A new era of IYKYK begins

new format, durango & espooky season

Author

Rocio L
October 16, 2025

!Holii! 👋🏽

If you’re new here — welcome! Besides my full-time job, I also write for Mexico News Daily, run a wellness community, and somehow find time to put this newsletter together (for free 🥲). Each issue takes around seven hours to create — from research to formatting to finding the best events in the city. Since launching CDMX IYKYK in June 2024, I’ve published 34 issues — you can catch up in the archives here.

I’ll be honest, I’ve thought about pulling the plug on this project more than once. Your “thank yous” mean a lot, but they would go further with a coffee ☕ (Huge love to everyone who’s already sent a cafecito, you’re the reason this little project keeps going.) If you love the newsletter, if it’s ever helped you uncover a gem, navigate CDMX chaos, or just feel a little more connected to this city — please consider buying me a cafecito (or two). Every cup keeps this labor of love alive. ❤️

For now, I’m still here — just shifting gears. Most of my new stories will appear on Mexico News Daily (they’re smart and charge for content, which is how they can pay me), while this space will focus more on curation, updates, and culture highlights.

Now, onto today’s issue — my Durango summer visit, flooding, Justin Bieber’s Mexican era, and the latest U.S.-Mexico tensions. Amid all that, spooky season is in full swing with Día de Muertos parades, Halloween happenings, and plenty of magic in the air.

– Rocio
Founder, Life of Leisure 
Writer, Mexico News Daily 

TODAY’S STORY

the one & only mia colucci from Rebelde

Durango: Home Sweet Third Home

They say home is where the heart is, and I agree — though in today’s globalized world, the idea of home feels more complicated than that. I spent my childhood in a rancho in Durango. Not a lone ranch house, but a small, rural village of about 50 homes and 150 people. At 12, I moved with my family to the Chicagoland area, where my parents and siblings still live. Now I’m based in Mexico City. If home truly is where the heart is, then mine is scattered across three very different places.

🌧️ Torrential rains have battered central and eastern Mexico, leaving behind widespread destruction across more than 300 communities and claiming at least 64 lives. The hardest-hit states include Veracruz, Hidalgo, and Puebla, where dozens of people remain missing and entire towns—some with as few as 500 residents—are still unreachable. Authorities estimate that over 100,000 homes have been damaged, with many areas cut off by relentless floodwaters.

✨ A newly discovered species of firefly in Chapultepec Forest has been named Maria Sabina in honor of the late Mazatec healer and shaman from Oaxaca — a symbol of ancestral wisdom, spirituality, and deep connection with nature.

🏘️ Average apartment rents in Mexico City are expected to reach 21,000 pesos (about US $1,134) per month by the end of 2025 — a 12% to 15% increase from this year, according to data released Tuesday by rental platform Mercado Libre Inmuebles.

🇲🇽 Justin Bieber may be entering his Mexican era — and he’s doing it with style. After being spotted dancing to mariachi music at a basketball game, he was later seen in Los Angeles jamming with a banda ensemble, playing the tambora and singing along live. What started as a playful nod now feels like a full embrace of Mexican music and culture. We love to see it. 

💰 The U.S. Department of Homeland Security (DHS) says it has received credible intelligence that Mexican criminal organizations are offering bounties of up to $50,000 for attacks, kidnappings, or killings of federal immigration agents in Chicago.

🪅 Sometimes the internet really does make the right people famous. Macario Martínez — a former Mexico City street sweeper whose heartfelt songs went viral earlier this year — has now made it all the way to NPR’s iconic Tiny Desk Concert. Just eight months ago, the 23-year-old was recording music videos in his sanitation uniform after work; today, he’s performing on one of the world’s most celebrated stages.

🪪 The U.S. has revoked visas for more than 50 Mexican politicians and government officials as part of a broader crackdown on drug cartels and their suspected political connections, according to two Mexican officials cited by Reuters.

💀 Barbie is honoring Mexican folklore this Día de Muertos with a hauntingly beautiful twist — a new La Llorona doll. For its 2025 edition, Mattel’s signature Día de Muertos collection pays tribute to one of Mexico’s most iconic and chilling legends: the Weeping Woman herself.

📉 Unauthorized crossings along the U.S.-Mexico border have dropped to their lowest level in 55 years, according to data released by the U.S. government. In Fiscal Year 2025, migrant detentions between official ports of entry fell to the lowest annual figure since 1970.

CULTURE & HAPPENINGS

Want your event featured? IYKYK is published around the 15th and 30th of each month. Please send the internet link to the specific event you would like to include 3 days prior to these dates.

DID YOU KNOW?

That Mexico City didn’t actually have a Day of the Dead parade until after it appeared in a James Bond movie. The opening scene of Spectre (2015) featured a massive Día de Muertos procession through downtown CDMX — and people loved it so much that the city decided to make it real. The first official parade took place in 2016, and it’s now one of the capital’s biggest annual celebrations, drawing thousands of locals and tourists every year.

ODE TO MEXICO

The world fell in love with Día de Muertos thanks to Pixar’s Coco—and of course, I adore it too. But a lesser-known gem that brought this tradition to life first is The Book of Life, an animated film released a few years earlier. Both capture the beauty of honoring our ancestors, but The Book of Life has its own vibrant charm and artistry. This season is the perfect time to (re)watch both and soak in all the color, music, and magic of Mexico’s most soulful celebration.

VIRAL VAULT

Why CDMX IYKYK?
Because staying in the know shouldn’t require 12 tabs, 5 group chats, and a rabbit hole of IG accounts. I created this newsletter to help fellow expats, digital nomads, and the Mexican diaspora feel more connected to life in Mexico — not just the highlights, but the context behind them too.

As someone who spent her childhood in Mexico and came of age across borders, I bring cultural insight that goes beyond translation. This isn’t just curated info; it’s grounded in lived experience, curiosity, and cariño for the motherland.

Whether you’re in Mexico City for a few months or forever, I hope this space helps you navigate, appreciate, and engage more deeply with the city we’re lucky to call home.

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