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Lakeside increased population?


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22 hours ago, gringal said:

Oh Kevin....where did you get the idea that I am possessed of mucho wherewithal and could live anywhere?  That gave me the coffee spilling laugh of the week.  People who make a lot of assumptions without the facts often create fantasies about others.

Yes, I live in Ajijic near the lake. That is a fact, but the rest is mostly fantasy.

I'm not going to tell you what I paid for my house, but I will tell you that the only reason I could afford it ten years ago was: (1) 2008 was a bad year for real estate and (2) it is over a hundred years old and was assessed as a "tear down" by a local contractor. The lot is small and made smaller by illegal lot splits done by former owners.  To put it kindly, it has a LOT of "character".  When we were house hunting, we would have been glad to live in any of the lakeside towns, but we liked the location of the lot. Also, the house was large enough for our vocational activities.  However, it's been a real PITA at times.

There are some very nice places nearby with lavish grounds and beautiful homes, but that is not really typical of Ajijic. Most of my Mexican neighbors on this street have modest dwellings, and you'll see this more often than otherwise. 

If others are so unhappy with the problems and would prefer returning NOB, they are doing the right thing by leaving, and I wish them the best.  If the newcomers are bringing delusions in their suitcases, they won't stay long and won't mess up the traffic...much.

Sorry gringal if my comments came across as saying you were somehow "living the lifestyle of the rich and famous" when as you say that's far from being the case. 

What I meant to say - and I ought to have worded it better! - is that the kind of choice central Ajijic location you and many others posting here enjoy now comes at a seriously high price. Indeed that wasn't always the case; when I first started checking out this area in the early 2000's the lake was in bad shape and you couldn't give away properties here. Since then we've been through a big real estate boom in mid 2000's, a major bust in conjunction with the financial market crash in '08 and are now in the midst of yet another sustained boom that seems likely to go on for quite some time. 

Being able to access the malecon on foot and being easy walking distance from much of what one does everyday really does make for a great quality of life - and all the more so now when choosing to live even a couple of miles away from village central can mean spending much of one's time idling in traffic. Here's hoping that the local powers-that-be realize that failing to invest in basic infrastructure (from fixing roads to trash removal and - last not least - creating a viable mass transit system) undermines the quality of life the area is so rightly known for. Living life mostly on foot in the great weather here could be a viable option in most if not all of the villages here with a little effort and really ought not to be a rare privilege enjoyed only by those able to live in Chapala and Ajijic centro. 

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1 hour ago, Mainecoons said:

Move to California?  :D

Actually Austin will provide the left wing paradise you seek.  :)

 

 

The first suggestion is a good one. And hey, the way things are going maybe California will actually do what Texas merely threatens to do (with many of us so very disappointed that they don't have the courage of their convictions): secede from the union. 

The second....not so much, as Austin is just a tiny oasis of sanity in an ocean of redneck crazy. A happy medium for gypsyken might be New Mexico: deep blue politics, lots of places to practice his Spanish and a sweet border crossing at Santa Teresa if he can get the vehicle situation figured out. 

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All depends on what you call sane.  :D

I'm a UT graduate, Austin was a paradise in those days nearly 50 years ago.  Now just another traffic clogged overpopulated mess.

NM is pretty conservative socially.  I lived there 14 years and would go back if we decided to leave.  It has 4 seasons:  Summer, Fall, Winter and Wind.  :)

First suggest is the best.  Ranked dead lasts in quality of life, 40 percent of all U.S. welfare cases, homeless on the streets by the tens of thousands,  nearly half of all the dope users, what's not to like? :D

 

 

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Move to California?  You jest.:rolleyes:

We are probably going to see an influx of more "economic refugees" from the Golden State than from anywhere else. A lot of them have been to Mexico over the years; some already speak some Spanish.  Sticker shock in CA is everywhere; from housing and rental costs to restaurants. Our one trip NOB in the last 14 years, in 2010, gave us a flavor of the changes, and I hear it's much worse now.

If  any of you are so dissatisfied with the way things are here,  take an exploratory trip NOB to a place you THINK (after doing some research) you might want to live and check it out before cutting all your connections to Mexico.  In other words, the same advice most of us give to NOB people thinking of moving to Mexico, in reverse.

As for medical care, all I have to say is that the worst medical experiences of my life have been NOB, and the best, in Mexico. YMMV...and it does vary, widely.

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14 hours ago, gypsyken said:

I greatly appreciated the perceptive comments of Michael2595, but I empathize most strongly with the comments of RVGRINGO.........., and becoming a nonagenarian in May, I am concerned about what might happen to me here should I need emergency medical care.

First of all Ken, let me congratulate you for hitting that milestone in May!!!  Looking forward to hearing from you as you attain centenarian-hood.

