Introduction
There were a lot of things being told to to me about Mexico. From my family, from the media, and what was enough from me to stop looking into Mexico was the cartel decapitation video with the funky sounds of funky town in the back ground. That was in the early 2000s and while violence was at a peak and the economical conditions kept the narrative of dangerous Mexico alive and well. When I came over in March of 2025 I was baffled by these two things that can some up not only the life you can live here and what you will learn about Mexican’s Citizens. Then there is a new truth that I didn’t even believe in due to the mental and verbal abuse growing up. I was to think being undocumented meant you were 2nd class and subhuman almost. The truth at the end is truly something that is such an a infancy stage. I expect and hope Mexico nurtures it.



1. In the Peso, In the Dollar? Doesn’t Matter
The first thing that really took me back was the illusion that Mexico is cheap! Dollar exchange rates have for the most part have not been favorable to the thousands of US immigrants, US Veterans, and people like me still maintaining a USD income. Example when I got here it was 20 usd to mxn. I budgeted for a place that was 500 usd at the time

A hard lesson in learning the peso.

Stop living and doing transactions in the dollar. Live in the peso, it really helps you and the Mexican economy. Conversion is only useful for small talk with your friends back home. Yeah, 30 dollars here is 600 pesos and yeah that might sound really cool to say, but 600 pesos here is like the US economy in 2009–2010. That being said, 600 pesos is a tough number here — consumer goods except food are very expensive and not easy to acquire, especially if you don’t have the pockets to pay a premium. Paying a premium for living as well is not recommended.
e.g., I came to Mexico aiming to pay maybe 700–500 dls because you think that’s a third of a California 1-bedroom apartment. WRONG.
Bro, if you think 600 pesos is heavy, what do you think 10,000–12,000 pesos feels like? Research ultimately always dictates if you save or spend money. When I was researching, safety was my number one goal. What’s safer than gated communities? So, as you can put one and one together, I opted to pay a premium on living. Heavy.
Wrapping it up, I want to stress how important it is to live in the peso — not only to be contributing to the Mexican economy, but to save yourself a lot of money. I learned the hard way and I am already working hard to re-correct and find something in the 6,500–5,000 range.
Something you can do to help you learn is just buy the most accessible item or service and then tell a person who actually lives in Mexico, and they’ll tell you you paid way too much. Like I did with my rent — I tell people how much I pay in rent and they think I have money when I lowkey sold a lot of my stuff for essentials because I had to pay a 10k rent.
Don’t be me. Learn the value of the peso and live in the peso and think Mexico is cheap.

2. People Are Just Living Here
Unlearning U.S. fear and realizing Mexico isn’t the monster we were told it was.

This next one is for sure my US mind, and if you have lived in the US your whole life you truly won’t understand unless you’ve lived outside of that. People are just living here, so do not be afraid. That will also save you a lot and help you integrate faster.
Propaganda is just a part of the American diet as—I don’t know man—I wanna say McDonald’s, but in the end, Americans couldn’t even afford that.
People are just living in Mexico. And yes, things happen, but nothing like the US news or your parents says it is.
Keep in mind I am talking out of a Privada ( gated community ), in a low crime rate zone. I am sure things are very much what they say they are, but it’s like living in a gated community in Santa Ana, Downey, or Long Beach. These are all cities in California that you can be happy to live in but avoid walking around or driving in at nighttime.
I have taken my wife and son out past 9 p.m. to the local grocery store without any issues — except the cops were there because of some minor issue. Nothing that was stopping any lines or disturbing any customers.
One of my first gigs here in Mexico was with a security guard group that was paid by essentially a pay pool from the community. Some zones are so bad that locals will pay 20–50 pesos weekly for groups of security guards in boots, uniform, vest — armed with retractable metal batons.
Even there, you see people outside after dark with their kids out, just living and I will say, I have never witnessed poverty like that.
So yes, Mexico is very much an evolving country, and ultimately people are very much just living here.
It’s a very thriving population that all works hard to make a living, and as long as you come to Mexico to mind your own, go to work, and know how to practice being subtle — then from my experience so far… you will be alright.
That is what I learned/witnessed for myself — that I shouldn’t have been afraid of my birthplace and the unknown like our family members made it out to be.
Mexico is not the same place it used to be 25–30 years ago.

1. I Am a regular Person Here
Finding humanity, dignity, and self-worth after being undocumented in the U.S.

The last thing I learned living in Mexico after self-deporting is maybe too niche and personal, but I learned that I really am a person.
Sounds weird and odd to say, but in the US I was an alien, an illegal, an immigrant.
I grew up with the same shitty millennial parents watching the same cartoons, went to the same schools, went through a lot of the same things as my peers — but I was never 100% there.
Growing up, telling me I was undocumented was a joke, a threat, something to scare me or dismiss me.
Really made me feel subhuman.
I was a second-class citizen that did not have the same rights as everyone else. Probably why I did so much self-damage — so much crazy shit came out of feeling like that.
Sending me to Mexico was also always another threat whenever I got in trouble at school or was acting up. I was always threatened by the poverty of Mexico and how I wouldn’t have a pair of shoes and would be living with nothing.
Meanwhile, the family would take vacations to Mexico and come back talking about how beautiful it is and how much fun it was.
Super crazy feeling it is to be undocumented in the US — really makes you feel like you’re not even a real person sometimes.
Your life and its decisions are all based on getting papers and nothing else matters, so you even end up doing things you probably don’t even want to do for them.
You stop being true to yourself and in essence, you stop feeling like a person.
Coming back to Mexico was something that made me start to learn compassion and the feeling of belonging for myself.