patricio_lintz
Jul 30, 2004, 11:01 AM
Post #9 of 12
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Re: [talosian] What tipped the scales for you?
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In our case, being recent arrivals (May, 2004), it was similar reasons as others.
We had been talking of retiring to Mexico for several years. Lisa (Isabel) speaks fluent Spanish; yo hablo poquito.
We have visited Mexico, Puerto Vallarta and San Carlos many times. We are both Texans who were living in Phoenix, AZ. By way of introduction, I am retired from Honeywell and Lisa is thr Retired Executive Director of Centro Adelante Campesino, a non profit social services organization in Northwest Maricopa County Arizona.
Being somewhat tired of 105 to 120 degree Farenheit summer temperatures, and not wanting to spend our days in some retirement community like Sun City, we just did it.
1. Adventure- We sold most of our things or gave them away to family & Charity. We came down with a Ford F250 four-wheel drive long-bed pickup loaded with our things and our dog.
At the border, we were directed to the dock area where the Commercial Semitrailers were being unloaded for inspection. A customs agent soon informed us (in Spanish) that the pickup would have to be unloaded. It could be just a few items or the entire truck would be unloaded- it was our choice. Either way, we would have to pay for the unloading. He asked for $400 pesos for the unloading. This was on top of the Customs broker's fee $280 USD and
menaje de casa fee ($126 USD) already paid.
In the interest of saving everyone's time we choose the few items and palmed the $400 pesos to the agent. The long delay, to make it look good to the truckers, put us into driving late into the night to get to Guaymas, our first stop. Well, we asked for adventure!
We plan a couple of more trips with the pickup to bring down family pictures and some things which we cannot do without. We will have to pay the duty (I think 17%) on whatever we bring in the time.
2. Weather- We arrived in May, the hottest month, in Chapala and found the weather not unpleasant.
3. Economic- we leased out our free & clear house in Phoenix for $950/ month. we are presently leasing an upstairs casita (100 meters sq.) for $250/ month in Chapala. Already we have bought a lot in Vista del Lago ( We like bargains). Our original plan was to tour Mexico for two years before settling on a location. This is still a good plan for a newcomer.
4. Freedom. I find that we are not hassled much in the areas of Mexico which we have visited. People in general are muy amable.
In general, one is hassled less (once past the border and immigration hurdles) here than in the States by authorities, homeowners Assoc., and by local residents.
I did have to leave all of my firearms in storage in Phoenix because I did not have time to sell or import them. Some day, I may go through the red tape of getting one shotgun and one rifle down. I was just getting good at Sporting Clays... Otherwise, we will bring down our archery equipment and do some 3-D target shooting.
5. Culture- Mexico is very interesting and diverse. Sometimes it can cut both ways, living in the town as we do, it is noisy, roosters crowing, dogs barking & ours responding, cannon crackers going off in the sky at dawn and other times also. We live across the street from a busy taller mechanico which is noisy from 9:00 a.m. to 7:00 p.m. most days. This noise was definitely an influence on our buying a lot in Vista del Lago.
We still plan to do our travels and experience the broad cultural activities across Mexico. We leave the truck in the garage & travel by bus. We have been to Guaymas, Mazatlan, Puerto Vallarto, Manzanillo, La Piedad & Guadalajara as well as lakeside north, so far.
(This post was edited by patricio_lintz on Jul 30, 2004, 1:24 PM)
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The red wolf, Lailah, TG 2003.JPG
