October 23, 2025 • 22 mins
In this episode of the "Living in Mexico" series, I'm sitting down with my husband to tackle one of the most controversial topics we've faced since moving to México: gentrification.
As second-generation Mexican Americans living in León, Guanajuato, we're getting real about whether we're part of the problem, what gentrification actually means, and how our experience differs from what's happening in other places across Mexico. This conversation isn't easy, but it's one we need to have.
For detailed show notes, visit vivalamami.com/episode141
What You'll Hear
- The definition of gentrification and whether we actually fit it
- Our Chicago roots and how witnessing gentrification shaped our perspective
- The generational wealth gap we've noticed and what it means for our family's story
Resources Mentioned
- Last week's episode on finding long-term housing in Mexico
- Upcoming FREE live masterclass on Getting Dual Citizenship in Mexico
Love this episode? Subscribe wherever you are listening, share this episode with an amiga, and leave a review on Apple podcasts.
Watch this podcast episode on YouTube!
Follow Viva la Mami on Instagram @vivalamami
Join the Viva la Mami newsletter so you won't miss a thing!
Have a suggestion for an episode topic? Click HERE
Have a suggestion for a guest? Click HERE
Visit the Viva la Mami Website
www.vivalamami.com
Have questions or want to connect? Email us at podcast@vivalamami.com
Mark as Played
Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
(00:00):
we have been battling a lot withthis and I think that it's an
(00:03):
important topic that we feltthat we needed to to speak about
because we understand.
The level of privilege that wehave in terms of us just making
the decision to move our familyto Mexico.
But it's also a heavy topic forthe people that are living here,
(00:23):
that are from Mexico, that havebeen living here for many years.
And it also puts us in a weirdposition, right?
Because we are secondgeneration, you know, we're not
too removed from Mexico.
We're only one generationbehind, if you will.
And so it makes it just kinda ofa complicated subject.
(01:49):
Ola, welcome to another episodeof the Viva La Mommy Podcast.
I'm your host, Jessica Cuevas,and on this week's episode, we
are going to tell you more aboutlife in Mexico as part of the
Living in Mexico series.
And of course, because y'alllike the cheese may, I brought
(02:10):
my husband, Alex.
And the reason why I have him onthe show is because he is also a
part of the process in us, uh,living in Mexico and why we
decided to move to Mexico andwhat life is really like.
So I am really excited to haveyou again, Alex.
How have you been?
Thank you.
Uh, been okay fighting off alittle bit of a, whatever it is,
(02:33):
but, but doing good.
Yeah.
I hope he doesn't, contaminateus, especially the kids
considering that they're inschool.
But yes.
So if you haven't yet heard lastweek's episode, we talked a lot
about housing and how we foundspecifically long term, uh,
housing in Mexico, and so.
(02:54):
This week is kind of tied inwith that subject in terms of us
having a home in Mexico and whatit's like.
And it is specific to a very hottopic right now that if you
haven't yet heard, uh, on theinternet and social media, it's
about the big G word.
(03:16):
Gentrification.
Yes, gentrification.
And we have been battling a lotwith this and I think that it's
an important topic that we feltthat we needed to to speak about
because we understand.
The level of privilege that wehave in terms of us just making
(03:36):
the decision to move our familyto Mexico.
But it's also a heavy topic forthe people that are living here,
that are from Mexico, that havebeen living here for many years.
And it also puts us in a weirdposition, right?
Because we are secondgeneration, you know, we're not
too removed from Mexico.
(03:57):
We're only one generationbehind, if you will.
And so it makes it just kinda ofa complicated subject.
Okay, Alex?
So when you think aboutgentrification, what comes to
mind?
Our white counterparts.
Hmm.
That's what comes to my mind.
So before we, or before it justbrought up the subject about
(04:18):
gentrification, I had to, youknow, not to sound too dumb or
anything, but I had to look upthe definition as to what it
meant, right?
So by definition, we are not.
Gentrifying this area because inorder for us to be gentrifying,
we would have to have moved intoa lower super low income area.
And where we're at right now,I'm pretty sure people make more
(04:39):
money than we do.
So, so by definition we are notgentrifying this area.
Yeah.
But in the, the general conceptof gentrification, like Yeah.
How does that make you feel?
Um, you know, that's a goodquestion.
I don't really know.
I mean, I know.
When I think aboutgentrification, I feel bad for
the people that it affects,right?
(05:00):
Mm-hmm.
Um, because I mean, we know howit is to be living paycheck to
paycheck and not, how should Isay, be able to do a lot of
stuff that we wanted to do.
Right?
And that's what gentrificationdoes to a lot of people that are
in way worse conditions than weare.
Yeah.
Yeah.
