Living in Tepoztlán
Tepoztlán, Morelos, Mexico. View of the mountains from the new mercado (market). Photo by author
What's it like to live in Tepoztlán, Morelos, Mexico? What are the pros and cons, based on my experience living in Tepoztlán since 2003?
Of course, this is highly subjective. What's an advantage for me might be a disadvantage for you. Nevertheless, you might learn something by reading this article. I got the idea when someone considering relocating in Tepoztlán, coming from the US, asked me this question in an email.
Some of what I have to say is about Mexico in general, but my focus is on this Pueblo Magico (Magic Town).
Introduction
A man I met at a folk festival in the US invited me to visit Mexico, and at the end of my third visit, I was in tears. I did not want to leave this paradise and return to winter in Boston. But the climate was not the main reason. It was the fiestas and how they provide the glue that holds family and community together by group bonding. Family and community are far more important in Mexico than in the US, where materialistic concerns of work, money, and shopping predominate. In the fall of 2003, I retired from my career to immigrate from the US to find greater soul expansion.
Since that time, I published two memoirs, and have published a monthly blog since 2017. I got a lot of requests from folks who had landed in Tepoztlán from various countries that asked for my help in orienting them. A friend suggested we start a business doing this, and a year ago we launched Mexico Living Experience to provide advice and individually tailored guided tours for easy cultural navigation.
The site has blogs and FAQ, that form the basis of this article, along with the Letters From Mexico blog.
The Pros
1. Safety. Tepoztlán is so safe that young women walk alone weekend nights without problems. I assume that cartel members live here, but do their business elsewhere, not wanting to foul their nest. Tepoztlán is tolerant to minorities. For example, it has frequent gay pride marches, and has a gay (men only) spa. The US-Mexico border towns are more violent, and some other cities are, too. One should not travel the highways at night.
2. Climate. Four months of the year is the rainy season, and it rains almost daily during one month (usually August). The rest of the year it is dry. On average, daytime temperatures range from 70°F to 80°F (21°C to 27°C), while nighttime temperatures rarely dip below 50°F (10°C).
During rainy season, clouds descend down the mountains.3. Cost of living. This will change over time. Currently, a very rough estimate is that it costs about half of what it does to live in the US at the same lifestyle. But this is different after living here for a while. For example, you need not heat your home. After a few years of driving over the hilly cobblestoned streets, and needing alignments and new tires often, I sold my car. I was happy to let go of that liability. Public transportation is readily available and very inexpensive. Here is an article about the pros and cons of vehicle ownership. Another big expense is buying or renting a home. And this is continually increasing. I was very lucky to obtain a two room apartment at half the normal price of a one bedroom ($150 USD/month).
I've lived in my current apartment for eight years. Here is a video tour of my apartment made four years after I moved in:
4. Nature. The opportunities for hiking the many trails in the mountains are one of the biggest benefits for me. If you look at the archive page, you will find numerous articles on specific trails and excursions to nature spots.
I've enjoyed leading a monthly hiking group for several years of expats, tourists, and Mexicans.
5. Health. Frequent hikes in the forest are one of the many lifestyle modes that make me healthy. And I often take a short, twenty-minute walk to Centro (town center) for meetings or shopping.
There are many different types of health practitioners, at clinics, doctors at pharmacies, and alternative healers (including two homeopathic stores). The hospitals in Cuernavaca are less than an hour drive. Most of these are quite inexpensive compared to the US. The Red Cross Hospital is free for emergency services.
For many, I suggest getting traveler's insurance.
Other factors include the potable mountain spring water, and fresh unadulterated food available from several local markets.
Another health benefit of Mexican culture, as compared to living in the US, is lower stress. A friend pointed out that in the US, one shows who they are by the clothes they wear, the type of car they drive, and etc. There is a constant worry of keeping up appearances, and this stress is unhealthy. In Mexico, folks don't care about these things, and on can just relax and be who they are.
