Arrested Development - Ex-Pats Mexico

Looking to furnish a house in Joco next month. Need mainly living room, dinning room table and chairs and beds. Prefer rustico or informal

So you're bailing on Melaque?

In a word. Can always move back ... but as Shoe would say, just another dirty little beach town. After 5 years I might just visit like you do

But... OMG Sparks... Lake Chapala???? Surely you could find somewhere else to move with whatever you are looking for. Unless, of course, you are looking for a bunch of old English speaking ex-pats who have nothing better to do than drink and diss each other. Shoot, you can get that online. I'm actually kind of curious, what do you see as the attraction to that place? I've been there, I have friends there, I have never seen the attraction in living there. I think I'd rather move to Bakersfield.

Are you familiar with Jocotepec. Quite isolated from the Ajijic scene and the percentage of gringos seems to be similar to Melaque/Barra in the summer. The winter inundation of tourists will be significantly less i assume

Actually sparks, we are planning on moving back to the beach soon. I lived in Barra in the 70's, (72-79). My wife is from the area. I only moved to the city for family/work reasons or we'd have stayed. I did spend a lot of time here in GDL or other places inland though. But Barra is where I hung my hat. Back then I was the only gringo there for most of the year and even in the winter there weren't many foreigners. Nothing like nowadays.

Well I still have the two lots in Pinal. Jaluco is supposed to be less than a year from normalization. Guess I'll sit on them and see if they increse in value ... or maybe complete the project

I'm with Jonna on this one. Hell I live a short drive away and I avoid it like the plague. Friends and family have houses there and there is no end to the invitations. We usually make one short visit a year and sometimes that isn't even overnight. The south shore I like but it looks like its days are numbered too.

There may be more tourists in Mérida on any given day than up around Chapala but it is a city of over a million people. Immigration here says that there are 3000 FM3 and FM2's issued inside the city and that includes all nationalities. When I've been there most of the people in line were Cuban, there's a large Cuban population here. There are snowbirds of course, and they may only come in on a tourist visa. In my neighborhood Pedro? I know of one snowbird couple across the street, 2 nice guys, and supposedly there is another house that was sold to gringos but I haven't seen them or anyone at the house. There are more within blocks but not so you'd notice too much in a city this size.

So, ok, let's remove the higher prices and obnoxious loud foreigners in all the restaurants problem and just tell me what else there is there that is attractive? I've been there in the winter and it is cold at night, really bloody cold. Not sit outside but put on your fleece and cower in front of a heater type cold. It's dry and dusty most of the year, hot and smoky in the spring, my guess is that summer is the best time of year there but that's one time I haven't been there.

I'd live in Guadalajara in spite of the weather just because it is a vibrant, alive city but out there in the gringo suburbs? no way.

Ya know, Jonna, nobody has to hang out with ashholes, anywhere.

Whether it's Ajijic, Berkeley, Marin, Oakland, Santa Cruz, Jocotepec, Mexico City or San Miguel....there's people I want to know and people I avoid. The friends I like to spend time with don't begin to fit the profile of conservative geriatric geezers with a drinking problem. You probably have a complete range of humans down your way, too.

A couple of friends from San Miguel came here last year in the interests of writing a chapter about the area in a book on moving to Mexico. They arrived in the middle of the monsoons and headed for the Lake Chapala Sociiety, where, sure enough, their prejudices were promptly confirmed. Later, it was kinda fun pointing out the way the foreign population was actually represented in the two political parties. Surprise.

As far as the climate is concerned, we've talked before about what is "cold"....and just like the local Mexicans bundle up in coats and scarves when the temps go below 72 degress..........I'd be hugging an air conditioner in your parts. Viva the difference, and glad to hear you're happy where you are.