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Visiting Ajijic next week - anyone else visiting or new to town?


ChiKnight

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Hi,

I will be in Ajijic from Jan. 29-Feb. 5 and wondering if anyone else will be visiting or recently relocated and would like to explore the area together?  I have been considering Ajijic as a retirement destination and am hoping to learn as much as I can during my visit.  Please post or reach out to me directly.  

Kevin K.  

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Rest assured you will not be the only newcomer visiting here right now, not by a long shot.  In my 11 years here I have never seen so many newbies moving here and visiting this area at once.  I am speaking as someone living in Chapala.  Chapala is being swarmed, the other afternoon I saw more gringos on the Chapala malecón than Mexicans and that had never happened before.  I can only imagine how it is in Ajijic.  But don't forget to check out Chapala too, its layout and affordabillity among other reasons may make it more rewarding than the other towns.  It all depends on what the expat needs if you prefer gringo bars and gringo restaurants in an over crowed expat town Ajijic is your town.  If you prefer to attempt to melt into the Mexican community surrounded by mostly flat, smooth and wide avenues and sidewalks with ample shopping and stores and not feel constantly bombarded by English being spoken then Chapala may be more of your cup of tea.

 

 

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Thank you! I appreciate the insights.  At this point I'm not exactly sure what I'm looking for but I'm hoping that "I will know it when I see it."  I will be looking into the best ways to tour Chapala tomorrow and hope to make it there next Wednesday.  Currently I'm living near downtown Chicago (talk about crowded) but certainly wouldn't mind a bit of peace and quite.  

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This region is extremely safe to walk day and night.  Violence and muggings are not common for expats here except unless you try to make extra income in the drug trade.  Those that do usually don't get out alive.  If you use basic common sense and don't drink and hang out with mafiosos you will have nothing to worry.  This area is much safer than most of the USA if you don't get stupid.

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So, you think within a year the cost of living Lakeside will be very similar to SMA? Mexican friends there for years have not been able to buy food there and have to go to other pueblos to buy twice a month. The Mexicans have been priced out. :(

 

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5 hours ago, ChiKnight said:

Thank you! I appreciate the insights.  At this point I'm not exactly sure what I'm looking for but I'm hoping that "I will know it when I see it."  I will be looking into the best ways to tour Chapala tomorrow and hope to make it there next Wednesday.  Currently I'm living near downtown Chicago (talk about crowded) but certainly wouldn't mind a bit of peace and quite.  

Chicago metropolitan with a population of about 8 million  can hardly be compared to  Lakeside,  but I bet it is as noisy as many areas in Chicago, dogs,dogs and more doggies 

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When we sold our home in Ajijic a couple years ago, the people who bought it valued its location in Ajijic centro because they wanted to walk everywhere, not wanting to own a car. Now that Pancho and Costco have stores just west of Ajijic, Ajijic remains a viable place to live. 

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I like Tom's suggestion of getting a realtor to show you around. I also continue to suggest renting for a minimum of a year. Certain patterns of behaviour along with likes and dislikes will become much more apparent to you during that time frame. Those patterns will dictate your way forward whether you continue to rent or decide to purchase. Only you can separate your wants from your needs. 

Depending on your age, you may also want to check out San Miguel de Allende. Lively Arts scene, Music, Theatre, Learning and Nightlife. Very different from Lakeside where they roll up the sidewalks around 8 pm.

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18 minutes ago, rwh05 said:

I didn't know there was a Costco west of Ajijic!  We still go to Guadalajara.

 

There is none. Those who don't want to go to Guadalajara use Lakeside Shopping Service, which takes your list on the net and buys what you want from Costco, then delivers to your door and charges a reasonable fee for their service. I've used them for years. Very satisfactory, and costs less in the end than driving to Guad and having the traffic to deal with.

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11 hours ago, lakeside7 said:

Chicago metropolitan with a population of about 8 million  can hardly be compared to  Lakeside,  but I bet it is as noisy as many areas in Chicago, dogs,dogs and more doggies 

Yeah, I bet there aren't many Roof Dogs in Chi Town.

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2 hours ago, Ferret said:

I like Tom's suggestion of getting a realtor to show you around. I also continue to suggest renting for a minimum of a year. Certain patterns of behaviour along with likes and dislikes will become much more apparent to you during that time frame. Those patterns will dictate your way forward whether you continue to rent or decide to purchase. Only you can separate your wants from your needs. 

Depending on your age, you may also want to check out San Miguel de Allende. Lively Arts scene, Music, Theatre, Learning and Nightlife. Very different from Lakeside where they roll up the sidewalks around 8 pm.

Very interesting!  I've actually heard similar things about Guadalajara.  Would you consider San Miguel de Allende to be superior to Guadalajara in terms of the things that you mentioned?

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15 hours ago, dichosalocura said:

This region is extremely safe to walk day and night.  Violence and muggings are not common for expats here except unless you try to make extra income in the drug trade.  Those that do usually don't get out alive.  If you use basic common sense and don't drink and hang out with mafiosos you will have nothing to worry.  This area is much safer than most of the USA if you don't get stupid.

Considering that I'm now in my 60's; selling drugs, drinking and hanging out with gang members is pretty far down the list of things I had in mind for my visit:):)

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22 minutes ago, ChiKnight said:

Very interesting!  I've actually heard similar things about Guadalajara.  Would you consider San Miguel de Allende to be superior to Guadalajara in terms of the things that you mentioned?

Guadalajara is a BIG city and comes with its own big city problems. Chicago 2022 population 8,901,000 and Guadalajara 2022 population 5,340,000

San Miguel de Allende is much smaller and more intimate (also a whole lot bigger than when we lived there). Just don't discount it 'til you've checked it out.  There are lots of pluses and minuses to all locations but, unfortunately, Lakeside ticks a lot more boxes for some people depending on where they are on this journey called life.

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I have friends who still live there and have not noticed a difference. I'm sure that there are those in SMA who say the same about Lakeside and Guadalajara (burning buses etc.)

Same in Toronto. Same in Vancouver. Unless you're a night owl, you'll probably never even know it exists for the most part. There's a seamy dark underbelly in most locations of the world.

'

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