6. Location. Although Tepoztlán has a population of only 50,000, based on the 2020 census, it is very well located near large population centers. By comparison, Cuernavaca, a half-hour away, has 340,000 people. That's where one finds Costco, Wal-Mart, and similar large chain stores for shopping, as well as cinemas and other forms of entertainment not available in Tepoztlán. Mexico City, and its airport, is only an hour and a half away. Toll roads connect all of these.
Tepoztlán lies in a gentle valley between two mountain ranges formed by volcanic deposits.
7. Infrastructure. In this section I include electricity, water, internet, noise, and trash.
In the upper right corner of the image above, you can see that we have a problem with electricity. A project was initiated to bury electric wires underground. One long block was completed near the center of town where residential and businesses are mixed. Each building also needed to have wires buried to connect to the main underground branch. This was a major undertaking--probably more than was realized before they started, and the project was temporarily abandoned.
Since fiber optic cable was installed, we get regular connectivity. But there are often power failures, with a few lasting all day. We overcome this problem by having solar charged batteries ready to access the Internet even during these outages.
A few years back, the city initiated programs to limit trash in the streets. This is essential to maintain Magic Town status in which a considerable part of the annual budget comes from the federal government. Part of the program was installing public trash (basura) receptacles as shown above. In another part of the program, the public schools promoted the idea of keeping streets clean. Tepoztlán has weekly trash pick ups, including recycling and organic waste.
In this dry region, water is a problem. During most years, many need to order truckloads to fill their cisterns. As the population is growing, this becomes more and more of a problem. Not only is this expensive, but one may need to wait up to a week or more for a delivery. In our neighborhood, on the side of a mountain, we are fortunate. Water is delivered to cisterns regularly from pipes. We have pure drinking water in street taps, as you can see in the photo of the cement toad above.
For me, noise is a problem. I will discuss this in the "The Cons" section below.
8. Culture. The culture is the major aspect that drew me to live here in 2003, and is why I continue to stay.
I enjoy the multitude of fiestas, and see this as the "glue" that holds together family and community. Whether it is for a wedding, a funeral, a religious observance, or a federal holiday, everyone, including children and pets, gather together. This does not happen in the US, and is the major reason why I moved to Mexico.
Christmas decorations adorn a main street in Tepoztlán, Morelos, Mexico. Photo by author
As I write this, we are coming to the end of the holiday season. I felt fortunate to attend a posada hosted by the downstairs neighbors. Posadas are every night prior to Christmas Eve, located in the churches and in different neighborhood homes. They are a reenactment of Mary and Joseph searching for a place for Jesus to be born.
There are numerous venues to interact with expats, and Mexicans living here who are not locals. Workshops, concerts, cafes, and nightclubs to mention only a few. There is a substantial international population.
This subject of culture is enormous. To deal with it fully, I'll need to write more articles.
For me, human interactions in a foreign culture are a big challenge. But Mexicans sense this and try to make it easier. They appreciate when expats speak Spanish, or at least struggle to do so.
I love the way strangers always greet me on the streets with buenas días (good morning), and the like. In the United States, if I do this, people think that I want something from them, or that I am crazy. They shy away. Except with young children or close friends, one does not say hola (hello). One rapidly learns from these sorts of errors. Likewise, I love the custom of saying buen provecho (bon appétit) when entering or leaving an eatery.
Cons
1. Culture. These are some of my biggest gripes about living in Tepoztlán and Mexico.
I experience a huge lack of accountability around meetings. Often, when someone will be late, or can't make it, they will not notify me. How long does it take to whip off a text message? But things like family problems always take priority, and there seems to be too strong an involvement to honor other commitments. On the other hand, when one is a tourist, it is delightful to not have to stick to schedules and to just be present to whatever delights come along.
Mexicans in general seem to have problems with saying "no" to invitations. I think they feel it might hurt my feelings. So I need to be intuitive to figure out when what might otherwise might seem to be a "yes" is really a "no."
