Mazatlan,
Mexico: Almost Forgotten but Never Gone
article and photos by
Art Jones
|
|
|
Retire
In Mexico - Live Better For Less -
While there are some people who come to Mexico for a week’s vacation and
end up living here for the next twenty years, most people adopt a more
prudent course and do some homework first. Dru Pearson is a person
who did her homework and she is someone who knows about retirement in Mexico.
While there may be a few expatriates scattered in a dozen villages throughout
Mexico, most Americans and Canadians settle in one of five locations:
San Miguel de Allende, Mazatlan, Oaxaca, Guadalajara, or Lake Chapala.
Dru Pearson visited all these areas before settling in Lake Chapala. Dru
gives sound and thoughtful advice on retirement in Mexico. Everything from
how to pick your location to Mexican paperwork is covered. If you've
ever considered retirement in Mexico please read this report first. It
has the information that would otherwise take you months of frustration
to acquire. Click
Here for details - |
|
|
.
| As
my great luck and almost no planning would have it, I got to spend
a good part of my adult life in Alaska. I hitch-hiked up there in
1974 to work on the Trans Alaska Pipeline and help construct it.
Then, I was one of the lucky few who stayed on to do repair and maintenance.
I worked in some of the most beautiful country nature ever made from Prudoe
Bay across the Brooks Range all the way to Valdez. By 1995,
I knew it was time for a change. I took advantage of of my union's early
retirement plan and headed south. I spent about a year and a half traveling
in Mexico and Central America before settling down in Mazatlan, Sinaloa,
la Perla del Pacifico. On June 23, 2000, I had the extreme
good fortune to marry the Dra. Maria Elena Osuna. We live in a big
white house with red tiled roof on a hill overlooking the city and Pacific
Ocean. With us are our cocker-poodle el Chapo Bin Laden and Huma,
our eighty pound and growing American Pit Bull Terrier. My wife practices
dentistry, and I'm a house husband and full time health nut.
I read in our local paper "Noroeste"
this morning, that living in Mexico is only slightly less dangerous than
life in Columbia and Haiti. If you discounted the civil war in Columbia,
only Haiti would pose more of a risk to life and property. I also
read awhile back that Mazatlan and Culiacan, Sinaloa, along with Tiajuana,
Ciudad Juarez, and Distrito Federal (Mexico City) are the five most dangerous
cities in Mexico. That may well be. In my six years living
in el Centro Historico, the old Mexican part of Mazatlan, Lord knows I've
lost my fair share of bicycles.... Once, a few years ago, I left
my trusty 81 Nissan unlocked, parked in broad daylight , downtown.
Pinche ratero lifted my laundry, fresh from the cleaners, right off
the seat of the old pickup. In both cases, the fault was mine. I
didn't watch my stuff and somebody got it. Simple as that, happens
all the time, everywhere. |
 Art
Jones is a normal kind of guy who spent most of his adult life in Alaska,
first building, then maintaining the Trans Alaska Pipeline. In the
90s he took early retirement and headed south to warmer climates, looking
for a place to settle. He found Mazatlan. According to Art,
Mazatlan is ready to be discovered, again.
.
.. |
|
|
In all the years I've lived here,
I've only heard of two shootings where Gringos were involved. One
case involved two Canadians who happened to be having lunch in the same
restaurant as a couple of reputed narcos. Elements of a rival faction
showed up and sprayed the place with bullets. The
Canadian man was killed and his
female companion was seriously injured. The other involved the infamous
"love triangle." No Mexicans were involved. A few other cases
come to mind. The owner of a very upscale house in a very upscale
neighborhood that we were renting was arrested for being a
professional killer. Seems
he worked for one of the local drug running gangs that roam, and some say
run the state of Sinaloa. He allegedly blasted three members of a
rival gang on three consecutive days in the Zona Dorada.
| Needless to say we were
shocked. He was our next door neighbor, as well, and we thought he
was a hell of a nice guy. He was a family man, had a charming wife
and two nice kids. He was gunned down a few months later after his bosses
bought him out of jail. Goes to show you never know.... About
a year and a half ago my father-in-law experienced a home invasion type
robbery. My wife and step- daughter were in the house at the time.
It was a scary experience. The robbers were professionals and lost
no time in sacking the entire house. No one was hurt although the
property loss was considerable. This is my personal experience over
six years, all in all. I and the other Gringo residents that
I know feel perfectly comfortable living here. If you're not involved in
anything illegal and have any kind of luck at all, you should be fine in
Mazatlan.
The Four
Mazatlans
There are four Mazatlans of
interest to most Gringos. They are, from south to north, El Centro
Historico, Los Pinos, Playa Norte, and La Zona Dorada, a.k.a. the Golden
Zone. They're all located in a ten mile long strip about three hundred
meters wide running along the Pacific Ocean. There is of course much
more. Mazatlan is made up dozens of "Colonias" each with its own
personality. Generally speaking, living conditions become more basic as
you move inland away from the beach. The poverty becomes more obvious. |
Dra.
Maria Elena Osuna
|
|
|
Mazatlan is built on a peninsula.
The old city, El Centro as it is now called, is at the extreme southern
tip. The farther north you go the more modern it becomes. Mazatlan
was a stop over for the 49ers on their way to the California gold fields.
