🇲🇽 MexicoFlow
Settle In. Branch Out.
Week of August 31, 2026
📰 NEED-TO-KNOW: A U.S. Security Alert in Mexicali — and a Good Lesson for Travelers
Last week offered a useful reminder about how quickly security conditions can change in Mexico — and why travelers should pay attention to specific local alerts rather than treating the entire country as one security category.
On August 25, the U.S. government temporarily suspended consular activities and official U.S. government travel to Mexicali, Baja California, after receiving information about a potential threat connected to a criminal group.
Mexican authorities increased security in response.
Later that day, authorities also announced that intelligence shared by the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration had contributed to operations targeting the criminal organization known as Los Rusos, including seizures of drugs and weapons.
Despite the warning, reports from Mexicali described the city itself as relatively calm.
🌿 The MexicoFlow Takeaway
Mexico is enormous.
A security incident in one city does not automatically mean the entire country — or even the entire state — suddenly became dangerous.
But the opposite mistake isn’t smart either: assuming that because you’ve lived or traveled somewhere safely before, conditions can never change.
If you’re traveling around Mexico, especially by road, check current information for the specific area you’re visiting.
Security alerts are useful information.
They’re not necessarily instructions to panic.
They’re information to use when deciding where, when and how you travel.
🇲🇽 SEPTEMBER IS HERE: Mexico Is About to Turn Red, White & Green
September in Mexico is el mes patrio — the patriotic month.
Over the next couple of weeks, you’ll start seeing Mexican flags hanging from balconies, restaurants decorated in green, white and red, street vendors selling flags and decorations, and increasingly elaborate displays in plazas and government buildings.
But here’s something newcomers often get wrong:
Mexico’s Independence Day is NOT May 5.
Cinco de Mayo commemorates the Mexican victory over French forces at the Battle of Puebla in 1862.
Mexico’s actual Independence Day is:
September 16.
And much of the celebration happens the night before.
On the evening of September 15, crowds gather in plazas throughout Mexico for El Grito — a reenactment of the famous call to rebellion associated with Miguel Hidalgo in 1810.
Expect:
🇲🇽 Flags
🎺 Mariachi
🌮 Food
🎆 Fireworks
🍹 Tequila
📣 Lots of “¡Viva México!”
If this is your first September living in Mexico, make plans to spend the evening of September 15 somewhere with a good central plaza.
This is one Mexican holiday that’s much better experienced outside your living room.
🏡 MEXICO LIVING TIP: Learn Your Address the Mexican Way
Here’s something mundane that becomes surprisingly important after moving to Mexico:
Know how to explain your address.
Mexican addresses can include:
Calle — Street
Número exterior — Building/street number
Número interior — Apartment/unit number
Colonia — Neighborhood
Código Postal / C.P. — Postal code
Municipio or Alcaldía — Municipality/borough
Estado — State
The colonia is particularly important.
In the U.S. or Canada, you might rarely use your neighborhood name when giving an official address. In Mexico, the colonia can be an essential part of identifying where you live.
And then there’s the unofficial Mexican address system:
“Está después del OXXO, frente a la farmacia, al lado del edificio azul.”
It’s after the OXXO, across from the pharmacy, next to the blue building.
Laugh all you want.
Sometimes that description gets your delivery to you faster than Google Maps.
🩺 EXPAT INSURANCE QUESTION OF THE WEEK
Does Medicare Cover Me If I Live in Mexico?
This is one of the most common health-insurance questions Americans moving to Mexico ask.
The short answer:
Generally, no.
Original Medicare is designed primarily to cover medical services received inside the United States. If you’re living in Mexico and receive treatment at a Mexican hospital or doctor’s office, Medicare generally isn’t going to pay that bill.
That creates an important distinction for American retirees:
You may have excellent Medicare coverage when you’re in the United States while still having very limited protection for the healthcare you’re actually receiving while living in Mexico.
What about Medigap?
Some Medicare Supplement — or Medigap — plans include a foreign travel emergency benefit.
But that shouldn’t be confused with comprehensive health insurance for someone living abroad.
Those benefits are typically designed for temporary international travel and can have restrictions including:
- Coverage only during the first portion of a trip
- A deductible
- Coinsurance
- A lifetime benefit limit
- Emergency-care requirements
That’s very different from having ongoing health insurance designed for someone who actually lives in Mexico.
So what health insurance do American expats use in Mexico?
Depending on the person, options can include:
Paying routine expenses out of pocket + maintaining coverage for major medical events
Private Mexican health insurance
International health insurance
Keeping Medicare for U.S. healthcare while carrying separate coverage in Mexico
There isn’t one correct answer for everyone.
Age, health history, budget, how much time you spend in the United States and where you would want treatment during a serious medical event all matter.
Brett LaMar is a U.S.-licensed insurance broker specializing in helping expats understand health insurance in Mexico.