The noise levels in this small city are often very high--roosters, dogs barking, and the worst--firecrackers. These are very dangerous, frighten pets, and sometimes I jump when they go off. My understanding is that are to be a wake up call. They go along with parades, to announce church services, and very common at all fiestas. I could do well without them. On weekends, there are many outsiders who come for catered parties and they have very high volume terrible live bands. Often these are close to where I live and sometimes they play into the wee hours.
2. Infrastructure. I already mentioned the problems with electricity--power failures and the many electric lines distracting from the beautiful views.
The roads are mostly cobblestone and very narrow. Many streets go into the hills. On weekends, when Tepoztlán fills with tourist traffic from Mexico City and Cuernavaca, there are traffic bottlenecks. On the side streets, it is evident to me that these outsiders do not know how to plan ahead for parked vehicles and the generally narrow streets. One needs to be kind and patient to navigate the streets on weekends.
Why aren't the main streets blocked off to traffic on weekends? There's plenty of open space that could be used for parking near the entrance to Tepoztlán from the highway. The abundant public transportation could bring people into the center, or they could walk ten minutes. I think that too many families make money from parking off of the city streets for my idea to become a reality.
3. Health. Montezuma's revenge seems to me to be a reality. I take an herbal preparation every six months as a prophylaxis against parasite infections, and when I get sick. Fortunately, I am seldom sick.
Although there is a local health clinic here which is very good, and pharmacies that offer very inexpensive diagnoses, emergency care seems to be non-existent. For that, one needs to go to a hospital in Cuernavaca, over a half-hour drive. It's best to take a taxi and not rely on the very spotty local ambulance service.
4. Nature. Most trails are very narrow and not maintained. Some of these have very steep drop offs. One needs to pay close attention.
In almost every dry season there are forest fires. Local volunteer firefighters risk their lives to fight these fires. Four years ago, one was set by an arsonist, and was very intense. After this, the trails were closed, with huge ugly plastic signs posted at many trailheads. Volunteer guardians impose hiking restrictions, and sometimes this is a problem for our weekly hiking group. We have learned which trails to avoid. And usually when someone chats with the guardian for five minutes or more, they understand that we are not tourists, are non-smokers, and have good intentions. They let us pass.
In the woods and along the highway there's a lot of trash. After the annual pilgrimage passes through an outlying part of Tepoztlán, the locals do a large cleanup operation. It seems that most locals feel that since the woods is "out of the way," that that is the natural place to put refuse. They also do quite a bit of harvesting from nature, and some of it seems harmful, to me. For example, the inner bark from the ocote tree (a pine), is cut and sold in bundles as a fire starter. I see many trees where this cutting is excessive and harmful to the tree.
Summary
In most of the subsections I mention, there are both positive and negative aspects. Living in Mexico takes getting used to and takes time and patience. One makes mistakes. It’s a humbling experience. This is part of what I call becoming "Mexicanized." You can learn to adapt to the negative aspects. As a simple example, most people buy tanks of propane for their cooking and for heating water in their boilers. For three reasons, I do not use propane. I do not like the smell when the tanks leak. Only a small part of the deposit is refunded when an empty tank is returned. And in many places I've lived, relighting a boiler can be dangerously explosive. For bathing, I heat hot water on my electric hotplate, blend this off with cooler water in a basin, and use a plastic container to pour water over my head to simulate a shower. You might think this crude, but I've adjusted to it.
I will reiterate that these are my experiences. Others have different ones, and different ways of looking at things. Remember: I weigh the pros and cons and stay here because, for me, the pros far outweigh the cons. Wherever one goes, there will be some problems to deal with. Why not stay in an "almost" paradise?
What do you think? Are you interested in relocation to Mexico? I strongly advise visiting first. Some gravitate to where gringos outnumber and have displaced Mexicans, like San Miguel Allende or the Lake Chapala region. I prefer the authentic ethnic vibe that Tepoztlán has to offer plus the expats population. If that's for you, please check out our website outlining tailor-made guided visits for a week to a month or more, where our help relieves a lot of stress when entering this foreign culture. You can contact us here for more information. We hope to grow our community of expats who share our goals. We look forward to greeting you!
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