Can I Live on My Pension at Lake Chapala Ajijic?

I am increasingly nervous about coming to Mexico with all the narcoviolence that is going on. I have been reading on Mexconnect about it from lots of people and while it used to be primarily the border towns it seems to have spread thruout Mexico now, even Chapala. Maybe it’s more hype than truth. I’m well aware there is probably just as much right here in some cities but I guess I’m afraid to get out of my comfort zone. I lived and loved Guadalajara for a whole year but wonder if we take the toll roads from the border if we will be safe in our American plated car. Maybe we should just sell everything and fly in with our suitacases.

Hi Ruth…

Toward the end of April, I drove, by myself, in a small car from Northern California to Lake Chapala. It took me 5 days of 6-8 hour days of driving. The longest leg was from Pasadena to Nogales. I had made reservations in advance at Motel 6 in Nogales. I didn’t know whether I would make it to Navajoa on my first day in Mexico, so no reservation. But I had one for the second night in Mazatlan. Since my car was packed full of “stuff,” but covered up I booked a hotel with locked off street parking and got to the hotels by 4:30 pm.

On local advice in Nogales, I took the truck crossing over the border. There were no lines, but a whopper of an obstacle route at the crossing. At this crossing there were no obvious signs for immigration, so nervously, I kept on truckin’, stopping periodically to ask–Ayuda!Donde esta emigracion? Each time I was told to keep going, I couldn’t miss it. About 20 klicks down the road there it was on the right with a parking lot. And arrows. And nice officers. At least they were to me. I asked one if he spoke English. He smiled, shook his head and said, “no hablo– solo French, German, Espanol and Swahili.” Everything was taken care of with smiles–tourist visa and car permit and a place to exchange dollars for pesos (you need to do this to pay the toll on the cuota road).

I took the cuota road the entire way. There were no bandidos, drug cartels, or fake federales. I didn’t get lost. Well, outside of Culiacan I took the wrong exit and started toward Costa Rica (the town not the country), but with the help of a local policeman, that got sorted out pretty quick and I was on my way again.

There were always Pemex gas stations entering and exiting towns. I used them rather that ones more isolated. I picked hotels with restaurants in them and ate there and had a margarita every night. I carried my own lunch and bottled water(mostly to save time) which was cheese, fruit and crackers. Worked fine. I didn’t get sick once.

I left Mazatlan about 8:30 a.m. and pulled into Lake Chapala Realty in Ajijic about 3:30pm to pick up a key.

I can’t say I was calm all the way down. I had to be alert; more alert than normal. And, sure, I was a bit anxious. It took almost a week for me to wind down and then everything was fine.

Hope this helps.

Sunny

I’m so glad that the intenert allows free info like this!