Mexico News Daily, in partnership with Jalisco-based Choosing Mexico LLC is publishing the first definitive Where to Live in Mexico 2024 Guide, a comprehensive exploration of viable long-term living locations (cities, resorts, and towns) across many of Mexico’s 32 states, using a unique six category rating system. Created by Choosing Mexico in close consultation with MND, this initiative explores everyday living essentials using a one to five “rating” designed to reveal criteria you can use in your move to Mexico deliberations. As this editorial series unfolds, you’ll have thought-provoking guidance, steering you toward a short list of viable Mexico locations (perhaps a village in the sun?) and hopefully opening your curiosity about places you are not presently considering.

While no one has the real figure, embassies estimate that 1.6 million Americans and 400,000 Canadians now call Mexico home, alongside thousands of Europeans. 

Our rating system is not a “ranking” designed to convince you one place is better than another. Rather, this series will examine over 30 locations across over a dozen Mexican states. It will include old standbys like Lake Chapala, Merida, San Miguel de Allende and Puerto Vallarta — places that put Mexico on the tourism map. It may also include up-and-coming locations you’ve never heard of. 

We won’t discuss the cost of living (which is dependent on your lifestyle), “safety” (which is determined by your actions and personal vigilance), or the living standards in urban areas versus resorts versus towns/villages (which is a personal preference).

So, what really matters when it comes to picking a place? Here are six ways to embrace the realities of Mexico living. All six speak to one core, existential question about moving to Mexico: “How will you live and spend your daily life?” 

Climate: Perhaps the MOST IMPORTANT consideration for year-round living under a Mexican sun. Climate determines (in ways big and small) your daily routine. You’ll need to understand Mexico’s “dry” versus “rainy” cycles, the impact of altitude (over half of Mexican territory is above 4,000 feet) and how latitude determines summer highs and winter lows. Rainfall increases (generally) the further you go south. Places with a year-round, stable climate translate to minimal need for either A/C or heating, a cost of living factor. Consider also that in some locations, there are hurricanes, rising sea levels, deserts, tropical jungles, inland temperature spikes or drought. Our ratings will help you pin down the advantages and drawbacks across Mexican coastal and inland locations.

Connectivity: The relative ease of getting here and getting around can help you maximize one of Mexico’s key advantages: proximity to the U.S. and Canada. West Coast U.S. residents might find the Mexican Caribbean a tad too far, and East Coasters might write off Baja locations for similar reasons.  There’s also the question of access to inter-city bus and air transportation. If you are somewhat isolated by a northern location (like is the case with the Baja and border states), distances to central Mexican cultural attractions may be a factor. Central Mexico has the country’s best air and bus transportation systems.

Culture: After climate and connectivity, culture and community are the next two key criteria for selecting your new home in Mexico. Culture and community affect the critical question, “How will you spend your time?” Whether you are coming to Mexico for retirement or working remotely, free time will accumulate and may challenge your overall happiness — unless you take time to find a place that “speaks to” you. Consider that if you’re in your 60’s and retiring you’ll likely have 25-30 years to embrace a fulfilling life. In my experience, the happiest foreigners in Mexico are the ones who find a genuine interest in local culture and express their appreciation via active engagement. Mexico excels like few nations when it comes to cultural diversity and complexity. It’s a fascinating laboratory of cultural evolution unfolding across one of the world’s most biodiverse landscapes.

Community: Community, of course, means different things to different folks. Having Spanish language skills opens a host of places where you can find commonality with locals. For non-Spanish speakers, community can mean finding areas of Mexico that have hosted foreigners for decades. These places can be home to cultural centers, service clubs, religion, performing arts, volunteering opportunities, animal rescue, sports clubs, and more ways to stay busy that you may have experienced back home! Communities of the recently migrated coalesce and congregate in surprising ways. Our rankings will reveal some surprising pastimes and socialization opportunities.

Care: Medical care in Mexico means medical services and “wellness,” in the broadest sense. Private medical care gets high marks from expat residents. Where you find the best hospitals, you’ll access specialists, diagnosis, surgical procedures, disease management, medications, nursing, and post-operative recovery. Senior care is slowly getting prioritized by the private sector. Home care (including doctors who make house calls) and Mexican nursing care are available for a fraction of the cost of the U.S. Many North American migrants will often cobble together home-country services with Mexico care. Having surgeries in Mexico is by no means rare; however, many foreigners choose to do more extensive procedures under their back-home medical policy. Wellness means eating less processed food, fast food, and more seafood, vegetables, and fruits. And (let’s hope) more exercise! 

