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Mexico....?


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2012 Jun 29, 3:08pm   7,680 views  17 comments

by joshuatrio   ➕follow (4)   💰tip   ignore  

Whadda you guys think about moving to Rosarita or Ensenada Mexico?

About an hour to an hour and a half from the US - seems to be pretty safe, coastal and beautiful. Housing and healthcare are both VERY affordable.

I think the media is over blowing the drug cartel violence, and statistically, seems like it would be a pretty safe place to call home.

Anyhow, I've never been to these places - just Cozumel a few times. But thinking about making the drive in a few weeks.

#housing

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1   Vicente   2012 Jun 29, 3:33pm  

I'd feel fairly safe too in Cozumel.

Mainland can be a very different story.

If anything I think they downplay the violence and don't print a lot of stuff. You need only look at the handling of the murders of women in Juarez.

I'd feel much better on the Baja peninsula than anywhere else. Drove all the way to Cabo once. There are some sections that are INCREDIBLE but then you see a cross and a memorial every half-kilometer of road, as a reminder the next truck barreling around the corner on the mountain road could push you off and just keep going. Below Ensinada it can be pretty sketchy until you get to San Ignacio.

2   coorsbay   2012 Jun 29, 8:57pm  

Do a lot more research than asking people on this site...
Like paying bribes? Poor healthcare? and filthy streets? and the smell of Lysol?
I grew up in San Diego.... The toll road has bandits dressed like cops too.....
All of Mexico is linked to the drug cartels, otherwise why can't they stop the violence?
Due diligence

3   Danaseb   2012 Jun 29, 11:23pm  

BCS, aka Baja California Sur is so safe and enjoys such a high standard of living it really feels like a whole other country. If you want a place with decent opportunity and excellent safety free of the corruption Americans associate with Mexico; that is it. Also I've been to a home depot there and they have the immigrants (from other states or central america) dayworkers same as here, as they make a lot more there than home.

4   clambo   2012 Jun 30, 3:30am  

I consider Baja California Sur to be safe, and the trip down is OK, don't dilly dally around Tijuana, get down to Ensenada pronto.
The way to go is drive to San Diego. Wake up early.
1. Drive to Ensenada, if you want, have lunch, check out the Malecon. In about 15 minutes you can see what Ensenada has to offer.
2. Drive to San Quintin. Exercise caution, there are many buses transporting farm workers, and kooks pass and you may have a head-on collision.
3. Stay the night in boring little San Quintin. Go have fantastic oysters and pismo clams at the seafood stands on the south end of the town. See the Army base on the right and you are close to them.
4. San quintin has some very good/cheap hotels. Stay and wake up early.
5. Go drive on an amazing highway. Stop in El Rosario to eat at the awesome restaurant there. I forgot the name.
6. gas up and drive from El Rosario and see amazing scenery, your mind will be blown.
7. Take a pit stop in Catavina. There is a place to stay there, go stay in it. Run around and see the amazing rock formations and boojum trees. The whole area of Catavina looks like the planet of the Flintstones or another planet.
8. If you sleep in Catavina get up early and now it's pedal to the metal. The next place to see is Guerrero Negro. There is not much to see there but great seafood. Scallops, clams, fish, octopus and crabs are all harvested there.
9. Go to San Ignacio and look around. It's amazing
10. probably now it's tiring so plan on staying in Rosarita. It is a small mining town built around a French owned copper mine. There is a town square and you can walk around to see french style wooden houses. The church is a prefab from france build by Eiffel, the same guy who did the Eiffel tower.
11. If you can handle more driving, Mulege is the next place to sleep in.
12. the drive from Mulege to Loreto is amazingly beautiful.
13. The drive from Loreto do La Paz is interesting but a good afternoon drive.
I'll stop here because after you are in La Paz there are other spots to see.
I flew down many times when I was working/living there. The first time I actually made the long drive was 1992, ten years after I lived there. I loved the drive. I'm hooked, it's fun especially with longer days.
Get the baja map from AAA for sure. AAA also has a baja guide book,it's good.
I can provide more info if you like.
Unlike others, I have lived there and speak Spanish. I have also driven the road down many times and it's a lot of fun. I have not driven down in mid-summer however.
Have a car or preferably pickup that is really working WELL.
I have usually replaced the thermostat on my vehicles to the lower temp one. One of my trucks had an oversized radiator but the thermo is usually sufficient.
(why? they make engines run very hot to emit less CO, hotter=more complete combustion. But, this isn't ideal for the engine life)
Google Catavina, San Ignacio, Bahia Concepcion, Mulege etc and see the images.

5   clambo   2012 Jun 30, 3:42am  

http://www.allaboutbaja.com/elrosario.html
The place to eat I couldn't remember is this I believe.
It's right past the Pemex gas station. (there is just one gas station in Rosario)

6   clambo   2012 Jun 30, 3:48am  

I made the assumption you are driving to Baja.
I would not recommend the arduous and probably dangerous drive to mainland Mexico.

7   joshuatrio   2012 Jun 30, 4:19am  

clambo says

Google Catavina, San Ignacio, Bahia Concepcion, Mulege etc and see the images.

Wow. The pics look great.

8   🎂 Tenpoundbass   2012 Jun 30, 4:23am  

Vicente says

If anything I think they downplay the violence and don't print a lot of stuff.

Yep, for starters they keep calling the decapitated and burnt victims rival gang members. If that were the case Mexico would have cleansed its self by now. Those are Central and South American immigrants trying to get to the US. Coyotes get them as far as the border then... "syssch(runs finger across the neck).
It's just much easier to kill them at the border than it is to get busted by the US officials or have to deal with breaching the fence.

