cdmx at 2am and my laptop is overheating again — a digital nomad's ugly love letter
so i landed in mexico city three weeks ago with two suitcases, a dead phone charger, and this dumb idea that i'd finally get my freelance backend work done in a place with better tacos. the airport was chaotic. the taxi driver spoke in rhymes. i was already in love.
Quick Answers
Q: Is this place worth visiting?
A: yeah, if you can handle being slightly broken by how much food costs two dollars and how little that matters when the mole is handmade. i'd come back with no money and no regrets.
Q: Is it expensive?
A: not really. you can eat like a king for under $8 a day. co-working spaces run $4-7 daily. rent on the outskirts is crazy cheap. the center still bites.
Q: Who would hate it here?
A: anyone who needs reliable wifi before 10am. early mornings in cdmx are a contact sport.
Q: Best time to visit?
A: october to april. skip december if you hate traffic and crowds. i came in march and the weather was basically 27°C with fake dryness that made my skin itch.
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the weather right now is 27 degrees but feels like 26 because humidity is sitting at 24% which is
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MAP:
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*cue the noise. that's my daily morning in cdmx. not the birds - the car horns. i'm staying in a apartment in roma norte and every morning it sounds like the whole neighborhood is arguing through their windshields.
someone at the co-working space told me wifi in cdmx is 'fine if you don't mind loading at the speed of a 2004 modem.' they weren't wrong. my coworking spot near polanco has decent fiber but i've bounced to three others this month because the signal drops when it rains, which, let's be honest, is never.
i heard the best wifi is in the federal district buildings around medellín metro but i haven't gone there because my productivity window is 6pm to midnight and those buildings close at 8.
> "you think you came here for the work? no. you came here for the tlayudas at 1am."
> - a guy at the hostel bar who i now owe money to
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the weather situation
it's 27°C outside. the kind of warm where your shirt sticks to your back within four minutes of walking. feels like 26 because humidity is a low 24%, which is bizarre for mexico city - most sources say the city is humid. but today the air is bone-dry and the pressure is 1007 hPa which means the sky just feels flat. like the clouds gave up.
27 degrees, 24% humidity, pressure 1007. your skin will hate you. carry water like it's a personality trait.
the ground level reads 775 which means we're up high. cdmx sits around 2,240 meters above sea level so the air is thinner than you expect. i get winded walking up to chapultepec and i do not walk.
img 2 coming through -
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coworking and the cost of doing nothing productively
co-working in cdmx is absurdly affordable. i paid $5 a day for a desk with a lock and decent wifi in juárez. polanco spots charge $7-9. the community ones near centro historico are free if you buy a coffee. i've used nomadlist, coworker.com, and a facebook group called "nómadas cdmx" which is mostly people selling seo courses.
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a local warned me that the area around zócalo gets sketchy after 9pm. i didn't listen. i should have. took a wrong turn near the cathedral and a guy followed me for two blocks before a vendor yelled something that scared him off. the streets there are not playing.
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the tacos. i need to talk about the tacos because this is the real reason i'm here. a tlacuache taco plate costs $35 pesos which is like $2. a consommé from a fondita near san jacinto is $40. you can eat twice a day for under $10. i've gained four kilos. my laptop bag is pulling at the seams.
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cdmx street food costs between $2-5 per full meal. this is not a drill. this is not sustainable for my willpower.
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who's here and why
the digital nomad crowd is growing but it's not boracay. you'll find a decent number of remote workers in roma, condesa, and polanco. the rest of the city is locals. i saw maybe twelve other laptop people in my co-working spot today and four of them were on instagram.
nearby cities you could day-trip: puebla is two hours away. tepoztlán is one hour. both are worth it but the bus schedules are confusing and i missed the return twice.
i went to puebla last weekend. the food was better. the weather was similar. the vibe was slower and i could actually hear myself think.
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the ugly part
my laptop fan sounds like a small helicopter. 27 degrees outside and the apartment has no AC because why would it. i sweat through my shirt at my desk. the power cuts for about forty minutes every night around 11pm in my neighborhood which is supposedly the "good" part.
i checked reddit before coming. r/mexicocity says cdmx is 'incredible if you like breathing exhaust and eating better than anywhere you've been.' i'm quoting badly but the energy is right.
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safety and sleep
safety-wise, roma and condesa are fine during the day. centro is a mixed bag. i wouldn't walk alone after midnight anywhere south of the periférico. a local taxi driver told me 'don't use uber at 2am, use radio taxi, and don't look at your phone on the street.' i took that advice. my phone is still alive.
sleep is hard. the altitude wrecks some people's first week. i had headaches for four days. the dry air at 24% humidity means your throat feels like sand by 3am. i bought a humidifier for $200 pesos and it changed everything.
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takeaway*: cdmx is worth it if you can handle the chaos, the altitude, and the fact that your best work will happen at midnight when the city finally quiets down and the street food stands are still open.
i'm staying another month. the rent is cheap. the food is destroying me. the wifi is mid. i don't care.
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links i actually used:
- tripadvisor mexico city - for restaurant picks
- yelp cdmx - coworking listings
- reddit r/mexicocity - the real answers
- coworker.com mexico city - co-working finder
- nomadlist mexico city - nomad rankings
- noah.org - mexico city safety tips - solid safety rundown
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i still don't know what 1484504076 means. i tried to decode it as a timestamp. it gave me the year 47,000 something. maybe it's a warning. maybe it's nothing. either way i'm ordering another mezcal.
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