Archive for November, 2006
Endless lines, headaches and red-tape?
Well, maybe not so much.
We’ve put a lot of time and energy into explaining the procedure and requirements for getting and keeping the proper paperwork, permits, visas and immigrations for living and staying in Mexico. We have to constantly keep current our pages on Visas and Immigration, because rules change, but also because it is one of the main things we do. So we are learning about it all the time, too, and every advantage or shortcut we find gets passed on to our customers. It seems one of the most popular services our Concierge provides is keeping the headaches and redtape of visa applications and procedures to a minimum.
Of course, perceptions also change. We find that a lot of the readers we help with their initial paperwork are a lot more comfortable when it comes to renewing or upgrading their visas and part of the reason is that the Mexican immigration authorities are by and large easy-going and happy to help.
That’s the experience reported by You Know Me, in his Mérida Xalapa based blog, Ruminations of an Expatriate. We encourage you to read the whole post for some reassurance that things are not so banana republic at all anymore. As YKE puts it:
Tuesday I returned to the office with all of the required paperwork and checked in with the very pleasant security guard. When I entered the office there was one woman seated behind a desk assisting a gringa. Wihin five minutes I was seated in front of the desk, the woman looked over the paperwork I submitted, filled out a couple of forms, took my FM3 visa, and instructed me to return the following Monday to retrieve my updated FM 3. I was in and out in twenty minutes.
Of course, it’s that first visa that sends most people into anxiety, and for that our Concierge has plenty of experience and can assist you with any and all questions and with doing the actual paperwork. After that, we’ll still be here, but you are not entering into a dependency situation where you’ll find yourself at the mercy of corrupt, cigar-smoking officials. On the contrary, things get better and better and we’re sure your peace of mind will only improve as each wrinkle is smoothed.
November 30th, 2006
The National Silver Fair, being held in Taxco, Guerrero, through this coming Sunday, December 3, 2006, is one of the most important and prestigious events for silver craftsmen the world over. The fair has been held since 1973, and is capped by the awarding of National Silversmith Award to the country’s finest silversmith. Dancing, musical performances and the crowning of the Silver Fair Queen in the Plaza Borda make it an event nearly as unforgettable as Taxco itself. With more than 16,000 silver shops and vendors in the city, the exhibits are probably more than one person can take in. And terrific bargains are not out of the question. Of course, any visit to Taxco pays off simply in witnessing the incredible tenacity and fortitude of the beautiful town clinging to the Mexican mountains.
For a good history of silver in the region and the city, start with Floramex’s page. They link further to the fascinating Spratling Silver Reference pages which are designed for collectors and anyone else who gets bit by the Mexican silver bug. The site obsessively explores many of aspects of the people, industry and art of silversmithing and includes an extensive database of works to emerge from the Taxco’s most famous workshop.
November 29th, 2006
To people who’ve visited Europe and Asia, one of the comforting things about Mexico is that basic body language in Mexico is very similar to that in the states or in Canada. People cross the street the same and sit on a park bench just like we would and we don’t have to wonder the way we might in, say, Vienna. But personal space is a whole different matter. Mexicans think nothing of pushing into a crowded bus, or sitting down right next to you in the bank.
Billie from Billieblog has written the kind of post that the editors would like to paste word for word onto our Living in Mexico pages.
At first I could barely stand to stay in the Ramirez Mercado long enough to shop. I felt…..well, I’m not sure what I felt, except I just had to get out of there. Now I can shop and tolerate being touched and reached around and over but I still try of maintain some sliver of space and there is no way I can reach over or around someone else who is picking out tomatoes.
That’s the experience of plenty of people. And often we think that Mexico is just plain overcrowded and that’s why people don’t mind smashing together. But let’s face it, part of the reason we love Mexico is because there is so much wide open space so that argument hardly holds up. This nice little read on Nonverbal Communications in Mexico by Sue Carlson explains some of the subtleties and differences that are important for foreigners, especially those prone to feelings of claustrophobia. Turns out, Mexico is a “High Contact” society. That means people are much more physical generally with one another, and it also means you can send some confusing signals if your not careful. Carlson also tackles gestures, color cues and fashion, primarily for the business reader.