Costco: Am I joking? Sort of. Decades ago Mexico was the land of sacrifices and scarcity when it came to consumer goods. Obtaining your favorite food items, personal care products, clothing brands or kitchen necessities meant packing them into a suitcase when you headed south. This all changed with the signing of NAFTA in 1995. By the early 2000’s, the US box store invasion was taking hold across cities, resorts and even smaller towns. So, if you need a semblance of your back-home lifestyle (don’t underestimate this need), today’s Mexico residents can get almost anything via either retail or online stores. Overnight door-to-door delivery has been answered by fleets of delivery vans and motorcycles that will get your new Birkenstocks at your front door fast and reliably. There are currently 39 Costco stores across Mexico. 

This editorial series promises a chance to find your very own village in the sun. So buckle up and follow us as we reveal which of the 32 cities in this series is right for you.

Author Greg Custer lives in Jalisco. He’s worked for over 40 years in international tourism, educating travel advisors around the world about Mexico and other Latin American destinations. He helps folks explore Mexico for living at www.mexicoforliving.com. 

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The other day I came across the black-and-white details about where and how U.S. citizens die in Mexico. The U.S. State Department is required by law to report non-natural U.S. citizen deaths abroad. Analysis of the data reveals accidents (driving, swimming) and tragic events (homicide and suicide), along with some glaring media coverage omissions.

How many non-natural U.S. citizen deaths occur abroad?

Our global village has some tough neighborhoods. In fact, in 2021 and 2022 exactly 1,100 unfortunate U.S. citizens died from non-natural causes while abroad. Surprisingly, this total is a dramatic reduction from the 2014–2015 period, when 1,723 died overseas.

Some fatalities were in the pursuit of happiness: crossing a London street after a pint (then looking the wrong way), or a “man overboard!” while on a sunset booze cruise can at least be understood with a twinge of “oh well…”

More chilling of course are overseas homicides. Worldwide homicides of U.S. citizens fell significantly (from 339 to 196) in 2021-2022 compared to 2014-2015. Other categories (shown below) also experienced significant declines since 2014-2015.

It’s not easy to pinpoint why there have been declining non-natural U.S. citizen deaths abroad. The number living overseas has grown significantly over the last decade (currently believed to be over 11 million worldwide). COVID-19 was certainly a factor that kept us indoors and away from potentially dangerous situations.

Mexico detractors will zoom in on how many more Americans die of non-natural causes in Mexico than in any other country. This is indeed noteworthy: 393 U.S. citizen deaths of non-natural causes occurred in Mexico in the years 2021 and 2022, 36% of the global total.

Yes, more U.S. citizens die in Mexico, but this is more a reflection of our proximity and visitation frequency. So, bear in mind that this singular stat does not tell the whole story. While this 36% figure has risen (from 28% of the global total in 2014-2015), total Mexico deaths have fallen dramatically from their 2014-2015 figure of 488 non-natural deaths.

How do the deaths in Mexico compare to the rest of the world?

So, is Mexico getting safer?

A 24% drop sounds like good news. But lurking behind these statistics are some troubling trends.

The “other accidents” (64 fatalities) occurring across Mexico are alarming (38% of the global total). One can only speculate on these circumstances, which may go undisclosed in news reports. Does the State Department need to update its categories?

Homicide figures can be startling, in ways both alarming and (for the casual beach visitor) oddly reassuring.

Mexico accounted for 62% of worldwide homicides involving U.S. citizens, claiming 121 of the 196 mortal victims (over two years). But the details of where these homicides occurred are telling. It’s no surprise that six northern border states account for 68% of U.S. citizen homicides in Mexico. Bad outcomes happen across the entire 2,000-mile line in the sand, where drug traffickers have claimed major transit routes. Baja California (home of Tijuana) leads with the most homicides of U.S. citizens in all of Mexico–37 in 2021 and 2022.

Why don’t homicides in border states get more media coverage?

What’s shocking to me is the absence of media interest in homicides of U.S. citizens that occur in Mexican border states. When an American is killed at a beach destination, the coverage is loud and clear — and will lead the State Department to issue a travel warning. But just another shooting of a U.S. citizen along the border soon fades from the headlines. 

