weather' and 'Scenery' points. These two kinda boggle my mind here. Especially this line:
"At least not compared to what you get in Colombia with the mix of beaches, mountains, and jungle. "
Um, first of all Mexico has also plenty of beaches, mountains and jungle. It is huge and it's one of the most biodiverse countries , more so than Colombia and it has 9 out of the 11 climates of the planet.
I think what happened here is that you traveled only through the Pacific coast all the way to Yucatán but pretty much left out the rest of the country. Mexico has several 'sierras' (mountain chains) and is forest in the center parts. Many of the central cities and towns and sierras make-up the more pleasant/temperate weather of the country (I understand Medellín has a semi-tropical weather)
. Like somebody else mentioned, Guanajuato and similar central colonial towns. The mountain towns in Puebla (central-south) have a cold rainy climate. Not all the country is just 'hot and dry'. Colombia is smaller and with its diversity closer together so it might give the impression that it has more variation, whereas in Mexico you have to travel longer distances to get to different regions. It's a matter of perspective.
A problem with Mexico being so big is that when tourists go they usually stay in the same area and extrapolate what they see to the rest of the country and think it's all like that.. That's like going to northern Brazil and think the whole country is a big jungle.
Those are my main peeves. However I'll add something else. Despite not being local styles, Salsa, Cumbia and other Caribbean styles are mad popular in Mexico. (Even reggaeton, actually) I suppose that partying in only tourist resorts is very different. But don't forget, Mexico also shares a Caribbean coast and receives a lot of Caribbean influences thru it, mainly from Cuba (Salsa is originally Cuban), and also son cubano, merengue, bachata, etc. Lastly, soccer isn't the only sport, for instance Mexico is world class in boxing and has produce more world champions than any other country.
You're right. I made the comparison to broad.
I should've been more specific, comparing my experience living in Medellín, CO with the specific cities I could've seen myself living in for at least a few months, including: Puerto Vallarta/Sayulita, Guadalajara, Mexico City and Playa del Carmen.
I am taking a 2 week trip in February and have narrowed it down to Colombia or Mexico.
If I went to Mexico I would probably fly into Mexico City and out of Cancun taking the gringo trail to get there.
If Colombia I would fly in and out of Bogota. Make my way up to San Gil, then up to Santa Marta, Cartagena, Medellin, and back to Bogota.
I don't want to be on a beach the whole time, but definitely a portion of the time. I would like to take my scuba open water certification which I could probably do in either country. Colombia has whitewater rafting and the lost city trek. Mexico has surfing and ruins. I would definitely prefer the food in Mexico but I would prefer the nightlife in Colombia.
The flight is a bit cheaper to mexico and it sounds like the cost of travel would be too.
I realize that this is completely up to me and my travel preferences but any further input to help me make my decision would be greatly appreciated.
I live in a small town one hour away from the capital of Bogotá, it´s mainly mountains where I live, Colombia has alot of wildness alot of trees you definitly see alot of green over here, we have hot weather, cold(where I live) if you go to villavicencio it´s very hot and its very straight there is no mountains so there is alot going on over here! I went to visit México 5 months ago, love it there culture, there people are very nice, except in México Df people werent as nice like in guadalajara or Guanajuato. San miguel de allende etc. I would obviously choose Colombia because people here are very nice we help everyone and we know how to dance not to mention how beautiful girls are over here! Our culture Vallenato if you go to Bogotá it´s crazy in transmilenios people get o to sing and rap , guitar etc. Every street has music, i can say music and God move colombia. what can i say we love to dance and have a good time. México was a great experience i went there for my quinces Guanajuato was my favorite there mumies and its a beautiful city very colorful ! I cant say about the weather because Colombia has very diferent weather depending on where you go. only three hours away from Bogotá is very hot. while bogotá is very cold. If you go to colombia see the minas de sal, it´s beautiful. I recommend Colombia anyway.
<3 Good recommendation.