pappysmarket Posted December 8, 2015 Report Share Posted December 8, 2015 Camel and tents huh - I had to look that one up. My camel tent memory is in reference to a off color joke. It begins with a new recruit to the Foreign Legion, and the CO tells him "if you ever get lonely, remember there is always Sheba the camel", he nods to a rickety old creature. It all ends badly with the CO yelling at the recruit "You $%&/(), the camel is to ride into town to the brothel!". No, nothing like that,ouch! Keep looking and use nose instead of head and you should find it. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
El Saltos Posted December 9, 2015 Report Share Posted December 9, 2015 Also, look for the one about the camel and the Sphinx. It's not off-color and is very funny. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
geeser Posted December 9, 2015 Report Share Posted December 9, 2015 From Al Berca " Peso rent is difficult to find in most places and usually means a Mexican landlord. Rent in dollars is really not a bad idea." ( as a side note, I could use some advice on how to cut/ paste the previous posts) Actually rent in dollars can be a very bad idea and extremely unfair to locals and non Americans. This is Mexico and transactions in every walk of life should be based in the local currency. The Canadian dollar and Mexican peso ( and many others ) are being hammered by the non reality but complex currency world which has inflated the US Dollar. Which of course means all these non Americans pay a substantial increase in travel costs in the USA. Accepted as a fact of life and one can make that a part of their decision making to visit the US or not. However here we are in Mexico where we non Americans are faced with this spill over of a US dollar base in house rentals , house purchases and even in a lot of the local Bed y Breakfast establishments. there is absolutely no excuse for this other than greed. You could have argued years ago some marketing point of consumer convenience but modern technology has tools that make converting form a peso base price, easy. The fact of how this relates to the topic is obvious, a lot of people's annual costs are negatively affected by this inappropriate use of a foreign currency. Currently an average rent of $1200 us becomes $ 1600 Canadian. An $80.00 B & B night becomes $105.00. Cdn. For the house seller, you have to know by listing in US fund as the Base price, your potential Canadian market just dried up. It's time this practise ended. Many houses here in desirable areas sold by gringos and by Mexicans are priced in USD. If you bought one of these and need to rent it you would probably have to price the rent in USD to get the proper return. You could still accept the rent paid in equilivent pesos if both renter and owner agreed. If you want to insist that all transactions here should be priced in pesos you'd have to start with the house's selling price. Additionally many people here have their retirement tied up in USD. the sure have an easier time knowing what house they can afford to rent if they know the price is locked in with a USD agreement. Unfortunately the dollar will strenghten even more when they raise the FED rate. It is just the best fake fiat currency in a bad bin. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Al Berca Posted December 9, 2015 Report Share Posted December 9, 2015 Meanwhile, about that camel. Does she have a sister? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ryanv Posted December 9, 2015 Report Share Posted December 9, 2015 That's very low rent if it includes all utilities....TV, internet, electricity, landline or cell phone, gas for cooking??? These make up a large part of my budget. No entry for health insurance either on your list. If you self-pay surely you've seen a doctor or dentist or had a medical test or purchased medications (if you're avg. age of most expats). Even if you haven't yet, you need to budget for it as sooner or later you'll get sick...guaranteed! Health insurance is a major expense as I've aged but glad I've had it as I've had some big claims. No entry for car/car insurance, which the majority of expats here own. While you may not have a car, most will. And what about immigration costs for visas (these have gone up quite a bit). I've gone Permanente now, but many haven't and pay/renew annually. I own my home and my expenses run about 3K a month (a widower now). And I don't live the high life. Hello bmwhite1948, Our lifestyle was pretty atypical of the area. We were on a year+ long trip through South American and Mexico when we passed through. The rent did include electricity, landline, internet and cooking gas. I'm not sure about the TV as we never turned it on. A cell phone was not included, but we were using a cellphone over wifi system through google that doesn't cost anything. We were in a location north of the Carretera on Colon, and I suspect that dropped our rent price. We are quite a bit younger than the average age of expats (potentially half), and didn't have any medical appointments during that month. We do have an insurance plan through World Nomads that's a more general travel/health insurance plan than a traditional plan. The price of the travel insurance was not included in the ~1400 dollars, but I also suspect that insurance though a local provider will be pretty reasonable for our stay in 2016. We didn't have a car, car insurance, etc during our stay. We walked almost everywhere (while carrying groceries when needed), and took the bus occasionally. We were on the standard 180 day tourist visa during our stay, and didn't have any fees associated with it. I'll be on Permanente status when we return next year. Outside of the health insurance about the only thing I can think of that wasn't in the tally was 1 restaurant visit that a friend generously treated us to. I expect our expenses will increase a bit during our longer stay next year, but am hoping to avoid a car for at least one more year to help with that. We're both pretty happy with the area, and without a doubt are able to spend quite a bit less than others in the area due to our mobility. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
slainte39 Posted December 9, 2015 Report Share Posted December 9, 2015 This is Mexico and transactions in every walk of life should be based in the local currency. This is kind of laughable when Mexico's biggest export, petroleum, is always priced in USD, no matter who they sell it to. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ComputerGuy Posted December 9, 2015 Report Share Posted December 9, 2015 I respectfully disagree. Oil sales are world commodities, and everything on the world trade market is in U.S. currency. We're talking about living locally. In Canada, we don't give you a choice: it's Canadian money or none. We don't list houses in U.S., or anything else. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
