Hi all,

My wife and I are toying with a permanent move to Mexico and are looking at Guadalajara/Lake Chapala area. Suze, you are the PV expert and Guadalajara is not too far inland from there so I was hoping you could provide some insight. Also your thoughts on living in PV as an expat would be appreciated. Stew Bear , you seem to have a very broad knowledge on many regions of Mexico and would appreciate your input!

Gracias amigo/amiga!

hola~ Yes I saw your other question. I'm sorry, I am aware there is a large gringo retirement community around Lake Chapala area, but I honestly don't know a thing about it. Guadalajara is a 5 hours bus ride from PV and I've never been. suerte, suze

I have a friend from San Diego who is currently living in Tlaquepaque (I think this is the spelling) outside of Guadalajara. I regularly chat with her online and will try to find out some details.

what is it you'd like to know about Lake Chapala? I have retired friends living there.........

If you are looking for as pot with much of the feel of a US retirement home in say the middle of Florida Then Aijic/Lake Chapala is ideal. I have no idea what real estate runs there but the day of the $50,000 house is long over. When I was there in '98 homes ver averaging about $150,000.
I personally would prefer a community like Ixtapa/Zihuatanejo or Manzanillo. On the ocean still very Mexican but with enough conveniences & US influence to satisfy most people.

My thoughts are similar. If I am lucky enough to retire to Mexico, I want to live in a normal Mexican town, not an expat retirement community.

from what I've heard from my friends who live there, Stewbear is correct....the community consists of mostly English-speaking Americans and Canadians. They are very happy there and claim the cost of living is much lower, but I often wonder, why not just move to Florida?

The Climate is excellent always spring like is my understanding.

I've heard the same thing~not as humid or as hot as the coast.

I agree the weather I hear the weather's great. Again speaking for only myself personally, if I was picking a town to live in full or part-time, I'd want to be on the coast. I love the ocean, so even if I knew I'd be in for hotter more humid weather in the summer, would be worth it.

For 120aks~ I don't know if there is specific info for Lake Chapala, but if you go to amazon.com and put in key words like 'retiring to Mexico' there are many books published, or using a Google search websites available. I'll see if I can find some ideas and post back here.

http://rollybrook.com/

Florida costs too much for them. From my knowledge, they mostly do not speak Spanish and keep together in a tight community with little interaction with the 'natives'!
The top of most restaurant menus in Ajijic, is Meatloaf LOL
I far prefer living in PV, but I don't live in a tourist area, though there are few snowbirds that come and go in my Colonia.

Hi, it's me

A bit more info about the why of it all. I am a 65 year old retiree with a somewhat younger wife. We live in the sierra foothills of northern California. We have a substantial income but health care costs for my medicare part B and a private supplemental plan as well as my wife's private medical plan cost us about $9,600 per year and we are healthy. Also, property taxes, although low in California are taking a large bite out of our income. We both enjoy Mexico and it's culture but would not want total immersion in a foreign culture whether it was Mexican or Italian as we would need some familiarity. We have visited Puerto Vallarta, Ixtapa, San Miguel Allende, Guanajato, Acapulco, Mexico City and other areas and the Guadalajara area seems the most attractive to us for the combination of activities, culture, restaurants, etc that it offers.We have looked at housing prices on MLS Mexico and we can get a lovely home for about $225,000 and from what I was told by an American expat women at the PV airport a private medical plan with, in her words " Cadillac Care " costs under $2,000 per year for a family.The weather is also a big part of it all. So any info that can be provided on medical costs, quality of life, etc. would be greatly appreciated. Thanks

Oaks, I sent an email to my friends who live there asking some of those questions. I'll let you know the answers when I hear from them. They lived in the mountains in NorCal, sold their home, bought a travel trailer and built their home in Lake Chapala. They used to leave the mountains (driving) at the beginning of November and return mid-April, but decided last year they were going to stay.

Hi tenthumbs,

I really appreciate your willingness to help in this huge decision. If it isn't getting too personal could you please ask your friends about medical costs, taxes, weather year around, access to activities in and around Lake Chapala such as golf, biking restaurants, expat clubs, etc. Also, what is the drive into Guadalajara time wise. Oh yes, also what is the situation with cars in Guadalajara as to being able to bring your own or buy and car insurance. WE would also bring two dogs. Any restrictions ? Again thanks. I know this is a lengthy list but this info is hard to come by from real people that have experienced it.

Did you look at Rolly B's website? He's a real person that has experienced it (moving permanently to Mexico). He wrote a book about it, besides his website.

They took a leisurely few weeks to drive from NorCal to Guadalajara; they were also pulling a travel trailer, which would add time. They have their own vehicles there, but I don't know about insurance. Their two dogs travel with them, but I'm not sure about restrictions such as vet certifications or vaccinations. I do know that they have said the weather is very temperate without huge variances. I will certainly let you know what information I get from them; in the meantime, it wouldn't hurt to check out the websit suze has suggested!

Oaks~here is my friend Jack's reply:

Where to began? Housing,you can get a very nice place at a condo for around 130,000.00 US with a nice pool or you can spend as much as a million and a half or more!!!! National health plan is approx. 350.00 US per year and if you don't use it for the 1st 3 years, then you are not considered to have existing problems, such as diabetes or cancer. This year the weather has been cold down here, it has only been in the 60's some days because of a lot of cloud cover, usually it's in the mid 70's for Jan. and Feb. the cold months. Summers are about 80 to 85 most everyday, very nice. And as far as shopping, we can get a whole lot more than you can find in Quincy, and anything you can think of just over the hill in Guadalajara, and the Guadalajara Airport is just 30 minutes away from us..... There are more good restaurants here than you can ever imagine, and you can get a very GOOD steak for less than 14.00 dollars, and very good Mexican food for less than 5 or 6 dollars. I could go on and on about how low the price of food is compared to the US....I will send a couple of web-pages later today then I have a little more time, I have to go and walk the mountain right now, you know the heart......... I will get back to you,

Hope that answers a few of your questions!!

Thanks you for the great support. I will look forward to the incoming web pages. We will be going to Chapala in April for a seminar on all of the ins and outs of the process of relocating to Mexico. This is a very scary but exciting proposition and all information we can garner makes it easier.
tenthumbs I can only hope I can help you in some way in the future!

Jack's on Mexico time, so it might be a bit slow forthcoming....

Glad I could help out!!!