And for me, gentrification,definitely, I guess I think of
(05:26):
it as Chicagoans and how we'veseen it really before our eyes
and we grew up in neighborhoodswhere they were lower
socioeconomic, you know, workingclass families, a lot of
immigrants, not just coming fromLatin America and Mexico, but
also like Poland.
(05:47):
Middle Eastern families as well.
Mm-hmm.
And so, you know, we grew up inYes, in a predominantly Latino
community, but it was also a mixof other ethnicities.
And so knowing that ourcommunity was affected by
gentrification and other areaswithin Chicago, like Pilsen,
(06:09):
Logan Square.
We have seen it before our eyesand we understood the, the
struggle that many communitiesthat really have been impacted
by this notion of privilege,affluent, uh, people kind of
taking, removing them fromhousing.
Mm-hmm.
And so with us now coming toMexico, I've definitely thought
(06:32):
about this and, and I'vewondered myself like, are we the
problem?
Are we the ones gentrifying?
Um, Mexico, and, and there's alot of, you know, noise in, in
La Mexico where a lot of thelocals are like, we don't want
you here, we don't wantgentrification.
Where, and there have been a lotof, um, protests about that.
(06:56):
But considering that we moved toLeon, uh, Leon, which I'm
honestly surprised it's not a.
Multicultural city, like we areseeing that.
Mm.
But there are small pockets ofpeople that are coming from
different countries and so yeah,like I, I don't think that right
(07:21):
now Leon is impacted as much ongentrification because I think,
and in my opinion, based on whatI've witnessed and what I know.
Leon is a pretty affluent city.
Mm-hmm.
It really is.
Yeah.
And I don't think that a lot ofpeople are highly impacted than
(07:42):
other parts of like Mexico.
What are your thoughts aboutthat?
I agree.
Um, yeah, I mean, you definitelydon't hear about people
protesting like I just mentionedhere in Leon, like how they do
in the city.
Right.
Um, and gentrification here, Idon't, I mean, we've only been
here, what, two months?
Mm-hmm.
Two, two and a half months.
Mm-hmm.
So we really don't have, or wereally haven't seen a lot of
(08:05):
that stuff going on here.
Right.
Um, like how you do in MexicoCity, Oaxaca, like this other
Oaxaca maybe.
Yeah.
What's that other one?
Yeah, like, uh, maybe the, yeah,a lot of, and, and for the most
part, like a lot of indigenous.
Places, and that's because, youknow, there's true beauty in it.
Mm-hmm.
Like if you think about the, uh,cultural aspect and the
(08:28):
ecosystems that are in placethere, uh, yeah.
Like people do wanna takeadvantage of that.
Yeah.
But yeah, I mean, getting backto what I was saying, yeah, we
haven't really experienced thatmuch.
Mm-hmm.
I mean, I haven't felt, or wehaven't felt like the sense that
we not want, that we're notwanted here.
Mm-hmm.
Except for the governmentworkers.
And that's what, that's foranother, that's for another
(08:49):
episode.
Yes.
But as far as like the people,the community, like the locals
here, we've always been receiptwith open arms.
Mm-hmm.
Yeah.
And I think because we have thatleverage.
We are second generation MexicanAmericans, right?
Like we were born in the US roour parents were born in Mexico.
And even though we didn'tfrequent as much growing up,
(09:13):
coming back to Mexico, and wedidn't stay long term like a lot
of families do, uh, we stillfelt the sense of connection,
uh, through the languageobviously, but also just, you
know, through the connectionthat we have, uh, with the
culture, Ian, you know, justlike.
The, the type of manners that wehave, the values.
(09:34):
And so that has helped us tokind of fit in, you know, into,
uh, the, the community here.
But at least like deep downthough, I have been thinking a
lot about, well, are we causinggentrification?
Like where we are at, like yousaid, Alex, even though.
(09:58):
We have neighbors that arepretty affluent and you know, we
have, we moved into a Acia whereit's, um, where we're not
technically gentrifying.
Mm-hmm.
But I wonder in this whole scopeof us moving to Mexico on a
broader scale mm-hmm.
Like, are we gentrifying?
Are we gonna make Mexicoexpensive?
(10:19):
Are we gonna make the economy.
Look different here than if wewere to stay in the United
States.
And that's something that I'vebeen thinking about.
And that's a good question.
I mean, and who knows?
Probably, probably not.
But I mean, we're on a minusculelevel, right?
Minuscule scale, if you will.
It's just two of us.
(10:40):
I mean, we are contributing tothe economy.
Mm-hmm.
Right?
I mean, we're not bringing in, Imean, we, we rent, right?
So we're paying somebody else.
It's not like if we're.
Investing our money into realestate and making extravagant
renovations to the point whereit's gonna affect the whole
area.
(11:00):
You know, that's not us.
So.
Yeah.
Yeah.
And isn't that interesting thatwe're living in an area where
there's a lot of educatedmm-hmm.
