July 2007
The gringos I’ve encountered through the years I’ve lived in central Mexico have moved here for many different reasons.  I’ve found people who have moved to Mexico for the good weather.  Others moved because of lower health costs or because they couldn’t afford retirement in the States.  Yet others came to buy cheap houses, to study, to raise their kids, or to escape a bad marriage.  A few moved here to escape detection from the law.  The reasons are quite remarkably extensive.

So how do these people choose just where to live in Mexico?  How do they evaluate what city or state in Mexico they want to settle in?  Is there a right way and is there a wrong way?  While I do not think there is a specific right way to do it, I do believe there is a wrong way: impulsivity.

If you are moving for legal and more or less legitimate reasons, to do so on a whim or impulse can be the quickest way to heartache and despair.  You will soon be finding your way back from whence you came.  Impulsivity, while it has actually worked for a few, does not do so for the majority.  You’ve got to do your homework. You’ve got to ask every question.  You’ve got to read everything you can get your hands on, especially those books which spell out not only the pluses about living in Mexico but also the hard stuff—the minuses.

I would like to suggest one right way that could work for a great deal of Gringo expat wannabees.  This is what my wife and I did when we were in the research stage of our move to Mexico.  If you can follow it, or adapt it to your own situation, you just might find yourself having a successful expatriation experience.

What climate do you want to live in on a long-term basis? 
There is a climate for everyone in Mexico.  Some gringos, accustomed to areas of the U.S. where humidity is high, might do very well in one of the Mexican coastal cities.  Trust me when I tell you that if you are not used to regions of extremely high humidity, you want to consider some other place in Mexico to live.  You can consult some guidebooks, such as Fodor’s, that will list ranges of temperatures for the year in the region of Mexico you are considering.  You can also find this information online.  Another thing you can do is to check the daily weather report for the city you are considering for expatriation. 

This site, www.wunderground.com/global/stations/76577.html, lists foreign cities and daily weather reports and forecasts.  You can keep a running record of the places you are considering to study highs, lows, and precipitation.

What are you going to do about the language issue?
I believe many potential gringos underestimate this and how it is going to affect not only themselves but also the nationals where you choose to live.  If you simply do not want to learn Spanish for whatever reason, what you want is one of the areas of Mexico that has an established gringo community like Lake Chapala or San Miguel de Allende.  In the places with well-organized gringo enclaves, you will never have to utter one word of Spanish.  It is all neatly packaged for the English-only gringo.  It will be like moving to anyplace in the U.S. to retire.

If you want to live in a more authentic Mexican area largely untainted by Americanization for that “real Mexico” experience, then you are going to have to master Spanish.  What I mean is to develop an Intermediate to High level of spoken fluency in order to make do.

From time to time, my wife tells me of gringo wannebees who post on the various Internet chat forums.  They want to move to some small, isolated village where there are Mexican nationals but few, if any, English speakers.  When questioned, they say they have absolutely no Spanish skills—none—and yet it did not occur to them that it would be virtually impossible for them to survive in rural Mexico without Spanish.  I swear this is true and I am not making this up.

Though I’ve made a big deal through my books and articles about learning Spanish in order to live in central Mexico, amazingly, there are gringos in cities such as Guanajuato and Dolores Hidalgo who cannot speak Spanish.  I cannot tell you how they do it but they manage somehow.  My wife and I have stayed up many nights contemplating this horror.

It is a horror because what happens if you become seriously ill and there is no one to interpret for you?  I simply don’t know what these gringos do.

If anti-gringo sentiment exists for any reason, being Spanish-challenged is number one.  In the small rural, conservative, and provincial towns, if you do not speak Spanish, there can be some pretty tough feelings you are going to have to overcome with the nationals where you live.

Most anti-gringo feelings melt away almost instantly when you make the effort to speak Spanish.  In cities where the locals’ livelihood does not depend on the gringo expats or on tourists, there is not going to be a pressing need for the nationals to speak English, nor is there going to be a pressing need to being particularly nice to you.  Now, don’t send me hate mail.  The truth is that not all Mexicans are going to love or like that you have moved into their town.  And, if you cannot speak their language, you cannot get to know your neighbors or show them what a great person you are.

How Much Do You Want to Spend?
In a nutshell, the smaller and more rural the town, the cheaper everything from A to Z is going to be.  However, more rural towns may not have the services you need (like banks, ATM’s, satellite or cable television, telephones, or internet service).  What you don’t want to do is buy a house before knowing if you are going to fit into the town you are considering.  You need to rent first then buy later.  The bigger and more established the gringo enclave in a particular city, the higher the prices of everything will be.  This is what’s attracting gringos to places that are not used to a significant gringo presence: cheap real estate.  However, when you move into these places, and the locals don’t speak English, just what are you going to do?

What Will You Do With Your Time?
Well-defined and long-established gringo enclaves present opportunities for the new expat, especially the one who doesn’t speak Spanish.  There will be things to do, people to see, relationships to garner and develop, and lots and lots of activities for the displaced gringos.  For all practical purposes, it is like moving to a country club with long-term living accommodations.  You have the country-club lifestyle in a foreign country with all your needs provided (waited on hand and foot) by Mexican nationals.

I totally get the attraction of, for example, San Miguel de Allende.  It is a place where you don’t even have to think about the fact you are in someone else’s country. One American expat there told me that the local resident population is there to serve the foreign community.  You have everything there that you would have in a Florida retirement community, but even better weather.

Move to another area of Mexico where there is not an established gringo community and you will have to come up with your own distractions.  That’s how it is, so plan accordingly.

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