Rodolfo García & Dulce Gonzalez

They came for the adventure and stayed for the community. Inspired by stories and photos
of Aotearoa, Rodolfo García and Dulce Gonzalez left their home of Tijuana, a coastal city in Mexico, for Tauranga. They weathered the unsettling immigration process, married here
during the pandemic, and have recently opened an authentic taqueria.

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Why did you first come to New Zealand?

Rodolfo We’ve been here about six years now, since March 2016. My job as a chef meant that
I could look for potential opportunities working overseas, and we decided that we wanted to travel
a bit and see where that took us. We initially had some issues with our visas for America, so started looking at other places. My sister is a big Lord of the Rings fan, so she got me into New Zealand, and then when we started looking at it a bit more, the landscape and everything seemed really beautiful so we decided to come here. 

Were you just coming for a holiday?

Rodolfo We were on a tourist visa and just cruising around the North Island without any set ideas
of whether we wanted to stay. When we got to Tauranga, we saw the Barrio Brothers restaurant
in the city centre and went there for dinner to just see what the vibe was and what Mexican food
is like in New Zealand. It was actually very serendipitous, as the owner was there that night and started talking to us in Spanish, and then he told us he was looking for a new head chef. We traded contact details and started talking over email, then he offered me a role. I took the job of course
and spent the next six years working there.

Dulce We were at that age when we just realised we wanted to travel a bit and do something exciting, and when you have a partner to do it with, it’s easier to take that leap. So we came over
with the idea to travel but also thought we’ll just see what happens — I feel like everything just fell
into place when Rodolfo got a job at Barrio Brothers. 

How did you find the immigration process?

Rodolfo The visa application was quite straightforward because we worked with an immigration advisor. I was also on the skills shortage list and Dulce and I had been in a relationship for a while,
so while it was a lot of admin, it was a pretty slam dunk in terms of applying and getting our work
visa approved. It did have conditions that I had to work for Barrio Brothers, so we had to commit
to settling here. That sometimes made it a bit difficult as we didn’t have as much flexibility to move around or explore as much, but we were very fortunate to get it approved.

Dulce It’s definitely been a journey. In the beginning it was really exciting and new, but then it starts sinking in that you have to start over. It hasn’t been easy, but it got better with time and we’ve been really lucky that we’ve always been able to connect with good people, which has made it so much easier to settle in.

Have you returned to Mexico?

Rodolfo No, we haven’t unfortunately. We were planning on going back to get married. We got engaged in Rotorua in 2019 and we wanted to go back and have a big wedding with the family
but then Covid happened just before we bought our tickets. We ended up getting married here,
a small ceremony with just our friends.

Has the move impacted your relationship?

Rodolfo Yeah, immigration was really a journey, that’s probably a whole conversation for another day. But especially going from work visas to residency visas during Covid, which meant there were lots of delays, like I waited three months just to get a police report from back home. There were
some really stressful times where we were waiting on things to get approved and times when we just thought it would never happen. That waiting puts a lot of stress on your relationship because of the uncertainty, not knowing whether you’re staying or going, or potentially will need to start over again.

When we were able to apply for the special 2020 residency visas it ended up going a bit quicker and we finally got our residency approved — funnily enough while we were both bedridden with Covid. 

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Dulce It’s another relationship, definitely, it’s changed so much. I feel like our worst periods were when we were waiting on immigration and visas, when we were really stressed and unsure of what would happen. I like certainty, so it was really difficult not knowing when you’d be hearing back.
It really got me down, because your whole life is basically in someone else’s hands.

Why did you decide to open Tacos Tocayo?

Rodolfo As we travelled a bit, we saw an opportunity for this kind of restaurant. Initially we wanted
to do it in the South Island, as there’s not a lot of Mexican food around. But the opportunity came
for me to partner with Jo [Thompson] from Avenue Pizza, who was excited about my idea to start
an authentic Tijuana-style taqueria, and we kind of just went for it. What I love about tacos is just
the culture and vibe around it as a street food. In Mexico, food is really at the heart of our culture;
it’s everywhere and it would be exciting to see more of that vibrancy and variety here. 

Have you had to adapt your cooking style?

Rodolfo Yes, I definitely had to adapt to a certain way of doing things initially that was not necessarily very authentically Mexican, or like what I was used to. It’s also been an adjustment working with different ingredients, so I’ve had to learn to adapt my recipes a lot and work with
what I can get here. But it’s been good for me to learn about the different tastes and textures,
and experiment a little. 

How do you find working together?

Rodolfo We both come from hospitality backgrounds but Dulce does more of the administration
and social media. I like to put my head down, and she’s more bubbly and engages with the customers. I’m very much a creature of habit and she likes to get me to see things differently. We
do sometimes get into little arguments, but it’s good. I know I need a bit of a push to do new things sometimes, so she helps me get out of my shell a bit. 

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Dulce I actually work another job as a forklift driver, which I find really good, just the physical
aspect of it. I find it almost therapeutic. It’s also a good balance for me, because we have quite different personalities. He is laid-back and I like to have control, and I realised it was exhausting
for him hearing me talking all day, throwing around ideas, thinking out loud and pointing out things that needed to get done. So the fact that I’m not in here every day, and I’m mostly working on weekends, has helped. 

Was it difficult adapting to the Kiwi culture? 

Dulce In the beginning maybe. When I worked in cafes, I felt like people sometimes underestimated me or talked down to me, maybe because I was an immigrant. 

There’s definitely more of a consideration here for wellbeing, like in Mexico, you were just expected
to fight through things, you wouldn’t really think to call in sick if you were not feeling well. Here, you’re expected to stay home if you’re sick. Small things like that. 

What has been the biggest challenge moving here?

Rodolfo Definitely being away from my family. I was brought up in a family that was really close, especially with my brothers, and you kind of take it for granted. So it was an exciting opportunity
but when you’re young, you don’t realise how much it means, and it gets hard seeing your parents
get older and feeling like you miss out on their lives. 

While I love Mexico, it’s a tough place to earn a living, and sometimes can be a bit classist.
It’s much easier to have more of a balance here, it feels safe, it’s so friendly and unassuming…
It’s definitely home now. 

Dulce After about three years, it got quite hard and we felt very isolated from our friends and family back home. Your friends start getting married and having children, your parents get older, you miss all the big events and you start really doubting if it’s actually worth it. That’s been the hardest part, and the fact that it’s just so far away, as opposed to just being in America or Canada, which is a quick flight. But the lifestyle and friends we have here has made it all worth it. 

You realise at one point that people grow apart, and you can’t spend your life wondering what it would have been like living somewhere else, you need to move on and live it, you know?

Tacos Tocayo, 45 Grey St, Tauranga 
@tacostocayo_nz

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As told to Clarissa van Emmenes
Photography by ilk

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