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Spoiler alert: We all have a 100% risk of dying.

I feel the need to respond to this post considering all the negative responses. For context: I lived in Ajijic until I was 6, then moved to the US. I recently moved back (I'm now 26) and reconnected with many friends I had here in Ajijic; They are now engineers, lawyers, on the way to become doctors, etc. Although it will be difficult for your daughter to adjust, there are PLENTY of amazing opportunities for her here and the private education is often better than in the US. GDL is known as the "Mexican Silicon Valley," in fact. Most of the kids her age will be bilingual by this point. I know a handful of teens here that speak English as a FIRST language because, as you know, this is largely a US/Canadian community and therefore, many parents/grandparents are from the North. But I really have to stress how amazing the education can be here. I feel confident enough to say that the friends I have here are better educated (often bi or tri lingual) and generally more successful than my classmates in the US (all from the same generation). I saw many posts claiming that the youth here are involved in drugs/other unfortunate activities and I must say that's untrue. Of course, it does happen. But the kids that are involved in that often don't have any/many opportunities, parents, or are required to help their family with the bills. Typically, those kids drop out of school before they even learn to read/write in Spanish, therefore they don't have other great job opportunities and get caught up in what they think is "easy" money. It's a sad situation, but by no means are "all" the local kids associated in that nonsense. It's highly unlikely gringo kids, that don't speak Spanish, would be welcome into that world. I also saw comments about Ajijic not being the place for "a Caucasian teen," which I feel is a pretty misinformed comment. Mexicans come in EVERY color, especially in Jalisco. This is due to all the European, Spanish, US, Canadian, etc. influence we have in the area. Your daughter will not stand out any more than any other teenager, especially in Ajijic because the locals know this area to be flooded with expats. More likely, people will assume she's Mexican first. Just teach her some street smarts and there's really nothing to worry about other than the language barrier/making friends immediately. In fact, my mother and 15 y/o brother will be moving here this summer. We have similar concerns for him, it will be difficult and will push his boundaries but I think it's an INCREDIBLE opportunity, one I wish I had when I was a teen. To live in a country so rich in culture, learn a second language, etc. etc. etc., will be an experience like none other. Your daughter will come out stronger and with more life experience than most her age and I think that's priceless. I hope this is a little more encouraging than the other posts, there are two sides to every coin! Being closer to your daughter's generation, I see things much differently and I'm excited for her! If anything, this isn't the place for 20-30 somethings. I'll vouch for that, haha!

I just got off the phone with a very nice lady who was convinced that tomorrow (January 13) her Windows 7 computer would just stop working. Microsoft is supporting this mistaken awareness by being very fuzzy and very forceful about telling users their time is up and they need to move to Windows 10. I know that after tomorrow, they will actually be causing popup messages to appear on Windows 7 screens all around the world, with the same warning. Be not afraid. You can continue using your Windows 7 computer until either you or your computer die. There will be no physical change tomorrow to any Windows 7 computer. In actual fact, Microsoft stopped supporting the operating system several years ago. Now, they say they are curtailing support for their security. This remains to be seen. If it is true, then either a: don't worry, because we don't get viruses anymore anyway, or b: download and install one of the many free anti-virus tools.

Why keep all the old stickers on your window? Being a neat freak I always take the old ones off. One current one is enough!

I went to the show on Thursday, Opening night. Thoroughly enjoyed it. Lots of talented people working hard to raise funds for the Auditorio. I realize the government has said they will begin major renovations this month and hope that is true but in the past, this is the only fund-raiser to make improvements to the Auditorio that is used by so many. As a local dancer, I have seen and benefitted from the upgrades made from money raised throughout the annual Lip Sync. productions. I know many who have performed there over the years have been grateful for the changes, improvements and upgrades. I also know from being an audience member that the seating has become much more comfortable when you're in the audience enjoying a show. Cheers! Val Jones

And I think that the way umami is made and from what it is made is very different in Japan and China than in the so called First World. We can have this discussion all day. It affects ME. End story. Bonus for you if it doesn't.

According to the article- "The practical value of these kinds of tests to doctors in their work and to patients in their lives is still somewhat unclear."

