Time Changes in Mexico

Having lived in Mexico for a few years one stereotype about Mexico that I have found to be true is that the concept of time is quite different than that of its North American Free Trade Agreement partners, the United States and Canada. For a person with a Type A personality who strictly adheres to the self-imposed dictum that “early is on time, on time is late, and late is unconscionable,” I have never come close to adjusting to the manana mentality of the majority of the country’s “ exceedingly late is still on time” residents. Another thing that I have had difficulty in adjusting to is the way Mexico follows Daylight Saving Time.

Up until 1996, Mexico did not change its clocks. Approximately 1/5th the size of the United States, there are three time zones in Mexico. Twenty-six of its states plus the Federal District (Mexico City) use Central Standard. The state of Nayarit in the Central Pacific region, the states of Sinaloa, Sonora, and Chihuahua in the Northwest region, and the state of Baja California Sur in the Baja California Peninsula region use Mountain Standard while the only state using Pacific Standard is Baja California, also in the Baja California Penninsula region. Hence, there is a two hour time difference between Ensenada, Baja California Sur and the Federal District which is in the Mexico City and Environs region while there is only a one hour time difference between Mazatlan, Sinaloa and Oaxaca, Oaxaca or Tuxtla Gutierrez, Chiapas in the South Pacific region.

For most of the country Daylight Saving Time occurs three weeks later than its northern neighbor, the United States. The only state that does not change its clocks is Sonora which is in the country’s Northwest region and for business/commerce purposes always adheres to the same time as the US state that it borders, Arizona, because Arizona never changes its clocks. Consequently, Daylight Saving Time begins at 2:00AM on the first Sunday in April and falls back to Standard Time at 2AM on the last Sunday in October. While in most of the US and in most of Canada Daily Saving Time begins the 2nd Sunday of March at 2AM and ends the first Sunday in November at 2AM.

However, since 2010, by law enacted by the Mexican Congress, there are ten municipalities that share a border with the United States that also adhere to the same observance of Daylight Saving Time and Standard Time as in the US as mentioned above. This was done in an attempt to help facilitate the coordination of business/commerce hours particularly in the banking and transportation industries. These ten municipalities are located in five Mexican states: Tijuana and Mexicali in Baja California; Ciudad de Juarez and Ojinaga in Chihuahua; Nuevo Laredo, Matamoros, and Reynosa in Tamaulipas; Acuna and Piedras Negras in Coahuila; and Anahuac in Nuevo Leon- the last 6 municipalities are located in the Northeast region.

Consequently there are two official periods that the majority of Mexico is out of sync time-wise with the US and Canada-for three weeks in March and one week in November. Now having written this I think in time I will be able to adjust to those differences. Yet, its that other type of Mexican “time change” where a person shows up at 2PM for an appointment scheduled for 11AM and thinks that they are on time is something that I will never get used to. Mexican Standard Late Time will forever be beyond my comprehension!