Forums > Areas > Jalisco's Lake Chapala Region

raijanalle

Apr 12, 2003, 9:29 AM

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Retireing in Ajiji/Chapala area

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I was reading about cost of living in there and found it pretty high $1800-2000/month. We were in Mexico before by the Ocean for some time and found it much cheaper than that.

We rented a place and bought and cooked our owns meals, like we do back home and didn't spend that kind of money. It is true that all depends of what kind of lifestyle people want to have, but as average normal life, we should be able to spend much less than we do back home. Renting a house (average) there is far less expensive than back home, property taxes there are fraction of the price in Canada. We don't i.e. go out to dinner every day here, we don't spend our time in bars every night a.s.o. We wouldn't be looking to buy the most expensive imported goods.

Mexican people don't have an income that we do and they live and are happy. I personally think that if we want to live normal life and eat foods that we can prepare ourselves and learn to eat what local people eat then life can be much cheaper there. We have lived and travelled the world and found Mexico one of the cheapest countries to live. Also to know how to plan our finances wisely, our dollars can go long way! Of course the first year is like honeymoon and people spend more, because they don't know where to shop and too many attractions.

We are planning to retire there soon, but not to buy a house, because we think that leasing comes more economical, as well as we can have our money in a bank for living. We only live once and I think that our hard earned money is for us to spend and not to our children to spend, when we are gone.

My few of point.
I would like to hear from somebody who lives in there permanently and has normal every day life. What is the highest living expence per month in there? We are mostly vegatarians and eat mostly vegies and fruits, aren't they plempty and cheap in there?

How does the local people live with their $200/monthly income. I know that there is a certain amount of monthly income requirement for forigners to retire and get their FM3, but is it really necessary? I find it too high, because many people have to survive with much less here and there.

(This post was edited by DavidMcL on Apr 16, 2003, 3:30 PM)

Frank Burton

Apr 14, 2003, 11:31 PM

Post #2 of 6 (591 views)

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Re: [raijanalle] Retireing in Ajiji/Chapala area

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Hello,

Don't know yet if I'm a permanent resident, but I do have several months' experience living Lakeside, am a careful shopper, and am willing to share some info.

As you already know, the cost of living depends on the lifestyle you want, and whether you are willing to shop in the local outdoor markets or have to shop in a gringo-oriented store to get your ya-ya's from back home. From the sound of it, you fall into the former group, with me and a lot of other people from north of the border. Here's a list of what I bought in the outdoor market in Chapala today: 2 kilos of onions for 8 pesos, 2 kilos of mangos for 15 pesos, 2 kilos of new potatoes for 15 pesos, a huge bunch of beets for 5 pesos, about 1/2 kilo of green beans for 3 pesos, 1 medium pineapple for 8 pesos, and 1 kilo of limes for 5 pesos. Total 59 pesos; about $5.62 US at today's exchange rate (I don't follow the Canadian exchange rate). We didn't need these today, but most weeks I buy about 2 kilos of diced mixed fresh vegies for 20 pesos, often a kilo of strawberries (usually as sweet as any I've ever had) for 10 to 12 pesos, a huge bunch of radishes for 5 pesos recently, a kilo of granola for under 20 pesos, a kilo of fresh cheese for as I recall about 40 pesos, a liter of plain yoghurt for about 16 pesos. So far, fresh corn has been high by my Calif. standards, around 5 pesos per ear, but I assume that price will come down as corn comes more into season. Fresh chicken is usually under 20 pesos per kilo, and one can get a spit-roasted chicken for 39 to 55 pesos, many times including several roasted new potatoes, a macaroni or slaw salad, and a bag of salsa.

Gasoline is more expensive here than most places in the states, but was comparable to last month's Calif. prices, around $2.25 per US gallon for regular unleaded and $2.50 per gallon for premium. But here, we probably average driving 10-12 miles per day plus a 40-mile round-trip to Guadalajara every 2 to 3 weeks, versus in Calif. my wife and I drove (or car-pooled) about 90 miles per day just to and from work (drove separately because of a large difference in schedules). A tank of gasoline lasts a long time here. The trips to Guad are to the very Mexican-ized versions of Costco and Wal-Mart, and Home Mart (like Home Depot) and sometimes Soriana or Gigante (Mexican super market chains) for some of the things that are significantly cheaper than at Lakeside. Some gringos live in either Chapala or Ajijic and manage nicely without a car; rents are generally higher in Chapala and much higher in Ajijic than in some of the smaller, less popular communities such as Riberas, Mirasol, and San Juan Cosala, to name a few.