👉 Read Brett’s full guide: Does Medicare Work in Mexico?
https://brettlamar.com/medicare-in-mexico/?source=mexflo
👉 Get a health insurance quote for Mexico
https://brettlamar.com/quote/?source=mexflo
🔎 Why We’re Adding This Section
Every week, MexicoFlow is going to answer one real insurance question expats search for online.
Not insurance jargon.
Not a sales pitch.
An actual question.
If you’ve wondered about deductibles, pre-existing conditions, Medicare, international coverage, private hospitals, emergency evacuation or what happens when you make a claim — chances are other expats are wondering the same thing.
We’ll tackle one at a time.
🏘️ CITY SPOTLIGHT: DOLORES HIDALGO, GUANAJUATO
If we’re going to talk about Mexican Independence this month, we should visit the place where the story began.
Dolores Hidalgo is a Pueblo Mágico in Guanajuato approximately 40 kilometers from San Miguel de Allende.
Its full official name gives away its importance:
Dolores Hidalgo Cuna de la Independencia Nacional
Cradle of National Independence.
It was here in the early hours of September 16, 1810 that Catholic priest Miguel Hidalgo y Costilla called people to rise against Spanish rule.
That event became known as the Grito de Dolores and marked the beginning of Mexico’s War of Independence.
Today you can visit the Parroquia de Nuestra Señora de los Dolores, the church associated with Hidalgo’s famous call.
But Dolores Hidalgo isn’t simply a history lesson.
The town is also famous for Talavera-style ceramics and something considerably less serious:
🍦 Ice cream.
Around the central plaza you’ll encounter vendors selling flavors ranging from completely normal to wonderfully questionable.
Avocado.
Tequila.
Mole.
Cheese.
Chile.
Shrimp.
Yes.
Shrimp ice cream.
Nobody said exploring Mexico wouldn’t occasionally require courage.
🌮 FOOD WORTH TRAVELING FOR: CHILES EN NOGADA
September has arrived.
That means it’s chiles en nogada season.
Few dishes look more deliberately Mexican.
A poblano chile is filled with picadillo — traditionally a mixture incorporating meat, fruits, spices and other ingredients — then covered in a creamy walnut sauce and topped with parsley and bright red pomegranate seeds.
Green.
White.
Red.
The colors of the Mexican flag.
The dish is traditionally associated with Puebla and Mexico’s Independence celebrations, and restaurants throughout the country feature it around August and September.
There are countless variations and plenty of arguments about what constitutes the “correct” chile en nogada.
Should it be battered?
Should the nogada be sweet?
Exactly what belongs in the filling?
Welcome to Mexican food.
People have opinions.
🌿 MexicoFlow Challenge
If you’ve never tried one, September is the month.
Find a restaurant known for making them traditionally rather than simply ordering one wherever you happen to see it.
This isn’t everyday Mexican food.
It’s seasonal food tied directly to Mexican history and identity.
🥾 SOMETHING DIFFERENT: SEPTEMBER ON LA MALINCHE
Beach Mexico gets most of the international attention.
But September gives us a good excuse to look upward.
Mexico’s official tourism calendar is highlighting hiking around La Malinche throughout September.
Located between Tlaxcala and Puebla, La Malinche — or Matlalcuéyetl — rises more than 4,400 meters above sea level.
The surrounding national park offers pine and fir forests, mountain landscapes and hiking opportunities ranging from easier outings to the serious climb toward the summit.
And yes:
Mexico has mountains.
Big ones.
This can surprise people whose mental image of Mexico consists entirely of Cancún beaches, cactus and margaritas.
Central Mexico contains enormous high-altitude landscapes, forests and volcanoes — and September begins opening another side of the country’s outdoor calendar.
Just remember that altitude is real.
A hike above 4,000 meters is not the place to discover that your normal sea-level fitness doesn’t automatically transfer to the mountains.
🎨 SPOTLIGHT ON MEXICO’S ICONS: MIGUEL HIDALGO
You’ll see his face everywhere this month.
So you might as well know who he was.
Miguel Hidalgo y Costilla was a Catholic priest whose name became inseparable from Mexican independence.
In the early morning hours of September 16, 1810, Hidalgo called residents of Dolores to rise against Spanish colonial rule.
Exactly what he said has been lost to history.
But the event became known as the Grito de Dolores.
Hidalgo’s rebellion ultimately failed.
He was captured and executed in 1811 — a decade before Mexico finally achieved independence in 1821.
Yet his role in beginning the movement transformed him into one of the country’s foundational historical figures.
Every September 15, Mexico’s president stands on the balcony of the National Palace in Mexico City, rings the historic bell and performs the modern ceremonial Grito.
Governors and local officials repeat similar ceremonies across the country.
So when you hear thousands of people screaming:
“¡Viva Hidalgo!”
Now you know why.
🌎 CAN MEXICO SAVE THE AXOLOTL? — COMING SOON
Remember our ridiculously cute little friend from last week’s newsletter?
