The origin story: Part 1

Hi, my name is Hassan. I am the co-founder of Mexican Electives, nice to meet you. 🤝

Organising my elective, as I’m sure it is for you, was stressful as heck, you’re confused and overwhelmed and don’t even know where to start. So I started with what I wanted to get out of it and found places that fulfilled that and so I had 3 criteria.

• Spanish-speaking (to learn Spanish) 🇪🇸.

• Surfing town (to learn to surf) 🏄‍♂️.

• Social and lively 🥳.

And apparently, I was to find out that meeting these criteria was going to be a lot harder than anticipated.

Finding places that fit the criteria wasn’t the issue, it was actually organising it.

In my confusion, I racked up a phone bill of hundreds trying to call hospitals across Central and South America and sadly, they either couldn’t help me or couldn’t speak English.

Either way, I was still stuck so, it was not looking good for me 😥.

But, during my fourth-year summer holiday, I backpacked through Mexico and Guatemala and stumbled upon the little slice of heaven that is Puerto Escondido which is where my spark of hope returned 👀.

I was there for 4 days, but I was hooked after only 2. The magic, the energy, the aura—I had to do whatever I could to organise my elective here and spend six more weeks in this paradise 🌴.

So, whilst hungover, I spent a morning and afternoon running around to all the clinics in Puerto, pleading for someone to accept being my supervisor.

I spent four hours running around in the 36°C heat, getting punched with rejection after rejection after rejection.

I was hot, sunburnt, tired, sweaty, hungover, and very hungry ☹️—possibly the worst combination of emotions and feelings known to mankind. I was this close 🤏 to heading home defeated but, I mustered the courage to try the very last clinic on the map.

It was here I met my partner, Dr. Josué, a cool, charismatic, and frizzy-haired man who put me out of my misery by finally agreeing to be my supervisor!

Honestly, I could have hugged him 🥹, but I decided not to—that definitely would have been weird.

But I had done it!! I was coming back to Puerto for six more weeks!! 💃

The lunch🌮-shower🚿-nap😴 combo I had after securing my elective will go down in the history books as one of the best feelings ever.

The investment was worth it because I had the best six weeks of my life, met the coolest people, learnt to surf, learnt Spanish, and had some crazy stories to tell the grandkids.

As my elective came to a close, I thought to myself—why aren’t more students doing this? Why aren’t there more medical students in Mexico and Latin America?

Latin America is the coolest place in the world and has so much to offer: amazing wildlife and nature, colourful culture, great music and food, an incredible party scene, and so much more.

So, Josué and I set out to change that by creating Mexican Electives. 🇲🇽

We want to show everyone that not only is it safe—it is absolutely amazing. We want to blow your mind with the beauty of this place and show you a part of the world that will have a lasting impact on you.

We're not just talking about you going on an elective here. We're talking about an adventure that'll stay with you forever and open your eyes to a part of the world you may have overlooked.

This is our mission.

So, what do you say?

Ready to make some unforgettable memories?

Trust me, it will be the ride of your life!