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I first bought a home in Jalisco, outside of Guadalajara over 10 years ago, and started visiting Mexico a few years before that.
This article talks about what I have witnessed myself, here in my little village. Less kids is the biggest change. Smaller families are less expensive and it enables the wife to work, full or part-time. Wages are up, too. Gardeners were making 45 pesos an hour in 2008; I now pay 75 pesos an hour. Some is inflation, but some is wage improvement.
NAFTA certainly improved Mexico's economy; so much so that they are able to give up much of the NAFTA bennies they once got. Foreign aid from the US also paid off.
The same positives can happen in Honduras and El Salvador, via aid and business partnerships with the US. These things don't happen overnight but eventually they pay off.
Jorge Durand, a scholar at the University of Guadalajara, has studied migration from the Los Altos de Jalisco region for 30 years. When he began working there, he said, “it was like everyone was leaving for the United States.”
But when Durand returned for another round of research last year, he observed “a radical change.”
“Mothers there once had at least eight children,” he said. “Now, they have two. The women are working, so for the first time families have two incomes, and the region is full of economic opportunities. It’s one of the country’s biggest egg producers. They make tequila. There are clothing factories.”
“The people now say, ‘If I can make $400 per month here, why do I need to go to the United States?’ The cost of living is a lot cheaper. In the U.S. you can make three times more, but it doesn’t help if you need to pay $3,000 for a coyote and an expensive rent.”
Anyone thinking about living in Mexico should recognize they will abandon just about all of their security in the process. Now, I love Mexico. It's where I choose to live for many reasons, but the problems are massive and pervasive. You can't trust the government, but more importantly, the police and military are completely useless. They are just as likely to rob, assault or kill you and bury you in an unmarked grave as any other criminal. There is zero justice and there are zero consequences, and no one with any real power has any intention of changing that.
The corruption runs through literally every single system, from utilities to banks to news networks. Hell, even charities launder money here. The general public mostly navigates within that corrupt system. Most people work jobs that aren't registered with the government (because they can't afford the taxes, among other reasons), so there are no health and safety standards for most employment. Getting caught speeding or illegally parking just means you pay the "mordida", the bribe, to get yourself out of a ticket. Positions of influence are filled not based on experience or education, but by personal friends. You don't need to know anything about education to run a school, for example. Hell, you can be illiterate and it doesn't matter. The machismo culture is punishing for women- there is no #metoo movement here. Women have their own subway cars for a reason. I could go on and on. Corruption here is a way of life perpetuated by those at the top and tolerated by everyone else.
It sucks, because Mexico really is a beautiful country with so much potential. The culture, history, food, landscapes, etc. are all incredible, and yet they're all constantly being darkened by the problems.
No one should move here thinking this is some tropical paradise with lower cost of living and cheap health care. They need to consider ALL things, not just the good. You can have a great life here, if you can accept that you'll never truly be safe, that you're always going to be living on the edge of societal breakdown and chaos. Those foreigners that say it's perfect all likely live in their own bubbles with other well-off foreign-born populations, treating Mexico like their own personal hippie commune. San Miguel de Allende and the Lake Chapala area come to mind in that respect.
Anyone thinking about living in Mexico should recognize they will abandon just about all of their security in the process. Now, I love Mexico. It's where I choose to live for many reasons, but the problems are massive and pervasive. You can't trust the government, but more importantly, the police and military are completely useless. They are just as likely to rob, assault or kill you and bury you in an unmarked grave as any other criminal. There is zero justice and there are zero consequences, and no one with any real power has any intention of changing that.
The corruption runs through literally every single system, from utilities to banks to news networks. Hell, even charities launder money here. The general public mostly navigates within that corrupt system. Most people work jobs that aren't registered with the government (because they can't afford the taxes, among other reasons), so there are no health and safety standards for most employment. Getting caught speeding or illegally parking just means you pay the "mordida", the bribe, to get yourself out of a ticket. Positions of influence are filled not based on experience or education, but by personal friends. You don't need to know anything about education to run a school, for example. Hell, you can be illiterate and it doesn't matter. The machismo culture is punishing for women- there is no #metoo movement here. Women have their own subway cars for a reason. I could go on and on. Corruption here is a way of life perpetuated by those at the top and tolerated by everyone else.
It sucks, because Mexico really is a beautiful country with so much potential. The culture, history, food, landscapes, etc. are all incredible, and yet they're all constantly being darkened by the problems.
No one should move here thinking this is some tropical paradise with lower cost of living and cheap health care. They need to consider ALL things, not just the good. You can have a great life here, if you can accept that you'll never truly be safe, that you're always going to be living on the edge of societal breakdown and chaos. Those foreigners that say it's perfect all likely live in their own bubbles with other well-off foreign-born populations, treating Mexico like their own personal hippie commune. San Miguel de Allende and the Lake Chapala area come to mind in that respect.
Thanks for the input. You're right, living anywhere will be different than going as a tourist and places can seem perfect on vacation. I think for us we'll try it out and then decide if we become permanent residents, part-time residents, or just keep it as a travel destination.
