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@bmh is not being cheap. She is accurately pointing out what real wages are here. Paying 500p for 3 hours work is 167p per hour. As loathe as I am to compare Mexican prices to US prices, 167p is $8.60 USD per hour. The US federal minimum wage is $7.25 per hour. While you *think* you are being generous, you are in fact creating resentment among the locals who know the value of their work and the value of their neighbors' work. When an expat starts paying 3 times the going rate they are dissing the majority of workers who are being paid a normal wage. Such "generosity" will also create resentment towards the entire expat community. When in Rome (or Chapala), better to live by local rules and mores.

First of all chillin, why is it important to you to call me ignorant? Make you feel good? Make you feel superior. Second, you are correct that I do NOT know how legal systems work around the world! Never claimed I did. Most don't but you seem to claim that knowledge. Also I don't know how that is relevant to this discussion. Good for you if you do but por favor refrain from calling those of us who do not, ignorant. Por favor. Thirdly, all of this is about a gringa here who is probably already in over her head and has an ill husband to boot. Now some want her to step off into the legal world of Mexico needing 'connections' and hope for the best. I am NOT among those who would wish that upon her in a hundred years and would hope that she can get a resolution without all of that hocus pocus. She seemingly also needs some help understanding the situation with a motorhome that has not moved in 9 years but I'm betting it would be best for her to remove it 'legally'.

What is a fax?

Don't know where you live or what are your food preferences. If you like Mexican food, ask your Mexican neighbors where is the nearest Cenaduria. These are private homes that each day (some only on weekends) have meals ready to serve or go. Found one recently only a block from my house and is like having a Mexican grandmother around the corner with her best family recipes cooking daily on the stove. Prices about half of restaurants. How can you go wrong?

Well I watched this and didn't identify much with this couple, particularly when it comes to food. Having lived here for nearly 12 years, this has been our experience. This is based on our experience of living in NM, updated with our frequent trips there. Car expense: More actual maintenance required, more frequent tire replacement but cost other than tires generally less. Car insurance considerably less. Gasoline considerably more but use considerably less of it. Tolls and gas prices make auto touring in this country much more expensive. On balance, a wash. Energy and utilities: Considerably more but offset by using considerably less. No need to heat or cool. When cost of treating municipal water included, water is considerably more expensive. On balance, a wash. Property taxes: Much less but little received for what is paid out. Food: Using markets and shopping Mexican, considerably less, particularly for fresh fruits. Go to Costco for the American stuff. Significantly higher particularly when you include the two hour round trip to get there. Keep that expense down by only going every 2-3 months. Still definitely cheaper here. Eating out: Not nearly as cheap as it used to be. Can be a bargain but often just a wash. Eating out has gone up here percentage wise far more than in NM. Housing: Was pretty moderate when we moved here, has gone up a lot. Rents in NM are less than they are here. But you are paying for the "resort" location with superb weather. Buying in a premium location here more than it is in NM now. Internet, cell phones, land lines, MUCH cheaper. We are shocked at what our U.S. and Canadian friends spend for cell phones. Very easy to cheaply stream the U.S. TV you want to watch, no real need for cable or satellite IMO. Household help: Basically unaffordable in the U.S. and Canada, still affordable here. House maintenance labor: Far, far cheaper here. Variable quality, you really have to do your homework to get good work. Year round outdoor living and mild climate: Priceless! YMMV

Tow it down to the malecon in Ajijic and rent it out Airbnb with lake and mountain views. If someone runs you off, tow it over to Joco and park it in the parking lot of the local nocturno centro to rent by the hour. If someone runs you off from there, post an ad on Borderland Beat, mobile meth lab for sale in the Jalisco section. No one will run you off.

Jerry and Lori have for years said that it was cheap to live in Ajijic. Enough of us challenged them and they now are reporting what it actually cost. They too were shocked at the tally.

Add the hassle to be on-site everyday to make sure things are going according to plan--not that the workers can read blueprints. Watch the plumbers that they correctly glue the joints of water pipes and don't get side-tracked. A leak in a wall is a devil to find and fix. And if you are a female, forget about building, as a construction worker will not take instructions from you--period.

Too many expats just wont listen, and compare things back to their home country. This is mexico. Theres a recent thread about cost of living has shot up here recently, its stuff like this thats part of the problem,especially ajijic Totally excessive tipping, saying how cheap services are, etc etc. All just ruins it for the locals and long term expats. Unfortunately this area is a bubble to most, and never see the real parts of mexico and will blindly go along living in la la land.