Why is this?

I can only assume the lack of interest is tied to an assumption that this subset of U.S. citizens is thought to be less worthy of attention, perhaps for a range of reasons. Maybe they are more likely to be of Mexican descent, non-white or suspected of involvement in illegal activity in a dangerous region of Mexico. 

There are of course some cases that do infiltrate the U.S. news cycle. At the end of April, the murder of three foreigners in the Ensenada area (one of the victims was an American, the other two Australian) drew international attention. Incidents in Matamoros (2023) and Sonora (2019) made U.S. headlines as well. This uneven reporting broadly confirms a media bias, as the victims were all ethnically non-Mexican.

The Ensenada incident did draw indignation from Mexicans, not about the media coverage, but rather the speed of action by Mexican law enforcement. The case was investigated and arrests were made very quickly, while tens of thousands of missing Mexicans are forgotten by the judicial system.

How safe is it to travel to Mexico?

The homicide figures at popular beach locations are also startling, but in a positive way: only seven total killings in 24 months (five in Quintana Roo and two in Puerto Vallarta).

In 2021-22, over 40 million U.S. citizens traveled to and from Mexico via plane, according to U.S. Department of Commerce statistics, which means the likelihood of being a homicide victim while on a beach vacation is extremely low.

So, how safe is it in Mexico?

The hundreds of thousands of us who call it home often look at “safety” through a hyper-local lens. Is it safe to drive my car on this road? Not entirely. How about riding my bike? Not really. Walking on sidewalks? Uh, sometimes no.

Accidents happen, and some of us are luckier (and more cautious) to avoid being in the wrong place at the wrong time. It’s just part of life and death in Mexico.

Greg Custer is a regular Mexico News Daily contributor. He has worked in Mexico’s tourism industry for over 40 years and has been a resident of Ajijic, Jalisco since 2015. He operates www.mexicoforliving.com

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My happy place is in Jalisco state, home to many of Mexico’s emblematic destinations, attractions and cultural touchstones. It’s the place that gave the world tequila, mariachis, Puerto Vallarta and Guadalajara. Jalisco also launched the Mexico-for-overseas-living movement and is home to the iconic Lake Chapala.

Chapala is both a town and the name of Mexico’s largest lake. Tucked between shoreline and sierra (mountains) is a string of colorful colonial-era villages. A ribbon of lake-facing settlements and gated real estate communities has been hosting foreign-born residents for nearly 100 years, while also drawing throngs of weekend visitors from Mexico’s second-largest metropolitan area, Guadalajara.

What’s the attraction? The folks living here (a culturally diverse bunch from over 30 countries) will immediately point to the splendid weather (comfortable year-round temperatures and very low humidity), proximity to an international airport and a bonanza of ways for active baby boomers to embrace the one question to seriously consider when moving to a foreign country: how will I spend my time?   

The region is a fascinating laboratory of multiculturalism — home to thousands of foreign-born year-round residents who fall into one of two groups: the baby boomer “do-gooders,” who stay active by volunteering, interfacing as best they can with their Mexican neighbors and frequenting spaces like the Lake Chapala Society’s downtown Ajijic “campus,” weekly markets, performing arts venues and more. The restaurant scene is robust, if not first rate. Another group lives here primarily for the good weather (homes here do not generally need air conditioning nor heating) and affordability, and the opportunity to casually connect with their Mexico surroundings.

The epicenter of staying busy is Ajijic, with a population of 12,000. This number doesn’t include the estimated 4,000 foreign-born year-round residents and thousands more seasonal visitors. Founded in 1531 and wedged between steep mountains and the Lake, Ajijic’s kilometer-long lakeside malecón (pier) is a delight at all hours. The lake faces numerous challenges, however, mostly resulting from pressures upstream and the Rio Lerma watershed. It’s a magnificent body of water, but rarely do humans disrupt its calm surface or explore its shallow depth.

Ajijic’s prosperous central plaza is dominated by a gazebo adorned with lake-inspired cement motifs, an 18th-century chapel, a cultural center and mural art. Its murals are a legacy with ties to a children’s art program, launched by American Neill James in the 1950s and still in operation today. James arrived in Ajijic in 1943 and stayed for 50 years, opening the first Spanish-language library, sponsoring silkworm looms that employed village women and spearheading various philanthropic initiatives. 

