Mexico has always been a popular travel destination for Americans.
Tens of millions of Americans head south of the border each year to wander sandy beaches, explore Mayan ruins and eat authentic Mexican cuisine.
Throughout the COVID plandemic, Mexico has been lax on restrictions compared to most nations.
In addition to the tourism influx, Mexico has witnessed a vast increase in expats and remote workers in the country.
In particular, digital nomads have flooded the nation’s capital.
Many of these individuals come from deep-blue pockets of the United States, such as New York City and Silicon Valley.
The American liberal enclaves that developed have reportedly taken a toll on locals.
They prefer the transplants to return home.
“Fernando Bustos Gorozpe was sitting with friends in a cafe here when he realized that — once again — they were outnumbered,” the Los Angeles Times reported.
“We’re the only brown people,” said Bustos, a 38-year-old writer and university professor.
“We’re the only people speaking Spanish except the waiters.”
🧵 Hundreds of responses poured in after a young American posted this seemingly innocuous tweet: “Do yourself a favor and remote work in Mexico City — it is truly magical.” https://t.co/F9G2SaZFvE
— Los Angeles Times (@latimes) July 27, 2022
NYT: Here's how Americans are benefiting from Mexico's cheap rents
LAT: Mexican locals are getting fed up with rising rents, gentrification and Americans who arrive not speaking any Spanish and get mad at people who speak Spanish at themhttps://t.co/uFvEmGYBJQ— Melissa Gomez (@MelissaGomez004) July 27, 2022
Mexico City is being flooded by Americans — including legions of remote workers drawn by cheaper rents.
They're transforming classic neighborhoods, the housing market and even racial dynamics.
More and more, locals are asking them to please go home.https://t.co/wivG6TDWTP
— Kate Linthicum (@katelinthicum) July 27, 2022
From the Los Angeles Times:
In leafy, walkable quarters such as Roma, Condesa, Centro and Juarez, rents are soaring as Americans and other foreigners snap up houses and landlords trade long-term renters for travelers willing to pay more on Airbnb. Taquerias, corner stores and fondas — small, family-run lunch spots — are being replaced by Pilates studios, co-working spaces and sleek cafes advertising oat-milk lattes and avocado toast.
And English — well, it’s everywhere: ringing out at supermarkets, natural wine bars and fitness classes in the park.
At Lardo, a Mediterranean restaurant where, on any given night, three-quarters of the tables are filled with foreigners, a Mexican man in a well-cut suit recently took a seat at the bar, gazed at the English-language menu before him and sighed as he handed it back: “A menu in Spanish, please.”
Some chilangos, as locals are known, are fed up.
Recently, expletive-laced posters appeared around town.
“New to the city? Working remotely?” they read in English. “You’re a f—ing plague and the locals f—ing hate you. Leave.”
That sentiment echoed the hundreds of responses that poured in after a young American posted this seemingly innocuous tweet: “Do yourself a favor and remote work in Mexico City — it is truly magical.”
“Please don’t,” read one of the kinder replies. “This city is becoming more and more expensive every day in part because of people like you, and you don’t even realize or care about it.”
Hugo Van der Merwe, 31 — a video game designer who grew up in Florida and Namibia and has spent the last several months working remotely from Mexico City, Montreal and Bogota, Colombia — said he understands why locals are vexed by the growing population of “digital nomads.”
“There’s a distinction between people who want to learn about the place they are in and those who just like it because it’s cheap,” he said. “I’ve met a number of people who don’t really care that they’re in Mexico, they just care that it’s cheap.”
Read the full report from the Los Angeles Times HERE.
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