Living in Mexico - Two Prices for Everything

By Douglas Bower

Readers love to write to contradict my too-often made point of American prices versus Mexican prices in Mexico. They will disagree with me by saying, "Well, I've never seen any indication of a dual price gouging therefore it can't exist." Lovely bit of logic, don't you agree?

What might be going on is further proof of the Bubble Theory of Expatriation that I've been reading from my favorite ethnographer. Actually, it is the Mexicans who live in communities that support the gringo colonies who suggest the Bubble Theory. This theory is really very easy. It goes something like this:

"To learn about a culture is best accomplished by living in the culture as do the locals (in this case Mexicans) in that culture."

If you notice, in any area where there is a gringo enclave, you will not see Mexicans living within the gringo enclaves. So, if you want to learn the culture, perhaps you should get the point that you will have to live in the culture as do the Mexicans you claim to know and whom you claim: "they love us here."

See? It's easy. Live in the culture!

One thing that those Gringos who are Bubble-Dwellers will miss out on is the salient fact that there are two prices. One is the gringo price and one is the Mexican price. If you live in The Bubble you will never, ever, in your expat career know this. You will miss it.

My long-time expat friend, "EH", who has lived in Mexico for more than thirty years, told the contractor she hired to fix up the rural house she bought: "I want Mexican prices on everything."

Why do you suppose she asked that?

When a mutual Mexicana friend of mine and "EH"'s heard who she hired to be her contractor, she immediately went to "EH" and told her to hire someone else who would give her the Mexican prices.

Why do you suppose she did that?

When the wife and I told the son, a good friend, of a real estate baroness in Guanajuato that we were moving to another city, he told us, "Be sure you let the owners of the potential home you rent that you are artists (we're writers) and not wealthy retiree Americans coming to live in that city."

Why do you suppose he told us that?

Those Gringos who live inside The Bubble, the artificial colonies, will never be able to know to the degree they are being charged the American prices for everything under the sun.
Right now, where we are living, we are being charged about fifty bucks more than what a Mexican would be charged. Why's that?

We are Americans. It is assumed we are all filthy rich. Think about that when planning your retirement to Mexico and if you can (or want) to afford the pricing discrimination that is a daily affair here.

Doug Bower is a freelance writer and book author. His most recent writing credits include The Atlanta Journal-Constitution, The Houston Chronicle, The Philadelphia Inquirer, Associated Content, Transitions Abroad, International Living, Escape Artist, and The Front Porch Syndicate.

He is founder of Mexican Living Print & eBooks.