Deciding between Ajijic and SMDA

Wow I can tell you have spent time in Ajijic. Yes at 49 and retired me and my wife feel like unicorns because we are so rare. And yes some of the local old retirees have to us to our face we don't belong here.... Lol.

Also there are non liberals who live here. I'm a libertarian and the local magazine written by local liberals is a hate filled rag that gives me and my wife great comedy once a month. The local message boards are filled with hateful old liberals too. But I have met tons of great normal x pats too. It's just that the hate filled liberals just stand out more.

We have made friends with a lot of locals over the past year and they have opened up with us and let us know they would love more of our type here. Heck a old liberal ran over a local dog walker while he was on the bike path and all the hateful libs defended her. She saw no penalty for straight out running him over and then they had the gal to ask other x pats to cover the poor man's medical bills because the old liberal didn't have the money too. She should of at min been deported.

But there are a lot of us non liberals here and the locals love us. And more and more of us Gen x types will be filling spots here to. I know we retired really early here but we love it. The people (locals) are awesome and most of the xpats are great to live with you just have to learn to ignore and laugh at the old liberals and how much hate they spew

@jonathan49

I grew up in the lake Chapala area. My dad retired there. I have done research on the retiring community.

https://jewlscholar.mtsu.edu/items/85d0 … dce06cb56f

I also have family in San Miguel who owns businesses. Both areas share similarities, they both have attracted retirees for decades . Still, they are different in several way, for example, weather, cost of living, etc.

It sounds like you are younger than the average retiree, perhaps a coastal area like Puerto Vallarta or a city like Guadalajara or even Mexico City might offer more activities for you.

Good luck

Thank you!

@S Mqz  Can you expand upon your weather, cost of living comment, thanks.

SMA: Vibrant

Ajijic 💤

I lived in Guadalajara for 6 years way back in the 80s.  Will be relocating back to Mexico in the next several months.  I speak a conversational Spanish.

Standard Gringo Question (with some qualifiers) Can any one give a down and dirty rental comparison between the Lake Chapala area and SMA on a 1 bedroom "simple but clean" apartment - either furnished or not -- in in a relatively "safe" neighborhood that is located (1) 5-8 minute walk from "center" and (2) 10-15 minute bus ride from town.

THANKS

SMA: Vibrant
Ajijic 💤
-@CasaNaranja

Yes and that is why I live in Ajijic.  Its not hip and noisy with so many night clubs they had to close a street off because the rich who went to those clubs had there drivers sitting out on the packed streets all night.

So please if you want Vibrant.... IE party town please go to SMA.  Your not really a good fit for Ajijic anyways.  And Im not even 50 yet and retired here because it is a nice quite place to LIVE.  If you want to party you can go into Guad and have so much more then SMA.

Nothing wrong with either life style.  We who live in Ajijic/Lake Chapala enjoy our quite life. We moved to Mexico 1.5 years ago and looked at all of the places.  SMA didn't fit the bill for us because of the disney land feel of the town.  You have the whole northern part of the lake and even some smaller towns on the southern part to make home.  And if your looking for a great spot to just live its great.  Sure we take off to see things but that is what Air BnB is for.  But we love coming home to our quite lake in the mountains where we can just enjoy life.

I lived in Guadalajara for 6 years way back in the 80s. Will be relocating back to Mexico in the next several months. I speak a conversational Spanish.

Standard Gringo Question (with some qualifiers) Can any one give a down and dirty rental comparison between the Lake Chapala area and SMA on a 1 bedroom "simple but clean" apartment - either furnished or not -- in in a relatively "safe" neighborhood that is located (1) 5-8 minute walk from "center" and (2) 10-15 minute bus ride from town.
THANKS
-@Johnny Earl

Tons of good rental sites for Lake Chapala online, most are real estate agents.  We rented from https://www.accesslakechapala.com they have a lot of stuff but there are at least 4 or 5 more you can look thru. Prices are cheaper in Jocotepec or San Juan Cosala.  1 Bedrooms can be had for 500 ish USD a month.  Now getting a view with one of those is super hard.  We wanted a Lake and Mountain view so ended up in a 3 bed 2.5 bath in western Ajijic out of the tight bunching of houses in more of a suburb (for American example) area on the mountain side.  We rented for $1100 a month 2 story with roof mirador.

https://photos.app.goo.gl/JAAQQ5sEaf17BkNu7

So unless your really just looking for cheap then going up some you might have to deal with more room then  you need but you get a view to drink coffee or a margarita from! 

https://sanmiguelrealestate.com/real-es … erm?sort=2

That is what I found in less than a min in SMA. From what I see holy crap the prices have went up in the last 1.5 years when we were looking.

@MexicoAfterlife Thanks

Have not been but researched Ajijic. Not sure what you mean by "grounded" but if you mean redneck/ultra-conservative, a couple I've known for years, who I would describe as the most redneck imaginable, loved and felt completely at home in Ajijic. YMMV

Have not been but researched Ajijic. Not sure what you mean by "grounded" but if you mean redneck/ultra-conservative, a couple I've known for years, who I would describe as the most redneck imaginable, loved and felt completely at home in Ajijic. YMMV
-@hbjulie

LOL there are tons of super liberals here. They print a monthly magazine we read for the comedy. The most hateful stuff is said in it

So bad it is pure comedy.  And you can see them in public because they are the ones alone in their car with masks on... Lol.

This place is not red neck heaven. But like I said a great place to live and retire if you don't feel the need to be in party central. That is a taxi ride away in Guadalajara.

We were living in Los Osos before coming to Mexico. 