CeeZee Posted December 9, 2015 Report Share Posted December 9, 2015 This is kind of laughable when Mexico's biggest export, petroleum, is always priced in USD, no matter who they sell it to. That has to be one of the most rediculous ( read asinine) statements so far. Although the " if you don't like the price don't rent" comment from the obviously NIMBY American was a close second. As I take these forums merely as levity and not factual, I had the wonderful opportunity to be hosting a dinner party tonight with some American and Canadian friends and for entertainment we read thru the comments in this thread so far. And with copious amounts of wine infused and arms length observations here are our guests comments : A) the original poster must think what the hell happened here, who are these $%&/()s, all I wanted to know was a rough idea of what general annual costs of living are in the Chapala area. Like entering a pool of underfed piranhas . how much easier it is to share difference of opinions when you are face to face rather than hidden behind the internet screen C) that there was at least 1 if not 2 voices of reason in the thread of posts totally ignored by the masses D) how can anyone with 5-10 Thousand posts have an ounce of credibility as with the time spent reading and replying to various forums, then they have no time left to experience life and thus no experiences to be able to answer with any real knowledge. E) and all of us agreed ( after a late night tequila shooter) , that the only sane people are the locals who tolerate us to some degree, play music when they want ( good for them) , suffer thru our " we know what's better for you comments" and at the same time watch as we will price our homes in American but still expect you to charge Mexican prices for your maid and gardening services, your restaurants, your local grocery stores. We will sign up for our Mexican senior cards for discounts and bitch when it doesn't apply to everything we want it to. Our mandate will be : Senior Mexican, how dare you love and live you life in a way that doesn't fit what We want! Who do you think you are ! Our currency is the American dollar and too bad if you don't like that. You don't have to rent or buy, in fact why are you here, move! F) in the end we all agreed ( although my buddy from the great state of Washington, needed an extra shooter to help him focus ) , that the only value of this forum was as a drinking game entertainment. The 10 of us were throughly entertained and pleased. Thanks for the good time. Oh and Washington bet me there will be at least 20 indignant responses. I said couldn't be more than 5 . Now on to hockey........ Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
slainte39 Posted December 9, 2015 Report Share Posted December 9, 2015 My comment was meant to be asinine. Glad you picked up on it so quickly, but you had some help with your lucidity. LOL I don't even know what a "dollar" looks like as when I go anywhere they make me use this strange money called "euros". I'm sure anyone with a basic math education will get it sorted. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
slainte39 Posted December 9, 2015 Report Share Posted December 9, 2015 I respectfully disagree. Oil sales are world commodities, and everything on the world trade market is in U.S. currency. We're talking about living locally. In Canada, we don't give you a choice: it's Canadian money or none. We don't list houses in U.S., or anything else. Just a debate point.. with all the foreigners who own real estate here, it is sort of a "world commodity". Before ATM's became so popular most foreigners, besides the Americans, came here packing US dollars. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
lcscats Posted December 9, 2015 Report Share Posted December 9, 2015 We find we spend more money traveling up north and it stretches much farther traveling down here. Your sense of taste and habits determine the cost of travel and it is a big variable for expats. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
gringal Posted December 9, 2015 Report Share Posted December 9, 2015 My comment was meant to be asinine. Glad you picked up on it so quickly, but you had some help with your lucidity. LOL I don't even know what a "dollar" looks like as when I go anywhere they make me use this strange money called "euros". I'm sure anyone with a basic math education will get it sorted. Re CeeZee's rant: It's wondrous to see how the sense of superiority increases in direct proportion to the amount of alcohol consumed. That's where the "breathalyzer" keyboard attachment would come into play: the thing that locks the "send" button long enough for the poster to reach the edge of reason. The last time someone wanted to give me a dollar check on a U.S. account, it was part of a con job. No gracias. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Al Berca Posted December 9, 2015 Report Share Posted December 9, 2015 Kudos to CeeZee on one of the funniest, yet " right on" responses I have ever seen on this board. Nailed it. Still laughing. Thank you. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
cbviajero Posted December 9, 2015 Report Share Posted December 9, 2015 When I see something here priced in dollars,rent or real estate,it sends up a red flag...gringo prices. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
CHILLIN Posted December 9, 2015 Report Share Posted December 9, 2015 Flauting your social superiority by hosting a dinner party where reading the internet is the entertainment - yuk! Slamming Tequila "shots" like the 1980's instead of sipping some good stuff - double yuk! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
gringal Posted December 9, 2015 Report Share Posted December 9, 2015 When I see something here priced in dollars,rent or real estate,it sends up a red flag...gringo prices. Most of the prices quoted in the local real estate magazine are in dollars; fewer in pesos. The Mexicans aren't selling cheap, either, based on what's in there. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
cbviajero Posted December 9, 2015 Report Share Posted December 9, 2015 When I see something here priced in dollars,rent or real estate,it sends up a red flag...gringo prices. Most of the prices quoted in the local real estate magazine are in dollars; fewer in pesos. The Mexicans aren't selling cheap, either, based on what's in there. I'm not saying that's always the case,it's just a perception I have and it could be wrong. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
moderator-2 Posted December 9, 2015 Report Share Posted December 9, 2015 When a factual posting is called "assinine" and some see humor in insults of this board and its members "funny" it is time to bring the thread to a close. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Recommended Posts
Archived
This topic is now archived and is closed to further replies.