Calle Colón bisects the villages from north to south and connects the plaza with the lakefront. Colón is lined with art galleries displaying works by Mexican and foreign-born artists, real estate offices and clothing boutiques. There are surprisingly few museums or colonial-era structures here, reflecting the village’s historic isolation (the first roads connecting the village to the outside world came as late as the early 1950s) and fishing village heritage. 

There are hiking trails crisscrossing the lake-facing mountains, a 30-kilometer protected bike path and morning kayaking from the Ajijic waterfront. Thermal swimming pools (balnearios) are just a short drive west of Ajijic, in the village of San Juan Cosalá.

Many of us living here enjoy the three live theater companies, symphony orchestra, 50-member choir, and Jalisco state performing arts center, in addition to the numerous secular and religious cultural traditions. As for where to stay, you won’t find any sprawling resorts or large hotels here in Ajijic. 

Visitors typically stay in Airbnb rentals or small inns sprinkled along central Ajijic’s crumbling cobblestone streets. Gated communities and dozens of residential developments mix foreign buyers with affluent tapatíos (people from Jalisco), who generally occupy their homes on weekends and holidays. 

The foreign “invasion” is not without impact, however. Gentrification has brought changes in ways good and bad. Rising prices for real estate and rentals weigh heavily across the entire northwest Lakeshore region, impacting Mexican residents particularly. Residential water wells are being tapped out; traffic congestion through Ajijic and into Chapala is worsening. 

A partial positive counterweight is the economic impact of foreign spending that goes into the hands of residents and business owners. Dozens of social services, animal rescues and educational efforts strive to mitigate some of these externalities, offering residents volunteer opportunities that are having positive impacts.

Take in the world’s best weather and international intermingling in the town of Chapala and the villages of San Antonio Tlayacapan, Ajijic (now a Pueblo Mágico), San Juan Cosalá and Jocotepec. All this and more begins a short 30-minute drive from the Guadalajara International Airport.

Of all the “happy places” you may consider parachuting into, I’ve found mine along the northwest shore of Mexico’s largest natural lake. 

Greg Custer has lived lakeside since 2015, operates Ajijic Walking Tours and consults with folks exploring Mexico for overseas living. He is a regular contributor reporting on the Lake Chapala/Ajijic region for Mexico News Daily.

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Singer Jimmy Buffett

Scores of Jimmy Buffett fans, I’m told, embrace life at “a new latitude,” the promise of their spiritual guru, a 76 year-old billionaire who continues to tour, write books, and inspire millions of baby boomers longing for life’s perfect sunset. Buffett’s multiple businesses include a real estate collection of lifestyle communities for 55 and over, open in Florida, South Carolina, Texas, and coming soon to Mexico.

In 2024,, Latitude Margaritaville International is set to open on the northwest shore of Lake Chapala. This new Buffett venture will soon offer “Parrot Heads” (Buffet’s followers) a new roost in Jalisco state, adjacent to the village of Ajijic, whose fame with foreigners dates to the 1940s. 

A new twist on the overseas living experience is now upon us. What could possibly go wrong? Are Lake Chapala and the rest of Mexico ready to welcome Margaritaville to the homeland of margaritas?

Lake Chapala’s one attempt at a United States-style senior care model (formerly marketed as “La Pueblita”) went into receivership in 2022, the victim of the pandemic and a marketing pitch that never caught on. Latitude Margaritaville International and its partner Levy Holding will take over the ill-fated, 200-unit facility of unfinished condos and casitas.

“With the success and demand for Margaritaville-branded residential communities in the U.S., we’re always looking for licensing opportunities and destinations that are compelling and dynamic. Lake Chapala was exactly that,” according to Jim Wiseman, president of development at Margaritaville, the parent company of the Latitude Margaritaville real estate collection. “As a popular destination for expats, and with its diverse offerings and incredible climate, the area brings together elements of both active and laid-back lifestyles, and a dedication to community – all a major part of the way of life at Latitude Margaritaville International.”

The project will open for sales this summer, with move-ins happening in the spring of 2024, according to the Margaritaville website. Pastel-hued renderings also give us some clues about how the company will recruit “Parrot Heads” to Lake Chapala. An updated artist’s rendition of the existing pool area features giant macaws, a “Salty Rim Bar & Grill” logo, and Jimmy Buffett-inspired slogans and affirmations scrawled on walls and awnings. 