Illegals from South America entering the US is down, but I don't think people trying to get here has fallen.

9   clambo   2012 Jun 30, 4:46am  

The Mexicans abuse, rob and murder the immigrants from Guatemala, Honduras, El Salvador, etc.
That's why the hipocrisy of Mexicans and Calderon pisses me off so much.
There is information widely available about the stuff going on in Mexico. Evidendly the gangsters being widely dipshits can't help bragging online.
See: blogdelnarco
Or, if you have a vomit bucket handy see: mund0narco (that is a zero not a letter o)
Baja is fun and the trip is interesting. Baja is unique and not really very Mexican, but it is becoming Mexicanized as they move over there.
Mexico is like a beautiful drug addict woman: she's alluring, fun, sexy and will make you crazy if you try to figure her out or make her work.
Mexico is like taking an LSD trip without the drug, the world down there is just bizarre but fun in doses.
Disclosure: I have never taken LSD so I really don't know.

10   lostand confused   2012 Jun 30, 5:50am  

I lived in San Diego for a while. Not many venture south anymore-now down there, I don't have any idea. But Tijuana , as many border areas are wont to be, is still a battle ground for the cartels. When I was leaving SD, they arrested a guy who admitted dissolving 100+ bodies in vats of acid.

This side of the border is just fine.

11   FNWGMOBDVZXDNW   2012 Jun 30, 10:40am  

i did the rosarito to ensanada bike ride a few times. it was a lot of fun. it was a beautiful place. lots of great deals on hotels and restaurants. lots of poverty too. people were mostly very nice. we met a few california retirees who were enjoying life in rosarito.

12   savethepopulation   2012 Jun 30, 2:11pm  

I've been living in Mexico for over two years now with no problems, life is peachy. Gotta keep your wits about you just like any other place.

Things are generally much cheaper down here too.

Thus far, foreigners aren't really messed with, but I must admit, this can change in a heartbeat. Narcos are not the only ones kidnapped/murdered as native innocents as well as migrants are targeted also, randomly, but this is not too common.

The problem is the triad (US Government & its corrupt agencies/corrupt Mexican agencies/drug cartels). The CIA & Co. arm the cartels, cartels transit the goods (along with the CIA), DEA & Banks help launder the money, the Pablo Escobars & Co. get their billions while the CIA gets their black funds for funding terrorism abroad like "Freedom Fighters/Mujaheedin/Al-Qaeda/Free Syria Army" in Libya/Syria in the vein of Iran-Contra, etc.

From Britian's Opium Wars to today, some things just ain't ever gonna change...

@ vicente: Patrick McGoohan (your avatar) aka Number 6 and The Prisoner are fantastic.

13   mdovell   2012 Jul 5, 12:12pm  

Scott Burns has been writing about retiring/moving to mexico for nearly ten years now
http://assetbuilder.com/blogs/scott_burns/archive/2008/04/11/letter-from-mexico-in-puerto-vallarta-condos-are-us.aspx

Keep in mind cash is king there. Financing is pretty hard to find but it also means if you have the money they are willing to sell without any middlemen.

14   freak80   2012 Jul 5, 5:19pm  

Mexico is great. If you can afford to buy your own private army. With drug money.

15   clambo   2012 Jul 5, 5:25pm  

I wonder where savethepopulation lives?
I would not recommend living in mainland Mexico. Your results may vary. Herewith some random anecdotes.
I speak Spanish so I converse with Mexicans from time to time in my travels.
1. Mexican guy in Galveston Bay: told me personal stories of family member with a successful business, a store down in Mexico. Gunmen showed up and demanded "protection" money.
2. Mexican woman in Obregon, Sonora. She mentioned the extreme heat in summer, would like to drive up into the cooler mountains but is afraid. Her uncle was driving up there and was shot.
3. Mexican woman in San Pedro, Nuevo Leon (Monterrey, Mexico).
A. Her female friend lost both parents to kidnapping and were murdered.
B. Her male friend was kidnapped but survived. His family was wiped out financially, and he has anxiety attacks and is fuct up.
C. Her high school classmate in Tamaulipas state was running for some political office and was assasinated.
Mexicans are not like us. They have a innate fatalistic view of life. The fact that guys are being murdered everywhere is considered like bad weather and cannot be avoided, and no one believes the government can do anything, so "ni modo"="what can you do?"
Strangely enough, life in Mexico is generally often fun if you are a man. Women are 1. scared shitless 2. generally broke 3. generally sick of drunken, broke abusive ignorant men 4. generally admire American men (for good reason usually). They like our company and also life in Mexico is generally relaxed (except driving) and people enjoy life.
Since just 33% of Mexican adults have finished *high school*, you can tell the rat race has a slower pace down there.
If you are tempted to buy in mainland Mexico, e.g. Puerto Vallarta, don't. Buy a high yield bond fund and a dividend growth fund and pay the rent with those proceeds. Keep your passport and credit card handy for a quick escape.
Mexico is like a hooker. Don't commit to her, just enjoy her company while you can. Don't expect her to be honest or for anything more than a fun time.

16   zzyzzx   2012 Jul 6, 3:54am  

Mexico a filthy third world country. I'd rather move to Poland.

17   freak80   2012 Jul 6, 3:56am  

zzyzzx says

Mexico a filthy third world country.

And Mexico is spreading northward rapidly. I'm hoping that cold winters are the "last line of defense." Nothing else seems to be slowing it down.

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