Nothing to do with where your account is based - you can use your US or Canadian account on the Amazon Mexico site - just add your Mexican shipping address. When you are on the Amazon Mexico website, items that are located in the US or Canada (or other countries) which do ship to your Mexican address are identified by the word "Importacion" in the item description. If you purchase one of these, there is a shipping charge that includes the import taxes. If you want to avoid that, select a product that is in an Amazon Mexico warehouse - usually shipping is free, taxes included in the price and you will get it in 2-3 days.

Like most generalizations to assume a nationality, race, or gender has the same traits just is not correct. I know many middle and upper class Mexicans who have terrible handwriting. Daily you can see signs and the words are not spelled correctly. Based on that should we say most Mexicans can not spell?

MSG is an excitotoxin. Some people feel it very strongly and others are unaware. It makes everything taste good so the manufacturers use it so that they can use inferior ingredients and it still tastes great. I put a grain of it on my tongue once and it had to keep from chewing up my tongue until it wore off cuz it tasted like the best steak...

Wholeheartedly agree. We carry Best Doctors for catastrophic medical events. Otherwise self pay. I would love to have free medical care but the Mexican community gives us so much. I just cannot in good conscience take money out of their medical care. This is a very poor country

She did love the early sunsets over that small mountain to the west, probably why she located her apartments there as well.

Thank you HookEm...is there something in the air that is contaminating certain Lakeside individuals that they have to attack other posters...

All consulate web sites are down and have been for 4 days. All of the Canadian consulates have raised their requirements 20% in keeping with the change in minimum wage. My web site has the requirements based on the law. Now I am waiting to see what the MX consulates do in the US. As to spousal amounts some consulates want the same full amount for both and others offer a reduction. There is no consistency. You may have to wait until consulate web sites are up again or contact them. I suspect maybe they will be standardized. Then again maube that is wishing for too much.:-) soniadiaz.mx

I once ended up in a Puerto Vallarta hospital for overnight observation after face and tongue swollen with a food allergy. The culprit, the only food I had eaten that day, was KFC spicy chicken, including their nuclear green coleslaw. Upon further research I found many were cutting way back on MSG, but there was a pack of five additional chemicals which greatly enhanced the remaining MSG, but none of them had been tested for human consumption! The best source of unami flavor is ground, or whole, koji kin rice, fermented sweet rice. It is extremely popular with top chefs. Computer Guy will remember when we attended the sushi and knife sharpening demonstration, that he said he had brought 3 bags of koji kin for his chef friend in Guadalajara. I have starter in the freezer, but have not done anything with it yet. google koji kin recipes, you will surprised about the enthusiasm for this ingredient, and it shouldn't be difficult or expensive to import it. Last time I checked, Fuji foods, in Guadalajara did not have it.

I have posted before, this is an old principle "do unto others as you would have them do onto you". In Canada, under a system I paid into with taxes for over 60 years, immigrants, refugees, (legal or illegal) and workers from Mexico are given free medical and free education. There are a few crackpots who moan about this but the vast majority of Canadians are proud of this nation defining role. There are far more Mexicans enjoying their new life in Canada than ex- Canadians in Mexico. In the U.S.A. ,in another nation defining role, immigrants from Mexico, or any brown country, are treated with fear and disdain. Whole families are forever split up and destroyed. I don't know how Mexicans are medically treated, but I mentioned that the nearest Seguro Popular hospital charges 16,000 pesos for a caesarian delivery, the average cost in the U.S. is $50,000 U.S. No wonder the population is declining there and the U.S. leads the world in medical related personal bankruptcies. Also relying on a U.S. based insurer while living in Mexico is not good idea. They are genetically prone and trained to just say no as soon as a claim hits their desk. Then there is not a darn thing you can do about it.