People, a lot of like affluentpeople, and then here we are,
the, the second generation, youknow, couple trying to raise
their family in this area.
Uh, where our family knew thestruggle.
(11:22):
Mm-hmm.
Like our dads both have workedin factories, you know, they
were truce labor workers.
Uh, your mom was a stay at homemom.
My mom kind of navigated, uh,the US where she did have office
job, but it was a very lowpaying job and that was it.
You know, and so it just makesit so interesting how there's
(11:46):
like generations and generationsof like money here.
And then here we come.
Yeah.
Kind of like, I don't know,we're, I don't know if we're
intercepting or, I don't know,but it, it does make it a very
complex like experience.
Mm-hmm.
When you really think aboutlike, our notion of like living
here and.
(12:07):
Why we decided to move here andall of that.
Yeah.
And now that you mentioned aboutlike the, how you said that
there's like generational moneyhere, right?
I mean yesterday we went, wetook the kids to, yeah.
And that area is just like wow.
Right?
So when you said that you wonderif we're causing some type of
harm here to the economy?
(12:28):
Yeah.
I mean obviously no matter whereyou go, there's always gonna be
you're poor, you're rich, you'remiddle class.
But as far as like us.
I don't think so.
'cause I mean, when you look atit and some of the people that
are around here that live here,we're nothing compared to them.
Right.
I wish I had that type of money.
But yeah, I mean, I don't know.
(12:48):
I don't think we, to get back towhat I was trying to say, I
don't think we're having anytype of negative impact here.
Yeah.
Yeah.
If anything, we're.
Doing like a big FU to theUnited States because we're
gaining the US dollars, butwe're not giving anything back
(13:09):
to the US economy.
But that may be another topic.
I don't know.
Yeah.
Yeah.
Something we would have toresearch a lot more into.
Yeah.
Yeah.
But as far as with, you know,I'm kind of tying last week's
episode on housing to this week.
I think that Leon is somewhatgatekeeping.
(13:31):
Mm-hmm.
Um, many folks fromgentrification or from making it
even more expensive as far aslike housing costs, we.
Couldn't just sign a lease.
Like we had to get, uh, mygrandpa to co-sign basically for
us.
Uh, he had to be the val, whichis a clause that essentially
(13:52):
gives us permission to Youco-sign it almost.
Yeah.
Like to, to rent this home and.
And he had to have property inMexico.
He had to own property and be aMexican citizen, even though we
both are like, we don't haveanything established here.
Uh, although we do wanna do thateventually in the future, but
it'll, at least for us, tryingto look for housing, it did
(14:15):
limit us in terms of securingmm-hmm.
Um, housing because they kind ofwanna keep their own people.
If that makes sense.
Yeah, it makes sense.
Even though we're part of themtoo, so yeah, it does make
things a little complicated.
But yeah, as far as thegentrification, I think that it
was, it's very important for usto talk about that and, and
(14:37):
being aware about like, oh, arethere any changes in in costs?
Are there any changes in, youknow, where people are coming
from and why they decided tosettle themselves in, in a
community that isn't theirsreally.
And.
And I think for us, like we'renavigating this, but going back
(14:57):
to your point, I don't think weare fully gentrifying because
there's already pretty wellestablished folks around here.
Yep.
Yeah.
getting back to what Jess wassaying about how she doesn't
feel like we're, or even likehow I said too, that we're not
really, we don't really considerourselves a part of the problem
here.
Again, like, I mean, I know weprobably mentioned this already,
(15:18):
how there's already money here.
Just one quick example, right.
When we go to the mall, that'slike two minutes from here,
right?
You see people wearing theirGucci, their, I don't know all
the fancy, uh, brands, right?
But just brand named clothes.
Yeah, the brand named clothes.
Thank you.
Um, and yeah, I mean, and whenyou look at the prices of some
(15:39):
of the luxurious items, like forexample, like Nike's right here,
a pair of Nikes would probablyrun you about 200 to 150 to$200.
And as opposed to like theUnited States.
Like decent pair of Nikes islike 80, a hundred dollars maybe
to 150.
Yeah.
And people are buying them likenothing.
Right?
(15:59):
Like cars even.
Yeah.
Even the cars.
How much were you?
How much you were looking atlike the Volkswagen?
Yeah, it was like theVolkswagen?
No, the BMW.
Yeah, the BMWX five.
I think it was like 1.6 millionpeso.
Which translates roughly intowhat?
Like$90,000.
And in the states, I mean, abrand new one will probably,
(16:22):
base model will probably run youabout 70, 75.
I mean, you have people aroundhere driving your Land Rovers,
Mercedes, Porsches, like Deano.
Mm-hmm.
Mm-hmm.
And cost comparisons.
I mean, you're probably lookingat what, 10% more here than it
is back in the States.
So yeah.
