What's Happening in Mexico Right Now?
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Hi Mexico-loving friends,
I hope this email finds you well.
There have been a ton of changes here in Mexico this week with regards to Covid restrictions. There are also a lot of changes ahead for Luke and me as we pack up our apartment here in San Jose del Cabo and prepare to hit the road again!
Traffic Light Changes
For those that are new around here, last year Mexico's federal government created a traffic light system to help businesses and people understand the risks of Covid-19 in each state around Mexico. It was then up to the state governments to decide how to interpret these traffic light colors.
Red means the highest risk of covid and that hospitals are near capacity. It has been interpreted in most states at total lockdown. This Monday will begin the 10th straight week with no states in the red here in Mexico.
Orange is a level below red status and means that there is still a high risk of covid-19 and many restrictions are still in place, but for the most part, hotels, restaurants, and shops are allowed to be open with about 30% capacity (again this depends on the state's interpretation). The states currently in Orange in Mexico are Quintana Roo (home to Cancun, Playa del Carmen and Tulum), Chihuahua, and Tabasco.
Yellow means lower risk level and most places are allowed to have up to 50% capacity. States in yellow are allowed to have fans at sporting events and bars are allowed to be open (in some states clubs are also open in Yellow). Museums and other tourist attractions can be back open with restrictions. The states currently in yellow are Mexico City, Mexico State, Baja California, Zacatecas, Aguascalientes, Colima, Michoacán, Guerrero, Morelos, Puebla, Querétaro, Tamaulipas, Yucatán, Baja California Sur, and Hidalgo.
There are now more green states than ever. Green means that there is a very low risk of Covid, that many places can have more than 75% capacity and almost all services can resume (including school!). Precautions like masks and temperature checks are still taken, especially indoors. The states that are currently green in Mexico include: Chiapas, Campeche, Coahuila, Veracruz, Jalisco (home to Guadalajara and Puerto Vallarta), Guanajuato, Sonora, Nuevo León (home to Monterrey), Sinaloa, Durango, San Luis Potosí, Oaxaca, Tlaxcala and Nayarit (home to Sayulita and San Pancho).
You can read more about these changes in this article.
Updates from Baja California Sur
The last month here in Baja California Sur has flown by. I mentioned briefly above that we are packing up and heading out of San Jose del Cabo. We came for a month and stayed for three. It's been one of the most wonderful places to spend the end of winter/start of spring and I'm so grateful to have found a home here that I know I'll be back to again and again.
In case you missed recent videos about what we've been up to, you can catch up with them here:
- Hiking Adventures and the Best Shrimp Tacos in San Jose del Cabo
- The Most Magical Place in Los Cabos? A Trip to Cabo Pulmo
- Baja's Worst Road?! Driving the East Cape Highway
- An Awesome Mexican Cooking Class
As for what's next? We're grabbing a rental car from Cactus Rent a Car and heading north! There will be stops in La Ventana, Loreto, Bahia Concepcion, and Mulege (and perhaps a few more we stumble upon along the way!). If you aren't already following along on Instagram, that's where I'll be most actively sharing daily updates!
Keep up with what's happening in other parts of Mexico
As things continue to change so quickly and the interpretation of the traffic light system changes state-by-state, the best way to know what's going on in the place you want to visit is to find people who are on the ground there now.
Mexico City is reopening for business in so many ways. Museums are open around the city, restaurants continue with outdoor dining options and delivery, but indoor dining has returned. For more updates about Mexico City, as always I recommend following Ubish Yaren on Instagram. He is doing regular weekly updates about the situation there both on his Instagram and on his YouTube channel. My friend Todd Hata also shares his experiences in Mexico City (among other areas in the country) on his Instagram Todd's Mexico.
For updates about what's going on in Oaxaca, Susan of Brooklyn Tropicali has been sharing her updates of what's going on around the city and the state as she begins exploring a little bit along the coast.
For regular updates about life in Merida and around the Yucatan, check out Mexico Cassie. The Yucatan Times is the local English newspaper in Merida that shares local updates and news reports.
To keep up with what's going on in and around Queretaro, follow Alex of the Backpacking Brunette.
Trisha of P.S. I'm on My Way regularly shares updates about life in Nayarit where she balances time between Nueva Vallarta where she lives and Sayulita where she works. Vallarta Daily is the local English news there where you can learn about any changes in the situation.
Claire's Itchy Feet is a great page to follow for updates about life in both Nayarit and Playa del Carmen where she splits her time. Riviera Maya News is the local English newspaper there where you can keep up with changes.
For updates about Acapulco, follow Raphael of Journey of Wonders.
As always, a great place to keep up to date with news about what's happening all over Mexico in English is Mexico News Daily.
Visiting Mexico Soon?
If you are planning a trip to Mexico soon, I hope you'll have a browse of the different locations on my blog to help you plan your trip!
I also have three extensive guidebooks available for Mexico City (updated this year with tons of new content!), Merida, and Guanajuato!
As always, you can find me most often on Instagram with daily updates and photos, but I also post very regularly on Facebook if you prefer following along there.
If you have any other questions, please don't hesitate to email me by simply hitting reply on this email.
Speak soon,
Laura
