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robjohn

Aug 14, 2005, 5:09 PM

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Living in City of Oaxaca.

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I would like to know anyone how has retired in or around the City of Oaxaca?
Thank You!

Ed and Fran

Aug 14, 2005, 5:35 PM

Post #2 of 17 (4045 views)

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Re: [robjohn] Living in City of Oaxaca.

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Check out these links in case you haven't already found them. You might want to get in touch with the authors:

http://groups.yahoo.com/...acity-streets-shops/

Here's a page by MexConnect author Geri Anderson:

http://www.mexconnected.com/...ganderson/gabio.html

Here's (ex)MexConnect columnist Stan Gotlieb's bio:

http://www.mexconnected.com/..._mexico/stanbio.html

And his back columns:

http://www.mexconnected.com/...co/lettersindex.html

At least that's a start.

Regards

Ed

Gayla

Aug 15, 2005, 10:56 AM

Post #3 of 17 (3951 views)

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Re: [robjohn] Living in City of Oaxaca.

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Try this link

http://www.realoaxaca.com/

Bubba

Aug 15, 2005, 11:32 AM

Post #4 of 17 (3942 views)

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Re: [robjohn] Living in City of Oaxaca.

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I must ask you why you would consider Oaxaca as a place to retire. I presume you have been all over Mexico looking for a proper retirement place and this is your choice. But, why? What is your retirement goal? Do you want to live in an isolated, noisy,ugly, rundown and rustic city with terrible traffic problems and few amenities where, unless you are fluent in Spanish or a number of indigenous languages you can communicate with nobody outside of your hotel lobby or the zocalo. If you leave the historic center the town has very little if any charm.

The zocalo is Disneyland. It has nothing to do with living in Oaxaca which is a poverty-stricken town with an inadequate infrastructure troubled with political unrest. The distribution of wealth there is deplorable. And, if you plan to buy a house and you are not a local, they will screw you to the wall.

Try something less exotic. I can name a dozen or more wonderful cities in Mexico that beat that place.

gpk

Aug 15, 2005, 11:50 AM

Post #5 of 17 (3935 views)

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Re: [Bubba] Living in City of Oaxaca.

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I was biting my tongue all day--thanks!

Ed and Fran

Aug 15, 2005, 12:37 PM

Post #6 of 17 (3926 views)

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Re: [Bubba] Living in City of Oaxaca.

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Do you want to live in an isolated, noisy,ugly, rundown and rustic city with terrible traffic problems and few amenities where, unless you are fluent in Spanish or a number of indigenous languages you can communicate with nobody outside of your hotel lobby or the zocalo.

I don't know, we really enjoy it. Of course, we're fluent in Spanish. It's got a lot more amenities than here.

Try something less exotic. I can name a dozen or more wonderful cities in Mexico that beat that place.

I can guarantee that Tuxpan won't make that list. Maybe that's why I like Oaxaca so much.

Ed

Esteban

Aug 15, 2005, 12:51 PM

Post #7 of 17 (3921 views)

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Re: [Ed and Fran] Living in City of Oaxaca.

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The KEY phrase is, "being fluent in Spanish". No matter where you are in Mexico it's a different world when you know the language.

Bubba

Aug 15, 2005, 1:09 PM

Post #8 of 17 (3913 views)

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Re: [Ed and Fran] Living in City of Oaxaca.

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OK, Ed & Fran:

I have a lot of respect for you guys so I'll admit that my postings about Oaxaca City are somewhat unfair in my descriptions of Oaxaca probably because of my expectations of the place which were overly romantic. My expectations of Tuxpan would have been more modest.

Oaxaca, along with Cuernavaca, Lake Chapala and San Miguel de Allende were the places we considered for retirement back in 2000 when we decided to retire in Mexico. Today we would throw Chiapas and Veracruz states into the mix. We chose the Lake Chapala area over the other choices because of its proximity to Guadalajara. That's about it. That was not the right decision but we have a nice home here so here we are until it's over except for winters on a coast somewhere.

As for Oaxaca City; it seems to me that there is something fundamentally wrong with a town that concentrates its limited resources on relatively wealthy tourists at the expense of services and infrastructure for its residents. Perhaps I am being superficial. After all, I don't know the city that well. I take back everything I said but I'm still glad we don't live there.

If I had it to do over I think it would be Morelos or Veracruz states. To each his own.

Bubba

Aug 15, 2005, 3:14 PM

Post #9 of 17 (3889 views)

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Re: [Bubba] Living in City of Oaxaca.

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I must say that I am talking about Oaxaca as a place to live out one's life - not as a vacation spot. Towns such as Oaxaca, Merida, Queretaro, and countless other places are great to visit. Once the bloom is off the rose (10 to 20 hours) one may prefer Guadalajara or Mexico City or Veracruz or Monterrey which I would characterize as places with "next day fun" if you get my drift. These are not the towns you wake up dreading what you are going to see on the pillow next to you and going "... what the hell did I see in that?.

jerezano

Aug 15, 2005, 7:02 PM

Post #10 of 17 (3841 views)

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Re: [Bubba] Living in City of Oaxaca.

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Hello Robjon and others,

Bubba has a point. He may have expressed it a bit strongly for someone like Robjon who must surely have visited Oaxaca and spent some time there before deciding to move there permanently. But Bubba's point is there to be considered.