(16:42):
I mean, it's pretty hard for usto say that we are part of a, or
that we're causing an issue herein terms of the economy.
Yeah.
Yeah.
Yeah.
And again, it makes me justthink about, oh my gosh, like
did my parents miss out on anopportunity to make more money
than they did in the UnitedStates?
Mm-hmm.
Have we lost that opportunity innot having that level of
(17:04):
generational wealth?
And I know we are only speakingabout a specific packet in Leon.
Mm-hmm.
Because we've definitely seen,you know, poverty.
We know that there are areaswhere.
It, they're, they aren'taffluent as much as where we are
currently living.
When, again, when you put intothat perspective about our
(17:26):
existence, right, and, and youknow who we are as like second
generation us, like Americans,and compare that to those that
have been established here forgenerations in Mexico, it just,
it almost makes you feel like,well.
Dang, like fomo, right?
(17:47):
Like I, I feel like I missed outon, on this opportunity.
And now that we're trying to,we've been trying to like
establish ourselves much morethan our families, right?
By owing real estate in theUnited States and now dual
citizens, being dual citizensand, you know, trying to seek
opportunities here in Mexico.
(18:09):
Like it.
Um, I under, like, I obviouslyknow that it is a privilege, but
it's also a really cool way tobe in this situation and see how
we can prosper differently thanif we were to stay in the United
States long term.
So, mm-hmm.
Yeah, it, it's definitely acomplicated, um, experience to
(18:30):
have, and gentrification aloneis a very complicated issue and
topic.
And we are sensitive to that.
We understand people's strugglesbecause we've seen it before our
eyes, like I said, living inChicago and in for some reason
Chicago's like trying to push usaway.
We lived there for the firstcouple of years of our marriage.
We moved to the suburbs becauseit was affordable, and then we
(18:53):
went back to Chicago and nowwe're here.
So it's, it's almost likeChicago's just like saying, go
away.
Go away.
Go away.
And not just Chicago, right?
Not just Chicago.
I think like any.
Suburban in the surroundingarea.
Right.
I mean this is kind ofirrelevant topic, right?
But even Bolingbrook, where wewere at, another reason why we
left is'cause of property tax.
Yeah.
(19:14):
It went sky high and there'snothing out there.
Yeah.
No offense to people who live inBolingbrook, but yeah, like
it's, yeah, it just all bringsperspective and our situation is
not unique.
Mm-hmm.
Uh, I'm sure that many people,uh, know that as people that
(19:38):
have been trying to fit indifferent, like communities or
in different, um, areas of oursocial being like I, I can see
how we are aware ofgentrification, but it's also as
a way of like combating that indifferent.
(19:59):
Modalities.
I guess, I don't know if I'mmaking this make sense, but
Yeah.
Yes.
But if you have any thoughtsabout gentrification and life
here in Mexico and whether ifyou think that we are
gentrifying or not, let us know.
Uh, you know, we're always upfor having discussion And good
(20:22):
dialogue.
And good dialogue.
Yeah.
Because.
Again, we have this kind of,it's not like it's a big
elephant in the room, but we arecognizant of like our, of us
living in Mexico now and whetherif we are.
Being gentrifier or not.
And so, but you let us know,like, have you seen this in your
community back in the UnitedStates?
(20:43):
Or if you are from Mexico, haveyou seen this, um, with your own
Uni Mexico?
So let us know.
You can either send me a DM onInstagram, have, or you can
email me@podcastami.com.
Or you can just comment here onYouTube as well.
And for those of you who arecurious about gaining dual
(21:06):
citizenship, I will be hosting alive event.
In the next month, I will besharing more details about that,
but be on the lookout onInstagram and also on my
newsletter.
If you haven't yet subscribed tomy newsletter, uh, you can just
go to viva la.com/newsletter andyou would be the first to know
(21:28):
about this free live workshopthat I will be hosting on how
you can get dual citizenship.
But Alex, I don't know if youhave anything else to say.
Nope.
I think we covered, uh, I thinkwe covered the topic pretty
well.
I mean, again, we can continuethis with any questions that
might, people might have.
Um, yeah.
(21:48):
And we can continue it fromthere.
Cool.
All right.
Well, thank you so much forlistening or watching on
YouTube.
asima in the next episode.
we have been battling a lot withthis and I think that it's an
(00:03):
important topic that we feltthat we needed to to speak about
because we understand.
The level of privilege that wehave in terms of us just making
the decision to move our familyto Mexico.
But it's also a heavy topic forthe people that are living here,
(00:23):
that are from Mexico, that havebeen living here for many years.
And it also puts us in a weirdposition, right?
Because we are secondgeneration, you know, we're not
too removed from Mexico.
We're only one generationbehind, if you will.
And so it makes it just kinda ofa complicated subject.
