How to Adapt to Mexican Culture 

Read this guide on how to adapt to Mexican culture to identify some of the main cultural differences between Mexico and the United States. As I delve into the points, I will illustrate each one with nice examples of the right thing to do in each circumstance. Bear in mind that some of the cultural differences only apply to the center and southern states of the country, mostly from Guanajuato, all the way down to Chiapas. For example, people are more direct in the northern states. But don’t worry, we will let you know! There are some exceptions such as in Yucatan. I’m sure this guide will help you feel more comfortable and at home by understanding your neighbors’ customs!

Table Of Contents

• Greetings
• Time Management
• Food
• Lateness
• Directness
• Helping Others
• Friends and Family
• Personal Space
• Holidays

Greetings

The first thing people from English-speaking countries struggle with to adapt to Mexican culture is the way we greet. It is certainly different in the US and Mexico. Usually, in the USA, people just say hello or give a handshake, but here in Mexico it’s different depending on who you are greeting.

Handshake 🤝, Hug 🫂, or Kiss 💋?

• Man + man = handshake
• Man + woman = verbal greeting: mucho gusto
• Man + man friend/family = handshake/hug
• Man + woman friend/family = Cheek to cheek kiss/hug
• Unsure or Other Situations = handshake or verbal greeting: mucho gusto

Wait… what’s a cheek-to-cheek kiss?

A cheek-to-cheek kiss is when you brush your cheek up against a woman and imitate a kiss sound.

This is another difference between cultures. Mexicans aren’t grossed out by being kissed cheek to cheek when saying hi. Although there are exceptions, and kissing a stranger with your mouth on their cheek can be gross.

It’s never a mouth-to-mouth kiss. And rarely a lips-to-cheek kiss. This way you avoid making anyone mad, grossed out, or spreading germs.

In general, in Mexico we always kiss each other on the cheek when saying hi to someone and when we say goodbye. This applies to women in all sorts of situations: when being introduced to someone, meeting your girlfriends/boyfriends parents or grandparents, and when saying hi to coworkers, classmates, and friends. The only exceptions (not always) are acquaintances or people we don’t know. 

The verbal greeting: Mucho gusto

Whenever meeting someone for the first time and that person you will have a friendly relationship it’s important to say “mucho gusto”.

😄 Mucho gusto (Nice to meet you)

It’s also great if you’re meeting a woman for the first time, and it’s not appropriate to have physical contact.

Greetings at different times of the day

When saying hi to a cashier, or any service person, or when walking past someone on the street, or inside a building, we say:

🌅 Buenos días (Good morning).

🌆 Buenas tardes (Good afternoon).

🌃 Buenas noches (Good evening).

The exception to the rule is if you’re at a busy place or at the store.

Manners 🫡

You might have to adapt to “hierarchies” when adapting to Mexican culture. There are some cultural differences when it comes to manners that you should be aware of. However, these hierarchies are not always clear, so I advise you to follow the examples below.

Mexican Hierarchies Culture: “Usted”

Usted: this form is used to talk to people with a higher rank, older people, strangers, people with a higher rank than yours, for example, your boss; or people you want to maintain a distance and a formality in the relationship. This distinction doesn’t exist in English. If you are interested in the grammar and more detailed explanations, learn how to use “usted”.

You call “usted”	The elderly.
	People who work in a trade.
	Professionals
	High respected professions.

More examples:

People who work in a trade: Plumbers, mechanics, carpenters, blacksmiths, and cleaning people.

Professionals: doctors, graduated people in general.

Highly respected professions: priests.

Examples of Usted conjugated in a sentence: 

Polite:¿Cómo está? ¿Qué hace? (How are you? What are you doing?).

Impolite: ¿Cómo estás? ¿Qué haces? (How are you? What are you doing?).

Plumbers, mechanics, and builders are usually called “jefe” or “maestro”.

¿Cuánto le debo, maestro? (How much is it?).

When getting out of a room (for example a doctor’s office, an elevator) we say “con permiso”.

When another person gets out and says “con permiso” you should always reply with “propio”.