If you don't have a scanner with your printer at home, or even if you do, a very inexpensive app called Tiny Scanner is a must have for your phone. You use it to take a picture of a document which is then turned into a pdf file which you then send to whomever wants it. I have used it numerous times for real estate, insurance and verification of military service (DD-214). Unlike a fax which just gets printed on a sheet of paper, this gives the recipient an actual file document to retain if needed. I think I paid like $5 US for the app and have used it numerous times with 100% acceptance. Check Google Play or the iPhone app store.

If you use Windows 10, there is a program in Windows Accessories named Windows Fax And Scan.

Be careful about taking some of these recommendations, ever how well meaning... A vehicle, including a Motorhome, that is US titled/plated and has a Mexican Temporary Import Permit (TIP).... even if that TIP is expired.... CANNOT be sold to anyone who does not have the intent of removing the vehicle from Mexico post haste. Since the TIP has expired one can get it out of Mexico legally by getting a SAT document called Seguro Retorno... Safe Return. That document can be written so as to allow someone else, who is either a Tourist or a Temporal, to drive or otherwise take the vehicle to the border within 5-6 working days after procurement from SAT. A local attorney who frequents this Board can arrange that for a small fee. Ditto the remark that was made about the 'value' of that Motorhome since it has basically sat for 10 years. MANY things can happen to any vehicle that has sat for that long, especially a Motorhome. Tires and battery would be just starting what could have and probably has gone south. IMO it would be worth less than wholesale as everything in it could be/probably is not in very good working condition if at all. And then there's 'rodents' chewing everything they can get their teeth on. They LOVE electrical wiring and bed/couch mattresses and a Motorhome is full of that stuff. P.S. Be careful. Unless that vehicle is taken to the border and the TIP cancelled, Mexico still considers it here and YOURS with all the liability that may go along with that. The last thing I would do is trust anyone who says that they can 'do it legally' any other way than what the law requires you to do and that is remove it from Mexico. EDIT: Cross-posted with Toyhauler above. He can possibly help and is very reputable.

When you interview a Mexican atty, the local dicho to remember (translated to English): ....Take a cat with you. .....If the cat jumps on the atty, then he is a rat. .......If the cat runs from the atty, then he is a junk yard dog. This is the attorney you hire.

I have to send a fax to the US, have been to three papelerias, two banks, and no one can fax to the US. Can someone help me with this? Am going nuts.

Most of the new people I run into, are dumb as a post, over paying for things is only part of it...Very few have taken the time to learn the language, the customs, they walk around in a trance, no eye contact, no hello how are you today, just nothing people...Lived in Latin America for many years, and have never seen anything like it....I live in Chapala, and no so crazy here, although the economic refugees are thick here....I am embarrased for my countryman...Just brain dead ZOMBIES...

The problem of rising costs is ...too many yenkees with too much money to throw around

Haha, if she won't ask for a figure she is hoping you will be the one to name it and that it will be higher than from a fellow Mexican. Ask her what she wants and say yes to it. Things don't need to be that complicated.

I had car meat n France after the war and we stll eat horse meat, snails and just about anything.. We do not know how to prepare dogmeat so I guess that will not ever happen especially now but my parents had dog meat during the war and did not like it..so Yes dogs are eaten in Korea Vietnam and China and probably a lot more places.. I lived above Chinatown in San Francisco and my housekeeper did not speak a word of English I shopped in Chinatown everyday and saw plenty of species being sold that are totally illegal.. When many Vietnamese arrived in San Francisco the dogs and wild life was disappearing big time in Golden Gate Park..

Mexjerry I do not think you have a clue about wages in Mexico.. I know a young woman who works in a store in a small town in Mexico she makes 40 pesos a day and I am being cheap at paying an unskilled woman 60 pesos an hour for cleaning or cooking.. ??? I have been here 19 years .. and I do not compare prices here with the US.. and I am not even from the US.. We at Lakeside way overpay the help and you want to pay even more.... 500 pesos for 3 hours so you are going to pay what for the day 1200 1300 pesos?? are you insane? than teacher or engineers?