(01:49):
Ola, welcome to another episodeof the Viva La Mommy Podcast.
I'm your host, Jessica Cuevas,and on this week's episode, we
are going to tell you more aboutlife in Mexico as part of the
Living in Mexico series.
And of course, because y'alllike the cheese may, I brought
(02:10):
my husband, Alex.
And the reason why I have him onthe show is because he is also a
part of the process in us, uh,living in Mexico and why we
decided to move to Mexico andwhat life is really like.
So I am really excited to haveyou again, Alex.
How have you been?
Thank you.
Uh, been okay fighting off alittle bit of a, whatever it is,
(02:33):
but, but doing good.
Yeah.
I hope he doesn't, contaminateus, especially the kids
considering that they're inschool.
But yes.
So if you haven't yet heard lastweek's episode, we talked a lot
about housing and how we foundspecifically long term, uh,
housing in Mexico, and so.
(02:54):
This week is kind of tied inwith that subject in terms of us
having a home in Mexico and whatit's like.
And it is specific to a very hottopic right now that if you
haven't yet heard, uh, on theinternet and social media, it's
about the big G word.
(03:16):
Gentrification.
Yes, gentrification.
And we have been battling a lotwith this and I think that it's
an important topic that we feltthat we needed to to speak about
because we understand.
The level of privilege that wehave in terms of us just making
(03:36):
the decision to move our familyto Mexico.
But it's also a heavy topic forthe people that are living here,
that are from Mexico, that havebeen living here for many years.
And it also puts us in a weirdposition, right?
Because we are secondgeneration, you know, we're not
too removed from Mexico.
(03:57):
We're only one generationbehind, if you will.
And so it makes it just kinda ofa complicated subject.
Okay, Alex?
So when you think aboutgentrification, what comes to
mind?
Our white counterparts.
Hmm.
That's what comes to my mind.
So before we, or before it justbrought up the subject about
(04:18):
gentrification, I had to, youknow, not to sound too dumb or
anything, but I had to look upthe definition as to what it
meant, right?
So by definition, we are not.
Gentrifying this area because inorder for us to be gentrifying,
we would have to have moved intoa lower super low income area.
And where we're at right now,I'm pretty sure people make more
(04:39):
money than we do.
So, so by definition we are notgentrifying this area.
Yeah.
But in the, the general conceptof gentrification, like Yeah.
How does that make you feel?
Um, you know, that's a goodquestion.
I don't really know.
I mean, I know.
When I think aboutgentrification, I feel bad for
the people that it affects,right?
(05:00):
Mm-hmm.
Um, because I mean, we know howit is to be living paycheck to
paycheck and not, how should Isay, be able to do a lot of
stuff that we wanted to do.
Right?
And that's what gentrificationdoes to a lot of people that are
in way worse conditions than weare.
Yeah.
Yeah.
And for me, gentrification,definitely, I guess I think of
(05:26):
it as Chicagoans and how we'veseen it really before our eyes
and we grew up in neighborhoodswhere they were lower
socioeconomic, you know, workingclass families, a lot of
immigrants, not just coming fromLatin America and Mexico, but
also like Poland.
(05:47):
Middle Eastern families as well.
Mm-hmm.
And so, you know, we grew up inYes, in a predominantly Latino
community, but it was also a mixof other ethnicities.
And so knowing that ourcommunity was affected by
gentrification and other areaswithin Chicago, like Pilsen,
(06:09):
Logan Square.
We have seen it before our eyesand we understood the, the
struggle that many communitiesthat really have been impacted
by this notion of privilege,affluent, uh, people kind of
taking, removing them fromhousing.
Mm-hmm.
And so with us now coming toMexico, I've definitely thought
(06:32):
about this and, and I'vewondered myself like, are we the
problem?
Are we the ones gentrifying?
Um, Mexico, and, and there's alot of, you know, noise in, in
La Mexico where a lot of thelocals are like, we don't want
you here, we don't wantgentrification.
Where, and there have been a lotof, um, protests about that.
(06:56):
But considering that we moved toLeon, uh, Leon, which I'm
honestly surprised it's not a.
Multicultural city, like we areseeing that.
Mm.
But there are small pockets ofpeople that are coming from
different countries and so yeah,like I, I don't think that right
(07:21):
now Leon is impacted as much ongentrification because I think,
and in my opinion, based on whatI've witnessed and what I know.
Leon is a pretty affluent city.
Mm-hmm.
It really is.
Yeah.
And I don't think that a lot ofpeople are highly impacted than
(07:42):
other parts of like Mexico.
What are your thoughts aboutthat?
I agree.
Um, yeah, I mean, you definitelydon't hear about people
protesting like I just mentionedhere in Leon, like how they do
in the city.
Right.
Um, and gentrification here, Idon't, I mean, we've only been
here, what, two months?
Mm-hmm.
