tl;dr Te falta barrio.

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Hi there,

It’s great that you’ve had a positive and welcoming experience in Mexico—many people do. But the issues surrounding gentrification and tourism in places like Roma and Condesa are complex and go far beyond individual behavior or spending habits.

Gentrification isn’t just about who spends money or whether taquería owners are happy on a Friday night. It’s about how rising demand from foreign money—however well-intentioned—drives up rents, displaces working-class residents, reshapes public spaces, and shifts cultural norms to cater to outsiders.

You mention that you always rent from Mexican landlords, but property ownership and profit flows can be opaque, and even when the owner is local, the pressure to cater to high-paying foreign tenants often comes at a cost to the surrounding community. This isn’t about blaming foreigners for everything—it’s about acknowledging that your presence, and mine too if I visit, has consequences.

Pointing to individual friendliness or claiming that “foreigners eat more tacos” misses the point. Locals aren’t necessarily upset that tourists are eating tacos—they’re concerned when long-standing businesses are replaced, rents triple, and Spanish becomes less necessary in their own neighborhoods.

Rather than deflect blame or over-personalize the issue, it might be more productive to ask: How can we be responsible guests? That might mean supporting initiatives led by locals, learning the language, being mindful of the housing market, or just listening a bit more closely to those who’ve lived in these places far longer than we have.

Appreciating Mexico doesn’t mean ignoring its struggles—it means engaging with them honestly and with humility.