I have now lived in México for almost 19 years. I like where I live even though as I grow older I have decided to spend the three months of December, January, and February somewhere where it is warmer. Such as Melaque, Colima, Tepic, and even the Rio Grande Valley in Texas. I would not spend those three months in Oaxaca.

I also just came back from a two day exploration trip to Oaxaca where I was really enthralled by Monte Albán. But I did not find anything else in Oaxaca to enthrall me. Not even the magnificent architecture above the Zocalo. The affluence there was of too great a contrast with the market and the urban developement below the Zocalo just as Bubba said. Too, the attitude of the people in general, while helpful and considerate (as would be expected where the tourist is king), was not a bit friendly. Obviously too many tourists have created a tourist based city economy---just as in San Miguel de Allende---without any compensating values---the opposite of San Miguel de Allende. Let me say this another way. San Miguel de Allende is a good place to retire despite the tourist economy. Oaxaca, in my opinion, is not a good place to retire because of the tourist economy. Too its climate is not good enough to override its disadvantages, nor could I find anything else that would override those disadvantgages.

Robjon, let me recommend that you rent and live in Oaxaca for at least six months, preferably a year before you commit yourself and family to living there. You should spend that year exploring the rest of Mexico for a good retirement home. One of the first things you will find, just as Bubba pointed out, is that Oaxaca is a very long way away from everything else. The only really comfortable way to get in and out is by air. And that, clearly becomes very expensive.

I wish you well and hope that you can enjoy your future life here in Mexico. Many of us have done so and we welcome you to join us.

Adios. jerezano.

jacpowell

Aug 15, 2005, 7:39 PM

Post #11 of 17 (3829 views)

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Re: [jerezano] Living in City of Oaxaca.

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My husband and I plan to spend a couple of months in Oaxaca this winter, so it will be interesting to have these opinions in our pocket, so to speak. I live in a budding tourist town -- Salida, Colorado -- and I can say that many of the points made about Oaxaca catering to tourists at the expense of permanent residents are true here as will. Much depends on one's self-sufficiency. We don't party much and we avoid WalMart-type commerce whenever possible. We attend few of the numerous festivals and events ginned up for tourists. We fish and walk a lot, and read in the evenings. We lean toward being the hermit-couple type. We will stay out in a village close to Oaxaca City, and go into town when we want to. Except for the language (we're not quite fluent, but we've been able to make our way in Mexico) it doesn't seem like it would be all that different from home. We don't intend to retire to Mexico, but we have begun spending more and more of our winters there. I guess you often get what you are looking for, good or bad. But it has been said that I am sometimes a Pollyanna.

I look forward to more postings on this topic.

Jackie Powell (Not the famous Ms. Powell)

2mexico

Sep 2, 2005, 9:20 PM

Post #12 of 17 (3662 views)

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Re: [Bubba] Living in City of Oaxaca.

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OK Bubba - please provide your list. We're looking for the charm and quality of life of Merida with a more tolerable climate, but open to suggestions. Retirement sometime between now and a few years from now.

waltw

Sep 4, 2005, 1:36 PM

Post #13 of 17 (3636 views)

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Re: [robjohn] Living in City of Oaxaca.

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I haven't retired in Oaxaca, but I lived there for two years, 16 years ago, and have taken about 12 trips back since.
I think Oaxaca's one of the most interesting places in Mexico to live and would be an excellent retirement choice.
Not only the city itself, but the outlying pueblos and the state's mountains and coastal areas are fantastic.
I found the people in Oaxaca to be quite friendly - even married one.
The only negative I would see regarding retiring there is that it's true, it's a very long drive to the US Border.
They do have a local airport, though.

geri

Sep 5, 2005, 10:08 AM

Post #14 of 17 (3601 views)

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Re: [Bubba] Living in City of Oaxaca.

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Have you lived in Oaxaca? I ask because visiting, (anywhere probably) but especially Oaxaca, is a lot different than living in Oaxaca.

Geri

Nancy4

Sep 6, 2005, 12:11 PM

Post #15 of 17 (3572 views)

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Re: [Bubba] Living in City of Oaxaca.

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I have found your "conversations" with various other members very knowledgeable. Do you have insight to the Diamante just above Acapulco Bay?

Anyone?

Gracias.

Tonk

Dec 17, 2005, 8:39 AM

Post #16 of 17 (3386 views)

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Re: [jerezano] Living in City of Oaxaca.

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I agree that everyone has their own criteria for living. I think that Chapala is really gringolandia and there is nothing wrong with that if that is your lifestyle. I am in Oaxaca now and like it because of the indigenous population. I also like Chapala because of its proximity to Guad but I don´t think Ajijic has much ambience.

da-vid

Jan 8, 2006, 9:28 AM

Post #17 of 17 (3300 views)

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Re: [Ed and Fran] Living in City of Oaxaca.

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My wife and I found Oaxaca a very interesting city to visit also. We were there for 4 weeks during the summer studying Spanish. It was a place we considered for retirement, but ultimately decided it was too isolated from the other places in Mexico that we liked to visit and vacation. We enjoyed the great food (we both think Oaxaca has the best food in all of Mexico), we especially enjoyed the influence of the indigenous groups, the art, clothing, music. We stayed in Puerto Escondido for 5 days and now it is my favorite beach town in all of Mexico, very tranquillo and wonderful mariscos. The water was excellent for swimming. I definitly would not rule out Oaxaca when searching for retirement living. To each their own, I'm sure many would be quite content living there.
David