Sorry, I strongly disagree. The number of Mexican workers "spoiled" by working for expats is such a small number I doubt it could be calculated in comparison to Mexican employers and workers in general. Any Mexican desiring to hire a fellow Mexican at the prevailing wage rate will have no problems. If you don't believe me ask one. Mexicans are also rarely forced to sell the family house since property taxes, by the Constitution, are kept low enough for even the lowest paid workers to afford. They do sell income properties they have and sometimes their second homes. Ask your Mexican neighbor if he would sell his modest house for $200,000 USD. When he gets done laughing he will probably explain that even with a pocketful of money he would not be welcomed in an area where he is not "from". Stop the whining about "spoiling things" for others.

Not just Monday, a whole week!

60 pesos is a decent wage when one is living on the Mexican economy and not the US or Canadian. This kind of thinking has really messed up things for the Mexicans who wish to hire someone to do a job and cannot afford to pay NOB wages. It still is, "When in Rome, do as the Romans do", in this case Mexico. This is something Mexicans often complain about when speaking of the Gringos, how they have been forced from their homes when the houses are bought and the rents become NOB rents instead of Mexican.

Take her to the vet to find out if she is sick. If not, release her or get her fixed and release her. She may belong to someone in the neighborhood.

500 pesos . the price of a mason for one full day of work?? My cleaning lady cooks for us and she makes 60 pesos an hour.. Five hundred pesos is a large amount of money for someone who is not a professional chef to prepare food.

The butchers at this Mexico City market stand added a handful of alfalfa to this cabeza de puerco. As someone mentioned, the pig head is the basis of the broth for pozole. Once it's cooked, the head is sliced up. A bowl of pozole can contain maciza (all leg meat), cabeza (sliced meat from the head), or surtido (a combination of slices of leg meat, cachete (cheeks), nose, ears, and tongue). You can ask your server for the kind of meat you prefer. I used to love to go eat pozole at Cenaduría Elba in Chapala--IMHO the best at Lakeside.

The name of Ajijic's patron saint is ANDRÉS. St. Andrew, in English. I keep seeing the erroneous name posted here on Chapala.com. San Andreas is a fault line and a movie, but there is no such saint name.

Facsimile comes from two Latin roots: facere, meaning "to make," and simile, meaning "like." Fax machines are so called because they copy and transmit facsimiles of documents, or faxes for short, over phone lines.

The papeleria in SAT (used to be called Trinidad), next to Maquina 245, across from Cafe Negro. They will fax as I was asking just last week. No 800 numbers though, just regular phone number.

Make your own. All of the ingredients are available here. Lots of recipes on line. That's what I did when I wanted to make pickles. https://www.blessthismessplease.com/homemade-pickling-spice-recipe/

Not sure. On US Amazon, some of the pickling spices will ship to Mexico. Or go search thru all the spices at SuperLake or Pancho's selections.

If your printer has a scanner, there are several programs that allow you to fax from your computer. Generally they are not free but offer 3 or 4 free faxes before you have to pay. Google 'on-line fax program'. I can't remember which one I used, but it was fairly simple.

A good contractor knows who to buy from, why and when. We weren't going to start the San Pancho build until the middle of October 2004 but the bricks were all bought, paid for and stored in August on Beto's recommendation. Buying an existing house is a crapshoot unless you know who the builder is and his/her reputation in the community. I am constantly amused by the signs on houses which state only the Architect's name. I don't care who designed it, I want to know who built it and if they stand behind their work. Sort of like restaurants. Any cook can get it right some of the time but a reputation and customer loyalty is built on consistency.

Pay her fairly? Be generous. I have a WONDERFUL Mexican lady who prepares meals for me once a week, then I freeze them. I buy all the ingredients, based on her advice, and I pay her 500 pesos for three hours of meal prep...plus always a generous tip...because we CAN, right? I feel VERY lucky! Suerte!

Short for facsimile. Don’t ask me what facsimile is.

In Canada, if you are a non resident for tax purposes, you are a non resident period. I have personally spoken with a snowbird neighbour who attempted to drive his Mexican plated car across the Canada/US border and was turned back because he was deemed a resident, i.e. he had never filed for non residency. Canada is no different from most other countries in this regard. You have be resident or non resident, you cant be both. I have driven my Mexican plated car in Canada because I established non residency 25 years ago and have maintained that status ever since.

The man setting off the cohetes in front of the church is part of the church or paid by the church so the government can control this guy.. but if people decide to ignite cohetes there is not much the government can do except fine them if they know who does it.. I too think there are way less cohetes than there used to be.