The most comprehensive examples of different lifestyles and costs of living Lakeside have been in the on-line magazine, Mexico-Insights.com. They've presented several configurations of families and lifestyles and their respective monthly budgets in a couple of issues, Jan 2002 and Jan 2003 as I recall. One can subscribe for access to the archives only for a year for I think it's $24 US; subscribing to access the current issue is more, $39 US a year as I recall. For what I perceive as your purposes, the archives would serve your information needs nicely, and the current month's issue becomes part of the archives in just a month.

Rental houses are all over the board in cost, depending on many factors--location, size, amenities, access to a swimming pool or jacuzzi, views, etc. My impression is that the rental market is soft now, and that this is the best time of year to secure a long-term rental.

Have you visited the area? We visited twice for a week or so before making the decision for a longer stay here, and were able to gather an enormous amount of information even as we relaxed and enjoyed our vacations. Many people here are very generous with their time and information, perhaps remembering how hungry they were for information in their first visits to the area.

I hope this is helpful to you.

raijanalle

Apr 15, 2003, 7:01 AM

Post #3 of 6 (566 views)

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Re: [Frank Burton] Retireing in Ajiji/Chapala area

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Hi Frank,

thank you for you reply and info. It is greatly appreciated. No, we havn't been in that area yet, but are planning to come for a month of September. We have spent our time in Mexico before, but along the coast line, which from Noth to South, we din't like as a place to live. It was too hot and humid in summer months and too many turists and too noisy. We like to live in quiet are, but not far from town, just as I know so far the Chapala area. I know there are so much info we need to read before making up our minds, but we are moving definetely. We are sick and tired of Canadian cold winters! and here certainly money buys nothing any more. Taxes on everything and they are high!

Your list of prices on food sounds real good compared with our prices in here. And especially the fruits and vegies that we consume most. Thank you.

About rentals. I search from forum classifields and saw one house hor rent in the area, address Ajijic?Lk Chapala,Jalisco, they are asking $315.00Us per month. Thats not bad at all. The pictures of the house are nice, and the size is what we are looking for. I tried to e_mail several times, but don't seem to get a reply. We were interested in renting it for the month of September, because the ad says that its vacant. Person to contact is Catherine Hambley. Would be too much to ask if you could find out for me, why I don't receive an reply and if in fact the house is available for September? We would give an deposit for reservation.

Have you seen any ATVs in there? I wonder if it would be an good idea to bring ours? What about boats? Is is worth it to bring one? We will find out, I guess when we get there in September.

I am so glad for the info I got and I will try to subscrive the magazine.

Gas prices are expensive all over the world, but as you say all depends how much we use our cars! and that is something that we don't necessaryly need every day basis.

I hope we will meet in September, as we don't know anybody in there and its nice to know people, who lives in there. How long have you been in there? and are you going to stay for awhile? Do you like it there?

I will keep in touch and hope that you will too. We will have more questions for sure. Thank so much, Raya

Frank Burton

Apr 15, 2003, 10:22 PM

Post #4 of 6 (520 views)

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Re: [raijanalle] Retireing in Ajiji/Chapala area

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Hi, Raya,

I'll see what I can find out about the rental. I tried to do some preliminary screening via e-mail before we came down here in October, to no avail. Based on my experience and the experiences some other people have reported, I've concluded the following about such advance screening: I've concluded that the real estate people believe that no one is likely to make a commitment for a rental without seeing it, so they don't want to waste time replying to e-mails which are attempting to get advance information. And the availibility of properties sometimes changes rapidly, so what's available today may not be available at the time the advance-inquirer arrives here.

Another--cultural--factor which may be operative here, which would explain the poor response rate of the rental agents: People raised in this culture don't like to say 'no' or to disappoint people who ask questions, so rather than saying 'no', they'll either not respond or respond affirmatively, even though they know the answer is 'no'. This is just a cultural norm as far as I can tell, is taught as part of being polite, and not personal to any of us who ask questions. (Politeness is central to interpersonal dealings by the people who grew up in this culture.) This is in direct contrast to what a lot of us have learned in the U.S./Canadian culture--sometimes having taken years to learn it--that it saves time, angst, and hurt feelings to simply be direct and give the most accurate answer we can, qualifying it if we need to do so.

A suggestion: come on down in September. Sept. is between the secondary sorta-high season of summer (people from the Gulf Coast escaping the combined heat and humidity), and the real high season (snowbirds), roughly November through March. If you need to have something firm reserved, I and others can suggest places which are clean, convenient, quiet, have kitchenettes, and have very reasonable weekly rates.