Two, two and a half months.
Mm-hmm.
So we really don't have, or wereally haven't seen a lot of
(08:05):
that stuff going on here.
Right.
Um, like how you do in MexicoCity, Oaxaca, like this other
Oaxaca maybe.
Yeah.
What's that other one?
Yeah, like, uh, maybe the, yeah,a lot of, and, and for the most
part, like a lot of indigenous.
Places, and that's because, youknow, there's true beauty in it.
Mm-hmm.
Like if you think about the, uh,cultural aspect and the
(08:28):
ecosystems that are in placethere, uh, yeah.
Like people do wanna takeadvantage of that.
Yeah.
But yeah, I mean, getting backto what I was saying, yeah, we
haven't really experienced thatmuch.
Mm-hmm.
I mean, I haven't felt, or wehaven't felt like the sense that
we not want, that we're notwanted here.
Mm-hmm.
Except for the governmentworkers.
And that's what, that's foranother, that's for another
(08:49):
episode.
Yes.
But as far as like the people,the community, like the locals
here, we've always been receiptwith open arms.
Mm-hmm.
Yeah.
And I think because we have thatleverage.
We are second generation MexicanAmericans, right?
Like we were born in the US roour parents were born in Mexico.
And even though we didn'tfrequent as much growing up,
(09:13):
coming back to Mexico, and wedidn't stay long term like a lot
of families do, uh, we stillfelt the sense of connection,
uh, through the languageobviously, but also just, you
know, through the connectionthat we have, uh, with the
culture, Ian, you know, justlike.
The, the type of manners that wehave, the values.
(09:34):
And so that has helped us tokind of fit in, you know, into,
uh, the, the community here.
But at least like deep downthough, I have been thinking a
lot about, well, are we causinggentrification?
Like where we are at, like yousaid, Alex, even though.
(09:58):
We have neighbors that arepretty affluent and you know, we
have, we moved into a Acia whereit's, um, where we're not
technically gentrifying.
Mm-hmm.
But I wonder in this whole scopeof us moving to Mexico on a
broader scale mm-hmm.
Like, are we gentrifying?
Are we gonna make Mexicoexpensive?
(10:19):
Are we gonna make the economy.
Look different here than if wewere to stay in the United
States.
And that's something that I'vebeen thinking about.
And that's a good question.
I mean, and who knows?
Probably, probably not.
But I mean, we're on a minusculelevel, right?
Minuscule scale, if you will.
It's just two of us.
(10:40):
I mean, we are contributing tothe economy.
Mm-hmm.
Right?
I mean, we're not bringing in, Imean, we, we rent, right?
So we're paying somebody else.
It's not like if we're.
Investing our money into realestate and making extravagant
renovations to the point whereit's gonna affect the whole
area.
(11:00):
You know, that's not us.
So.
Yeah.
Yeah.
And isn't that interesting thatwe're living in an area where
there's a lot of educatedmm-hmm.
People, a lot of like affluentpeople, and then here we are,
the, the second generation, youknow, couple trying to raise
their family in this area.
Uh, where our family knew thestruggle.
(11:22):
Mm-hmm.
Like our dads both have workedin factories, you know, they
were truce labor workers.
Uh, your mom was a stay at homemom.
My mom kind of navigated, uh,the US where she did have office
job, but it was a very lowpaying job and that was it.
You know, and so it just makesit so interesting how there's
(11:46):
like generations and generationsof like money here.
And then here we come.
Yeah.
Kind of like, I don't know,we're, I don't know if we're
intercepting or, I don't know,but it, it does make it a very
complex like experience.
Mm-hmm.
When you really think aboutlike, our notion of like living
here and.
(12:07):
Why we decided to move here andall of that.
Yeah.
And now that you mentioned aboutlike the, how you said that
there's like generational moneyhere, right?
I mean yesterday we went, wetook the kids to, yeah.
And that area is just like wow.
Right?
So when you said that you wonderif we're causing some type of
harm here to the economy?
(12:28):
Yeah.
I mean obviously no matter whereyou go, there's always gonna be
you're poor, you're rich, you'remiddle class.
But as far as like us.
I don't think so.
'cause I mean, when you look atit and some of the people that
are around here that live here,we're nothing compared to them.
Right.
I wish I had that type of money.
But yeah, I mean, I don't know.
(12:48):
I don't think we, to get back towhat I was trying to say, I
don't think we're having anytype of negative impact here.
Yeah.
Yeah.
If anything, we're.
Doing like a big FU to theUnited States because we're
gaining the US dollars, butwe're not giving anything back
(13:09):
to the US economy.
But that may be another topic.
I don't know.
Yeah.
Yeah.
Something we would have toresearch a lot more into.
Yeah.
Yeah.
But as far as with, you know,I'm kind of tying last week's
episode on housing to this week.
