Anyway. I'm turning to you know for some of your wisdom and knowledge. I know there aren't many people who read my brand new blog, but for those who do, I hope you'll comment with your answers and hopefully you'll get some others to chime in as well. Someday, there may be someone just like me, hunting for scraps of information, and they might stumble upon this and find some needed answers.
Some of the good points and pros are pretty obvious, especially for someone living in this frozen hell we call Canada. Examples would be weather, no snow, warm temperatures, plants that live 12 months out of the year, fresh veggies instead of those which have travelled all the way from California to Canada, and the list goes on. But!
I know there are bad points and cons as well, and I want to know what they are! What are the things in Canada and the US that you wish were the same in Mexico? Tell me the things that you don't like about living in Mexico. And while you're at it, list a few things that as expats in Mexico, you'd never want to live without again.
We want to know it all! (And need to while we deliberate...)
4 comments:
I saw your comment on Wayne's blog and decided to wander over to take a look at yours.
I am about in the same position as you, but I am looking at moving to Mexico for retirement -- probably April of next year. Like you, I am doing it for the adventure -- there has to be more to life than working and sleeping.
If you want some very honest assessments of living in Mexico, please read Michael Dickson's Tales of Zapata Street (Vol. III): http://www.tzuru4.blogspot.com/. He will give the pros and cons of living in Mexico. And he is a great read.
My hardest decision was where to live. I have decided I am going to rent for 6 months each in three separate locations. And I just may decide that the gypsy life is my best option.
Good luck. I will be watching your progress.
There are two forums that I "hang" in , the first is Merida Insider and the 2nd is a new one called Yo Listo, I have links on my blog.Canuka already wrote to you about the one in Cancun. Don't forget Viva Veracruz also has a forum for people in that area. You can learn a lot just reading, some of the forums have been around awhile so it takes patience to wade through it all, but you can learn a lot. I recommend that you read a bit, then introduce yourself. Don't start by asking 100 questions in your first post, it overwhelms people when you do that and you don't get as good an answer.
Most of the ex-pats are retired,but I meet young people all the time, I mean young as in early 30s! and you know they aren't retired.
regards,
Theresa
Every ex-pat I know will give you a different answer to your question as everyone's needs and expectations are different. There is not much I miss from home (not that I don't love Canada), but my needs are simple.
Things I love? The weather (obviously) and the beach and ocean. Close proximity to the jungle and a variety of natural environments. The people of Mexico and their values. Gaining a second language and having a bilingual/bicultural child. The quality (private) schools available for my son.
Things I don't like so much? Adjusting to a lower income. Bureaucracy and inefficient systems. A lack of customer service (outside the tourist zones). The immigration process. Corruption.
The good outweighs the bad in a big way for me, I really can't bear the idea of moving back to be honest.
I know I sent you the link for www.cancuncare.com, but here's a couple more. http://www.playa.info/
http://www.cancunassist.com/
http://www.mexconnect.com/
Like Canucka said, there are different pros and cons for everyone, but here are some for me:
THE CONS
- No health food stores so it's really, really hard to find things I took for granted at home, like Almond butter (consequently lots of people have friends that mule down stuff like that)
- It can be noisy depending on where your apartment is. We basically totally lucked out when we rented ours... there's no way to honestly know how noisy a building will be before you rent.
- For my husband sometimes the weather gets to him- it's HOT here for a guy who has never dealt with humidity
- Finding things or parts for broken appliances can be tough sometimes.
- It's not always as cheap as you think it will be. We save money on rent every month, but that's because we came from Jersey and it's REALLY expensive there, but relatively, Playa del Carmen has high rents for Mexican towns.
THE PROS
- Learning another language totally rocks
- The beach!
- New experiences, new friends
- You need less $ to live here, so we are able to work a little less (for our own company that works with US clients)
- Snow? What Snow? Oh, it's snowing in Canada? Lol.
- Learning a new culture that has a totally different class structure is interesting
- Fruits and veggies are dirt cheap here and mmmmmmm papaya!
I could probably go on forever. Bottom line is that the positives outweigh the negatives for us right now, too. We're taking it one year at a time. We've decided to re-evaluate when we're moving back to the US at the end of the year, but if things continue as they have been, I don't see us moving home any time soon. I'd like to have at least one kid here, too. Vamos a ver!
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