Biggest Challenge in Moving to Mexico

We have not got there yet but working on it.  Would love suggestions, ideas.  So far my biggest worry is getting my larger dog and cat there but I sure there is more

Well, DDfleming,

That was seven years ago, but what I can clearly recall is trying to find the routes we thought we had so carefully mapped. The GPS we were using was pretty much clueless when we left the U.S. We solved that by looking at maps and asking for help. That taught me that everyone feels they need to give you directions but only a few actually know how to get there. We quickly learned that taxis and gas stations were the best sources of information even if you are not fluent in Spanish.

In the U.S. there are numerous signs directing you to your exit. Forget that in Mexico. There may be a brief sign and you see it or you don't, or you are going the correct direction but your destination is not on the hwy sign. Always allow for more time than you think because roads have potholes, and speed bumps, always take the toll roads, and never drive at night.

Can you please give your reasons for not driving at night?

thanks for the useful tips.  We already had heard do not drive at night.  Any ideas on how to tell if a hotel will take dogs?

paullad wrote:

Can you please give your reasons for not driving at night?

sure

the streets, for the most part, are not light well, if, at all, people walk on and in the streets and can not be seen in the dark. People who may have been drinking walk on or lay in the streets. Large potholes and speed bumps which are hard to see during the day are impossible to see at night. Signs are very hard or impossible to see at night.  Plus people who may not have the best of intentions often travel at night in just about every country in the world.  So be safely tucked into a hotel after the sun goes down and it will be a much safer better trip.

janalea wrote:

thanks for the useful tips.  We already had heard do not drive at night.  Any ideas on how to tell if a hotel will take dogs?

You can search with a site like Booking.com using the pet search criteria,

Someone else suggested using the hotels that list as very private adult hotels. I don't recommend that idea at all. An area, where prostitution is discreetly practiced, is usually not a very safe area.

You shouldn't drive at night because the lighting isn't good in a lot of places and you can encounter people - kidsand adults, and pigs, goats, dogs and lots of other things in the road.  You are in big trouble if you hit something and even bigger trouble if you kill it. Limit your driving to daylight hours.

Hi, i was reading about the condition of you and yoir husband and it capted my attention the bussines that allowes you to handle.it or work it trhough your phone and internet, would you be kind to explaine that to me??, best regards.

Chrisbarraza wrote:

Hi, i was reading about the condition of you and yoir husband and it capted my attention the bussines that allowes you to handle.it or work it trhough your phone and internet, would you be kind to explaine that to me??, best regards.

Hello Chrisbarraza,

I don't know what post you are talking about or what you are asking,  I couldn't find any post that matched the words you are using.Could you try again?
What is your native language?

Biggest challenge: getting over the inertia  and making the decision to DO IT!

Roaming burro's, horses and cattle. They are not tethered and you can hit one at night with no lighting.

Our biggest challenge was and continues to be the language barrier.  We have studied Spanish online and through audio courses for years, and we speak it as much as we can when we are out and about in Mexico, but it just doesn't come very easily to my husband or myself.  In addition to the fact that we started learning in our 50s (not as easy as learning during childhood or even early adulthood), I think a large part of our trouble is that we both have some degree of social anxiety.  So coupled with the difficulty in understanding those speaking Spanish (often much faster and with slang, different from classes you take online!) and coming up with what we want to say, we tend to freeze up just due to the social situation.  We are fine at reading menus and signs, etc., but actually interacting with people who speak no English continues to be our biggest challenge. 

That said, we love the Mexican people.  Their smiles are genuine and infectuous and always make me smile back.  Mixed "Spanglish" and hand gestures go a long way in helping us understand and be understood, so even with the challenges, we are still delighted to be here in Mexico!

CaribeGal wrote:

Our biggest challenge was and continues to be the language barrier.  We have studied Spanish online and through audio courses for years, and we speak it as much as we can when we are out and about in Mexico, but it just doesn't come very easily to my husband or myself.  In addition to the fact that we started learning in our 50s (not as easy as learning during childhood or even early adulthood), I think a large part of our trouble is that we both have some degree of social anxiety.  So coupled with the difficulty in understanding those speaking Spanish (often much faster and with slang, different from classes you take online!) and coming up with what we want to say, we tend to freeze up just due to the social situation.  We are fine at reading menus and signs, etc., but actually interacting with people who speak no English continues to be our biggest challenge. 

That said, we love the Mexican people.  Their smiles are genuine and infectuous and always make me smile back.  Mixed "Spanglish" and hand gestures go a long way in helping us understand and be understood, so even with the challenges, we are still delighted to be here in Mexico!

