A couple I know is moving to Mexico

[Roon]

They have vacationed there the last two christmases and decided that they are going to sell everything and move there.

They tell me you can get a big bag of fruit for a dollar. Marlboro's cost two dollars a pack. You can even get a half OZ of really good kind bud for five dollars.

My two friends already have a job lined up waiting on tables that will pay them each approx. 50.00 a day, which is more than enough to live on.

My question is, if everything is so cheap in mexico, why are all these immigrants flocking to the United States?

[pecwae]

1. Curious as to where.

I've heard the Lake Chapala area is full of retired Americans for the reasons you state.

[Selatius]

2. US Dollars have major buying power down there.

That is why things are cheap. If you make 20,000 individually in the US a year, you can live like you're upper class in many parts of Mexico if you convert. If you made 20,000 individually in Euros, you can live even better if you convert.

The reason Mexico is dumping its poverty problem on America is because Mexico's elite, who run the government, don't give a shit about the poor. Their government is an oligarchy of elites.

[Deja Q]

3. Because they make jack shit for wages and don't drink the water

Is the big bag of fruit clean and not spoiled?

Their love of each other is strong indeed. I'm stayin' where I'm at and continue to be slave to my possessions.

Maybe the Mexican government ought to get their head out of helping Cortez posthumously and start improving their country? There's a reason why people leave the country of their birth: Poverty, persecution, lack of freedom, et cetera, it's a historical truism.

[TexasProgresive]

7. If it is they can send it here for a dose of e coli

My Dad would spend 6 months of every year in Mexico after he retired and my step mother died. He never got sick in Mexico but once when he came back to the states we ate at a restaurant and he had a violent bout of food poisoning.

[illinoisprogressive]

4. Jobs and wages. They cannot feed their families. But,

I heard there is a mass migration of retirees moving to Mexico because of the prices. It's far more affordable for them to live there than here. Especially with drug and medical prices here.
So, we have the young coming here and they have our retirees. Both for economic reasons.

[LanternWaste]

5. I lived in MX for about eighteen months...

I lived in MX for about eighteen months and while things are inexpensive there, it's actually getting a job that's pretty tough.

(Warn them though about electric utility prices-- while my 2-bdrm apt was ruuning me just under $300 U.S./mnth, running my A/C 24/7 that first month ended up costing app. $450. A very had lesson)

[proud2BlibKansan]

6. Plumbing, electricity, running water

To name a few.

You know, those 'luxuries' we have here in the US that are lacking in Mexico.

[High Plains]

12. Try actually going to Mexico some time.

You would be surprised to find out most places have plumbing, electricity, and running water.

[proud2BlibKansan]

13. I have been there many times

No way can you say the standard of living there is even close to what it is here, utilities or not.

[High Plains]

16. I didn't say the standard of living is the same.

I replied to that ridiculous assertion about the lack of plumbing, etc. in Mexico.

[mtnsnake]

38. That's a broad sweeping generalization

Depending on where you go, the standard of living can be just fine. For example, if you want to live and work in a huge city that has everything, including a nice climate, Guadalajara is a great spot. Sure Mexico's standard of living overall isn't as good as ours, but if you can land a decent little job and be in the right areas, you can have a real nice way of life there if you want.

[nadinbrzezinski]

21. Depends where, in the

Ciudades Perdidas you are correct, somehow I doubt these boys are going down to a Ciudad Perdida, but even those after some years get all the utilities.

Damn the ignorance at times is astounding

Now in the sticks you are correct, again I doubt they are going down to the sitcks... and in the sticks here there are parts that don't have those either...

Now you are right, the standard of living is not as high, but it has nothing to do with utilities...

[proud2BlibKansan]

28. I teach kids who were born in Mexico

and when they come here, we have to show them how to use a drinking fountain, sink, toilet and light switch. Where they have come from, those things are not part of their daily lives.

But yeah, call me ignorant. :eyes:

[fishwax]

29. last time I was in mexico, the light switches were slightly different, the toilets and sinks

were pretty much the same. There weren't any drinking fountains though :)

Come to think of it, I did spend an afternoon in a remote mountain village where the water didn't run particularly well--they did have electricity though, including an arcade for the kids, with rebeuilt video games from my childhood. It was pretty cool. :)

[nadinbrzezinski]

32. No drinking fountains are a rarity

usually only present in private schools (a few) in large cities

[fishwax]

33. seems a good thing, given the water quality

I'm glad there were no drinking fountains, as I have a hard time resisting a drinking fountain. It's like a reflex for me. :)

[nadinbrzezinski]

35. True story

When we went to Nashville for a surgery I needed at seven, I got Montezuma's revenge after drinking the water at a fountain.

To say that this memory makes me smile is to put it midly

When I worked EMS for ten years, I always took with me a couple bottles of water.. or just drank sodas.

We had access to bottled water for coffee too..

;-)

[fishwax]

37. hehe

ah, irony :)

:hi:

[nadinbrzezinski]

31. In the sticks there are no public services

also many of the things work DIFFERENTLY

Not light switches, and electricity is pretty much all over the place.

The kids you teach come from the back country, but the electrical grid is now covering over 95% of the country

Irrigation and water services are covering over 90% of the country

A symbol of wealth or perceived wealth is to have a TV, even in places where you have to run it using a car battery.

As I said I don't teach kids who grew up down there... I GREW UP DOWN THERE.

I WORKED IN EMS down there.

I have a clue.

But what you have encountered ARE THE EXCEPTIONS NOT THE RULE

And I could show you some folks who even today are off the grid in some sections of the US... mostly in the real back country.