That’s all fine. Who wants another abandoned real estate eyesore?

But bringing the Margaritaville brand to Lake Chapala – the birthplace of overseas living in Mexico (a heritage we lakesiders proudly embrace) – has some of us wondering how this will all go down. Buffet’s Margaritaville is the first corporate brand to parachute into the lakeside senior living landscape, and it will certainly impact the surrounding area. Will it further accelerate our community’s transformation from a lakeside village to something else? It’s very likely.

It wouldn’t be fair to lay blame at Margaritaville’s door for Ajijic’s growing challenges: rickety roads, crumbling sidewalks, traffic snarls, water shortages, the rising cost of living, and lost village identity. 

That blame could be placed on local authorities for abandoning any attempt at urban planning or growth impact abatement. Also responsible are foreign-born “invaders” who come here with U.S. lifestyles, affluence, and attitudes that foster what are essentially two community circles, the Mexicans and the outsiders; sometimes polarized, sometimes united.

Will the Margaritaville brand bring new residents with global views and attitudes congruent with making Mexico a better place to live? Will Margaritaville’s “55 and better” communities start popping up across Mexico? 

Or, will it be just another gated community, this time bringing a Floridian vibe to the more muted, rural Lake Chapala area?

I’m hoping the model finds its footing, creates some good-paying jobs, raises living standards for our Mexican neighbors, and helps Mexico attract the inevitably growing share of Americans who can’t afford to retire up north.

I don’t personally know any “Parrot Heads”. They could all be civic-minded, progressive, and giving. They could help make the places they live in more prosperous. Or, will Mexico’s quest to attract foreign capital create another island of exclusivity that’s disassociated from the community’s needs – especially in a town like Ajijic, struggling to define its future?

If nothing else, it’s a homecoming of sorts for the drink that inspires followers to embrace “life on the other side.” I’m keeping an eye out for my “lost shaker of salt.” And hoping for the best. 

Writer Greg Custer (www.mexicoforliving.com) has worked in Mexico tourism for over 40 years. He’s lived lakeside in Ajijic since 2015 and helps Americans explore Mexico for living opportunities.

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Learning more about the website’s audience (where they are living currently and basic demographics) gave me some simplified insight: 58% of readers are responding from the US and 52% fall in the 18-44 age group. Combining these two bits of info, I assume the “against” expat migration group has a bunch of younger people who don’t live here.

So starting from this assumption, the naysayers are a bunch of younger Americans for whom Mexico is a big all-inclusive resort party. How else could you validate the poll’s findings?

Of course, there are negative impacts caused by those fleeing the U.S. and Canada — something I experienced, having moved to Mexico in 2015 and worked in Mexico tourism for over 40 years. American and Canadian migrants can sometimes be painted as “invaders,” especially when we set our sights on smaller villages and towns.

Yes, we create competition for rentals and real estate price inflation. We often don’t integrate into our host communities. Many of us live in “bubbles” of like-minded, monolingual, better weather seekers. We can also flaunt our relative and real wealth in ways that are culturally insensitive. We “dollarize” a local economy. We stick out with our Anglo appearance and white legs, wearing short pants and hats. We skirt certain Mexican laws, when it’s convenient. This is all true.

But there are also expats and institutions that are active agents for change. In 2015 the United Nations passed the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development, a program signed onto by 176 nations (including the U.S., Canada and Mexico). The agenda proposes 17 goals, including no poverty, zero hunger, good health and more.

For each of these 17 goals, I want to believe there are foreigners moving to Mexico with global views compatible with addressing these tragic shortfalls in the human condition. Mexico’s uphill climb is daunting. A recent study published in Mexico News Daily cites how poverty abatement (post-COVID and midway through the current AMLO administration) is stalled. There are as many Mexicans living in dire poverty today as there were four years ago. Chew on that. Mexico’s current “Fourth Transformation” has been stillborn.

But the good work continues, supported by foreigners and returning Mexicans working in close concert with local partners. These efforts touch the human condition in ways big and small. Jalisco state has an initiative to put Mexicans returning from life overseas on municipal councils. The head of our local transit police spent 20-plus years in the Dallas police department. Mexicans coming home often bring “expat” views about change and getting things done.

