One of the small, but enjoyable things about living is Mexico as a Canadian is being on a different eating schedule. The typical Mexican lunch happens from 1:30 pm to 3:00 pm, well after I normally eat. That means that during the week I can go to all my favorite lunch places at 12:30 pm and have the place to myself.
For example, there is a small healthy salad and sandwich place near our coworking space that I usually go to 3 times a week for lunch. We are in downtown Mexico City, so there are a ton of people working and going out for lunch every day. At 1:30 there is often a line out the door and a 15 min wait to order. Since I’m an outsider here and eating on a different schedule the crowd doesn’t affect me at all.
The same is true of dinner. Most Mexicans go out for dinner well after 8 pm. So if you want to go to a nice restaurant, you would often need to fight with crowds and get a reservation at 9 pm, but if you eat at 7:30 you can stroll right in.
At home in Canada, I have to fight with crowds for lunch at noon and dinner at 7:30, but because I am an outsider here it is never an issue.
Most people cringe at the idea of being an outsider, but it comes with lots of small but unexpected benefits, like no waits when you go out to eat at normal times or once you do sit down to eat, not being distracted by the conversations and loud people around you because you can’t understand what they are saying.
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