Family

Are you calling your parents and grandparents by their first name? Nope, that’s a big no in Mexico. Here, you use “papá”, “mamá”, “abuelo, abuela” and all the variations. In some occasions, especially in older generations, people address their parents and grandparents using “usted”.

Time management ⏰

Another thing you have to be flexible with to adapt to Mexican culture is time management.

Simply put, we’re not rigid about time. Some people are more rigid than others, but as a rule of thumb, don’t expect people to be punctual.

Also, while foreigners plan their activities with a calendar, we go with the flow. We also love being with friends. So, if we feel like going out to the cinema, we call our friends and that same day, or same evening, we can go to the cinema, without having to scan through our calendars to plan for it.

Lateness ⌛

We don’t excel at being on time. Some people do, but not everyone. As a rule of thumb, if you’re invited to a party, plan to arrive one or one hour and a half late. This is a normal practice. More often than not, your guests won’t be ready if you arrive punctually. However, it’s always better to ask your guests what time you should arrive as there are exceptions and there are punctual people.  

People are more relaxed and enjoy the moment more. Although big cities move quickly, people will take their time to eat a meal, or spend time with family and friends chatting. They aren’t always “busy” and in a rush.

Ash El

A nice example is that some foreigners have noticed that when you have breakfast for any occasion, meeting friends, or work “you know when breakfast begins but not when it ends”. This phenomenon is called “sobremesa”. More on this later.

Food 🌮

To adapt to Mexican culture you need to adapt to the food. Mexicans love putting spice on all kinds of food, even candies!
Don’t be surprised if a Mexican puts Tajin, Valentina, or chamoy on cucumbers, jicama, popcorn, beer, etc. 

Share

You’re not used to sharing? In Mexico we enjoy sharing our dishes with others so we can all enjoy the different flavors. So, if a Mexican is staring at your dish, or asks “Is it good?” he might want to try your dish. Check more about how Mexicans share.

Going out to eat

When going out to eat, some Mexicans will pay your bill as a friendly gesture. This is not customary but happens now and then.

Food Times in Mexican Culture

This might not make sense to you, but in Mexican culture, we have different times to eat than in the US and some European countries.

Food times
Breakfast:	7:00 A.M. and 10:00 A.M.
Lunch:	2:00 P.M. 3:00 P.M.
Dinner:	7:00 P.M. and 8:00 P.M

Breakfast: 7:00 A.M. and 10:00 A.M. (depending on your schedule).

Comida: (it’s not “lunch” it’s “comida”) and it’s usually between 2:00 P.M. and 3:00 P.M. This is where Mexicans eat the largest portion of food. Unlike in the US where people eat the largest portion at dinner.

Dinner: Between 7:00 P.M. and 8:00 P.M. We don’t eat that much at dinner. We might eat a couple of quesadillas, cereal, or a sandwich.

Sobremesa

Another unique term that only exists in Spanish and is customary of Mexican culture. Sobremesa means to enjoy having a nice conversation after finishing eating, right there at the table. We might make some coffee or take any beverage or dessert while we talk to our friends or family. So, there’s no rush to go back to work or to do some other activity.

No Thanksgiving Dinner

In Mexico, we don’t celebrate Thanksgiving. Except in northern cities such as Tijuana and Ciudad Juárez. Therefore, we mainly eat turkey on Christmas day New Year’s eve. Holidays in Mexico.

Directness 🗣️

When it comes to pointing something out, Mexicans tend not to be direct, except for the northern cities and yucatán. For example, if you want to tell something to a co-worker you better try not to be too blunt. For starters, you want to pick up your words carefully before or you will come across as rude. 

Also, we feel it’s rude to just cut to the chase and ask something. We like making small talk first. For example:

Sometimes this indirectness can be troublesome because some Mexicans won’t speak their hearts in order to avoid confrontations or hurting someone. So, instead of saying they are uncomfortable with any given situation, they might just be quieter than normal, as a sign of anger, resentfulness, or contempt.

Getting Around to Help Others 🦮

Mexicans love helping other people and we certainly don’t mind getting out of our way to do it, it doesn’t matter if we have another thousand things to do! Keep in mind that we don’t like being abused either! Having said that, Mexicans expect other people to do the same. Here are a couple of anecdotes to illustrate this point.

