Vermonter looking at San Juan (near McAllen) Texas...need feedback!

[teatime]

MidwesternBookworm offers an excellent assessment. I wrote a lengthy one, too, on the "mcallen" thread.

I moved to the Valley from New Hampshire and knew another woman from Vermont who lived there. We both left; she after a few years and I after 12 or so. I should have left sooner but I didn't want to uproot my son in the middle of his "education."

All I can advise is be careful. That is a long distance to move and it will land you at the very bottom of the U.S., which will feel more like Northern Mexico. The Valley is isolated so if you don't like it you'll have to move at least a few hundred miles just to get to another, different area in Texas. Moving is expensive! I paid over $2,000 just to move from Brownsville to Abilene!

Yes, nursing salaries are high but auxiliary med. personnel are NOT paid well and there is a lot of competition for jobs. As MB said, everyone knows or is related to everyone else down there and it can be hard to get a job if you're not part of the "compadre" system.

What stinks is that so many jobs down there are minimum wage. My son was a teen desperately looking for work and he had to compete against adults for even fast-food jobs. They paid $5.15 per hour and we thought that's what all fast-food jobs paid. Not so! Here in Abilene, the kids start at $7.15 per hour at the fast-food places! And the cost of living here is NOT a lot higher than the RGV. In fact, our taxes and insurance are lower!

The Valley isn't the huge bargain everyone makes it out to be. You need to weigh your needs and expectations with the realities down there, not the least of which is adjusting to a VERY different culture.

Good luck to you!

[perfectsaralee]

I guess doing ALL my homework has paid off. The Forum has been the best tool I could have used to do my homework. You are the folks who know the dirt and that is just what I was looking for. I'm the kinda gal who can adapt to just about anything, but it sounds almost impossible to adapt to life down in that area of Texas. Even if my husband is Mexican, it doesn't sound like an adventure that we are willing to partake in. If we don't even have a fighting chance, why bother... I have been reading the local paper for that area daily and it sounds like a really rough neighborhood. The prospect of free housing sounded like a good thing, however, after all the cards are on the table, we are having second thoughts.

I'll keep on it for a bit longer and again, thank you all so very much!