This website had the most choices for lots that I have found. 10 pages but make sure you read them all because they go up in price but are sometimes listed in pesos and most are in U.S. dollars... in other words, the 1 million peso lots are mixed in with the 1 million U.S. dollar lots. http://chapalamls.net/properties/land-and-lots There really is no average but you can save a lot of money if you get quotes for Obra Negra (finished walls/plumbing/electrical) and then include "installation only" of the tile that you've bought and the windows that you've contracted for... understand? If you want a view, the lot will cost more but remember that views can be blocked and, honestly?, the view at night is like the black hole of Calcutta... no twinkling lights on the other side of the lake. Any retaining wall is going to cost you a lot extra and make sure it's done right or your house will crack and slide. If the lot is in an existing defined development, there are going to be H.O.A. fees or condo fees (or whatever you want to call them) afterwards. What is the water situation? What is the overall infrastructure of water/electrical/internet/sewer... Will you be building a septic tank? Will you have to buy your own electrical transformer? Aljibe or tinaco or both? There are so many variables that it's mind boggling. But, it's a great adventure if you're going to be on site daily and I would rather build a house from scratch here than live in the mess of renovating again. Set your absolute max budget for both and then find your lot. Live within your budget and make choices accordingly. Suerte!

You'r back!!! I thought that you said Adios, Au Revoir, Soyonara, Aloha, Goodby, Cheerio and left us back on the last post regarding this subject. Maybe I converted you to try the tongue (lengua) tacos. WELCOME ABOARD!!!

Notarios are not civil trial lawyers

They should give the money to the poor instead of spending it on noise making, these cohetes are expensive and from what I have being hearing since this morning, they could have feed a lot of hungry Mexicains and neutured a lot of dogs!!

I have had ExpressVPN for several years and am satisfied. It provides greater privacy as well as access to NOB Netflix with subtitles in English; an important feature for those who are hearing impaired. Mexican Netflix is spotty on that.

I have Express VPN. I really like it. It makes interacting with financial websites, shopping, etc a lot easier since it doesn't default to Mexican/Spanish sites.

Fireworks are those colorful things in the sky. This is just noise.

Mt dad was the head of the meat department in a chain of grocery stores in New England. We always had the best meat, despite my mother's terrible cooking. I remember my father bringing home big pieces of beef and letting them age in our cold-ish basement, prior to the holidays. I was always concerned about the meat going bad, but he explained to me how the ideal temperature kept it "safe" and the enzyme activity created very tender meat. Sometimes we look back and realize just how much we learned from our parents--my dad taught me a lot about handling knives and how to cut, carve, and cook meat correctly..

What is so confusing, Mainecoons, is that I did not get, and still do not have the pin # to this card, and if I did ever get it, it was maybe 35 years ago and would have been somewhere in my old bank records filed in Seattle about 35 years ago. So how did these crooks get the pin number to B of A credit card they had stolen.

They can afford to waste the money on hardly used bike paths. But not on the potholes that get bigger and more dangerous every day, right by the side of these works. Experts in wasting money.

I agree. And " Nice and caring " is not my first criterium, when choosing a doctor. On WHO list, Mexico ranks 65 or so ( in healthcare quality ). Yes. You can have good experiences...but a bit of common sense here: in a country with one of the worst education systems, how can you expect to have a majority of excellent doctors and nurses ?? Over 21 years here....I dont think of a few personal good experiences ( which I dont deny ! ) but numerous times, where I translated at IMSS and hospital civil ( and I worked with dozens of caregivers ). Many horror stories ( and yes, a few good ones ). Unfortunately, I have known too many people here, who today, should still be alive. Let us not even mention lack of consistency and corruption. One probably also should make a distinction between the more expensive health care facilities for the few, versus the inexpensive ones for the poor majority. Therefore,...my personal opinion... for a majority of people here it is NOT good. I have many good reasons for living here, but healthcare is not one of them ( and I dont feel the need to compare to the US system ) Not what you want to hear, I know... ( bring on the bullets .... but do a good and fast job....the Red Cross is NOT where I want to die ...I am being nice here ). It is a lottery, where luck and money will give you the winning ticket. A smile could help too Rony

Healthcare can be iffy here.

i use the VA in central texas. i had a quadruple bypass on the 28th of oct., 2 weeks ago, the VA authorized the top cardio thoracic surgeon in austin to do the procedure and great post op care. they have been prompt and easy to deal with and have now authorized 35 cardio rehab sessions. in my experience they do a fine job.