Most Japanese people have probably never heard of Monterrey. It’s rarely featured in the guidebooks, so even Japanese who live in Mexico don’t seem to visit much. Monterrey is located in northeastern Mexico surrounded by mountains, so people sometimes call it a mountain town.
It’s a four-season climate much like Japan’s. Summers are hot and humid (though not as bad as Japan’s), with intense sun and highs averaging around 33ºC. Winters get pretty cold, and I’ve heard that it snows occasionally. While it’s common in Mexico City for homes to be without heating or air conditioning, having an A/C in Monterrey is essential. I’ve been living in air conditioning every day for the first time in three years. The elevation is 540 meters, so people don’t worry about altitude sickness here like they do in Mexico City, and they don’t have earthquakes either. I’m probably like most Japanese in that earthquakes are never far from my mind, so it’s a great relief to not have to worry about them.
Nuevo León borders Texas, so I’ve heard that a lot of people drive across the border to shop and enjoy the US on the weekends. The borders are closed right now because of the pandemic, but even without the coronavirus, it’s not always safe to go—so we’re told it’s best to check with a Mexican person first. The lifestyle, streetscapes, and culture of Monterrey have been heavily influenced by Texas (which was once part of Mexico), so it’s quite different than Mexico City or other Mexican states. There are no taco street vendors around or the colorful buildings that people associate with Mexico. I’m a little sad at the fact that you don’t really feel the distinctive Mexican culture here. There are also noticeably fewer brown-skinned Mestizos (people of mixed indigenous and Spanish heritage) here, and relatively more Caucasians.
Monterrey is an industrial city, and many foreign companies have set up operations here. Recently there’s been an influx of Korean car companies, for example, so I’m guessing that most of the Asians here are Korean. You even see Korean signs at the airport and at schools. The standard of living is high, with a per-capita GDP that’s about twice the Mexican average, and an average household income that’s second only to Mexico City. The city puts a lot into education, so I hear there are a lot of good schools around as well. There’s a famous university here Tecnológico de Monterrey (TEC) that’s considered the best in the country alongside the National Autonomous University of Mexico (UNAM) in Mexico City. The tuition’s high though, so it’s also known as a rich kids’ school. It definitely seems like things are more expensive here in Monterrey—even more so than in the capital. Everything costs just a little more, from vegetables and fruit in the grocery store to rent. You can’t really find the tacos that people eat all the time in Mexico City, or what would be akin to the set meals you get in Japan (for around 400 yen a person), so it makes me worry a bit about how everyday Mexican families make it. Even I relied on the cheap, delicious nearby restaurants on days when I was busy or didn’t feel like cooking, but here in Monterrey I’m fighting hard to get meals on the table day after day.
Another thing you notice immediately upon coming to Monterrey is how few people there are here. Maybe it’s more accurate to say that hardly anybody’s walking around on the streets. Some people are lucky and have a grocery store that’s close enough to walk to, but you really almost never see people walking around. In Mexico City we saw Uber Eats and other delivery bicycles and motorcycles all over the place, but here you don’t even see a bicycle. It’s a total car culture. The streets aren’t even built for people to walk on, which may be one reason you don’t see them doing it. To put it bluntly, it’s pretty hard for a person like me—who doesn’t even have a license, much less a car—to live here. Other than me, I’ve never seen a single other person walk their kids to school. They must find me pretty strange walking alongside their long line of cars as they drop their kids off and pick them up.
It’s my first time living in this city (and a foreign one at that), so I’ve got a lot of worries and things I’m struggling with, but there are still things I’m enjoying and looking forward to. I’ll be sharing more about Monterrey in my upcoming posts, so hopefully you’ll be able to use them as something of a guidebook.