Long story short, I have my Canadian grandmother here in Ajijic (she's been here for 45 yrs) and my dad is a Mexican from GDL. His family is quite large (he's 1 of 9), so I have a huge family here that I wasn't raised around. I returned this summer on vacation, fell in love with it and decided to stay to reconnect with my roots/culture. Don't get me wrong, I love the Ajijic/Chapala area and I'm grateful to be here, it's an entirely different world from my hometown of Sedona, AZ. But, I've been here about 7 months and it has been very difficult to meet people in Ajijic around my age and there aren't many opportunities for young professionals. But I enjoy it a lot and everyday it seems more like home, but most of my social life is in GDL now.

I believe lakeside7 was saying "I have noticed that most Mexicans (that he has encountered writing) write cursive style without joining the letters. That is what I always mean when I use the phrase "most Mexicans", as no one with common sense would ever think that a person had experienced the entire 180 million pop. Whatta ya think? Some people just gotta find something to criticize. Just let people have their opinion and just express yours if it is different, without trying to "put people down that you think are inferior to you". Learn to move on so you don't become consumed with hate. Whatta ya think?

My point is that nobody seems to know nothing about this situation. Even on this thread there are mounds of new government fine print that is contradictory itself and then this seems to be a situation that might change state to state.Your statement "I don't expect many retired foreigners to give a damn about Mexico's institutes or her problems" makes no sense in this context since I was only addressing those on this board who are almost all expats from somewhere else. I was just imparting what, in my extensive experience here including decades doing business, as well as a long time "retired foreigner" (and still conducting business) I have learned. Nothing is done until it is done here. It makes no sense to get your whities or panties in a kerfuffle over all of this typical barrage of government conflicting non-information information "press releases" and especially the know-all "experts" on this board. As my Doctor at Seguro Popular told me on Thursday when I brought this up as I was leaving, "Don't worry, nothing is changing here...hasta luego"

My experience has been that the Mexican govt "makes announcments" without doing the hard background work in advance to make sure that the facilities have adequate funding, regulations are clear, every contingency has been taken into account and planned for. Looks like one big PR stunt to me. People will suffer.

If you are at all in tune with your body, you will observe that some foods and beverages do not make it happy in much the same way the people with gluten sensitivities avoid breads and pasta. What you like and what's good for you are individual... and we are all unique.

Like other allergies, MSG is person-specific. For those of us sensitive to it, the effects are dramatic and miserable. My question is why use this stuff at all? It's not that much effort to use enough good spices to create excellent flavored food.

lakeside7, when I pay online (which I do almost every year), you do not receive a sticker. Just keep the receipt in the car and if asked for proof, show it to Vialidad or the Federales. I much prefer this method as the stickers (over time) tend to obscure your view. Cheers! Val Jones

Definitely a work in progress: https://www.informador.mx/jalisco/Hospital-Civil-advierte-en-dos-semanas-habra-crisis-en-atencion-ante-dudas-por-Insabi-20200114-0022.html

Except Intercasa/Spencer hasn't posted for 2020 yet so there may have been changes. MikeyO I sent you some links on the other web board.

I flew a small dog to Seattle on Volaris in the cabin...along with 7 In cargo for Bone Voyage. Volaris is very strict on paperwork, you have to sit in a window seat, not much room for your feet as the carrier will not go all the way under the seat in front of you. I was fortunate that the middle seat was empty so I moved over. The flight attendants are really good about letting you move.

I concur completely with Ezzie. FYI We always get a small refund in fees about 2 months after delivery.

