Guadalajara and Lake Chapala

[nwtconner]

Hi guys,

Just wanted to say that I've enjoyed listening to your discussion. I agree with most of what you have said. However I have found that the Ajijic, Lake Chapala Area is a much more enjoyable area to live in. Better air quality, excellent medical centers, and very friendly people.

not unlike guadalajara just more my size i guess.

[RVGRINGO]

nwtconner,
Although I agree with you 100%, you really should reveal your true identity as a real estate entity and consider purchasing a Premium Membership so that you can advertise openly.

In my opinion it really the best of both worlds. You have Chapala which and be noisy and a little crowded on weekends. Everyone from Guadalajara who can afford to go to Vallarta for the weekends usually ends up in Chapala.

Small are nicer villages abound 10 minutes from Chapala, like Santa Cruz and such.

The first couple of year might take some getting used to not seeing anything in any orderly fashion at all. I like order and hate disorder. I used to go out to the galleria mall in Zapopan (only 45 min away in Guadalajara) and walk around and see things clean, walk on marble floors and see beautiful shops and boutiques everywhere and food courts just like back home(U.S.). But if you want to live out in the country be aware that the common folks are uncultured an uneducated. So people litter. Stop their car in the middle of the street to talk not caring that your behind them, and just vert uneducated things like that.

Frank

[MexicoFran]

Originally Posted by stevebrtx

I'm not an authority on San Fran, but I'd say it's a world away from GDL in almost every way you could imagine. GDL is big and dirty; I can remember LA in the 60's and Denver in the 70's, both had more breathable air than GDL on a good day. The Mexican's have a tradition, if it can be set on fire it will be! And, the actual “burning season” is coming up when they burn the fields - that applies to all of MX. I personally could NOT live anywhere in GDL due to air quality.

Driving in GDL is a trip; visit my blog at oneblueflower(dot)com for a few adventures. I go there usually once a week to get gringo stuff like Home Depot, Autozone, Applebees, even DQ, Office Depot, Sams, WalMart, Costco and on and on. And, shopping for stuff in Tonala is an experience in all things Mexican.

Pedro is correct about “the village”, it’s charming to visit, DON’T live there. I’m in an area probably 3 miles east between Ajijic and Chapala, close enough to walk if you actually wanted or needed to, but far away from the church bells, when the breeze is right I hear the ones in the distance in San Antonio. Far from the cohetes they set off day night and weekend for any and every reason, they are aerial bombs that reverberate off the mountains. I know people in Ajijic that go to the coast for a week at the end of the year to escape the noise. Actually they’re building a new house next door to me.

Ajijic is overpriced driven by notoriety and “the Jones’s” which brought large sums of money down from NOB and foolishly overpaid to live in the village. Many or most things can be purchased for less anywhere but Ajijic. And most things are available somewhere if you know where like my mailbox is at the pool supply place – it works, I get mail at least twice a week.

The north shore probably has 5,000 gringo’s full or part time, some have lived here for a long time and don’t speak a word of Spanish and don’t understand why the native people don’t learn English.

If you want to live native it can be very cheap, if you live gringo, it’s definitely NOT. I bought a small can of VanCamp’s pork & beans the other day, $1.30. Electricity can be as much as $.295 per KWH depending on how much you use. Gas is cheap by NOB standards, about $2.52 a gal and varies little, unlike NOB.

And, any electrical appliance you dearly love needs to be on a voltage regulator, we get brownouts and spikes to 145 volts (which took out a favorite digital timer the other day) and due to frequency variance electric clocks run fast so you see a lot of batter powered clocks, I have 3 not that it actually matters what time it really is except MX follows the old DST rule so lately we’ve been two hours behind NYC (my TV) and so I have to start watching the 6pm news from Hoboken at 4 in the afternoon.

Is the area quintessential Mexico, yes and no. It depends on where and how you live. Each night I look across the lake at lights from small villages on the south shore, so Christmas day I drove over there – yep, typical small Mexican villages. The Mexican people are gracious and interesting, hard working and helpful and tolerant of some of our bad habits we forget to check at the border. You’ll find a few choice observations about some of our fellow countrymen and their plantation mentalities in my blog.

I often liken it to living in Nebraska in the 50’s and yet within the technology bubble inside my compound walls it’s very much the 21st century. Dish TV (it thinks it’s in NYC so I get Hoboken news?) XM Radio (couldn’t live without it) broadband Internet (which means I have VOIP) etc.

Much of this may sound terribly negative; in fact it’s not at all, it’s brutally honest, Mexico without the sugar coating and things to be considered when making a new place (country) you home. There are two kinds of people, the ones that love it and make it and the ones who hate it and are leaving or gone. I’m one that loves it and managed to renew my lease until June ’09. But, I’m under no illusions, there are two things I strap on each morning when the rooster crows (yes, they’re everywhere) tolerance and patience because those are the two most valuable assets to enjoying what is here, the art, the music, the weather, scenery, flowers year round and on and on including the fact it hasn’t rained since I arrived last Oct and won’t until June so it’s dusty and getting warm, was 90 yesterday, and dry, humidity dropped to 14% at one point, you'll find my weather station at chapalaweather(dot)net.

Good luck.

PS: I forgot to mention the occasional interruptions on the Internet, like now as I started to upload this answer and the net is down, so I went out and skimmed the jacaranda blossoms out of the pool, remember, patience and tolerance.