🦎
The wild Mexican axolotl is critically endangered in its remaining natural habitat in Xochimilco.
But that wasn’t the whole story.
Scientists at UNAM, local chinamperos and conservationists are working on an ambitious project to restore sections of the Xochimilco ecosystem where wild axolotls may be able to survive again.
And there’s something else:
You can actually help sponsor the effort.
UNAM operates an official Adoptaxolotl conservation program that helps fund research, habitat restoration and care of its scientific axolotl colony.
🦎 You can support the conservation effort through UNAM’s official Adoptaxolotl program:
https://www.ib.unam.mx/ib/adopta-axolotl/
We’re going to give these little guys their own full follow-up story in an upcoming MexicoFlow.
Because apparently MexicoFlow has an unofficial mascot now.
And we’re okay with that.
🦎❤️🇲🇽
⚖️ LEGAL & RESIDENCY CORNER: Your Mexican Residency Is NOT Citizenship
This sounds obvious until you hear people use the terms interchangeably.
Temporary Resident.
Permanent Resident.
Mexican Citizen.
They aren’t the same thing.
Permanent residency allows a foreign national to live in Mexico indefinitely and generally work without needing the same employment permissions required under temporary status.
But becoming a permanent resident does not automatically make you a Mexican citizen.
Citizenship — generally obtained through naturalization for foreign-born residents — is a separate legal process with its own eligibility requirements.
Why does the distinction matter?
Because citizenship comes with rights and responsibilities residency doesn’t provide, including Mexican voting rights and access to a Mexican passport.
Permanent residency is essentially permission to make Mexico your permanent home.
Citizenship means something more:
You have legally become Mexican.
We’ll eventually devote a full MexicoFlow section to the path from residency to citizenship because there are several different qualification routes.
📅 WHAT’S COMING UP IN MEXICO
🥾 September 1–30 — Hiking Season Around La Malinche, Tlaxcala
Mexico’s tourism calendar is highlighting September excursions through the forests and mountain landscapes surrounding La Malinche.
🎭 September 2–27 — “Del color de la sandía,” Mexico City
CENART begins a month of music, dance and theater celebrating Mexico’s Fiestas Patrias, including several free performances.
💃 September 8 — Danza del Pashtú
A traditional Zoque dance representing the duality between good and evil.
🇲🇽 September 15 — El Grito
Plazas across Mexico fill for the traditional Independence celebration.
🇲🇽 September 16 — Mexican Independence Day
A national public holiday. Expect government offices, banks and many businesses to close.
🏙️ September 17–20 — MEXTRÓPOLI, Mexico City
One of the Americas’ major architecture and urbanism festivals returns with conferences, exhibitions, public installations and specialized city tours.
🌽 September 23 — Festival del Maíz, Ocosingo, Chiapas
A celebration of maize and its enormous role in Mexican food and culture.
September might be one of the best months of the year to deliberately explore Mexican culture.
🌮 FUN FOODIE FACT: Pozole Predates Modern Mexico
That giant bowl of hominy, broth and meat sitting in front of you isn’t merely comfort food.
Pozole has pre-Hispanic roots.
Its defining ingredient is nixtamalized maize — corn treated through an ancient process that transforms its texture, flavor and nutritional properties.
Today you’ll encounter different regional versions.
Pozole blanco — white.
Pozole rojo — red, commonly associated with places including Jalisco.
Pozole verde — green, particularly associated with Guerrero.
Then comes the mountain of toppings:
Shredded lettuce or cabbage.
Radish.
Onion.
Lime.
Chile.
Oregano.
Tostadas.
September is prime pozole season because the dish is deeply associated with Mexican Independence celebrations.
So if someone invites you over for pozole on September 15:
Go.
🌿 SETTLE IN. BRANCH OUT.
September is a wonderful reminder that living in Mexico isn’t simply about relocating somewhere warmer.
You’re living inside another country’s history.
The decorations appearing in the streets have a story.
The food suddenly showing up on restaurant menus has a story.
The crowds gathering in plazas have a story.
Even the little smiling salamander on a souvenir has a much bigger story than you realized.
The longer you live here, the more those pieces start connecting.
That’s when somewhere stops feeling like a destination.
And starts feeling like home.
That’s MexicoFlow.
🩺 Health Insurance for Expats in Mexico
Have questions about health insurance in Mexico?
Brett LaMar is a U.S.-licensed insurance broker specializing in health insurance for expats living in Mexico, including Americans who need help understanding how Medicare, international insurance and private medical coverage work while living abroad.
👉 Health Insurance for Expats in Mexico
https://brettlamar.com/?source=mexflo
👉 Does Medicare Work in Mexico?
https://brettlamar.com/medicare-in-mexico/?source=mexflo
👉 Get a Free Health Insurance Quote
https://brettlamar.com/quote/?source=mexflo
📺 More from Brett
Watch Brett LaMar on YouTube
https://www.youtube.com/@BrettLaMar
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MexicoFlow
Settle In. Branch Out.