Questions about living in Cancun

Public School Option

There may be posters who have had actual experience with kids in the public schools, here (I haven't), but they (the schools) seem to have a poor reputation. Mexican elementary teachers are very poorly paid, as I understand it, making in the neighborhood of 5,000 pesos/month, and the schools lack books and supplies.

If that's the case, home schooling could be an option for those who find private schools out of reach. In my experience, well educated people can do a very credible job of home schooling, using the many materials now available for this. Banding together with others to offer home schooling could be a solution to the problem of the kids missing out on the socialization that would otherwise occur at school.
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I don't know why you picked Cancun, but I would seriously look at Merida instead. Golf is around $150 (and nighttime and super discounts of 1/2 off) a session thing down here in Playa del Carmen. Does Cancun have golf courses? Not sure. Those were USD prices. Since you're not here and not used to pesos, I'll give dollar prices. Horseback lessons are $20 an hour; in Merida they are $10 and run much longer than an hour (kind of open-ended). Grocery costs are about $600 a month for our family of six but it would be much cheaper in Merida. We really should get that down but husbandito does all the shopping and cooking so I don't have much pull there.

 

Thank you for your suggestion.

For us, living close to a large international airport is critical. My work takes me to North and South America, as well as Europe and Cancun offers a ton of flights.

 

As Steve posted earlier there are two golf courses in the Hotel Zone. There are others in the vicinity. The rate at Pok-Ta-Pok for residents was right around 430 pesos. I see that they advertise and offer Junior programs as well. I can't provide any information on the Junior programs as my children are well past that age and I am not in Cancun now to request the information.

 

Yeah, if cost ISN'T a consideration, I do think Merida a random suggestion. But there are tons of reasons as to why someone would choose to live in Merida as opposed to Cancun (depending on what one wants, of course). The only reason I ended up in Cancun as opposed to another city was because of my then-boyfriend, now-husband's need to work. But if one is interested in culture and history, Merida beats Cancun hands down. I do agree that Cancun would be more appropriate for someone with no prior knowledge of Mexico, but plenty of expats don't need all the English language stuff. I certainly could do without the affluence, especially because I was not part of that crowd.

Of course, people become expats for so many different reasons, but I am still mystified as to how one would want a lot of English speakers as a criteria. I personally would never live in a country where I didn't speak the language, and in fact, becoming fully bilingual is one of the main reasons why I chose to live abroad. I was always really thrown by how many expats I met in Cancun who'd lived there for years yet barely spoke Spanish!

Merida is a much more attractive city than Cancun, in my opinion. There are many beautiful buildings and houses, whereas Cancun's buildings are pretty much across the board hideous.

And to the woman who mentioned public schools...I'm not entirely positive, but I don't know if non-Mexican children would even be considered for enrollment. The only kid I knew who went to public schools was Mexican-Canadian. Based on my experiences with private school adolescents in Cancun (four years of teaching them English), I would rather raise my kids in the US than send them to private Cancun schools. I don't have much experience with the monied folks, but for the most part, these kids were spoiled, arrogant, and downright disgustingly racist and classist...probably learned from their parents but I'd guess reinforced by their schools and social circles.

 

We seriously considered Merida and, while Merida has history, achitecture and significant numbers of cultural events/activities, we still chose Cancun to live- because of the climate (it's much cooler, during the hottest months of the year); proximity to the Caribbean, and the considerably cheaper airfares on flights originating from Cancun, as opposed to Merida.

 

Well, I guess it must be a personal thing (what not everyone thinks like me???) as I muchprefer Merida to Cancun to the point that we've purchased there.

I love the way the ayutamiento supports the city. There are so many cultural events it isn't funny. From art galleries to museums to orchestra to symphony to events each and every night in rotating plazas to neighborhood mercados to architecture to athletic arenas (though not like CC's gym - you guys have the entire continent beat with that gym). The city really seems to support the arts and they even fine you for not allowing pedestrians to cross in certain intersections. And it is just a gorgeous city. Even though the yucatecos are more standoffish and cliquish than the quintanarooenses, i get more of a "connection" than here. Maybe because no-one is FROM here? I dunno. It feels like a very forward thinking city with less crime and a huge appreciation for the arts that is sorely missing over here in QRoo. And don't even get me started on the architecture.

While we don't live there we do have a house (we need to restore) so I'm also biased in that we're half way there.

 

Ive been to Merida over 20 times, It is Dirt Cheap to live there... 3br houses with 2 car parking cost like 3000 pesos a month... breakfast at mercado santa ana for 3 people less than 100 pesos... ice rink, nice malls, great food, better medical infrastructure & more cultural events available.
Cons that miserable heat that never ends, people in merida drive really fast & bumper to bumper (i assume to avoid the heat), They have no Futbol de Primera Division (Big minus in my book), Yucatecans can be very nice but beware of the stubborn hard headed side that is in every single one.

 

Ouch, Epic!!!! That's definitely a gross generalization you make about Yucatecos....every single Yucateco is hard-headed and stubborn? That's like saying all Americans are fat and loud. Having married into a Yucatecan family, that sounds pretty offensive...my husband is definitely hard-headed but the rest of his family, not so much.

I do second the comment about the heat...I suffer so much in Merida and Valladolid! Just remember, Cancun hasn't had a national team like Atlante for very long, so it's a relatively new development, and it seems that every once and again, there are talks of moving them from Cancun.