New members of the Mexico forum, introduce yourself here — 1st quarter of 2017

Thanks Travellight!  This is great info.  Very encouraging.  I will do separate searches for the areas I'm interested in and alternative healing offerings.  I'm guessing larger expat populations would influence that.  So I'll be looking for a balance.

Not necessarily, many of the retirees are strictly medical model. A certain open, independent attitude is needed.

justann9 wrote:

Hola and thanks for the warm welcome. I'm moving to San Miguel from the US in August and am just learning Spanish. Does anyone have any suggestions on how to find a rental casa or casita, preferably from a local there? I will be traveling 12 hours with a dog and we'll need a place to land when we arrive.
Thanks!

The first time I came, I left my dog home so I could do the legwork. I brought pictures of her with me every place I looked.  If you aren't going to do that, search on pet travel.com and find a place that will let you have a dog, as many hotels won't. It's traumatic enough to travel 12 hours for a human, much less a dog. Good luck!  Ronnie
Try AirBnB

Hi All,

Thanks for the welcome! My family (husband and daughter and pets) are planning on moving to Mexico summer 2018. Right now we are still in the research mode, deciding on where in Mexico to go and plan to visit 2-3 cities in the near future to help make our decision.
My mother is Mexican and I am planning on pursuing Mexican citizenship for myself and potentially my daughter as well (so we will be dual Mexican & American citizens). My mother grew up in CDMX and so I have some extended family in that area and for this reason a neighborhood like Coyocan is on our list (in addition to the charm of the neighborhood as well as access to resources - cultural, educational, medical, etc - of the city.
In addition to CDMX, the other cities we are considering are Guadalajara, Oaxaca, Guanajuato, Puebla, possibly Morelia. I'll be searching the forum for topics related to these cities to help us narrow down the list but if anyone has something to say about these cities, please feel free! Obviously, we are city-focused. We do not want a lot of heat and humidity and so are avoiding many of the coastal areas (except for visiting while we live elsewhere). I would really love somewhere with immersive language schools for us to spend our first few weeks in (I have a good bit of Spanish but my husband and daughter have much less). We would also love to have somewhere with a deep sense of its own culture (although I'm guessing that's anywhere, ja! but I think Oaxaca is a great example of this) but also somewhere my daughter can do ballet classes as well as folklorico dance classes (both of which she does here in Minnesota).

Looking forward to reading more and learning lots. Thanks,

Hi welcome failedmermaid,

There are a number of people who know Guadalajara, Oaxaca, Guanajuato, Puebla, and Morelia. pretty well.
Having traveled back and forth through some of them, I can only offer snap shots. I like Guadalajara for the very large city it is. It was easy to get in to, but harder to get out. If I liked giant cities I might have considered it. Very modern and busy. I have heard some very positive things about Oaxaca and Guanajuanto culture wise.
During one trip through Puebla the truck  fumes were so bad that people were wearing masks , so it seems that could be an issue there. Morelia is a lovely old city that was having some fringe gang problems the last time I went through there. Hopefully that has been handled.

Thanks! We are generally concerned about air quality in a lot of places... it's hard to get a sense of how it really is since it seems to be very terrible or not bad at all, depending on who you are talking to! (for example, in CDMX, I've gotten both answers from some of my primos and tias who live there right now!)

Failed Mermaid air quality is also a concern of mine.  I'd be interested to know what you learn.

Hello again failedmermaid,

I have a friend who travels to Mexico City on business often, and he has family there. He said the air there is not good at all, traffic is very bad, the city is still sinking, and that his uncle stays because of the "{culture)".
It frustrates my friend because he said it takes his uncle 3 hours to get to work and he has been robbed 3 times recently. Once in his apartment doorway. As my friend says, how can you enjoy the culture when you spend 6 hours going and coming back from work. (then talking to the police perhaps about the latest robbery) ( my add on comment).
Just a snap shot, I haven't been there in years and actually don't want to go there but my friend has been there numerous times.

Hi i have plan move to michuachan next year with my mexican husband and my daughter. Im muslim so please help me to get information about muslim community in mexico and islamic boarding school for my daughter... Im very grateful if u all give me some information about that. Thankyou so much

Perhaps this might help Asri

https://www.salatomatic.com/reg/fYMGzcGhOE

Thankyou so much....gracias travellight for the information😊😊

De nada, y un buen viaje  .

Thanks for the welcoming words!
My name is Elena and I'm currently living in Cancun, planning to stay for an year or so and then continue my journey to South America.
Coming from Canada, I am a lawyer there but here it's not recognized of course:)
Regarding the work permit, is it hard to get one? Most importantly, does it take much time, I've been living in Mexico for the past months and have realized everything takes a LOT of time here!
I am currently constituting a society and I know you can here yourself through your society and thus get the work visa but I have no idea if it takes a special permit for your company to hire workers...
Thanks!!!!

