We were driving through the city, traffic as usual. The rainy season had just ended. At the time, we were helping a client sell his car. His stay in Mexico City hadn’t gone the way he expected, not because of him, but for other reasons.
Then, our rambling conversation led us to a question:
“Who’s going to help all of them?” I asked.
“Us,” Melanie answered.
Before we knew it, we were doing more than helping people rent an apartment. We didn’t even notice when it happened. Maybe it happened somewhere in the back-and-forth of apartment hunting. I remember, for instance, one of our younger clients, a software developer. He hired us to scout out places where his partner could keep doing what they used to do back home. Afterward, we planned an entire day: lunch, a bit of sightseeing, a stop at a place that sold Mexican coffee beans because the client needed them, a hunt for Spanish-language books, restaurants, sweets, and we ended the night having dinner with them at my favorite steakhouse. It was called La Parrilla Uruguaya.
By the end of it, he hugged us and picked us clean off the ground, he was so happy.
Even then we didn’t notice, but we were already doing too much. Meeting more people, and helping them. I remember going back to one apartment several times just to check that everything was fine: getting the washing machine fixed, getting the modem swapped out. When the power got cut off at the apartment, for reasons that escape me now, we went over and cleaned out the fridge. I also remember waiting around for that same client’s furniture to arrive. I don’t remember exactly what it was, but we were there for it. We’re deeply grateful to him, because we learned the ropes right alongside him.
It all happened so smoothly that we never even had time to stop and wonder whether we could pull it off. We just moved forward, one step at a time, and what started as a simple “Of course we can” became our priority.
Some of our clients already know this. We’ve talked about it with them. This wasn’t the plan. We were supposed to move to Puebla to help a relative of my chaparrita’s with their restaurant, but weeks before I arrived in the city, suitcase in hand, her relative hired someone else instead. Then a YouTuber needed help, Melanie gave it, and she ended up in one of her videos. From there, a local living guide reached out, and clients kept arriving: people with stories and needs of their own.
Some of those stories touched me, and both of us felt genuinely invested; we wanted to do our best for them. Some are still regular clients, but they’ve also become our friends, our family.
This is the first entry of our blog. A little romanticized, maybe. That’s just how I remember it. But we want to make one thing clear: we do this because we’re deeply grateful to all of you, and we want to do our small part. That’s why we’ll try to answer, one by one, the questions we’ve heard from our clients over the years. But more than that, we’ll try to be ambassadors for Mexican culture to everyone who reads us.
And if we’re going to tell you about Mexico, about how we live here, and about all the small things we’ve learned along the way guiding others through it, I think it’s only fair to start by telling you who we are.
First, my chaparrita.
She was born and raised in Mexico City. She has over 12 years of experience in real estate, has been bilingual since kindergarten, and loves writing, video games (World of Warcraft) and traveling. Having grown up in this melting pot, she’s used to dealing with all kinds of people. She’s more of a listener than a talker, and she doesn’t eat much spicy food. None, actually. But above all, she’s someone with a strong sense of responsibility, and she gets things done. (I’m proud of her.)
As for me, I’m from a drier place, with fewer cars per capita and more carne asada. At 38, I still feel grateful to have been born and raised between Monterrey and Montemorelos, Nuevo Le贸n, or “New Lion” as I like to call it, said with a bit of a sing-songy accent. I’m a lover of hard work, consistency, and family; a certified programming technician, a graduate in business administration, and a disaster behind a frying pan.
I have a deep passion for writing, and for my first love: good food, made right. To me, cooking isn’t just eating; it’s art, culture, and history, and I love getting to know new places through their food.
I firmly believe that what unites us is far greater than what sets us apart.
We are Melanie and Isaac.
“Hello, world.”
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