Hell my husband grew up in Catalina and he did not know how to use a rotary phone at 12, does that mean that the rest of the country did not have rotary phones?

[Jim Warren]

8. I lived there

for seven years, mid 80's, and met my wife of 20 years who is from there and where my inlaws live.

Believe me, there is a HUGE difference between visiting there a couple of times, even if it's extended stays, and pulling the plug so to speak and moving there to live. It changes everything, particularly if you have to lead a normal life, by which I mean earn a living.

Mexico, probably like many undeveloped countries, is a great place to have money but bad if you are poor,
and in my observations of some expats trying to live on the cheap there, can be horrible and even dangerous if you are a poor foreigner.

[UTUSN]

9. Why? (what the o.p. asked). Because the have-nots aspire to have, while

the haves aspire to BE. The latter are like Marie Antoinette et al., playing at being shepards.

[murray hill farm]

10. I lived in Mexico for 5 years.

I lived there with an fm3..like a green card...which had to be renewed each year...showing an income of..then..$12000 a year in order to renew the card. one can live in Mexico without the fm3, but will need to return to the usa every 6 mos and then return via car to get an additional 6 mos of tourist visa. Flying in will usually get only 2 or 3 weeks at the most. I owned a house there..in Isla Mujeres...near Cancun. It was a small house..and yes, electricity is very high priced..if you choose such things as air condit, etc. If you live like the Mexican folks do ...with out such conveniences, then the electricity is much more affordable. You can eat for much less than in the usa, but again...u need to eat differently. Beef, as we know it does not happen in Mexico...they do not age their beef, as we do...and it is akin to shoe leather...hamburger is OK. ONe can buy imported beef from Canada, but it is not worth what it will cost. So, again...if one is able to change the way they eat....chicken and pork and lots of rice and beans..and lots of vegtables and fruits, then one can eat for less. So, if folks go there to live, they can live for much less, but not if they hope to continue the same type of living as they might be accustomed to in the usa. Aside from that, it is a wonderful place to live...warm climate, warm and friendly people and a slower and more pleasant life. I left after hurricane Wilma...but I had only planned to stay for another year or so, because I was turning 65..and the medicare I would get at that point would not be something I could use in Mexico...so, that too is something to think about too.

[seabeyond]

11. i have been to akumal mexico twice. i found the prices to be very americanized

i wondered how the people with their very low wage could afford the prices charged to american at american rate. i have not found the "deals" that people proclaimed to be able to pay in mexico. we even went to a non tourist area grocery store and did not see a break in the prices. i didnt get it.

[Roon]

14. Thanks for the responses everyone!

eom

[nadinbrzezinski]

15. They have jobs lined up

I do hope they realize they need an FM-2 in order to be able to legally work.

(The equivalent of a green card)

As to the rest, they are in for a shock

[High Plains]

18. I don't know what's so shocking about Mexico.

Unless one has never ventured outside Shaker Heights his whole life.

Although I admit it can be a real eye-opener for people who've never left the States.

[nadinbrzezinski]

19. Fifty bucks does not go as far as they think it does

mostly

[High Plains]

22. Well, yeah, especially if you're trying to live like an American.

But you can live pretty cheap there, too. All those poor Mexicans do.

Get outside the tourist areas and Mexico City, buy your food at the market or grocery store instead of eating out, don't spend your evenings in bars, take the bus or colectivo instead of buying expensive gas, etc.

[nadinbrzezinski]

23. I grew up in Mexico

I worked as a paramedic for ten years, (volunteer mind you)

trust me, it does not go as far as they think

[High Plains]

24. ...and it's not getting any cheaper, either.

[nadinbrzezinski]

25. Nope

my parents live in Mexico City... We went down there for a family funeral last year and went to the supermarket to do the groceries.

My sister and I were not shocked since we knew this, but when we paid the bill and then converted it to dollars found the bill comparable to Ralph's in San Diego.

Granted... we bought some stuff that is way out of the reach of most people (like cheese and milk), but you get the point.

[medeak]

17. tell them to take cases of duct tape

friend journeys there every winter living off the duct tape in his van...they love the stuff down there and will trade anything for it.

[High Plains]

20. I've spent a lot of time in Mexico over the years.

Probably two or three years of my life. I'm able to work there without permits because I do my job for my US employer online.

I actually breathe a sigh of relief when I cross that bridge over the Rio Grande into Mexico. Much less of a repressive, police state feeling there. Kinda sad, that.

[SoCalDem]

26. They better be careful about working there..

mexico (oddly enough) does enforce their own employment policies.

My aunt & uncle bought a place near Mazatlan (in the 60's) and the main stipulation, back then anyway, was that they had to be able to show they could afford to live there without having to work.

They eventually decided to stay stateside and sold (again before the place boomed, so they actually lost money in the deal)

[oldlady]

27. just got back

spent time in Mexico City and a village in Michoacan. I wasn't blown away by the prices, though I stayed with extended family and shopped the non-tourist areas, EXCEPT my daughter got a crown done while we were there for $150 -- 10 times less than what she'd been quoted in the US and there was a dentist on almost every block. Throw in the plane ticket cost and she still saved money.

[fishwax]

30. Where were you in Michoacan?

I was there this summer. It was gorgeous :)

[oldlady]

34. Jiquilpan de Juarez

I agree, it was beautiful, as were the people! I woke up New Year's Day to the street parties dying down & the Bee Gees "Stayin' Alive" blasting outside *heehee*

[fishwax]

36. haha! sounds wonderful :)

:hi: