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If I may, what made you decide to move to mexico? (
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A combination of many things—in no particular order.
· Although we moved to the Dallas area in the late 80s, we only returned a couple of years ago after an extended absence. None of our family lives here and all of our friends are reasonably mobile.
· Our son lives in Los Angeles and has not lived in the Dallas area since graduating from high school.
· None of our parents are living. My wife has a brother living in Ann Arbor. My sister died a few months ago. Out of all of our aunts and uncles, only two are left alive—one in the East and one on the West Coast. Their children (our cousins) live everywhere from Seattle to Florida All of this means that we have no central, family base and no particular reason to remain in Dallas.
· Neither one of us is yet eligible for Medicare. At your age, this likely won’t mean very much, but should you not be aware, now that we will no longer have corporate medical insurance, paying for private health insurance is very expensive. Private health insurance in Mexico is very much less expensive—and the health care system is quite good.
· We have both worked and lived extensively outside of the States. Including places where English was not the only, first, or even widely spoken language. And also in countries where the infrastructure is very much less advanced than Mexico. We are well past the, ‘this is not like the States’ view of the world. Pretty much we know what it is like to live in another country and another culture for extended periods of time.
· Additionally I lived and worked on and off in Venezuela, Argentina and a bit in Brazil over the last 15 years. All up, I probably spent over two years in South America. Now for sure Mexico in none of those countries, but I do have a modest bit of experience in living in Latin America.
· Mexico is close to the States. We will live less than 30 minutes from the Guadalajara international airport and that is only a couple of hours flight from LA. Basically this puts us a bit closer to LA than we are now (we live about 30 minutes from DFW, though we are very close to Love Field). And we are close enough to drive to the States should the occasion arise.
· We will live only about 45 minutes from Mexico’s second largest city. Pretty much every kind of cultural activity that you can imagine is available there. Also shopping when the need arises.
· But we will be living in a small town (pop. 15,000 or so). Ajijic is on the shores of Lake Chapala and while it has a large expatriate community (both Americans and Canadians) it is also the kind of place where there are horses outside the internet café on the town plaza. Ajijic has a fair number of good restaurants and such, though things tend to close up a bit early.
· The altitude is bit over 5,000 feet. Pretty much a perfect climate. Never too hot, never too cold.
· We should be able to get DSL to the new house. I’m also buying one of the new iMacs, so there will be plenty of time for the HTF—though I expect to be inactive for a bit as we get things set up. OTOH, I can always use one of the internet cafes in town.
· There is even a restaurant in town (
El Serape that servers pretty good Tex-Mex food. They advertise that the serve the food of the American Southwest and northern Mexico.
· I’ve already met the chef of what is no doubt the best restaurant in town and had some good conservations with him (Pedro is from Canada, trained in Bangkok and cooks how he feels).
There is probably more, but this should do for a start.