We started out in San Miguel de Allende in Sep 2022 and planned to spend a year there and possibly buy a home.   After six months we went for a visit to Ajijic - fell in love with the area and decided to relocate there right away.  I think SMA is a great place...but Ajijic is the right spot for us.   

You will find lots of strong opinions from the expats in both locations as to which is best.   I'd recommend you spend some time in each to see what appeals to you. 

We prefer being by the water and the natural beauty of the Chapala area.   There is more than enough social and cultural things to keep us engaged and we really like the smaller "village" feel of being here.   It's a lake town and has that relaxed vibe that goes along with it.   

A loose comparison might be that Ajijic is more like Morro Bay/Los Osos and SMA is more like San Luis Obispo or Arroyo Grande.

Hope that helps!

Dave

we spent 2 weeks in SMA last year and are coming back for the summer this year (June-Oct) to try it on. Lake Chapala is also on my potentials list and we are going to make a trip there during this time. Being from Ventura, and having a daughter living in SLO your review hit all the comps for me. The two things you listed: being near water and green space/nature are the things I thought SMA was a little short on. I guess we will see.

thanks for the review and we’d love to touch base with you in Ajijic for more info.

Bob and Anastasia

@rginnca Definitely! Feel free to reach out and we'll meet up for lunch when you come to visit!

We are still newbies but so far we are really pleased we made the change - both to Mexico and now to Ajijic.  I don't think you can wrong with either SMA or Ajijic.  They are both quite welcoming with lots of services and support to help you get situated.

If you know you are going to live regularly in Mexico it's good to get the residency, etc.  We have found it worth the money to hire "facilitators" to help us get assistance with things (residency, RFC, CURP, etc.)  It's tempting to just do it on your own (and feasible especially if you speak Spanish) but it's also pretty cheap to use some of the services and avoid a lot of stress!  Get the Mexico Relocation Guide as well. It's well done and we still find ourselves turning to it for guidance.

@MexicoAfterlife

It's  not a party town!  Plenty of places outside of Centro to live and avoid weekend nights in Centro.  Was going to live in Ajijic but glad I picked SMA.  Totally magical! 

@Johnny Earl

Sorry, I'm not on this platform as often (as I would like!)

SMDA tend to be dryer, more arid, lest rain (year round) although it does get rain, so don't be surprised if you're causing a downpour mid , late summer (July, August). It is also colder in the winter months and during the mornings. Not as cold, of course as the northern US, but definitely enough to wear long sleeves and slacks

• Whereas, the lake Chapala area tend to be template moderately warm year round

@Johnny Earl

Oops...as someone on this thread has pointed out, in general, living in Mexico is not as" it used to be" the idea of living cheap will depend on your retirement (or savings) .

Certainly, you can stretch your dollar but if you intend to recreate the American lifestyle, you can, but it'll cost

In my opinion, based on my family who owns business in San Miguel, San Miguel is 'priceyer" than Chapala.

I have not lived there so...

My name is Richard and I'm coming down from Fort Lauderdale for a 10 day visit this month to determine if Ajijic is the right place for retirement. On the net, it sounds good, but a short visit will give me some first hand input if Ajijic is for me. I'm 71, very fit, single and will be on the lookout for social contacts which look to be plenty available. Any input will be appreciated. See you soon.

***

@jonathan49

Please, avoid the entire Lake Chapala area. It is well known and thoroughly documented that the entire area is toxic, due to heavy metals entering the Lake via Lerma river, and untreated human waste from that river and also being directly deposited from dozens of communities on the lake. Read up on this. No one is in the gray/green/smelly water. No swimmers! DEATHS from  Chronic Kidney Disease are DOUBLE the national average. Double. Deaths. Even if you don't drink the water, you eat foods irrigated by poison. We had the same dilemma, SMA vs Chapala area. No debate, once we did the research. Couldn't be happier with SMA. Chapala is, I think, prettier, lusher, but SMA has more class. Both have great people. But, the poison did it for us.

Ajijic is beautiful and a very different vibe than San Miguel. Both have their pluses depending what you like. There wouldn't be tens of thousands of expats living here at Lake Chapala if it wasn't beautiful with lots to offer. The lake is polluted but I kayak on it and it's beautiful and hopefully one day it will be revived to it's past vibrancy. I have seen a lake totally transform before (northern Canada) so I'm hopeful that someday sanity will prevail and the psychopaths poisoning us will be brought to justice. In the meantime, I love walking along the Malecon every morning and watching the beautiful sunsets over the lake.

The people dying from kidney disease are the people being poisoned by the farming practices of Driscolls across the lake - mostly the children of the workers. It's a disgrace and I think they should just kick these companies out of the country. I boycott their products. However, it's easy to get good quality food from local butchers and organic deliveries of fruits and veg if you want. Real milk and butter here too.

The lake is replenished every year from the rains. That's pretty much everyone's favourite season here. It will go done during the year and then be filled up again with the incredible rains.

I've lived by lakes all my life and I don't smell anything other than a lake. There is a sewage plant here although I don't understand the infrastructure of system. I doubt it's up to western standards.

Many people settle in San Miguel and then move to Ajijic and vice versa. I think you have to try both and see what works best for you. No place is perfect and the people who live here generally feel like they are living in Paradise. I would miss the nature and all the birds if I lived in San Miguel so this is a good choice for me.

@MexicoAfterlife you seem to be the one filled with hate. I don’t think you fit in anywhere in Mexico. You should go back to the United States, where there’s plenty of people like you. People come to Mexico to escape the BS that you’re spewing.