Many gold seekers, sick and sorry from the long, rough voyage around the
horn, liked what they saw and decided to stay. American surnames
are found in many Mazatleco families. Carlos Felton was a recent
candidate in the mayoral race . Ernesto Kelly, Juan Jesus Thompson, Guillermo
Coppel are all prominent Mazatlan businessmen whose ancestors
were 49ers.
| I live in el Centro, I'd guess ten
to fifteen percent of resident Gringos live here. Most of the others
live in La Zona Dorada. The Zona is at the extreme north end, where
the peninsula is no longer peninsula. It resembles a slightly tacky
Southern California beach community. That said, its real popular
with expat Gringos. Very near the beach, a 3 bedroom, 2 bath in a
gated community with all the amenities and a golf course can be had for
about a hundred grand. That's way cheaper than Puerto Vallarta or
Acapulco, and I shudder to think what one like it would cost in the U.S.
The nuevo rico Mexicans favor the Zona as well. Unfortunately, that
includes more than few narcos. The Zona was the site of a long running
drug gang war, but has quieted down a great deal of late....
I don't think there has been an incident up there since Ramon Arellano
Felix, the FBI's second most wanted fugitive was gunned down up there on
May 11 of this year. I don't go to the Zona much. It's not
so much because I don't like it or feel afraid of being caught in a cross
fire; it's just that El Centro is so pleasant that I seldom leave . |
View towards Mazatlan from
the Jones' Homestead
|
|
|
Mazatlan was an "in spot" for the
rich and famous of the 1950s. Clark Gable and friends were regulars
at Playa Olas Altas; they stayed at the Hotel Belmar and at the recently
remodeled Hotel Freeman. The Freeman sat empty and idle for 15 yrs, but
is set to reopen any day now. The city moved north over the past
few decades, and along with it went the people: Los Pinos, largely residential
in the 50s, Playa Norte in the 60s and the Zona in the 70s, 80s and 90s.
Tourism
Down, Advantage Up
Since the 9/11 attacks on the World
Trade Center and the Pentagon, tourism has been in the pits. Along with
the decline in activity of the fishing fleet and the general weakness of
the Mexican economy, the past couple of years has put a serious hurt on
the area. Mexico is at the bottom (I hope) of a long, extremely long,
economic depression. It is definitely harder for the average Mexican
to make ends meet now than just after the devaluation of 1995. Signs
of a reversal are now being seen however.
Although there is a lack of tourism
in Mazatlan, there is no lack of retirees taking advantage of rock bottom
prices to scoop up colonial era fixer uppers here in El Centro and more
contemporary digs in the Zona. If you ever had the desire to really
be in on the ground floor of something in Mexico, Mazatlan may be for you.
| Aside from the real estate bargains
and the almost perfect weather, the friendly people, and the seafood that
Maz is famous for, there are a few other benefits to Mazatlan life I 'd
like to mention. Before choosing Mazatalan, I spent about a year and a
half traveling in Mexico, Belize, Guatemala, Honduras, and Costa Rica.
There are beautiful and charming locations galore in all those countries,
no doubt about it, but they also have some serious drawbacks. One
is accessibility. Tucson, Arizona, is a grueling one day, or a very
pleasant two day drive from Mazatlan. It's a two-and-a-half hour
flight to LAX, and there are several flights leaving daily.
Like everywhere, Mazatlan has tiendas,
mercados, and tianguis. But Mazatlan also has Sam's Club and Office
Depot and any day now, will open a Walmart. How about that?
Most important for me is health care and the availability and accessibility
of medicines. Mazatlan is loaded, I mean loaded with absolutely first
rate doctors, private hospitals and clinics, dentist, dental labs, you
name it. And it is cheap. My completely unscientific research
into the cost of medical care points to about one-third to one-tenth that
of stateside prices depending on the procedure. These folks are one
hundred per cent competent, many went to same med schools as U.S. doctors.
The big difference is Mexican doctors feel that they are working for you,
not the other way around. You always have first and final say on
how your treatment should proceed. Most U.S. citizens living in Mexico
who are not accustomed to their doctors paying a lot of attention to how
they feel, sometimes find it a bit strange at first. |
View of the Pacific Ocean
from the Roof Patio
|
|
|
Health Care
and Medicine
Some medicines are available at any
pharmacy with no prescription needed. Again, the cost is a fraction
of U.S. prices. Since I moved to Mazatlan, I've gotten myself into
great shape. The only drugs that interest me at the moment are Ginko-Biloba
(120 x 40 mg x 24% for around seven bucks);
Nootropil (Piracetam 30 x 800 mg
for around $14 USD); and Viagra (1 x 100 mgs 2 doses for most) for around
$12.50 USD. If you've dreamed of real HGH and Testosteron hormone
replacement therapy but couldn't hack the astronomical U.S. cost,
the last time I checked HGH was available at my local Farmacia for somewhere
around 9 bucks per I.U., and 250 mg of Testosterone (Sostonon 250) is about
the same price.
My wife is a dentist who specializes
in dental reconstruction, dentures, crowns, and bridges, etc. Almost
all her family are med-professionals, and good health is my hobby.
If I can help anyone relocate or come for medical-dental work, go ahead
and email me through the link in the Additional Resources info at the top
of this article.
.
.
.
.
|