Society, Friends and Family 👪

Have you ever watched a movie where a parent has family issues because he or she is a workaholic? In Mexican culture, that plot wouldn’t fly.

As a rule of thumb, we value family over work. It’s not that work is not important, but it’s more important to be there for the family when need be. It’s nice to know that your family is always going to be there for you, no matter what. 

With that in mind, another difference in Mexico is that Families stay together, and when it’s time to go to college the kids don’t move out. They stay living with their parents. And it’s not a burden for the parents either as they would be sad if the kids left their homes. This news would be unheard of in Mexico. This would be complete madness!

Family Bonds. Mexicans life spin around the family and their bonds are strong. Families tend to stay in one state or nearby.

Karina Maciel

Teamwork and Community

Also, Mexicans are more geared towards teamwork and community. Instead of wanting to succeed alone to show everyone our worth, we want to succeed as a team.

Sharing Culture

We like sharing and spending as much time as possible with other people. Also, we simply like sharing the stuff we have and might even cook or buy presents. Moreover, there’s no such thing as splitting with Mexicans. Actually, we can split costs, but it’s not as common.

Generosity. People here are always giving you food and presents. I’m always amazed at how giving people are here.

Ash EI

Personal Space 🌌

To adapt to Mexican culture you will have to let go of your personal space. You will notice that when making a line people tend to stand close to you. Even when standing at the checkout at some convenience store, like OXXO or 7 Eleven, people will stand right behind you. And this is not because people are rushing you or they want to be rude. It’s just the way things are here.

When speaking to other people you might notice them standng a bit closer to you than you are used to. Also, people like giving hugs and being touchy. Latino warmth, baby 🌡️.

Holidays 🎄

Some of the most important holidays in Mexico are 15 de Septiembre, el día de la Independencia (Independence Day), Día de muertos (Day of the day), Navidad (Cristmas), Año Nuevo (New Year’s eve) and Día de reyes (Kings Day).

Holiday	Date	Who With	Food
Día de la Independencia	Sept 15th	Friends/Family	Pozole/Chiles en Nogada
Día de muertos	Nov 2nd	Family	Pan de muerto/Hot Cocolate
Navidad	Dec 25th	Family	Turkey/Cod/Romeritos
Año nuevo	Dec 31st	Friends	Turkey/Cod
Día de reyes	Jan 5th	Family	Rosca de reyes/Hot hocolate

Santos:

A huge cultural difference in Mexico is that people celebrate “Santos”. This means people celebrate Saints. For example:

Saint	Date
Virgen de Guadalupe	Dic 12th

Noise

Yes, to adapt to Mexican culture means you have to adapt to noise. For good or for worse, Mexico is very noisy. It doesn’t matter if you’re in a small town or city, most likely you’ll hear loud street vendors, fireworks, or late parties in the evening.

Dogs:

In Mexico, there’s no such thing as a law or obligation to train your dogs to be quiet. Therefore, you’re likely to hear dogs barking at all times of day, including the night. Be ready to be awakened by the dogs in your block.

For example, in holidays such as El día de la Virgen de Guadalupe people will set off fireworks.

Closed streets:

Finally, another thing to be aware of in Mexican culture is that people tend to close streets, a lot! This happens because two reasons:

Flea markets. These markets are allocated to certain streets where people put their booths on specific days of the week.

The celebration of a Saint’s day.

Bonus 🎁

Apapacho

We like to apapachar people. Whether it’s our significant other, friends or family. This word is really hard to explain, but, according to the BBC it means: “to embrace or caress with the soul.” 

Say “salud”

In English, the equivalent is “Bless you”.

What’s Next?

I guess next you go out and start behaving as a Mexican!

Anyway, these are some cultural things you must learn to adapt to Mexican culture. How challenging is it for you to adapt to Mexican Culture? Which culture do you prefer or feel more comfortable with?

Let us know!

Learn More about Mexico City:

How to Go to a Soccer Game

Guide to the Best Affordable Restaurants in Mexico

One Day in Mexico City Historic Center