The Uber Guilt Trip
Book an Uber. Driver calls immediately. Every. Single. Time.
"Hola, can you cancel? I pay you cash, better price for you, the app takes too much..."
First week I said no because I didn't understand. Now I just cancel. The social pressure is real and honestly they're right - Uber takes like 35% commission, it's brutal.
Except sometimes they quote you MORE than the app price? And you're already in the car? So you just pay it and feel scammed but also you participated in this.
DiDi vs Uber: The Eternal Battle
DiDi is cheaper. Usually. Sometimes. You need both apps and check both every time like you're shopping for car insurance.
In CDMX, DiDi wins. In Guadalajara, I don't know, ask three people get three answers. In smaller cities everyone still uses Radio taxis (you call a number like it's 2005).
Cabify exists for people who want to feel fancy. It's Uber but slightly more expensive and the cars are cleaner sometimes.
Food Delivery: The Regional Disaster
Uber Eats, Rappi, DiDi Food, Sin Delantal, Cornershop (for groceries).
Which one has your favorite restaurant? Who knows! Every city is different. Every neighborhood is different.
CDMX: Rappi is king Guadalajara: DiDi Food is weirdly popular
Beach towns: Everything takes 90 minutes, order early, lower your expectations
Cornershop (owned by Uber) for groceries is actually great when it works. When it doesn't work, you get 1/3 of your order and substitutions that make no sense. "We didn't have chicken so here's dish soap."
The WhatsApp Economy
Nothing works without WhatsApp. NOTHING.
Restaurants take orders on WhatsApp. Your landlord communicates exclusively on WhatsApp. Your lawyer? WhatsApp. The woman who cleans your Airbnb? WhatsApp with voice memos that are 4 minutes long.
Small businesses have WhatsApp Business profiles that look more professional than their websites (if they have websites).
Want to order from the taco stand down the street? WhatsApp. They send you the menu as a photo (not text, a screenshot of a Word document, good luck zooming).
Payment Apps:
Mercado Pago is trying to be Venmo. Some places take it. Most places want cash or card. Foreigners can't get Mexican bank accounts easily so you're mostly using your foreign card and eating 3% foreign transaction fees forever.
What Works:
- Uber + DiDi (check both, cancel the Uber when driver calls, participate in this weird system)
- WhatsApp or you're invisible
- Rappi in big cities
- Cash because "the card machine is broken" (it's never broken, they just don't want to pay tax)
What Doesn't:
- Assuming anything will be consistent city to city
- Venmo (doesn't work in Mexico)
- Your US phone number (get a Mexican SIM or prepare for pain)
Mexico is chaos and contradiction and everything works eventually if you're patient and have WhatsApp.