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Guadalajara is home to most of Mexico's medical schools and has top notch hospitals. Lake Chapala is less than an hour from there. The upper class of Guadalajara has for centuries, owned Lake houses for weekends and vacations. Over the past 10 years (we first moved to Ajijic in 2008), doctors in Guad have opened part-time office at the Lake, so they can extend their family's weekends/vacations. Some have semi-retired to the Lake and moved their offices there full-time.
My DH went to a Cardio in Guad in 2009; that Cardio now has an office at the Lake.
My orthopedic surgeon trained at the famed Cleveland Clinic and speaks perfect English, as do most doctors in much of Mexico (many have had some training in the US...often their advanced training). His main office is in Guad, but I saw him only at the Lake where he has office hours (within another doctor's complex) on Thurs. and Fri.
Two friends had surgeries in Guad hospitals and described them as Country Clubs as far as food, service and amenities. All had wonderful care. However, the nursing staff is likely to speak Spanglish and other support staff won't speak much English if any.
At the Lake, my family doctor is two blocks away, and he makes house calls! An office visit is 150 pesos and a house call is 200 pesos.
Politics is NOT such an encompassing sport in MX as it is in the US. Pretty much no one pays attention to National politics in MX, neither ours nor theirs. The local buzz is almost always about soccer games.
I can't speak for anyone else, but I am finding it very disruptive by all this continual personal political infiltration in just about every thread on this "retirement forum" especially within those threads that are not even remotely related to politics. This devolves a potentially very informative thread about "retirement issues" which more often than not results in thread closure.
I was finding this thread very informative learning about the experiences of those who have or are considering retiring to another country, but it didn't take long before the Trump and those who voted for him bashing reared it's ugly head, and I am still trying to figure out what disrespecting Angela Merkel has to do with the topic of this thread unless in some odd way this would impact someone who is considering retiring to Germany.
Looks like this thread will join the many others for the same reason and also meets the fate of the Lock.
Last edited by Nightengale212; 04-02-2017 at 06:16 AM..
Reason: Add on
Multiple posts deleted - leave politics out of this thread and stay on topic. Be judicious with interjecting politics in this forum, period. Thanks all.
Last edited by Poncho_NM; 04-02-2017 at 11:13 AM..
Reason: Post 14 has moved... I removed the wording.
Hi Nightengale, I find the injection of politics everywhere, too. Guess it's just the times!
Anyway, we are interested in the Lake Chapala area but read something about it a few years ago, how the lake was drying up and houses that used to be on the lake are now stranded far back. Has anything about that changed?
Personally, and this is just me of course, "thinking outside the box" means staying in the U.S. and finding a nice, small, very affordable, low crime town where winters aren't horrible and are located within easy driving distance to a larger city. They exist by the hundreds if you just look, but most people are too closed minded to bother to even consider them.
This way, you don't have a language barrier and have medical care provided by American doctors and you aren't at the mercy of whatever politically may be going on in another country. There are many small beautiful historical low crime American towns that a person can live comfortably on Social Security. But that's just me again and the way I think.
Hi Nightengale, I find the injection of politics everywhere, too. Guess it's just the times!
Anyway, we are interested in the Lake Chapala area but read something about it a few years ago, how the lake was drying up and houses that used to be on the lake are now stranded far back. Has anything about that changed?
Lake levels are normal now and have been since we moved there first in 2008. My neighbors told me it was low n 2001-2004, when they first moved there. It is a very shallow lake and it doesn't take much to move the shoreline. It goes out in dry season (Oct-May) and comes in when the rains come (June-Sept).
The MX government has taken steps to strengthen the health of the lake, both in capacity and pollution. There are dams upstream used by agriculture; they used to refuse to release water to the lake if the rainy season wasn't fruitful. Now they are required to release waters to the lake.
Here is a decent private weather site (but must warn it sometimes go wacky) Lake Chapala Weather Net
Personally, and this is just me of course, "thinking outside the box" means staying in the U.S. and finding a nice, small, very affordable, low crime town where winters aren't horrible and are located within easy driving distance to a larger city. They exist by the hundreds if you just look, but most people are too closed minded to bother to even consider them.
This way, you don't have a language barrier and have medical care provided by American doctors and you aren't at the mercy of whatever politically may be going on in another country. There are many small beautiful historical low crime American towns that a person can live comfortably on Social Security. But that's just me again and the way I think.
We can actually afford to live pretty much anywhere (we know we are very lucky).
But what bugs us in the US is the cost to carry a nice home. Yes, we can afford to pay those taxes, insurance, flood insurance, etc. but it's money out the window.
Our new home in MX is 1 block from MX's largest lake with view; 3800 sq. ft. on a 10K sq. ft. lot. Has a big inground pool, soaring stone interior walls (some are over 16 feet). A separate 1BR 1BA casita.
In FL we have a much smaller home, no pool at 1800 sq. ft. on 10K lot in a beach town, one block from bay, but no view.
Here's what our annual expenses will be house to house:
Taxes: $3200 in FL; $300 in MX
Homeowners ins.: $3500 in FL; $200 in MX
Flood Ins.: 780 in FL; not needed MX (Note: Flood insurance is skyrocketing, going to market rates and we guess ours will be over 2K in another few years).
After 10 years, we will have paid $75,000 to carry the FL home (and that doesn't include increases); in MX, the cost will be $5,000. If we were to upgrade our FL home to something more similar in size, with pool, etc., our overhead could easily double. We wouldn't consider living in FL without being within a block of the water/beach, so that's where we get hit with higher insurance, flood insurance and higher taxes.
We will keep the FL house for a few more years because my DH wants to have a residence in the US for a while longer. If it was solely up to me I'd go all-in with Mexico now.
I should also say that we LOVE the Mexican culture and the weather, it just suits both of us.
How about finding a small place near to or just north of Okeechobee or Sebring? You could sell the other one in Florida and most likely have a small financial burden with a place there? It would give you a place stateside to retreat to (albeit a small place). You Could also do seasonal rentals and pay for the maintenance and upkeep.
Pretty safe and not far from all of the major cities in S Fla.
The wife is a dual citizen of the US and the Philippines. English is one of the Philippines two official languages. You can live like an American in Cebu for about 60% of what it costs to live in Houston. Depending on finances will retire there or go back and forth.
At one time I also considered Cuenca, Ecuador as I could live like a queen on my pension. However I am a 62 year old widow so I would be alone in a strange land so I obviously worry about my safety and what happens with the politics there. Is it safe for a woman alone? How do they handle natural disasters like earthquakes & mudslides?
Plus my whole family is here in Florida now - maybe at one time when my husband was still alive we would have made the move when the kids were still younger without the ties they have now.
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