Papirex
May 1, 2005, 11:38 AM
Post #16 of 32
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Re: [robjohn] Whate towns or cities have the best climate?
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There are many things to consider when choosing where to live in Mexico, climate is only one of them. When we chose to live in Cuernavaca, climate was an important consideration, but it was not the only thing that we considered. If you absolutely need to be in a mostly English speaking community, Cuernavaca is not for you. If you want to find a place where you can be on permanent vacation, Cuernavaca is not for you. There are things to do here, archeological sites, etc., but if you don’t know some Spanish, you will be lost when trying to shop, deal with the phone company, electric company, pay your water bill, etc. It is always a surprise when I find an English speaker in a store or restaurant here. If you want to experience a true Mexican city, then Cuernavaca is for you. I never encourage anyone to move here, because I don’t want to be blamed when a newcomer discovers that Mexico really is a Spanish speaking country.
I agree with Richard Ferguson that Cuernavaca is not particularly appealing to a casual visitor. It took us quite a while to learn the streets here, to find our way around town. They didn’t do much city planning 500 years ago. We now know several shortcuts to avoid heavy traffic, etc. There are many wonderful restaurants, including ethnic restaurants, and a German bakery here is my favorite for pastries, and there is good shopping here. There are some hotels that cater to tourists. It seems that a person needs to know the town to find them, or take taxis all the time.
Since we live here, I do of course agree with Jennifer, Cuernavaca does have the best climate in Mexico, it is at an elevation of 5000 feet, in the central highlands of Mexico. Many ex-pats don’t seem to realize that the central highlands here are located from east to west, not from north to south. There are four distinct climate zones in Cuernavaca. Cooler in the north, as that part of the city is on the mountain, definitely warmer in the southern part of the city. If you rent for a while in each part of the town, you can then get a feel to choose your flavor, climate wise. Winters are cool of course, but never anywhere near freezing. Summer days can be warm, rarely in the 90s F. even rarer at 100 F., the low humidity is a blessing. You will never drown in your own sweat. Most of the year here the daytime temps are in the mid to high 70s, nighttime temps are in the low 70s.
Houses are cool at night in the winter for a couple of months. We use one of those electric oil filled radiators for heat in the living room, and another in my wife’s grandmothers bedroom, and a small electric heater in each bathroom, that is all we need here. It reminds me of when I was a kid, very few homes in The US had central heating then. Most families in my home town had a little free standing gas heater in the living room. In winter, family life centered on that little heater, and the radio. The bedroom was always cold when you went to bed in the winter. Here the bedrooms are a little cool, but not cold, we do use a blanket on the bed in the winter, if it is really cool, we use two blankets. We feel no need to use an electric blanket.
I recommend to anyone not to use climate (within limits) as your only standard for choosing where to live in Mexico. You may end up living in dogville, with a great climate.
Rex
"The supreme happiness of life is the conviction that we are loved" - Victor Hugo
(This post was edited by RexC on May 1, 2005, 11:51 AM)
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