Living in Mexico is great. I made the video below when we first arrived in Puerto Vallarta, Mexico, and after re-watching it, I’d say it still sounds about right. We’ve been here for almost four months now, and our tourist visa will soon expire, but we’re already planning our return trip.
Our Current Travels are in Central Mexico
Over the last 4 months we have spent considerable time in Guadalajara, Morelia, Guanajuato, and the Lake Chapala area. We spent the least amount of time in Puerto Vallarta, where we booked accommodation for only 7 days before catching a bus to Guadalajara. I’d love to go back to Puerto Vallarta in the future, although I’m not sure there is a time of year when I will not find it too hot.
The Puerto Vallarta video above is me rambling for a few minutes about my first impressions of the area, but I’ll take a moment here and talk about my overall impressions of Mexico after 4 months.
I’ll preface this by saying I’m on vacation
But not exactly a vacation, since I do work on the computer a bit. I am my own boss, and make my own hours, and I like what I do. I’m not actively trying to relocate to Mexico. I’m not buying a house. I’m not getting internet hooked up, or trying to get a Mexican license plate for my car, or attempting to get something delivered, or ordered, or repaired. I’m here as a tourist on a six month tourist visa traveling around like a tourist, traveling slowly, but still more akin to a vacationer than someone trying to make a long-term life in Mexico.
with that in mind, here are my personal impressions of Mexico, and yours might be different, in fact you can bet on it. What we each think and feel is largely a product of our own manufacture, which is just a sterile way of saying what’s on the table is what we bring to the table, which is just a folksy way of saying that you live in the world you create, or perceive.
My Current Perceptions of Living in Mexico
PROS:
It’s Great. I’m REALLY enjoying Mexico. We’ll be leaving soon, but I plan to return. There is not yet an area that I’ve visited Mexico where I would not happily return.
Mexican Food is Fantastic
After 4 months I’m not tired of Mexican food. What is Mexican food? It’s just food, but prepared with a Mexican sensibility of flavor. It’s not always a taco. It might be grilled fish with garlic and slaw, or it might be soup, or maybe just beans. But if Mexican food was a baseball player, it would have a batting average up there with Ty Cobb. The food isn’t always a home run, but there’s a lot of home runs on a Mexican menu.
I Feel Welcome in Mexico
The Mexican people have been kind and accommodating in all our interactions. I can’t think of a single adverse encounter over the last 4 months. We’re pretty lucky, since often travel, especially foreign travel, can be complicated. I credit the Mexicans for their patience and kindness in dealing with our sometimes lack of understanding, but I also credit ourselves for being as prepared as we possibly can be in various situations. And being a little Zen helps. As I said before, a lot of the stuff on the table is what you bring to the table.
It’s Less Expensive Than The United States
Living in Mexico is considerably less expensive than living in the USA. We get more bang for our US buck when it comes to lodging, travel, and food, which are our major expenses. I found Guadalajara and Morelia to be especially budget friendly. Right now we are in the Lake Chapala area, which is so far the most expensive locale we’ve visited in Mexico. The gringo influence here is omnipresent, and definitely reflected in the cost of living. One can still live cheaply in the Lake Chapala area, but it is easy to spend more money, too.
I Feel Safe
I hate putting that as a pro, because it’s silly. One is potentially safe or unsafe anywhere in the world depending on one’s current situation. In the USA there is a general perception of Mexico as unsafe, but I’ve been robbed 3 times in my life, all in the USA, and once at gunpoint. That can happen anywhere, and it does. I still feel pretty safe in the USA, and I feel pretty safe here.
CONS:
I Don’t Speak the Language
I’m trying. I practice Spanish. But I’m a long way from conversational Spanish. When we first arrived in Guadalajara, I was concerned about a cut on my leg and I went to the hospital emergency room. I went in the evening and no English-speaking personnel were immediately available. I had a hard time communicating with the hospital staff and doctor. Ultimately, it was fine because all I had to do was point to the cut on my leg. The wound was cleaned and dressed and I got a prescription for antibiotics. No big deal. If my concern had been something more nuanced, like an internal pain, or non visible issue, then it might have been more of a challenge. My total bill for the emergency room visit was $19 USD.
Pollution
I notice the pollution here more than where I’ve lived in the USA. I notice it everywhere we’ve been in Mexico, even in the smaller areas like Puerto Vallarta and Ajijic. It’s mostly the automotive fumes, I think. It was especially problematic in Morelia where the streets are particularly narrow and filled with traffic. Sometimes while walking, we’d turn off a busy road to escape the exhaust fumes. I felt the automotive exhaust in my lungs, affecting my breathing. I imagine it would not be ideal for long-term health, especially for anyone with a pre-existing breathing issue.
You Can’t Drink The Water
Is it a con? It’s kind of a con if you’re a tourist, or it seems like a con to us, sometimes. It’s not a con for us right now because we’re currently performing a house sit in Ajijic in a home with filters on the water taps. It wasn’t a con at our last AirBnB because they had bottled water delivery. And if we lived here in a specific place long term it wouldn’t be a con, because we’d have a long-term solution. But we are traveling from place to place, and sometimes there aren’t filters on the water taps, or bottled water already prearranged, so we have to figure the water routine out each place we go, and sometimes that just means lugging bottle water from the store several times a week.
I could say something about not being able to flush used toilet paper down the toilet, or the cracked sidewalks and potholes and uneven steps that make walking around Mexico a challenge, or the creative driving on the roads, but I’d feel like I was reaching for negatives.
For me, the Pros far outreach the Cons. I find Mexico to be a wonderful place to travel, and I feel fortunate to be here. You can check here for all our info and experiences in Mexico.
Wherever You Travel, Travel light!
CG and I are traveling long term in Mexico, but we are only carrying the things we need. We’ve been traveling now for more than a year each carrying a single Osprey Porter 30 Travel Backpack. Nothing makes travel more enjoyable than traveling light. You can find more info about our travel packs and the current prices for these packs on Amazon.
And if you’d like a peek at what it’s like to walk around a Mexican neighborhood. Check out this video of me taking a stroll in Morelia, Mexico.
Thanks for checking out our travels in Mexico!
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