But every party comes to a point where the mood specifically requires banda.
All those people riding bikes in front of your house selling corn, tortillas, ice cream, bread, gas, miracle creams…They all have a recognizable phrase or melody.
Monterrey is a desert, summers last forever, and we basically only get one month of true winter. Most of the year we live happily under the sunshine with 35ºC weather, but then there are some hellish days when the temperature rises above 40ºC, and yet it’s common to see people wearing black and complete suits to their offices. We are survivors!
Monterrey is the city of mountains. They’re everywhere you look, so you probably can’t help feeling a little weird and exposed when in cities where you can look up and see only sky.
Monterrey people know their beef and give it a special place in their hearts as a way of bringing family and friends together. Barbecues are perfect for celebrations, but sometimes the barbecue is the celebration itself.
We don’t always need a reason to barbecue, but when there’s a sports event, these three things are probably going to come together in 90% of Monterrey homes.
The name says it for itself, so when we think of quesadillas the picture in our minds is of a flour tortilla stuffed with cheese. We like it simple, which is different from other cities where they get creative and make quesadillas with everything but cheese. If you are a regio in Mexico City for the first time, you’ll probably have a confusing and frustrating conversation with the quesadilla lady while ordering your food.
In other places round the world, two rival fans often hate each other or can’t even stay in the presence of one another. Not here. Followers from UANL and Monterrey’s teams coexist happily in schools, jobs, malls, parks…sometimes even under the same roof. That doesn’t mean, of course, that the team that’s best positioned doesn’t joke at expense of the other one. They do, but everyone knows it’s just for fun.
If you were old enough (legally or not) to go to Barrio Antiguo when it was still in operation, then you know the bittersweet feeling of “being happy because you enjoyed it, and being sad because it’s gone.” Barrio Antiguo was a place in downtown that covered 10 square blocks. It was where all kinds of nightclubs were located, and they were all open almost daily. Crowded streets, all music genres, “no cover” bars, all kinds of drinks, nowhere closing at 2am — those were the good days.
Most people in Monterrey are bilingual, but even if they aren’t, English expressions have made their way into their daily conversations. It’s super common to say “thank you” instead of “gracias,” “sorry” instead of “disculpa,” “as soon as possible” instead of “lo más pronto possible.”
And 90% of the times you’ve used it have been to go to McAllen, Texas to shop.
There’s only one thing missing in Monterrey to make it the perfect city: a beach. But that didn’t stop you from enjoying summers with sun, sand and sea, right? Every regio has adopted the two nearest beaches for spring or summer breaks at least once in their lives.
Just because you love them so much!
Compared to the rest of the country, life in Monterrey is expensive. We pay more for school, gas, food, public transportation — in some cases the difference is insane. Sure, when you found out for the first time that you’ve been overcharged all these years, you felt angry and frustrated, but then you just learned to live with it and even took a little pride that you can survive in Monterrey. 