Our second international trip of digital nomad life was to central Mexico in the autumn of 2023. We spent two weeks in Guanajuato and three weeks in Mexico City, and we picked the dates intentionally. Guanajuato holds an annual, two-week, arts and culture festival called the Cervantino (in honor of Spanish writer Miguel de Cervantes), and we booked our Airbnb for one week before the kickoff and one week during the festivities. Then we wanted to move to Mexico City for the lead up to and actual Dia de Muertos, which is celebrated annually in Mexico on November 1–2.
We wanted to spend time in Mexico for a few different reasons. First, the country has a rich and varied mix of indigenous and colonial cultures. We want to learn more about the history of Mexico, visit the world-renowned museums in Mexico City, eat delicious food, and soak up the regional art and culture. Second, we really want to improve our Spanish language skills. We plan on spending more time in Mexico, as well as Central and South America, and we would love to be fluent in Spanish. Realistically, we’ll be happy if we can understand most of what people say to us and respond appropriately. (We’re farther than we’d like to admit from this modest goal.) Third, it seemed more challenging than our first international trip to Scotland and England, but still reasonably accessible for a couple of Texans. The last main reason was that we want to spend a longer time in Mexico City next year, so this was a scouting trip of sorts to see how we acclimated to life in the city and how easily we were able to continue our remote work based in the U.S.
So Mexico City was a given, and we picked Guanajuato as the second spot for a combination of reasons. Many people from the U.S. have heard of San Miguel de Allende, and it’s become a bit of a hotspot for Americans visiting and/or moving to Mexico. Fewer people in the states seem to visit Guanajuato, San Miguel’s neighbor, although it boasts many of the same charming attributes but with fewer of … well … us running around speaking English. I first heard about Guanajuato when my sister got to study Spanish at the university for a summer semester in high school, and she loved it. It was a front-runner for me when Andrew and I were looking for a second place to stay during this trip, and when we read about the Cervantino, it pretty much sealed the deal.
