Where Living's Cheap
 Richard Furness - citizen.on.ca
| | This is perhaps a little late to be writing about winter in Mexico, but if you're approaching retirement and seeking adventure before the rocking chair claims you, Mexico is worth some very serious consideration - and spring is the time to start planning. |
This is perhaps a little late to be writing about winter in Mexico, but if you're approaching retirement and seeking adventure before the rocking chair claims you, Mexico is worth some very serious consideration - and spring is the time to start planning.
Wife Joyce and I spent the past winter in Mexico, and found that it offered adventure, exotic scenery, a pleasant climate, the company of many other Canadians, and best of all, huge value for your Canadian dollar.
My previous two columns described the drive to Mexico, our initial impressions of a coastal fishing village called Punta Perula, being tossed around on the Pacific Ocean in a small boat, and launching baby turtles on their long journeys at sea. What follows is an attempt to summarize the highlights of what we experienced over the whole five-month period.
After leaving Perula in early December, we spent three months in the expatriot community of Lake Chapala-Ajijic south of Guadalajara, then three weeks in San Miguel de Allende, a day's drive away, while taking side-trips to Puerto Vallarta and a few other towns and cities. Throughout, the presence of Canadians, and especially Ontarians, was overwhelming. A woman from California I encountered one morning in Chapala told me she'd "never seen so many Canadians in one place before."
I kept a running count of out-of-country licence plates and found that Ontario plates far outnumbered all others except for those from Texas and California, and later learned that the totals for those states had to be discounted because so many vehicles with those plates are imported by Mexicans themselves.
A great many Ontarians congregate in Ajijic (pronounced "ah-hee-heek"), where there's a Canadian Club that meets once a month (Sheila Copps was a guest speaker); a financial planner who runs a business called "Canadians Living in Mexico" and gives lectures on making the transition; and a "Northern Lights" concert series at the local auditorium where high-grade but not yet name-brand Canadian musicians perform for about $15 Canadian per ticket.
Best of all, there's the Lake Chapala Society, on the grounds of a gracious old hacienda, where Americans and Canadians congregate six mornings a week to visit, exchange books at a well-stocked library, attend lectures, take Spanish lessons or just sip a coffee and watch newcomers walk in, all of them looking smug about escaping the Canadian winter, mild though it apparently was.
In Ajijic we encountered people from Orangeville (Mr. and Mrs. Murray Jeffreys), Brampton, Toronto, Guelph, Cambridge, Kitchener-Waterloo, and were told there was a sizeable contingent from St. Catharines living in one of the new subdivisions.
The real estate market is booming, and retirees from all over are driving it.We heard of couples who bought within a few days of arrival. But although many things in Mexico are cheap, real estate isn't one of them, at least not in gringo havens like San Miguel and Ajijic. Prices are denominated in American currency, and a house will typically run you around US$150,000 if you jump right in. Most of the people we met take advantage of the many furnished places available for rent, short or long term. These are available in whatever price range fits your budget.
We took a threeroom furnished flat down the street from the Lake Chapala Society, and a short walk to the lake, for $450 CDN a month but you can do better if you bide your time.
The climate in the Ajijic area is billed as "perpetual spring," and we found that a pretty accurate description. The evenings got chilly enough for a couple of weeks in January to warrant a fire, but afternoons were hot, and we soon understood why the siesta is a Mexican institution. The rest of the time the temperature is just about right, and we had no rain whatever.
The most gratifying thing about life in Mexico is the low cost of living.
Regular gas was around 70 cents a litre Canadian. A couple of first-rate filet mignon dinners, coffee and tip ran us a total of $30. Food in general is much less costly than in Canada, beef, chicken, pork, fruits and vegetables being especially reasonable. For example, juice oranges, green in colour but with a flavour to die for, were 10 cents each.
We knew there were Wal-Marts in Mexico, but it came as a surprise to see Home Depot and all the other big-box stores. It's comforting to have such familiar stores available, but unless you know Spanish, the challenge of figuring out the labels is ever-present.
Dental work cost us about one-fifth of prices we were quoted in Toronto, and that was consistent. Similarly car repairs: taking our truck to a mechanic got to be something I enjoyed. The Ford needed repairs five times - a pair of shocks, a new solenoid, and work on the electrical system. The most I was ever charged, parts and labour, was $66. The most memorable of these occasions was down on the coast, where I roused a mechanic from his siesta one afternoon to get the truck started. He went at it like a surgeon, quickly cleaning off the battery terminals and repairing the leads. When that didn't work he removed the starter, took it apart, replaced a small part, then put it all back together. The whole thing took nearly an hour, and he charged me 80 pesos - about $9. Mexican shade-tree mechanics are justly famous, and I could go on and on about them.
Mercifully, we had no reason to test Mexican health care, but everyone we talked to about it had nothing but praise for it. |
Vallarta Weddings
Vallarta Living | May 2006 
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