I think that Leon is somewhatgatekeeping.
(13:31):
Mm-hmm.
Um, many folks fromgentrification or from making it
even more expensive as far aslike housing costs, we.
Couldn't just sign a lease.
Like we had to get, uh, mygrandpa to co-sign basically for
us.
Uh, he had to be the val, whichis a clause that essentially
(13:52):
gives us permission to Youco-sign it almost.
Yeah.
Like to, to rent this home and.
And he had to have property inMexico.
He had to own property and be aMexican citizen, even though we
both are like, we don't haveanything established here.
Uh, although we do wanna do thateventually in the future, but
it'll, at least for us, tryingto look for housing, it did
(14:15):
limit us in terms of securingmm-hmm.
Um, housing because they kind ofwanna keep their own people.
If that makes sense.
Yeah, it makes sense.
Even though we're part of themtoo, so yeah, it does make
things a little complicated.
But yeah, as far as thegentrification, I think that it
was, it's very important for usto talk about that and, and
(14:37):
being aware about like, oh, arethere any changes in in costs?
Are there any changes in, youknow, where people are coming
from and why they decided tosettle themselves in, in a
community that isn't theirsreally.
And.
And I think for us, like we'renavigating this, but going back
(14:57):
to your point, I don't think weare fully gentrifying because
there's already pretty wellestablished folks around here.
Yep.
Yeah.
getting back to what Jess wassaying about how she doesn't
feel like we're, or even likehow I said too, that we're not
really, we don't really considerourselves a part of the problem
here.
Again, like, I mean, I know weprobably mentioned this already,
(15:18):
how there's already money here.
Just one quick example, right.
When we go to the mall, that'slike two minutes from here,
right?
You see people wearing theirGucci, their, I don't know all
the fancy, uh, brands, right?
But just brand named clothes.
Yeah, the brand named clothes.
Thank you.
Um, and yeah, I mean, and whenyou look at the prices of some
(15:39):
of the luxurious items, like forexample, like Nike's right here,
a pair of Nikes would probablyrun you about 200 to 150 to$200.
And as opposed to like theUnited States.
Like decent pair of Nikes islike 80, a hundred dollars maybe
to 150.
Yeah.
And people are buying them likenothing.
Right?
(15:59):
Like cars even.
Yeah.
Even the cars.
How much were you?
How much you were looking atlike the Volkswagen?
Yeah, it was like theVolkswagen?
No, the BMW.
Yeah, the BMWX five.
I think it was like 1.6 millionpeso.
Which translates roughly intowhat?
Like$90,000.
And in the states, I mean, abrand new one will probably,
(16:22):
base model will probably run youabout 70, 75.
I mean, you have people aroundhere driving your Land Rovers,
Mercedes, Porsches, like Deano.
Mm-hmm.
Mm-hmm.
And cost comparisons.
I mean, you're probably lookingat what, 10% more here than it
is back in the States.
So yeah.
(16:42):
I mean, it's pretty hard for usto say that we are part of a, or
that we're causing an issue herein terms of the economy.
Yeah.
Yeah.
Yeah.
And again, it makes me justthink about, oh my gosh, like
did my parents miss out on anopportunity to make more money
than they did in the UnitedStates?
Mm-hmm.
Have we lost that opportunity innot having that level of
(17:04):
generational wealth?
And I know we are only speakingabout a specific packet in Leon.
Mm-hmm.
Because we've definitely seen,you know, poverty.
We know that there are areaswhere.
It, they're, they aren'taffluent as much as where we are
currently living.
When, again, when you put intothat perspective about our
(17:26):
existence, right, and, and youknow who we are as like second
generation us, like Americans,and compare that to those that
have been established here forgenerations in Mexico, it just,
it almost makes you feel like,well.
Dang, like fomo, right?
(17:47):
Like I, I feel like I missed outon, on this opportunity.
And now that we're trying to,we've been trying to like
establish ourselves much morethan our families, right?
By owing real estate in theUnited States and now dual
citizens, being dual citizensand, you know, trying to seek
opportunities here in Mexico.
(18:09):
Like it.
Um, I under, like, I obviouslyknow that it is a privilege, but
it's also a really cool way tobe in this situation and see how
we can prosper differently thanif we were to stay in the United
States long term.
So, mm-hmm.
Yeah, it, it's definitely acomplicated, um, experience to
(18:30):
have, and gentrification aloneis a very complicated issue and
topic.
And we are sensitive to that.
We understand people's strugglesbecause we've seen it before our
eyes, like I said, living inChicago and in for some reason
Chicago's like trying to push usaway.
We lived there for the firstcouple of years of our marriage.
We moved to the suburbs becauseit was affordable, and then we
(18:53):
went back to Chicago and nowwe're here.
So it's, it's almost likeChicago's just like saying, go
away.
