Pros and Cons of Living and Retiring in Mexico

I am thinking of writing a whole book on this subject but will just go for a blog entry now. Mags asked in a comment, " Hola, Mexicophiles, After a 2-week trip in November, we are starry-eyed about retiring and moving to Mexico. Like now. But I'm worried we're not being objective. I'd love to hear from US citizens who did so and hated it (and why) or seriously investigated it and decided against it. I've got lots of "pros," now I need some "cons."

Each person's pros and cons will be different, of course. I highly recommend that you get yourselves back to Mexico, one way or another, for one or more longer stays as tourists, before thinking of packing up your worldly goods and moving there lock, stock, and barrel. Don't have the money? There are always ways. Like teaching English there (see my previous blog post), or housesitting for other foreigners if you are drawn to San Miguel Allende or Lake Chapala especially.

For great info on all aspects of gringo life in Mexico, there is a superb forum along with many articles at www.mexconnect.com. This is a membership site (which keeps out the ads for toner cartridges and worse) but with a one-week no-cost trial. I learn a tremendous amount there.

Okay, here are some of my own personal pros and cons.

Cons:

• The way they drive overwhelms me at times.
• I get tired of looking at trash in the streets.
• Sometimes I have problems co-existing with the extreme financial poverty of many Mexicans.
• Although my Spanish is far better than that of many tourists, I am not yet really fluent. It can be frustrating to realized I don't know the words for a simple comment or question.
• The places I tend to like best have fewer foreigners than I would want for longterm living.
• Mail delivery is iffy.
• Can't get books from Amazon as quickly as I am used to, though I have read that it's do-able.

Pros:

• The friendliness of the people
• The joyousness of the people
• Being stretched emotionally and intellectually by being in a different culture (this is a con at times too).
  
• Public transportation is far better than in the US
• I can live there more economically, and eat all the avacaos and mangos I want!
• The variety of places, reasonably close to each other (mountains, beach, city, town...)

Mags didn't ask for my pros, but I can't write cons without them!