The Mexpat Notebook: October

On the true cost of fashion, the beauty of birdwatching and the ghosts of Monterrey

Welcome to the October edition of The Mexpat Notebook—a compilation of what I’ve been reading and thinking about this month, and an opportunity for readers to share their favorite finds as well.

Mexican shoppers say Shein’s and Temu’s delivery partner is stealing their stuff (Rest of World)

This is a fascinating window into the world of online shopping in Mexico, which is growing at breakneck speed thanks in part to Chinese e-commerce platforms like Shein and Temu. Both companies sell cheap clothing and are carefully attuned to micro-trends that emerge on TikTok (like “Barbiecore” or “mobwife”—I’m leaning into “pet-hair-covered-athleisure” these days). The demand appears to be outpacing their logistical capacity, with increasing complaints of lost or damaged orders. Meanwhile, Mexico’s tax authority (SAT) started a crackdown on both retailers this month, which is starting to cause a conspicuous price bump for consumers.

*Going deeper: I also recommend this Semanario Gatopardo podcast episode which includes interviews with Mexicans who have developed micro-businesses reselling clothes from Chinese platforms, and a broader overview of the impact of “fast” fashion.

Los niños pajareros de Calakmul (Gatopardo)

In this moving photo essay, we meet a group of children in a small rural community in Calakmul, Campeche who gather at the village library once a week to go “pajareando” together in the jungle. I was an avid birdwatcher as a kid, and this tenderly written story of wonder and innocence reminded me of the simple joy it brings, which “has some kind of magic for boys and girls.” These children live in a remote, poor part of the country and don’t have cell phones—and they’ve documented 211 bird species in the past nine years in their walks through the jungle.

The Latin American heading the world's financial watchdog (Americas Quarterly)

Elisa de Anda Madrazo is a Mexican lawyer who is only the second woman to ever be president of the Paris-based Financial Action Task Force (FATF), which “sets anti-money laundering and counter-terrorist financing standards” implemented worldwide. De Anda used to work for the Mexican government’s Financial Intelligence Unit (UIF) and says in this profile that she wants to focus on broadening the FATF’s inclusiveness beyond high-income countries to make sure “everyone is on board.”

Eutanasia: la asignatura pendiente de la 4T (Nexos)

This article is a passionate plea by a bio-ethicist and advocate for euthanasia, which, along with assisted suicide, is illegal in Mexico—though passive euthanasia (refusing or withholding life-extending interventions) is permitted in some states. The “right to die” movement has gained ground in the country in recent years (perhaps surprisingly given the population is nearly 80% Catholic) and a proposal was recently presented in Mexico City’s local congress to legalize both. As the country’s demographics shift and the population ages (births declined 3.7% in 2023 compared to the year before), this complex issue will only become more relevant.

To save monarch butterflies, these scientists want to move mountains (National Geographic)

Can “assisted migration” help expand the forests of Oyamel fir trees to higher altitudes, as monarch butterfly habitats shrink? Here we meet scientists who started working on this in 2017, planting fir seedlings on the slopes of the Nevado de Toluca volcano to create a “climate refuge” at an altitude of between 11,000 and 13,000 feet. On a personal note, my daughters and I had an intimate butterfly encounter over the last week, caring for a black swallowtail they found with a damaged wing. This ephemeral being’s interlude with us felt like a visitation, heightening my awareness of the world of wordless intelligences that shimmers around us—just as real as our own.

Así se mata a una leyenda en Monterrey (Regios will be Regios)

As we approach those liminal days when the boundary between life and death blurs, I couldn’t resist linking to this newsletter about the legendary site of a grisly 1933 murder in Monterrey that was turned into a hamburger restaurant—family-friendly, except after 8 p.m. I looked up the “Casa de Aramberri” a few days ago and it turns out, it was shut down just days after it opened with little explanation. Perhaps the ghosts didn’t like the menu?

Idu A’há (Ojo de sol) (Pie de Página)

This visually arresting photo series by Lenin Mosso, a Meꞌphaa (or Tlapaneco) photographer who works in the mountains of Guerrero, is a tribute to the poppy. This plant has both given and taken away from these remote rural communities over the centuries; as Mosso says, it is “more than a plant…It is a collective memory that resists disappearance.”

The Way That Leads Among the Lost by Angela Garcia

I started reading it just last week, but so far I’m engrossed by this anthropologist’s unflinching and compassionate account of Mexico’s “anexos,” or unofficial addiction treatment sites. Part memoir and part chronicle, the book quietly crushes assumptions about these places that exist on the fringes of Mexican society, functioning as both prison and refuge, hell and salvation. I discovered Garcia’s work via Ioan Grillo’s interview with her, which includes some background on her own experiences with addiction, within her family and community in New Mexico.

Now it’s your turn! Please share what you’ve been reading about Mexico lately in the comments, and let’s get a discussion going.