https://lasillarota.com/amp/especialeslsr/desmantelar-el-seguro-popular-seria-catastrofico-julio-frenk-seguro-popular-salud-imss-issste/270610 Google Translation: "Dismantelling the Seguro Popular as proposed by President Andrés Manuel López Obrador and allocating the resources of the Fund for Protection against Catastrophic Expenses for other purposes would be "a catastrophe" for thousands of people receiving treatment for complex and expensive diseases, said Julio Frenk Mora, Former Secretary of Health. [creator of the Seguro Popular - Now president of the University of Miami] One effect, I think very positive of the Seguro Popular was that with the legislation that was passed in 2003, the tax obligation of the Mexican Federal State for each person who joins the Seguro Popular was put into federal law. Because it is a financial scheme, something that is very confusing, that people often think that it is the program to provide services and it is not, it is a mechanism that finances. That is a line of justice, because what we had before this legislation is that there was an IMSS law and one of the ISSSTE where the Federal State obligation for each affiliated person was stipulated." Now there is still some federal laws alloting federal tax money to states to provide healthcare to its' residents. There is no more Seguro Popular so the above mentioned tax obligation is gone plus there is federal law and constitutional law that 3.5 percent of the yearly GNP be used for socialized medicine. AMLO last year 2019 illegally reduced that to 2.5 percent, underfunded the Seguro Popular by almost 30 percent of the 2018 budget which caused turmoil in the delivery of services, laying off Dr.s, nurses, lab workers etc. and ordered just over 40 percent of the medicine requested in the previous administation's projected budget for 2019. With less laws governing and the ones still in place being ignored the obligated expenditures incorporated into the CDMX and state health services budget is now at the whim of the federal government. In states where there was federal obligations as stated above in the quoted piece there now is a federal government using the tax money as they wish and if they are inclined use it as a weapon to get state governments to be under the control of the party in power not automonous as before.

Is this the simplistic answer...The Federal Government say's This is the program, you provide the services and we will reimburse you....Problem, the Federal government has not lived up to its obligation in the past and therefore what are the guarantees it will in the future...also now there is more coverage and more financial exposure. Question; where is the federal government getting all the extra monies to fund this new program?

The name of the apartments is not "cow apartments" as it was pointed out, that the cow was merely a landmark at one time to find the lane where the apartments were is all.

This is the WORST of the worst! This was a fund raiser for something that benefits this entire community. A lot of volunteered hard work by many people for a couple hours of fun entertainment. THANK YOU TO ALL THAT CONTRIBUTED👌🌞

Oooooh. I'll just rush in and wait in ridiculous lines for a 65 peso discount. Now, I have to figure out what I'm going to spend that four bucks Canadian on.

As a sometime performer myself, I like to remember what a wise man once said: "Your 'boos' mean nothing, I've seen what makes you cheer."

Some posters just have a bad hair day once in a while. I dunno, I don't care. Not my problem. Some people see life as a half glass empty, others as a half glass full. I tend to think like an engineer, the glass is the wrong size so just pass the bottle and forget about the glass.

Perhaps she meant Talavera House in SAT (close to Paninos). We have made several purchases there (kitchen and bath tiles, a mural, 4 sinks, a toilet, as well as dishware and decorative pots, etc.). Poncho is always willing to find what you want; he goes to Dolores Hidalgo, etc. weekly and will take photos or bring samples for you. https://talaverashouse.com/

Those are beautiful !

If you have the sticker in your window they are less likely to stop you, waste your time and probably try and shake you down in the process. That's the value of the sticker.

I have very mixed feelings about the new system. There are 60 million poor Mexicans without health care. After seeing the gringos in Ecuador who moved there largely to use that "free" system & exploited it unfairly, I feel that it should be the responsibility of the American/Canadian population to provide for their own care, thru insurance or self-insuring. There simply isn't enough money to go around, and the Mexicans who have done without for so long should be the beneficiaries. I will probably get flamed for this comment, LOL. I say this after getting a quote yesterday for private health insurance. I am keeping my Medicare, BTW.

Has anyone noticed how so many Mexicans, especially women, have excellent cursive handwriting. Good penmanship as they used to say. I have completely lost my cursive skills, my scribbles are unreadable, even to myself. I have to block print now. We were taught penmanship in elementary school using special three lined books, and fountain pens. Even then I was not good at it and a teacher noted as such in a report card. The next parent teacher night my mother brought in a recent doctor's hand written prescription and asked if she could read any of it. She could not.

Thank you Newjersey..... I to am surprised that attendees did not mention the sad quality of the direction and production

All of this bla, bla, bla here is crazy. All we need to know is how this will affect us expats here lakeside. As far as I know, if you are registered with Seguro Popular (as I am) there are no changes; so please stop all of the fine print government press release blather. All is good... chill out...and enjoy this amazing place we have ended up at.

I have noticed that most Mexicans write cursive style without joining the letters

If you can't remember and try to make a joke of it,I suggest that you don't give useless advice to people who might actually be looking for those apartments.