ATV? I see them around on the streets in Riberas (between Ajijic and Chapala); looks like a few people use them either as street toys or maybe as basic transportation. I don't have any info about areas in which people use them off-road here, which is the use I was familar with back in Calif. Check this out on your Sept visit.

Boat? Probably not--it's a long ways to haul it, and few people boat on Lake Chapala these years. Even more important: if you have it on a trailer, my understanding is that the trailer will be included on the same import permit as your car, which will mean that as/if/and when you drive back to the border, you'll always have to have the trailer attached. Other readers who have experience with bringing a trailer into Mexico may comment further--my comments are not based on experience, but rather on what I've read on the Mexconnect forums the last couple of years.

Not sure yet whether my wife and I will be here in September. If so, we'll be glad to meet you. In the meantime, questions are fine, and you might also try using the 'search posts' function on Mexconnect for topics such as 'ATV' or 'boat' or 'house rental'.

raijanalle

Apr 16, 2003, 6:21 AM

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Re: [Frank Burton] Retireing in Ajiji/Chapala area

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Hi Frank,

Thank you again for info.,greatly appreciated. I know what you mean by being polite! In Spain and other places we have been,its same. However, why we want to have advance booking is that we don't want to get stranded, when we get there. As in Sepember we are flying, we want to have a place to go. Yes, we would rather have a place with Kitchenette, so that we can cook our own meals. One month is quite a long stay, and wouldn't like to eat in restaurants, as we are a bit strange, when it comes to food in restaurants. I still have a lot of time till September, and I will right more to Forum,mexconnect. I got a reply from Hotel Ajijic,Plaza Suites B&B. Do you know the place? They charge 650$US per month and have free pick-up from airport. They are located in the center of town, and I wander if its noisy? There do you stay?

Thank you again,raya

Frank Burton

Apr 16, 2003, 10:24 AM

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Re: [raijanalle] Retireing in Ajiji/Chapala area

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Hi, Raya,

I understand your wanting to have an aswsured place to stay on arrival via air; I usually want the same. In this case, I recommend that you make a reservation for one night at one of the reasonable B&Bs, or at one of the places with a kitchenette (knowing that you can extend your stay at either if you decide to do so). I know of a couple of B&Bs which charge $30US per night for two including breakfast, and also of a motel with a kitchenette for a bit less than that. This will give you a little time to look around before commiting to a month. Again, September is very low season, so you'll have a lot of choices once you're here, for much less than $650US for a month.

Especially in Ajijic and San Antonio, there are many bulletin boards which list rentals in English, including a big one at Lake Chapala Society in Ajijic. LCS is a good place to visit anyway, with their Information Desk open to all comers from 10 to 2 six days a week, and their grounds open earlier and I believe up until 5 p.m. If you're staying just about anywhere in Ajijic, LCS will be within 6 to 8 blocks. If you're staying other than in Ajijic, the local bus service is inexpensive, frequent, and just fine (we've used it numerous times, including on our first visit to the area).

About noise: Either Chapala or Ajijic can be noisy night or day; either will certainly be noisy if there is a fiesta. You should be able to look at one of the on-line calendars of events to see if there is a fiesta during your time here. If quiet is important to you, your best bet after the first night or two will be a place away from both villages, and there are certainly a lot of condos and houses for rent away from both villages, in places like Mirasol, San Antonio, and Riberas. Any place may have roosters calling at any time during the night for the sun to come up, or dogs barking, or fireworks being set off (mostly during the day, unless there is a fiesta).

Other thoughts addressing issues you've brought up: Unless you are arriving in the middle of the night, you can exchange US dollars (don't know about Canadian--perhaps others can comment) for pesos at the airport, or, alternatively, 24/7 use your ATM card from home to secure pesos. Both the cambio booths and the ATM machine are in the lobby after you clear customs in the International Arrivals area.

GDL is a relatively small, uncomplicated airport, and most or all of the signs are bi-lingual. A cab-ride from the airport in Guadalajara to Lakeside is under $25 US; one purchases a fixed-price ticket from a window inside the terminal near the Domestic Arrivals baggage claim area. We usually tip the driver five or ten pesos per suitcase they've handled.

We've not stayed at the Ajijic Plaza Suites Hotel; it's very central, just across the street from the main plaza. I'll be glad to answer privately if you want to know the names and phone numbers of B&Bs or the place I know with kitchenettes; it would help to know what time you are arriving at GDL.