For our purposes, Billie’s blog entry goes a long way toward enunciating what a lot of us experience. “…here we are in Mexico, happy as can be in a small house smack up against the house next door, right on the street. We know what our neighbors up and down the street are doing and they know what we are doing.” Mexico offers a level of comfort, comfort with itself, that will surprise foreigners, but not for long. And once we get comfortable with that fact, there is no reason we can’t move right into the same comfort, the interaction, the sense of close community. All of the pressing and passing is soon no more distracting than someone’s over-long reach at the dinner-table. Anyone need more salsa?
(thanks and many compliments.)
November 28th, 2006
Updated Dec 28
Numerous readers have inquired about the locations and amenities of English language libraries and we are pleased to report that their number has remained stable and may even be growing. In general, it is the locations with the largest populations of English speaking residents that demand such libraries.
Merida English Library is the best known, perhaps due in some measure to their web presence. They serve as a community center and support themselves in part by organizing house & garden tours and tours of local artists’ studios in and around Mérida. See the website for more details.
Of course, with all the folks from abroad flocking to Lake Chapala and environs, the Lake Chapala Society runs an impressive operation with 25,000 electronically cataloged volumes. Part of the society, the LCS Library is also tuned in with the comings and goings of the community, and according to the website they have a regular inflow of new books and materials
For those closer to Cuernavaca, St. Michael´s Library is the little white house at the rear of St. Michael’s Episcopal Church, Calle Minerva # 1. They boast the largest collection of English books and magazines in the area and also lend movies and music recordings. The library itself doesn’t have a website, but as the church is something of a hub for English speaking activities in the Cuernavaca area, it frequently hosts events listed on ClickonCuernavaca, one of the most informative local websites.
Finally, way across the country, The Mazatlan Membership Library serves the Pearl of the Pacific with thousands of English books as well as lots of Spanish volumes. Like the other libraries above, they survive totally on membership fees and donations and the sale of surplus books, so even if you are just visiting, a visit is always worthwhile.
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And San Miguel Allende ? Home to the Biblioteca Pública de San Miguel de Allende, a collection of several thousand books, periodicals and newspapers, and also sharing home with the local community center, and offering a complete computer center. See their website for all the details.
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Late update brings us the cheerful website of the Oaxaca Lending Library.
November 27th, 2006
We’re working now on adding Veracruz to our list of Featured Locations. Part of what is making the job fun and easy is that the area, including many of the surrounding small towns, is populated by some of Mexico’s most enthusiastic new foreign residents. Among them are plenty of prolific bloggers. The photo above is from the extensive (225 photos) and beautiful collection, Xalapa, Xico, Pacho Nuevo, Veracruz posted by LTG on Flickr. Her collection should give you a quick, but in-depth idea of the fantastic diversity and different, intermingled cultures and ways of life that are found through-out this stunning region.
Though it is just for Premier members, we’ll give you a peek at what our list of Up and Coming Locations has to say about Veracruz.
Just five hours by bus or car from Mexico City, this beautiful city shines from the magnificent Puerto de Veracruz on the Gulf of Mexico. With great attractions that combine colonial architecture, beautiful buildings and stunning beaches, and the wonderful warm weather, Veracruz is world famous and worth every moment. In the five centuries since it was founded, Veracruz has remained the most important port in the country, an open door connecting Mexico with all the outside world. As such, it is one of Mexico’s most vibrant cultural centers with a Cuban, Caribbean and Spanish blend of costume, food, music and dance, all uniquely Mexican and Vericruzano. World-class services, amenities and housing make it a preferred stop for visitors and retirees.
We’re also working on a way to highlight some of the most exciting, exotic and retiree-friendly towns surrounding the city of Veracruz, and extending into the lush mountains that cover so much of the state of Veracruz. That list will include the towns named above and quite a few others. So LTG’s photos can paint a fantastic introductory panorama of what we’ll be working on next. Stay tuned !