Go away.
Go away.
And not just Chicago, right?
Not just Chicago.
I think like any.
Suburban in the surroundingarea.
Right.
I mean this is kind ofirrelevant topic, right?
But even Bolingbrook, where wewere at, another reason why we
left is'cause of property tax.
Yeah.
(19:14):
It went sky high and there'snothing out there.
Yeah.
No offense to people who live inBolingbrook, but yeah, like
it's, yeah, it just all bringsperspective and our situation is
not unique.
Mm-hmm.
Uh, I'm sure that many people,uh, know that as people that
(19:38):
have been trying to fit indifferent, like communities or
in different, um, areas of oursocial being like I, I can see
how we are aware ofgentrification, but it's also as
a way of like combating that indifferent.
(19:59):
Modalities.
I guess, I don't know if I'mmaking this make sense, but
Yeah.
Yes.
But if you have any thoughtsabout gentrification and life
here in Mexico and whether ifyou think that we are
gentrifying or not, let us know.
Uh, you know, we're always upfor having discussion And good
(20:22):
dialogue.
And good dialogue.
Yeah.
Because.
Again, we have this kind of,it's not like it's a big
elephant in the room, but we arecognizant of like our, of us
living in Mexico now and whetherif we are.
Being gentrifier or not.
And so, but you let us know,like, have you seen this in your
community back in the UnitedStates?
(20:43):
Or if you are from Mexico, haveyou seen this, um, with your own
Uni Mexico?
So let us know.
You can either send me a DM onInstagram, have, or you can
email me@podcastami.com.
Or you can just comment here onYouTube as well.
And for those of you who arecurious about gaining dual
(21:06):
citizenship, I will be hosting alive event.
In the next month, I will besharing more details about that,
but be on the lookout onInstagram and also on my
newsletter.
If you haven't yet subscribed tomy newsletter, uh, you can just
go to viva la.com/newsletter andyou would be the first to know
(21:28):
about this free live workshopthat I will be hosting on how
you can get dual citizenship.
But Alex, I don't know if youhave anything else to say.
Nope.
I think we covered, uh, I thinkwe covered the topic pretty
well.
I mean, again, we can continuethis with any questions that
might, people might have.
Um, yeah.
(21:48):
And we can continue it fromthere.
Cool.
All right.
Well, thank you so much forlistening or watching on
YouTube.
asima in the next episode.
Popular Podcasts
On Purpose with Jay Shetty
I’m Jay Shetty host of On Purpose the worlds #1 Mental Health podcast and I’m so grateful you found us. I started this podcast 5 years ago to invite you into conversations and workshops that are designed to help make you happier, healthier and more healed. I believe that when you (yes you) feel seen, heard and understood you’re able to deal with relationship struggles, work challenges and life’s ups and downs with more ease and grace. I interview experts, celebrities, thought leaders and athletes so that we can grow our mindset, build better habits and uncover a side of them we’ve never seen before. New episodes every Monday and Friday. Your support means the world to me and I don’t take it for granted — click the follow button and leave a review to help us spread the love with On Purpose. I can’t wait for you to listen to your first or 500th episode!
Ruthie's Table 4
For more than 30 years The River Cafe in London, has been the home-from-home of artists, architects, designers, actors, collectors, writers, activists, and politicians. Michael Caine, Glenn Close, JJ Abrams, Steve McQueen, Victoria and David Beckham, and Lily Allen, are just some of the people who love to call The River Cafe home. On River Cafe Table 4, Rogers sits down with her customers—who have become friends—to talk about food memories. Table 4 explores how food impacts every aspect of our lives. “Foods is politics, food is cultural, food is how you express love, food is about your heritage, it defines who you and who you want to be,” says Rogers. Each week, Rogers invites her guest to reminisce about family suppers and first dates, what they cook, how they eat when performing, the restaurants they choose, and what food they seek when they need comfort. And to punctuate each episode of Table 4, guests such as Ralph Fiennes, Emily Blunt, and Alfonso Cuarón, read their favourite recipe from one of the best-selling River Cafe cookbooks. Table 4 itself, is situated near The River Cafe’s open kitchen, close to the bright pink wood-fired oven and next to the glossy yellow pass, where Ruthie oversees the restaurant. You are invited to take a seat at this intimate table and join the conversation. For more information, recipes, and ingredients, go to https://shoptherivercafe.co.uk/ Web: https://rivercafe.co.uk/ Instagram: www.instagram.com/therivercafelondon/ Facebook: https://en-gb.facebook.com/therivercafelondon/ For more podcasts from iHeartRadio, visit the iheartradio app, apple podcasts, or wherever you listen to your favorite shows. Learn more about your ad-choices at https://www.iheartpodcastnetwork.com
The Joe Rogan Experience
The official podcast of comedian Joe Rogan.