Reply:
I have lived in the middle of Ajijic for four years and love it My rent is $550 USD/month for a 3000 sq ft house. My street is Mexican. I wouldn't want to live anywhere else. But it is noisy. Mexicans abhor silence. You just have to get used to it. And the download time on the intrenet is among the slowest in the world. It is the monopoloy of Carlos Slim. Your only solution is to have cable as well as a DSL connection, so that if one is down you can switch to the other. Neither works when the electricity is down, which is often during the rainy season.

[RVGRINGO]

Zap! CFE to the rescue. One leg of our power has been down since some time in the wee small hours and just came back on, so here we are online again. Cooking with gas has the advantage of being able to make coffee on the stove with our old camping percolator; be sure to bring one. Also, have a long extension cord so that you can find an outlet in another part of the house, where the 'other leg' still has power, and plug in your refrigerator if the outage lasts long.
Enjoy!

[MexicoGolfer62]

It seems to me that GDL has alot of the negative aspects of a big city... often times very noisy, polluted and like another blogger said very L.A.esque. While it does at times have a little more culture (to me) than cities like Mexico City, it is not far behind in the bad things as well... with the includsion of their Home Depots and DQs GDL is becoming more and more gringo esque by the day.

[sbrimer]

Hello,
I am coming that way about the 1st of the year. I am single male over 65 and looking for a place to rent and maybe a roommate even. Mostly to keep cost down. I need my Sat TV and Internet connection. I lived in GAL in the 80's for a while and I have worked and lived (Temp) in parts of MX. I have found the people there always pleasant. I Try to treat them with some respect, engage them a little in Spanish and the help to accommodate my needs, comes from everywhere. Most of the Gringo's I have seen, in the past, are looking to turn MX into the US. That s the very reason to be there, in MX at this time, as far as I am concerned.

Anyway I am looking in a couple of areas. Other areas I am looking at are Guanajuato, Leon, and that area.

Any info on long term rentals. Unfurnished if possible. Not a Vacation rental. I do not need the cost of a real estate person either.
If you have any information that will help my search I would really appreciate it.
Thanks
Steve

Originally Posted by MexicoFran

My husband and I try to live on our joint social security income of about $2200 USD plus $600 USD rent per month. This is not always possible as our medical expenses have been high this year. Typical monthly costs in pesos include electricity $1200, propane $400, gas and repair for car $2000, maid $2400, Spanish lessons $600, telephone including DSL $900, cable (for DSL backup) $440 manicure $300, computer repair $975 average (we own three computers,2 printers) medical expenses and drugs $2000 (partly covered by insurance), garage $300, eating out $1000, groceries $5000, household maintenance and repair $1000, gardener $100.

We hope the bulk of the medical expenses are over. We are cutting grocery bills by buying more Mexican and fewer imported foods. We eat out less than last year. We have discontinued several expensive drugs that caused more problems than they cured. I haven't added annual costs like car insurance, or maid's annual bonus, or non-recurrent costs. We don't feel we have quite enough money, but the stock market hit us hard last year, as it did many others. Hope this helps. Your circumstances will differ and hopeful
ly you can live on less than we can.

[mcwright1956]

I am debating on selling my Class A or bringing it to Lake Chapala, Jalisco, I have seen a couple of RV parks around there. I may just come for a week and look around. I live on a fixed income, am single and disabled. Any advise?

[RVGRINGO]

There is a park near Jocotopec, at Roca Azul on the west end of Lake Chapala. You would need your 'toad' to get around the area. The old PAL park in Ajijic is now a housing development. Just be sure to keep your eyes open for overhead obstructions, speed bumps and the lack of shoulders in many areas. Don't attempt to drive into towns or villages with out a survey trip in your toad; you may get into some very difficult situations on narrow streets, etc. En route, the larger Pemex stations are often used for overnight stops.
Enjoy your trip and drive carefully.

[Maritsa]

I am writing with only 3 months of experience in MX but 6 years living with a Mexican man and listening to his stories and opinions. I was in GDL only one day on my way to the DF and Chiapas, and was taking pictures of the city. There was a shop with beautiful wedding dresses in the window. As I was taking a picture, a young woman came out and told me I was not allowed to photograph the merchandise. In Chalco, I bought a sweater at a large store, and after I got home, realized that it was missing a button. It was a couple of weeks till I was able to return it. It was still in the bag with the tag on it. The clerk looked at it and even smelled it. She said it smelled like cigarette smoke, and refused to exchange it! So be sure, when you buy something, that it is not defective. They do not have the same exchange policies as K-Mart or Walmart, for example.

I have a few thoughts on the "patience and tolerance" comments. Please don't misunderstand me. I am not trying to be "smart". But it seems to me that many Americans move to Mexico, and then try to turn it into what they just left, complete with Walmart, Home Depot, etc. It's kind of like living here on the Outer Banks. It was very laid back, people could drive on the beach, take their dogs on the beach, etc. Then people started moving here, from NJ for example (I am from NJ) because they want to enjoy the "laid back" lifestyle and then start imposing their NJ ways. Now we cannot drive on most of the beaches. People have to buy fishing licenses (more revenue), and driving is a nightmare because people come here for a relaxing vacation and drive like they are in New York! I guess this is just the way it goes - more people, more problems. But I think this is one reason many Mexicans do not like Americans - we try to take over and impose our culture in their country. We move to the simple life and immediately begin complicating it!

I know that in writing something, the reader does not always understand the tone in which it is written - so again, please accept my comments as just that - please don't throw me under the bus!!! I enjoy reading the forum and I am learning a lot.