November 26th, 2006
Sometimes it’s a little hard to imagine just how spectacular is life along Mexico’s Pacific coast. We write all the time about the great ocean related sports available, and sometimes we’re wondering who’s got time to actually take them up. For sheer spectacle though, Banderas News offered great news earlier this week. The J24 World Championships will be held in Puerto Vallarta March 4th to 9th, 2007. One of the yachting worlds most accessible and beautiful competitions and maybe, one more reason to get there while it is still freezing up north? According to the Banderas News piece:
The J24 is a fiberglass sailboat 24 feet (7.32 meters) long, with a beam of 9 feet (2.70 meters). These measurements were determined by the size of the garage attached to the family house of Rodney Johnstone, who is the creator of the J24. On May 15, 1976, Ragtime, the first J24 sailboat touched water. The J24 is usually sailed with a crew of 4 or 5 sailors.
For those of you who know all this and just want to sail yourselves, 1st Mate, at Bliss in San Carlos has been keeping up some excellent blog posts on the ins and outs of keeping a boat after buying that dream house. 1st Mate hails from San Carlos a little further up the coast, and her posts offer a wealth of insight on home-owning, boat-keeping and most recently, some excellent research on the current state of desalinization and alternative fuels in Mexico.
November 24th, 2006
There are more people than ever before celebrating Thanksgiving in Mexico this year. Some of them may have a dinner on Friday night because it’s not really a holiday here. Others have just heard about it from their gringo friends and like the idea. But most of them are people who’ve brought the tradition with them to Mexico where they’ve retired or come seeking a better and more fulfilling life.
The staff at MexRetire.com wish all of them, and you especially, a terrific Thanksgiving and a blessed holiday season. We’re happy to be able to share so many success stories, so many lives changed, and so much enthusiasm for the holidays, for the country and for the togetherness that we feel more strongly than ever before.
Just about anyone who experiences Thanksgiving for the first time as an adult - be they visitors to the US or Canada, or guests at the homes of our retirees here in Mexico – experience the day as one of uncompromised enjoyment with family and friends. There is almost no buying and selling, no pressure to perform, a big dinner and talking, maybe some music and laughter. And we hear all the time how impressed people around the world are with this holiday, more honorable and easily understandable than perhaps anything else we do.
We are thankful too, that so many good friends and family members are gathering around us this year, bringing their new, though very old tradition across the border. We know many with us here are learning new and totally different and delicious ways of preparing pavo (turkey) with their new Mexican neighbors. May we suggest that you whip up some green mole or pipian sauce to go with the leftovers? Pipian is an ancient dish that goes very well with turkey and will undoubtedly have your Friday or Saturday turkey leftovers standing at attention. One of our favorite and simple recipes is here. We promise it will send an exciting flavor through the rest of your weekend.
We hope you will visit www.MexRetire.com again and let us know your interests and your hopes for next year, or for the rest of the hoildays. With thanks for all the kind words we’ve received, for all the confused inquiries and excited hopes we’ve helped with, we’ve been grateful throughout the past year to hear from all of you.
November 23rd, 2006
We’re very pleased to announce that we’ve spent the past few weeks doing a complete overhaul of the RV and Camping page, part of the “Getting Around” Section at MexRetire.com. Mexico is a whole different ball game for RVers, but we’ve made friends with tons of people who just can’t seem to get enough of the Mexican landscape, the tight corners in the mountains and the unique opportunities for not only adventure, but also for community, togetherness, and experiencing Mexico while taking a part of home with you.
One of the blogs we’ve been reading a lot lately is from Gary at On the Road with Gary, who drove his RV to the Lake Chapala area and has been telling stories, good stories, from all along his journey from the states. His voice is reassuring and might give you a good idea of the lifestyle and attitude that makes Mexico so relaxing. The photos can’t be beat either.
And though it’s infrequently updated, we’d also like to recommend the Blog at Mexico On the Road In. Bill and Dot Bell, who blog with and without their RV companions at spots all over the internet offer some lots of really good advice tailored to specific audiences and agendas. All of it is very solid. On the Road In, the website that preceded the blog, concentrates on offering detailed road-logs of trips throughout Mexico. It’s a commercial site but offers a wealth of information on the highways and backroads. Finally, for those who REALLY want to do their homework, David Eidall’s RVing Mexico; a Mini-Series is the most thorough internet site we’ve seen. It’s text heavy, no pretty pictures, but it’s worth reading if you really want to cover every angle from shopping and parking to venturing even further south to Central America.