Yes, Spanish is difficult.
If you don't already have duolingo I would suggest you get it on your phone.  Google translate is also a good addition. There is nothing like hearing and seeing the word again and again. That doesn't rapidly smooth out the verbs, but it does give you excellent practice.

As for the speed, practice how to ask them to please slow down, they will.  Just speak, let them know when you don't understand and push through your anxiety. There will be many words you were never taught. and Pieces of native languages. Many cities are not named in Spanish but an Aztec or Mayan word.

I do think showing that you are making the effort goes a long way.

You have brought up an interesting subject CaribeGal. We’re two old goobers who retired to Mexico about 19 years ago, one of us of French origin and one an historically accurate representation of the monolingual South Alabama language retard grounded in English only and even then with regional nuances.  Yet we retired to two very different Mexican regions. Lake Chapala with its large and influential colony of monolingual (English) U.S. and Canadian retirees and a local population where English is widely understood and spoken and the distant Chiapas Highlands near the border with Guatemala where, when it comes to English comprehension among locals one may encounter, one may as well be on Mars. My darling spouse with her native French language skills who is also accomplished in English after 30 years resident in the U.S., has learned her Mexican Spanish quite well but I am still Ned-in-the-first-reader  and thus the local language moron as is typical of the other few U.S. natives brazen enough to think they can dwell in a community while only accomplished at ordering another beer and commenting on the weather. Be that as it may, even in my spouse’s absence I get along to the point that we now feel confident enough to sell our residence at Lake Chapala and invest in a second residence in a remote community on the Yucatecan Gulf Coast where even God speaks no English. Despite the obvious drawbacks of being a language retard, one can get along here in remote Chiapas and Yucatan States while communicating with locals on an elementary level.  I must admit, however, that when one finds oneself suddenly hospitalized under a doctor’s care and  seriously injured as did I recently in San Cristobal, things can get a bit hairy but I am still alive and, after almost 20 years resident in Mexico, damned grateful we fled the U.S. and retired to this beautiful and fascinating  country full time to the point that, five years ago, we both became Mexican citizens and will live out the duration  of our time on the planet as full-time Mexicans with periodic sojourns to my wife’s native France for the occasional crepe with a calvados chaser.

I too am moving there and am wondering should i get mexican plates for my car of leave it with NC plates. I was going to fly but an finding it hard to take my 50 dog and a cat on an international flight so am considering driving. i am of mexican decent and think while with a trace of ( gringo ) accent my spanish is pretty good i dont think ill have a problem with asking for and understanding directions. I can read and write spanish ( not the best but acceptable enough to have held bilingual jobs in the past. Im worried about the drive ( should i be? ) You hear all this horror stories Anything i should know about moving there?  Its been over 20 yrs since i have set foot in mexico. Im excited but nervous about this new adventure

If I were you,, I would drive your NC plated car down here and keep those U.S. plates  ,as long as you own that car  even if the plates have expired. I drove my California plated car for a couple of years after those California plates had expired driving both in my newly adopted Mexican home town and all over  Mexico including many very remote areas with no hassle ever from any transito anywhere. After three years, I purchased a Mexican plated car in Guadalajara and have been driving that Jalisco plated carever since.  I have encountered no problem with eitherCalifornia or Jalisco plates though I have since moved to  Chiapas State which is distant from Jalisco.More on driving down here later - for now, let me say, no sweat if you use appropriate common sense.

More on driving down here whether with Mexican or foreign license plates. OK, so I’ve driven extensively all  over Mexico for over 19 years with, first, California and then Jalisco Mexico plates. For years, I did so with a California divers license and then, for even more years with Mexican  driver’s licenses issued first by. jalisco State and then  by Chiapas State. Jalisco is a relatively affluent state but Chiapas is Mexico’s poorest state in the country’s poorest region. In Chiapas, corruption is rampant and ubiquitous and you need to know how to deal with that.  I drive all over the place extensively and, except for a minor run-in with some crooked Mexico City cops  that ended nicely, I have driven about freely with no official impediments to my progress and not even one contrived moving violation. Don’t worry about driving around Mexico safely whether in urban or rural areas  hassle but keep these common sense rules  in mind..

Do not ever drive at night on the open highway - even on extensively patrolled  “cuotas” or inter-city ultra-modern toll highways which are widely available for driving 24 hours a day.  If you have no choice or are driving about your neighborhood in an area with which you are very familiar, well, OK but keep your fingers crossed and your head on high alert.

Whatever you are doing, blend into the crowd. Do not exhibit signs of undue affluence or social ostentation. This proposed attribute would suit you well anywhere in the world where one might inadvertently stand out in the crowd.  Go about your  business even down on the mall in Skokie and then proceed back to home base.

You get it.