I live at Lake Chapala, in a village with my Mexican neighbors, not in a gated community. I know life is not perfect in Mexico, but I love it, warts and all.
Anyone thinking about living in Mexico should recognize they will abandon just about all of their security in the process. Now, I love Mexico. It's where I choose to live for many reasons, but the problems are massive and pervasive. You can't trust the government, but more importantly, the police and military are completely useless. They are just as likely to rob, assault or kill you and bury you in an unmarked grave as any other criminal. There is zero justice and there are zero consequences, and no one with any real power has any intention of changing that.
The corruption runs through literally every single system, from utilities to banks to news networks. Hell, even charities launder money here. The general public mostly navigates within that corrupt system. Most people work jobs that aren't registered with the government (because they can't afford the taxes, among other reasons), so there are no health and safety standards for most employment. Getting caught speeding or illegally parking just means you pay the "mordida", the bribe, to get yourself out of a ticket. Positions of influence are filled not based on experience or education, but by personal friends. You don't need to know anything about education to run a school, for example. Hell, you can be illiterate and it doesn't matter. The machismo culture is punishing for women- there is no #metoo movement here. Women have their own subway cars for a reason. I could go on and on. Corruption here is a way of life perpetuated by those at the top and tolerated by everyone else.
It sucks, because Mexico really is a beautiful country with so much potential. The culture, history, food, landscapes, etc. are all incredible, and yet they're all constantly being darkened by the problems.
No one should move here thinking this is some tropical paradise with lower cost of living and cheap health care. They need to consider ALL things, not just the good. You can have a great life here, if you can accept that you'll never truly be safe, that you're always going to be living on the edge of societal breakdown and chaos. Those foreigners that say it's perfect all likely live in their own bubbles with other well-off foreign-born populations, treating Mexico like their own personal hippie commune. San Miguel de Allende and the Lake Chapala area come to mind in that respect.
Thanks for your personal experience in Mexico. I'd note, however, that it is likely not representative of every one's experiences or every locale in Mexico. It's a huge country with wide variation in law enforcement and levels of corruption.
My mother has been living half time in Mazatlan, for example. She spends her time in an upscale neighborhood that has a few other snow birds an expats, but is predominantly local middle class and upper middle class people. She walks, takes taxis and buses everywhere she goes. She plays tennis at a club where she is almost the only English speaker. She has never been hassled by the police in 15 years.
That said, one of her neighbors is having a legal dispute over a condo they bought that was apparently sold three times by the developer. It's not all roses and sunshine. The same neighbor lives there full time and has a car. They do not get hassled by the police for a mordita. One of my volleyball friends had a breakin at his condo a couple of years ago. He got home while it was in progress. They ran, dropping their handgun as they left.
One a recent facebook post, someone posted a web site that compared crime data and how safe people feel in cities around the world. They posted the results for Houston and Puerto Vallarta. PV seemed much safer based on those metrics, although the perceived corruption was higher in PV.
Like all countries there is a good and a bad side;Britain, definitely can be the most creative and beguiling place with our music, arts scenery, and history ( no we are not that cold and aloof, that is a Scandanavian trait and its a stereotype based on old movies and the Royal Family!) but there is a growing underclass with no stake in society and the youth are being sucked into this with home ownership a fantasy for most, maybe a population explosion since 1997 has caused that? Brexit is a reaction to over-immigration, maybe an over reaction.
I think Mexico has the same problems, which is people in their 20`s feel disenfranchised. There is too much information now for the young to absorb and I feel most of the younger generation all over the world are too into their phones, themselves, they are over anxious and very insular. As a previous poster touched on, I am the last generation to spend more time outdoors playing football, cutting my legs, never stressed out.
The youth now are beginning to find their voice, especially with the environment.
Maybe in Mexico in the future this will eradicate your drug image, as it will eradicate Britain`s knife and hooligan/chav image.
Mexico is a fun and beautiful country. More than can be said for many others.
Great? Greatness is in the eyes of the beholder. When I think of great I consider issues like crime and punishment, quality of life, health, education, longevity, divorce rate, addictions to dangerous substances, freedom. Iceland is a really great country in almost every parameter that I consider. But Iceland is cold and dark for half the year. Iceland is expensive. Iceland is far.
Mexico? Mexico is fun. Mexico is beautiful. Mexico has freedom. Mexico is traditionally family oriented. A lot like the US some decades ago.
I live at Lake Chapala, in a village with my Mexican neighbors, not in a gated community. I know life is not perfect in Mexico, but I love it, warts and all.
Go try living in Chihuahua and see how you like it.
Quote:
Originally Posted by jbcmh81
Those foreigners that say it's perfect all likely live in their own bubbles with other well-off foreign-born populations, treating Mexico like their own personal hippie commune.
Those idiots also think they are immune to anything bad happening to them.
Quote:
Originally Posted by England Dan
The youth now are beginning to find their voice, especially with the environment.
Maybe in Mexico in the future this will eradicate your drug image
As long as cocaine remains illegal and people in Britain and the U.S. are consumers of it, the drug image of Mexico will remain.
The machismo culture is punishing for women- there is no #metoo movement here.
Could you elaborate?
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