I'm from the UK, born and raised, primarily looking to head over to Mexico for 6 months at a time, fly to another country/get a visa, then come back (my understanding is if you go out of Mexico for even a day and come back you get another 6 months of visa free stay).
I intend to just rent an apartment, stay in that apartment most of the time and only really go out to socialize occasionally or for walks or whenever I need to buy groceries or something.
I don't intend to move around much, I'm used to just being in the same place most of the time
I'd like the option to go to bars, strip clubs and whatever else is available if I choose but there's a decent chance I won't go to any of those places.
And for reference I don't care about the virus at all and am not concerned about it, so please don't bother taking it into account when suggesting places to avoid/visit/live.
Here are my questions:
Accomodation:
What are the safest cities/areas for expats?
How much do the houses typically cost in expat communities and rural/suburban areas? I'm heard that the types of houses I'm interested in are typically built by companies called INFONAVIT and URBI.
Apartment Specific:
What does the average apartment look like?
What kind of apartments can you get for say £100-£250?
How much is the rent?
How much does a simple studio apartment cost?
Do apartments come with their own bathrooms?
Internet:
How many MB/s download do you get? How many MB/s uplaod do you get?
How much do you pay for Internet?
Food:
How's the food?
How much does the food cost?
What would you rate the hygienic quality of the food?
The people of Mexico:
How are the locals towards foreigners and expats? Friendly? Indifferent? Hostile? I've heard the cartels and the citizenry tend to try to protect the expats because of how much money they can bring in.
What are the people like?
I've heard the people of Mexico are quite self-sufficient, if this is true in your experience then how so?
Do they grow much of their own food? Do many of them have gardens?
The Pandemic:
Have there been any lockdowns? If so are they still in place?
If the lockdowns are not in place but they once were, when did they end?
I've heard Mexico hasn't had many lockdowns, PCR tests aren't that common and aren't strict and most of Mexico doesn't have mandatory face masks and there isn't a curfew throughout all of Mexico, is that true?
Other:
What's the average temperature in Mexico during the day and night?
Where are there a lot of expats?
What's the infrastructure like in Mexico?
How's the public transport system?
Do the cartels fuck with expats?
I've heard that there are expat communities in Mexico, I'm interested to hear more about those.
Are there many small businesses in Mexico or is it mainly big chains?
Are language barriers typically a problem when it comes communicating with landlords, shopkeepers etc?
Have you had any trouble from the cartels?
I've heard that expats usually get protected from scams/general harm (aka cartels and such have a
policy of leaving anyone who looks like an expat/foreigner alone, they keep watch over them from
out of sight and if they think someone's about to harm/scam an expat they do things to prevent it)
by the cartels and citizens due to the money they bring in, is this true?
I've heard Mexicans tend to have a fairly lasseiz-faire "let's keep the government out of our
business" and "mind your own business" attitude due to rampant government corruption, is that
true?
I'm primarily interested to hear about property prices (interested in looking into buying a house in Eastern Europe/Mexico/Asia at some point), rent prices, how safe are expats from the cartels, how free are expats typically, and what is the daily experience of an expat like in Mexico.
Here are some pictures of the types of apartments I'm interested in:
https://a0.muscache.com/im/pictures/616 … cy=x_largehttps://a0.muscache.com/im/pictures/089 … cy=x_large
The one above is a pretty good example of what I'm looking for.
https://odis.homeaway.com/odis/listing/ … ce.c10.jpg
Here are some pictures of the types of houses I'm interested in (I've heard these ones are mainly made by companies called URBI and INFONAVIT):
https://image2.apartmentfinder.com/i2/J … -photo.jpghttps://www.house-design-coffee.com/ima … -doors.jpg
This kind of thing is overkill imo:
https://cdn.decoist.com/wp-content/uplo … groom3.jpghttps://noxxstudio.com/wp-content/uploa … ITY_01.jpghttps://cdn.silverdoorapartments.com/pr … 581256.JPG
I do like the look of it though.