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So, You're Thinking Of Moving Here To Paradise. eh?


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As a relative newcomer (almost 3 yrs), I have to say the Focus article was spot on... We are delighted with the warmth of the Mexican people and have adjusted to the cultural differences... We also see the warts that all places have but choose to overlook them... Mexico is no different from many of the countries in which we have lived...

Living at Lakeside is a pleasure and we expect to die here... In the interim, we are enjoying ourselves daily and looking forward to tomorrow... 

 

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There are several ways to end a relationship which is not serving your needs, whether it be with a person or a place.  One way is to say goodbye and simply end the contact.  Another is to trash them to anyone who will listen, or to post all your negative feelings about them on a public forum.  The latter seems pretty tacky and very unnecessary.

To take it a little further,  why suggest that the reasons others have said they are here for the culture are lying? Some people really are looking for a change of pace when they are free to retire.  There are as many varieties of motives for moving here as there are expats, and just about the same for those who are dissatisfied and leaving.

 

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We first came her in 2005 and this area met all our objectives for a retirement destination. Those factors were  the weather, proximity to a large city and the cultural, shopping venues, proximity to an International airport, reasonable distance to beach areas and an easy days drive to the US. No place is perfect but Ajijic fits most of the bill. Not sure why the author refers to piles of rotting garbage but ours is picked up 6 days a week.

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Those were our goals in 2001 too and we found out we do not go that much to Guadalajara, , International airport is irrelevant for us because we go to France and we do not go via the US so we have to go via Mexico anyways.., the weather is still a valid reason for us to be here. Garbage gets picked up twice a week and that is fine, same as in Chiapas.

 

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Five years after moving to Lakeside (and living in Joco, Chapala and Ajijic) I decided that the area seemed increasingly Northern, not just in services and resources, but in attitudes. Instead of crying I visited 6 other cities in Mexico then, like Goldilocks, winnowed out what mattered to me and chose Cuernavaca "City of Eternal Spring". How delighted I have been to find a small city that is clean, in good repair and with abundant resources. I know there must be lots of expats out there as they sometimes post to the local equivalent of this board, but I don't see them unless I so choose. There are very few NOB style restaurants and expats here speak Spanish, many fluently. So no tantrums in stores and there has been civility and reasonable expectations in all my experiences here. This place is not for everyone, I'm just reinforcing the point that if you're miserable where you are, please, change it.

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9 minutes ago, IMBurnen said:

Five years after moving to Lakeside (and living in Joco, Chapala and Ajijic) I decided that the area seemed increasingly Northern, not just in services and resources, but in attitudes. Instead of crying I visited 6 other cities in Mexico then, like Goldilocks, winnowed out what mattered to me and chose Cuernavaca "City of Eternal Spring". How delighted I have been to find a small city that is clean, in good repair and with abundant resources. I know there must be lots of expats out there as they sometimes post to the local equivalent of this board, but I don't see them unless I so choose. There are very few NOB style restaurants and expats here speak Spanish, many fluently. So no tantrums in stores and there has been civility and reasonable expectations in all my experiences here. This place is not for everyone, I'm just reinforcing the point that if you're miserable where you are, please, change it.

You should have not said the name of the town. You should have kept to yourself.  HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA

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On 5/20/2018 at 11:11 AM, RickS said:

I agree that the article is pretty much spot-on. 

I found this statement in the article to be especially true:  " (We northerners could learn something about what it means to be discreet, which has a slightly different meaning in Spanish, roughly translating into not saying everything that’s on your mind, and wrapping every discourse in courtesy regardless of how angry or justified you may think you are.)"

That's like diplomacy."Telling someone to go to Hell in a way that they look forward to the trip."

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I greatly enjoyed living in San Antonio Tlayacapan for 13 years, until circumstances forced me to return to the U.S. two years ago.  Before that, I had spent every winter somewhere in Mexico since 1993.  I still miss living at Lakeside, and I greatly enjoyed visiting there in March.  But the greatly increased congestion I experienced--not merely in traffic, but with more building going on everywhere--did not lead to my concluding that it is feasible for me to return.

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20 minutes ago, gypsyken said:

...I greatly enjoyed visiting there in March.  But the greatly increased congestion I experienced--not merely in traffic...

 

In March there is merely little traffic. Try coming in January.

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1 minute ago, RickS said:

The Poster said he had lived in San Antonio Tlayacapan for 13 years in the winter so is probably pretty familiar with the traffic in January....

Yes, back when she lived here. Things may have changed, no?

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3 minutes ago, RickS said:

HE, Gypsy KEN, is a (wonderful) guy and is pretty astute as to the ‘conditions’ at Lakeside in general....

Excuse me! He wasn't critical about any time but March. By comparison to January, it's a cakewalk.

Hey, why not come on down?

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Angus. I am asking not trying to correct. But as I remember the traffic situation did not start getting better until late March and got really good in April. I always go north in early May and don't come back until the rainy season in June. second question. How is the traffic right now? I'm guessing, pretty good? I'm thinking because of the heat that this is probably traffic wise the best time to be lakeside

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29 minutes ago, johanson said:

Angus. I am asking not trying to correct...How is the traffic right now?

 

A trip to Black Coffee today was a breeze both ways and has been for a month an a half.

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We love it here but having just returned from a week long trip to Mexico City (cento historico and Coyoacan) I can say that Guadalajara and the Lake Chapala areas are not nearly as clean or well maintained. We never saw dog poop on a sidewalk but saw plenty of hard working folks sweeping the streets.  Never saw anybody throwing their trash on the streets either. The roads were in much better condition than here also.  Chilangos tend to look down on Tapatios and not, I think, just because CDMX is six times bigger  than Guad.  They tend to see Guad as provincial in a lot of social ways  including how they take care of their own city and each other.  By the way, the sky was blue and their brown cloud was not as bad as Guad's either.  No place is perfect but this area is home for us and we would like to see it improve in a few ways that seem achieveable if you look at what other areas have done...even Mexico City which has made great strides in the face of much bigger challenges.  Alan

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