Last summer, our daughter and family moved to Mexico. Last month, we saw them in their new home for the first time. In this post, I will share some thoughts and observations.
Their new home is in the small city of Orizaba, Veracruz, Mexico. The city gets its name from the Pico de Orizaba, a dormant but not extinct volcano. I had never heard of this mountain before the move was announced. It turns out that it is the highest mountain in Mexico, and the third highest mountain in North America. The volcano is visible from parts of the city, but I didn't see it as much as I expected. In many places, it is obscured by some smaller but nearer peaks. And it is frequently obscured by rain, fog, or clouds. When I was able to see it, it appeared to be snow-covered, but my son-in-law tells me that the light color at the top is actually sand. There is snow and glaciers only on the north side. I'll have to take his word for that.
Speaking of rain, fog, or clouds, we chose our visit based on recommendations from several travel websites. We were there during the dry time of year. Locals thought our choice of visitation was ill-advised as it was also the hot time of year. But I think the temperature reached 81 F on one day and 85 on another. Most days had a low in the 60s and a high in the 70s. Dry was, by the way, a relative term. I think we saw at least a little bit of precipitation on nearly half the days and really heavy rain on three days (out of a three-week visit). My daughter tells me that it rains daily during much of the year. Every afternoon and especially during June-October. The driest months are December-April.
Orizaba is a tourist town, among other things. A nice overview video aimed at an American audience is here. I noticed many, many hotels, but only one American brand (Holiday Inn). A lack of signs in English suggests that the target tourist is a Spanish speaker. Given that there are no nearby airports, it makes sense that attracting an American tourist would be futile. I will note that the ADO bus ride from Mexico City airport was a pleasant four hours. Besides hotels, there are many restaurants and bars with many open quite late even in residential neighborhoods. The downtown neighborhood, Centro, was vibrant and lively all day and into the evening.
You need to have at least some cash in the Mexican currency. Credit cards were accepted at the mall (similar to any mall in America) and high end restaurants & stores. Otherwise, you need cash. My Visa debit card worked at some ATMs, but not others. I wasn't able to figure out why. You'll need 5 peso coins (about 25 cents American) to use public restrooms. Be sure to have cash for buses and taxis. Small denominations are hard to come by, yet they are necessary. Public transportation was excellent. Buses were frequent. It was easy to find a taxi on major streets. You can call a dispatcher to get a pickup on a back street. The buses are smaller than American city buses; they seat about 30 people. You might have to stand during part of the route during rush hour. Bus stops tended to be marked downtown, but not in residential areas. People just seemed to know where to wait for a bus. I think it would be unsafe for me to drive. There are subtleties to the rules of the road that I never really figured out. I thought that "Alto" was Spanish for "Stop," but that is obviously not what it means.
On the topic of tourism: There are many small museums and many well-used, charming parks. There is a long river walk with exhibits from the city zoo scattered along the way. There is Biori, a lovely botanical garden. You can take a gondola ride to the top of a mountain west of the city downtown, and at the top are some historical exhibits and a small museum. You can walk to the top on a lighted trail, but we didn't do that. I've read online that some tourists try to walk up the volcano with a guide, but we didn't do that either.
We did go to the planetarium, the botanical garden, a mall, a vibrant downtown, and various parks and squares. There were several architecturally interesting historic buildings, many of them now operated by the city with multiple tourist-oriented tenants (museums, restaurants, bars, etc.) inside. A fairly new group of attractions included a Dinosaur Park, Casavegas (my daughter accurately described it as being like a Renaissance Fair but open every day and without the turkey legs), a toboggan ride, a small theme park, and museums.
The economy is not entirely about tourism. I was surprised to see many post-secondary educational institutions scattered through the city. I also saw some manufacturing facilities in the southern part of the city and also several large ones to the east of the city. I get the feeling that Orizaba is fairly well-off especially for being a town so far from the northern border and the economic engine of the United States. There's a lot of nice-looking houses -- suggesting to me a healthy economy.
As a retired professor of management, I was continually surprised by what I saw of the economy. I saw many people trying to make a living doing things that would not possibly be economically viable in the United States. That is, running businesses or doing jobs that would not be productive enough in the US to generate even a minimal income. There are supermarkets, but there are also very small shops scattered in the neighborhoods. Those shops were never busy when I was around. Most restaurants had fewer than ten tables. I could get my shoes shined for a pittance, and there were over twenty shoe shine booths next to one another in a downtown square. Similarly, I noticed clustering of shops in the downtown. So for example one block would have a number of shops selling various types of home improvement and home cleaning merchandise. Another block had mostly clothing stores. Shops were often small and very specialized. And then you'd see some bizarre groupings of merchandise. We went to a supermarket that sold food and motorcycles.
I'm pretty sure there are no zoning laws. Small shops and restaurants were scattered about residential areas. About two blocks from our daughter's family, there was an event space with occasional parties with music booming into the night. There were houses all around that! Also, you would see very high end houses next to hovels. Houses tended to be built right up to the property line with no space whatsoever between. This, by the way, made the city fairly compact and you could walk to many destinations.
Crime in Orizaba is lower than in the cities adjacent to the US, but there were indications that crime is a problem. I noticed a heavy police presence. Based on the variety of vehicle liveries, there are several police agencies. Most intimidating were the federal police; they would have two men in the bed of a pickup truck armed with heavy weapons pointed skyward. Also, most houses looked like forts with either blank walls to the street or bars on the windows and many security cameras. Our son-in-law never let us go anywhere on our own, and he accompanies our daughter on her walks to work. I felt like this was more of a caution than a courtesy.
It was wonderful to see our daughter, son-in-law, and grandsons. They seem to have adjusted to their new surroundings well, and I've given up hope that they will ever move back to the United States. I hope to return soon. I miss them already.
