Thinking of Moving to Mexico?

I get a fair amount of mail wanting to know about expatriation to Mexico, whether it is a good idea, what it is like, and how to do it. I  have consequently flung together the following to  satisfy this curiosity. I hope it serves.

The upside:

Mexico is a friendly, courteous, flavorful country. It appeals to the mildly adventurous who are tired of the uniformity, political correctness, conformism, blandness, and growing authoritarianism of America. Many of the political hostilities that tear at the US do not exist here.  There is a sense of age, of having a past, in countless towns each with a distinctive church and different architecture. It is not a mass culture. Endless miles of undestroyed beaches line, for example, the Michoacán coast near here. Mexico costs less than the US. And, yes, you can  probably afford the services of a maid. If you are a single man, you will find the women more agreeable and much more feminine than American, and frequently beautiful. What CBS thinks.

The downside:

Contrary to web mythology, the Mexican constitution (here) guarantees the right to own a gun for protection on one’s home. There are restrictions on caliber and types of weapon. In English, here. Generally speaking, the gun has to stay in your home. A friend of mine recently bought a thirty-eight from another person and registered it without difficulty with the army in Guad, which is required. The necessary form, here. Hunting weapons and those for use in shooting clubs are legal but restricted, as are carry permits.

Nursing homes and assisted living:

These are criminally expensive in the United States and often not very good. You can do better here. Try Lakeside Care. If interested, note on the right the link to the PBS segment on Lakeside Care.

Resources:

Ajijic Law Immigration law office, run by Adriana Perez Flores and Kevin Paulini. Both speak English.

Chapala Web Board Local expat  site. You can register and ask questions.

Multiple Listing Service self-explanatory

The Lake Chapala Society in Ajijic serves as a social center for many expats. It has a remarkably good English library, the result of many decades of bequests. It also has some interesting people, for example high-end computer guys.

Them’s the basics.

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