And since you lived Lakeside until just recently I’m sure that you know that medical services are becoming more and more available there.  Don’t let the negative experience of one be your only reference to quality care there. The same thing can happen NOB.  But whatever you choose to do, including leaving Texas for ‘happier’ grounds, good luck!

 

 

 

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First, I want to add two points to my previous post: (1) I remember the high noon shoot-out on Madero in Chapala, the murders in Riberas, the kidnappings from the carretera, the kidnapping and beating of a neighbor in SAT, etc.  But having lived in Boston, New York, and Chicago, and having visited 68 countries on all six inhabited continents (and Antarctica, too), including Honduras, Guatemala, and South Africa, including Johannesburg,  the violence in Mexico had nothing whatever to do with my leaving or not returning to it.  (2) Among the inanities of the far-right-wing government of Texas is the promotion of guns, including encouraging teachers to carry them in their classrooms.

I am not looking for "a left-wing paradise," just for a place not as right-wing and backward as most of Texas is (e.g., teaching kids creationism instead of evolution, that the cause of the Civil War was state's rights, not slavery, etc.)  It' s not as bad in the heavily Hispanic Rio Grande Valley where I'm now living as it is in most other parts of the state; local governments there, for example, oppose the construction of a ridiculous and shameful wall that would, among  things, destroy the Santa Ana National Wildlife Refuge.  But nowhere in Texas can one escape the crazy right-wing antics of the governor, lieutenant governor, attorney general, Texas State Board of Education, etc.

Refusing to allow surgery to proceed until more money is produced, which happened to my friend in Puerto Vallarta, could not happen to a Medicare beneficiary in the U.S.  I agree that good medical care is available in Mexico, if one can afford to pay for it or afford to buy health insurance here.   (I had a cleaning and all needed dental work done this afternoon by the dentist I went to when I lived here.  Much cheaper, and much more convenient, while I am here, than going across the Rio Grande to have dental work done, as many people in the Rio Grande Valley of Texas do.

I spent last winter in Silver City, New Mexico, where I did find some non-far-right-wing people to socialize with.  And the proposal of the Republican governor's appointee to stop teaching evolution and climate change in the state's public schools was withdrawn because of the vociferous objection to it.  But it's a long drive from Silver City to Palomas, Mexico, for medications and dental work.                                                     

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21 minutes ago, gypsyken said:

First, I want to add two points to my previous post: (1) I remember the high noon shoot-out on Madero in Chapala, the murders in Riberas, the kidnappings from the carretera, the kidnapping and beating of a neighbor in SAT, etc.  But having lived in Boston, New York, and Chicago, and having visited 68 countries on all six inhabited continents (and Antarctica, too), including Honduras, Guatemala, and South Africa, including Johannesburg,  the violence in Mexico had nothing whatever to do with my leaving or not returning to it.  (2) Among the inanities of the far-right-wing government of Texas is the promotion of guns, including encouraging teachers to carry them in their classrooms.

I am not looking for "a left-wing paradise," just for a place not as right-wing and backward as most of Texas is (e.g., teaching kids creationism instead of evolution, that the cause of the Civil War was state's rights, not slavery, etc.)  It' s not as bad in the heavily Hispanic Rio Grande Valley where I'm now living as it is in most other parts of the state; local governments there, for example, oppose the construction of a ridiculous and shameful wall that would, among  things, destroy the Santa Ana National Wildlife Refuge.  But nowhere in Texas can one escape the crazy right-wing antics of the governor, lieutenant governor, attorney general, Texas State Board of Education, etc.

Refusing to allow surgery to proceed until more money is produced, which happened to my friend in Puerto Vallarta, could not happen to a Medicare beneficiary in the U.S.  I agree that good medical care is available in Mexico, if one can afford to pay for it or afford to buy health insurance here.   (I had a cleaning and all needed dental work done this afternoon by the dentist I went to when I lived here.  Much cheaper, and much more convenient, while I am here, than going across the Rio Grande to have dental work done, as many people in the Rio Grande Valley of Texas do.

I spent last winter in Silver City, New Mexico, where I did find some non-far-right-wing people to socialize with.  And the proposal of the Republican governor's appointee to stop teaching evolution and climate change in the state's public schools was withdrawn because of the vociferous objection to it.  But it's a long drive from Silver City to Palomas, Mexico, for medications and dental work.                                                     

Check out Bisbee. Liberal.  There's at least one RV park.  10 minute drive to border (Naco, Sonora).  Or 30 minute drive to cross at Douglas AZ/Agua Prieta, Sonora.  There are DDS and farmacias in each town, but far more in AP.

Bisbee is too cold for us in winter, but milder than Silver City.

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11 hours ago, gypsyken said:

But Bisbee, Bisbee Gal, is in virulently anti-immigrant, anti-Hispanic Arizona, where I definitely do not want to be.

It's an extremely liberal enclave in a conservative state.  Why stop at limiting your future locality of residence based on the state's political climate...wouldn't current federal policies put the entire US out of play for you?

 

 

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