Cyprus or Mexico City?

[KisstheTeapot14]

Quite different places I know!

A friend who has 2 young children (no partner) has had interviews for schools in these places. She is an experienced teacher and has lived for a long time in Thailand.

We are weighing up pros and cons of each.

Anyone with experience of life with a young family in either place?

Thanks

México City is amazing. Great food. Wonderful people.
But it's all about location. The traffic is the worst I have ever seen anywhere. You could literally be an hour in traffic just travelling a couple of miles.
I can't emphasise enough how bad the traffic is!

We lived a few hours north of Mexico City with young dc. I think living there full time might have been a bit much for us, it really is a super city.
But it has a huge amount to do, there are a wide range of people there, great food and culture.
Parts of it are pretty unsafe, you aren't meant to pick up cabs from the street etc, some parts of the police are particularly corrupt there. It is a glamorous and by Mexican standards expensive city.
Air quality, partly due to traffic partly geography isn't always great.
The risk of earthquakes should be considered.

I live in Cyprus and have 2 young children who were both born here.

I love it but despite it being a small island there are huge differences and contrasts in different areas in every aspect of life. I live in a rural area between the popular resorts and a major working town. I am less than an hour from the capital and near 2 British army bases. so home comforts are plentiful. I miss nothing.

Pros are the weather, the scenery, great food and excellent health care.

cons colder than expected in winter. Nowhere and nobody can handle it very well. Limited destinations to travel to on holiday, hate the ex pat community and difficult to integrate with locals and paperwork is difficult and frustrating.

I refused to get posted in Mexico and we ended up in Australia.
For me, safety was the main concern. The 14 years old son of my husband's customer was kidnapped together with his bodyguard, they killed both despite a ransom being paid.
Our move there was aborted. I refused. Full stop.

And if you think only rich people get kidnapped, think again. www.vox.com/2018/5/11/17276638/mexico-kidnappings-crime-cartels-drug-trade

Where I live is in Cyprus I feel is by far the most safe and secure I have ever felt anywhere in the world I've lived in or traveled to.

Because of some issues I have had in the UK safety and security is my biggest concern for my family and I but Its not the same for everyone.

Wealthy business people are targeted in some parts of Mexico. People in the drugs trade are definitely targeted and it is important not to accidentally make friends with them and end up in their social circle.
We were given safety briefings about kidnappings, express kidnappings are the most usual kind for regular people.
There were parts of Mexico we couldn't safely travel to.
Our housing had armed guards and our school had guards too.
But other parts were less dangerous than the UK, we could walk through our city at midnight safely, no drunkenness, no casual incidental violence. It is very family friendly and you can take dc anywhere.

Our housing had armed guards and our school had guards too.
this is my point . Do I want to live where I need guns to protect me? Do I want to worry my sons will be harmed because someone wants their trainers.

On the scale of how dangerous a country is, Cyprus is 38 , Mexico 99 safearound.com/danger-rankings/

Living somewhere like Mexico definitely isn't for everyone and it is important to understand what you are moving to. But the violence isn't universal or evenly distributed, some states were so dangerous we weren't allowed to enter them, Some were so safe I travelled alone day or night and other states varied.
As a teacher at what sounds like an international school it is unlikely you would be sent anywhere were shoes would be robbed. We had nothing stolen in the years we lived there (apart from customs).
In the stable states which are large by UK standards you would be unlikely to get caught up in violence, being extorted by the police would be much more likely.
But there are things to offset this, great history, culture, food, language opportunities and the most supportive community I ever lived in.
If our company wanted us to go back to Mexico that whole family would be happy to go back.