How My Opinion Of What It Would Be Like To Live In Mexico Changed After I Actually Came Here

I’d have hoped that, earlier than I lived in Mexico, if somebody would have requested me what it will be wish to dwell in Mexico, I’d have had the humility, good sense and / or knowledge to say “I don’t know.”

However I doubt it.

Really residing in a brand new place positive can change your opinion of what it theoretically could be wish to dwell there. Listed below are some examples from our expertise of really residing in Mexico.

Climate and Geography

Earlier than we moved right here, I’d have assumed that every one of Mexico was scorching and a lot of the vital or related components of it have been both on the seaside, or close to the seaside.

Why would I believe in any other case? In spite of everything, I had already been to Mexico. To Tijuana, to Ensenada, to Cabo, and to a Membership Med in Zihuatanejo. And all of them match the profile. Case closed, proper?

Then, in 2016, my spouse and I climbed into a big, white van together with our two canine and as lots of our possessions as we might stuff inside and drove via Mexico for near a 12 months. (Free download of our trip.). We began in Mexicali, on the California border, and wound up in Chetumal, a Mexican metropolis on the border with Belize. (We liked it.). Alongside the way in which, we drove 1,456 miles via simply the Mexican highlands a part of our journey, up within the mountains, although mile after mile of gently rolling farmland, nearly all of which is at about 5,000 ft in elevation.

Guadalajara is at 5,100 ft elevation (about the identical as Denver), Mexico Metropolis is at 7,350 ft elevation (larger than Park Metropolis, Utah), and Puebla is about the identical as Mexico Metropolis. They’ve what would appear to be an nearly never-ending provide of mountains and you may see snow on a few of them. However as a result of right here in Mexico we’re at a decrease latitude than Denver or Park Metropolis, it doesn’t get anyplace close to as chilly right here. The climate is extraordinarily gentle in Mexico, even in the summertime… that’s, in a lot of the locations the place most Mexicans really dwell. Who knew?

The Center Class

My expertise within the US with Mexicans who have been born in Mexico have been that they have been nearly all poor and labored in jobs like choosing crops, doing yard work and being a maid and / or nanny. So, with none thought in anyway, I simply kind of assumed that Mexico was a rustic populated with folks doing just about the identical jobs I noticed them do with just about the identical sum of money as they’d in Los Angeles.

After all, I used to be improper on this as effectively.

If you drive in Guadalajara (close to the place we spend most of our time), you’ll see vehicles. A number of vehicles. And in any metropolis we visited throughout our prolonged street journey, we noticed a number of shiny new automobile dealerships. Amongst them have been Audi, Mercedes, and BMW, even within the smaller cities. As you go searching if you find yourself caught in site visitors in Guadalajara, the kinds of vehicles and the ages of the vehicles you see should not that a lot completely different from what you’d anticipate when wanting round and being caught in site visitors in Los Angeles. The expertise in nearly each approach is about the identical, sadly.

How might all these gardeners and berry-pickers afford all these vehicles? The reply is that there are thousands and thousands of Mexicans who should not minimum-wage gardeners and berry-pickers. Whereas it’s true that the Gross Nationwide Product per particular person within the US is round seven instances larger than it’s in Mexico, half (however not all) of that discrepancy is mitigated by how a lot much less it prices to dwell in Mexico.

From what I can see, whereas after all the share isn’t as excessive in Mexico as it’s within the US, a number of Mexicans have quantity of disposable revenue to spend. Simply ask the administration of Costco, which might be making a fortune as a result of it was good sufficient to open right here. The final time I went to one of many a number of Costcos we have now right here within the Guadalajara space, I might barely discover a spot within the car parking zone 80 yards from the doorway. The doorway was thick with folks going out and in and had adjoining to it most likely the most important assortment of purchasing carts I had ever seen in a single place, lined up in gently curved strains and able to go. It seemed to me as if, on that single day, hundreds and hundreds of Mexicans have been hauling away thousands and thousands and thousands and thousands of {dollars} of shopper items… all then piled into their good vehicles which they then drove away in close to good climate.

Medical and Dental Care

One of many predominant explanation why many individuals refuse to maneuver to Mexico is as a result of they consider that they’ll’t get good medical or dental care right here. I used to be amongst those that have been a minimum of have been uncertain.

Ha!

Now I do know that the associated fee and high quality of the medical and dental care right here is likely one of the predominant causes to transfer to Mexico.

Undoubtedly, the medical and dental care we’ve obtained right here in Mexico is way superior to what we obtained within the US in the previous few years earlier than we left. It’s not even a detailed name. Listed below are some variations:

• The time your docs and dentists spend with you in Mexico. A typical physician’s appointment will final a minimum of half-hour and lots of instances, be an hour. You aren’t rushed in any approach in anyway. Versus the everyday physician go to within the US, you might be so relaxed throughout your go to right here in Mexico you could even bear in mind to let the physician know the total extent of your points, with no need to put in writing them down forward of time in order that in your rush and anxiousness, you don’t neglect. Think about that!
• My medical insurance coverage right here in Mexico prices about 15% of what it will price within the US, and my protection right here is a lot better. In the event you had no insurance coverage or didn’t need to hassle to file a declare, you’ll pay the equal of about USD $30 for a go to, usually, and that’s for the very best finish service. There’s a physician I go to sometimes close to my house on Lake Chapala who fees both the equal of about USD $1 or nothing in any respect for an workplace go to, so long as you purchase the medication from the pharmacy subsequent door. Once I visited just lately for an ear an infection, the whole price for the go to and medication was so small I forgot the quantity; maybe $3.50 or so. As one other instance, I obtained a root canal for about 20% of the price of what it will be within the US, and it was an important job.
• Apart from probably the most extraordinarily trendy gear (of which I’d know nothing, as a result of I’ve by no means wanted it), the medical and dental gear right here in Mexico is each bit as trendy as what you’d expertise within the US. I discovered that I’d surrender nothing right here.
• They make housecalls right here in Mexico. (No elaboration or comparability to the US is required from me; you may make your personal.)

The Mexican Folks in Normal

Whereas I at all times knew that one at all times must have a number of caveats when making any generalization a few group of individuals, my view of the Mexican folks usually was shaped by the place I lived in Southern California and by these areas in Southern California the place the Mexican folks lived, which definitely had extra gangs than the place I lived and have been definitely extra harmful. My “earlier than coming to Mexico view” was that the Mexican folks could also be a bit aggressive. (From what I’m advised, gang members can are usually a bit aggressive, particularly for those who wander at evening into one in every of their neighborhoods, for instance, in East Los Angeles.)

After all, because it pertains to really residing in most locations in Mexico, I used to be improper on this one as effectively. As a normal rule, the Mexican folks in Mexico are literally a lot much less aggressive, a lot much less confrontational and gentler not solely than something I might

think about in regards to the Mexicans within the US but additionally than my common non-Mexican neighbor residing within the US. The Mexicans I do know right here in Mexico are usually beautiful people who find themselves shut with their households and are excellent buddies.

They’re additionally very open to creating new, North of the Border American buddies… irrespective of how foolish our earlier misconceptions.