November 22nd, 2006
We’re working on adding more information on Real Estate in Playa del Carmen, buying condos or houses in and around Playa del Carmen and information for people hoping to move to Playa del Carmen. In the meantime, check MexRetire.com for more information, and for the most wonderful properties in Playa del Carmen, check MexLiving.com.
November 22nd, 2006
We’re working on adding more information on Real Estate in Morelia, buying condos or houses in Morelia and information for people hoping to move to Morelia. In the meantime, check MexRetire.com for more information, and for the most wonderful properties in Morelia, check MexLiving.com.
November 22nd, 2006
Inland Mexico Golf Courses shine just as Bright as those on the coast.
Inland Mexico may be one the world’s most under-appreciated golf destinations. All the glory goes to sites along the Pacific and Baja California. And well, they are glorious golf courses lets face it. But the high altitudes and year-round moderate temperatures make inland golfing that much more attractive and always bearable for those who aren’t so privy to heat. Via the Guadalajara blog, we’ve been pointed to this very nice list of golf courses in the greater Guadalajara area. The Guadalajara and Atlas country clubs are both favorites with the locals, and folks further south have been praising the links at Chapala Country Club for years. But with no less 8 golf course around Guadalajara it’s worth a little extra time figuring out just which suits your tastes perfectly. We’re planning visits to both Las Cañadas Country Club and to El Palomar Country Club just to see how things play out there and we would love to hear from readers in the area if they have a preference or a story to tell.
November 21st, 2006
We’re working on adding more information on Real Estate in Puerto Escondido, buying condos or houses in Puerto Escondido and information for people hoping to move to Puerto Escondido. In the meantime, check MexRetire.com for more information, and for the most wonderful properties in Puerto Escondido, check MexLiving.com.
November 21st, 2006
We’re working on adding more information on Real Estate in La Paz, buying houses in La Paz and information for people hoping to move to La Paz. In the meantime, check MexRetire.com for more information, and for the most wonderful properties in La Paz, check MexLiving.com.
November 20th, 2006
We’re working on adding more information on Real Estate in Ixtapa & Zihuatanejo, buying houses in Ixtapa & Zihuatanejo and information for people hoping to move to Ixtapa & Zihuatanejo. In the meantime, check MexRetire.com for more information, and for the most wonderful properties in Ixtapa & Zihuatanejo, check MexLiving.com.
November 20th, 2006
Terrific Deals on Houses in Mexico
Of course, anyone can do a survey of the houses available at whatever price range you like in the listings section at MexLiving.com. We started looking because readers have come to us with concerns that prices in the Mexican marketplace are starting to climb. NOT TRUE. We found these amazing bargains and barely had to look. This is not by any means an exhaustive survey. For reasons of space we had to leave some listings out. But we hope it will give a good idea of the options available at extremely reasonable prices.
You can see here a few of the properties we found in just 30 seconds, priced between US$100K and $150K. These are not rarities nor are they huddled together at one or two bargain-basement type locations either.Great prices are available for properties in all our Featured Locations.
The photo at the top is a stunning gated community in Mazatlán on the Pacific coast, not exactly the worst area in Mexico. Mazatlan is very desirable not only for the beachfront but for nearness to the border. The next photo is a property at Tequesquitengo, about 45 minutes from Cuernavaca in some of the most exclusive and visually exotic inland territory. The region surrounding Cuernavaca is famous for being a favorite haunt of discerning foreigners with a taste for truly spectacular landscape.
This next photograph (to the right) comes from a listing for a gated community in Puerto Vallarta. That’s probably among the most sought after beach and vacation locations for tourists and retirees, even for people from all over the world. The asking price ? US$115,000.
And lastly, of course, this photo from a condo development in San Miguel de Allende. San Miguel really has seen tremendous demand drive prices upward. And the foreign population continues to grow there due to the fantastic climate and beautiful setting… so what do you have to put down for a condo like the one pictured? Asking price, US$109,000. Check out the listing section for these and many others,and if you have any questions at all, don’t hesitate to drop us a line. We’re as excited as anyone about all the fantastic homes and the great opportunities to come.
November 19th, 2006
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