Elena Dimitrova wrote:

Thanks for the welcoming words!
My name is Elena and I'm currently living in Cancun, planning to stay for an year or so and then continue my journey to South America.
Coming from Canada, I am a lawyer there but here it's not recognized of course:)
Regarding the work permit, is it hard to get one? Most importantly, does it take much time, I've been living in Mexico for the past months and have realized everything takes a LOT of time here!
I am currently constituting a society and I know you can here yourself through your society and thus get the work visa but I have no idea if it takes a special permit for your company to hire workers...
Thanks!!!!

By society do you mean company?  As I understand it, prospective business owners have pretty clear sailing.  In Cancun, surely the people at INM speak English.  They did in the much smaller city of Zacatecas.  But that's further north.  At any rate, there's no harm in asking at INM.  If you feel insecure about doing it on your own, there are lawyers who can help.  Google Mexico visas or residence or start a business in Mexico.

HI,
My Name is Andrew I have lived in Mexico for seventeen years, in San Miguel de Allende. Currently my wife and I are in the process of getting nationalized.

Hi All! I'm Kari. My husband (plus 2 little dogs) are in the very beginning stages of planning to move out of the United States by this time next year.  We have been researching and I really feel like the Riviera Nayarit region would be a great place to try in Mexico. If anyone has moved here, I would love to chat with you. We are interested in a smaller village/town, want to immerse ourselves in the culture and people (neither one of us speak Spanish but I will put my full effort into learning), and we will probably need to find remote/online jobs (I've been working in finance for a large commercial banking institution for over 17 years and my husband is a professional musician). More info than you probably need as an intro but I'm really looking forward to making some contacts on this site!

sunnydaysweater wrote:

Hi All! I'm Kari. My husband (plus 2 little dogs) are in the very beginning stages of planning to move out of the United States by this time next year.  We have been researching and I really feel like the Riviera Nayarit region would be a great place to try in Mexico. If anyone has moved here, I would love to chat with you. We are interested in a smaller village/town, want to immerse ourselves in the culture and people (neither one of us speak Spanish but I will put my full effort into learning), and we will probably need to find remote/online jobs (I've been working in finance for a large commercial banking institution for over 17 years and my husband is a professional musician). More info than you probably need as an intro but I'm really looking forward to making some contacts on this site!

If you are looking for just a simple little town, this area may disappoint you. The federal government has been pumping money into the area since at least 2013 aiming at another Cancun. It has numerous hotels, a golf course or two resorts and tourists.
On the plus side you should be able to find people who speak English, as well as Spanish just like in Cancun. I notice they are heavily advertising to tourists in both languages.

When I first moved to where I am it was sort as you describe as your goal. I had to stay in a hotel until a house was available. The place still has much of that character remaining despite a few more hotels and a resort north of here.

I still pretty much expect to need to mostly speak Spanish, although some of the new people coming in, and school kids  speak English.

You could start you Spanish learning by practicing using the free app Duolingo, and I saw another called beginning Spanish, or Spanish for beginners (also free) that has the dialogue as it is spoken which could be very, very helpful. Things are not always said as they look like they would be. Count on practice of at least an hour a day for a very long time. Learning, pronouncing, and remembering 100's of new words takes work, and they must become habit.

Thanks for the welcome.  I am planning to retire to Cancun, MX.  My first question;  Is it better to rent first and then consider buying later?  Is buying even a good idea?  House or condo?
Thanks
Michele

lilmick wrote:

Thanks for the welcome.  I am planning to retire to Cancun, MX.  My first question;  Is it better to rent first and then consider buying later?  Is buying even a good idea?  House or condo?
Thanks
Michele

My opinion is it is always best to rent for numerous reasons. This is new to you, why would you buy in to an unknown situation?.
I personally would never buy. I decided that things are too globally unstable to pour money into a house before I left the U.S. Houses are not the "nest egg" they were thought to be historically. If you don't buy, you will be more mobile and you might want that mobility.

Lilmick,

I'm doing what travellight is advising to do. I'm coming soon, rent first, check things out and If I like the environment buy.

Good luck!

Hello everybody, I am currently living in Rio and trying to contact people from Mexico or USA, I think I am kind of lost in this site, any ideas how to find contacts?, thanks!

Hi Wade,

What might work better, is going to expat on F.B., it would give you a bigger group perhaps.

Hi,

I invite you to follow this topic on this new thread:
https://www.expat.com/forum/viewtopic.php?id=679384

Thanks!