Quarantine Diaries: Staying Put in Mexico City
On a whim, Karine and Zack packed up their apartment in Santa Cruz and moved to Mexico City, three months before the start of quarantine. They had been planning to move to New York City, but after a two week trip to Mexico City, changed all of their plans and rerouted their packed bags to CDMX.
“As we planned our January move, Zack's mom who's from New York, knew we were grossly underestimating the NY winter and strongly encouraged us to either hold off until spring or take a trip somewhere warm to delay the life of cold and snow. Eager to leave the sleepy town, we booked a last-minute flight to Mexico City for a few weeks to ride out the winter and to just be in a new city. It was always on my bucket lists and I was beyond excited to explore CDMX. We hopped from cafe to cafe, restaurant to restaurant, museum to museum and bar to bar in awe of how beautiful, delicious and welcoming the city and culture were. While in Mexico we were still trying to find an apartment in New York, doing virtual tours and negotiating exuberantly high rental prices.”
At first, they jokingly toyed with the idea of moving to Mexico City during their trip. Could they really move to Mexico? Seemed crazy. Plans were already in place to move to New York when they returned. The more they considered it, though, the more unappealing the New York winter became. They had fallen in love with Mexico City.
They came home to share the news, get their dog, and head back. “Our families saw our joy and quickly hopped on board with the idea, so we just ended up selling most of our belongings and made it back (to Mexico) in exactly seven days to sign our new lease.” When quarantine started in the US, they had only been living in Mexico City for about a month. “It was terrifying to pick between our home country and our new home at the start of COVID. It felt right to stay in Mexico.” Life in a new country is looking much different than they had originally imagined. They are settling into their apartment and have started building a community. For CDMX recommendations and to hear more about life in quarantine in a foreign country, follow Karine @karineeponce.