In my community of Ajijic, expat impacts go beyond pet shelters and child education. This is partly because we’ve been here so long, part of a migration fuse that was lit in the 1940s.

If you have a cause or bring a skill, the ways to connect with time and donations are vast. A charity list published by the Lake Chapala Society is a 12-page compendium of ways to get involved in local initiatives to improve the human condition.

Are these social and environmental outreach programs universally in action across Mexico? No. Can foreign-born residents of Mexico do more to improve their home country or local communities? Let’s hope so. Settling here is about more than good weather and cheap living. Look around and open some doors to personal and community transformation. All-inclusive resorts don’t define our migration wave, and they never should.

Greg Custer is a full-time resident and publishes content about Mexico for living at www.mexicoforliving.com.

The post Expats moving to Mexico: Is it really that bad? appeared first on Mexico News Daily

On digital forums, I try to steer clear of the comment sections. But a recent conversation that erupted on an Ajijic chat site was just too juicy to swipe past.

On the surface, it was about a seemingly humdrum matter: poop in the lake.

The protagonist was an innocent expat wanting to “do something” about Lake Chapala and the surrounding area’s rainy season raw sewer overflows. This is a common yearly experience across Mexico (and parts of the United States).

This topic became one of the forum’s most talked-about crises. For an online community that traffics in selling toaster ovens and queries like, “Can anyone help me fix my remote control?” the comments veered to unexpectedly extreme expressions of angst. I took to distilling this vitriolic sewage–in-the-lake commentary, hoping to find the fault line of when and where we expats turn complaints into activism.

While I found no evidence of anyone with a latent desire for more poop in the lake, it’s clear that the expat community is nowhere near to being on common ground regarding what to do about the issue. We seem to be caught in a swirl of doubt: being “sensitive” versus “don’t waste your time.” The result: with some exceptions, expat residents sit self-sidelined on issue after issue.

As a resident of one of the longest-standing colonies of Americans living anywhere outside the U.S. (American expats have been living here since the 1940s), I expected more multicultural activism. Perhaps a presidente municipal (mayor) whose grandfather was from Wisconsin? It would seem plausible, given the generations of lakeside living by Americans and snowbird Canadians.

However, we expats are still in another orbit from our Mexican neighbors. As shown by this particular social media uproar, when a community issue arises, we too often run for our respective ideological mother ships.

Most of us expats are here for the right reasons and will donate to causes in a generous fashion (giving both time and money). But too often we are susceptible to all this sunshine and the well-stocked shelves of the Super Lake market causing our ideologies to run amok.

It can take something like poop in the lake to reveal our true colors.

For those on one side (liberals?), it’s an abandonment of the credo “think global, act local.” In the doo-doo diatribe about Lake Chapala sewage, this group once again shoots themselves in the proverbial huarache (sandal).

Being “sensitive” (and choosing to do nothing), these folks plop (so to speak) right into the “it’s not our country, be respectful” cushion of hypocrisy. I do appreciate one kind soul’s solution, however: that we all switch to compost toilets.

Bless the 1960s.

In the other corner (social conservatives?) are those who bring their First World problems and material hang-ups to their new Jalisco lakeside home. Mexico is a mere coincidental backdrop for living behind a wall, with better weather and Costco. This group harps about Mexico’s corruption and how nothing is ever going to change.

“Why bother?” becomes their answer to addressing local issues.

In between are those who worry that any form of public expression about local issues is illegal. (It’s not.) Others have come to realize that many Mexicans disdain confrontation, debate and public conflict resolution.

Put this together, and many of us just sit it out.

It’s not that we invaders only want to save the world by rescuing one stray dog at a time or by opening yet another bazaar for dead people’s belongings. We are a damn talented bunch. If you doubt this, spend an hour at Ajijic’s Open Circle get-together/lecture some Sunday morning: you’ll meet social crusaders, engineers, architects, scientists, teachers, writers, esteemed diplomats and true global citizens.

Ninety-five percent of us are gringos, starved (as is our lot) for information and insight. We are a great 60-and-over generation of listeners and learners.

But how do the “why bother” and the “let’s be sensitive” viewpoints come together? Do we “respect” Mexico and Mexicans when we withdraw to the do-nothing comfort zone? Do we exacerbate the problem when writing off expat activism as futile in the face of bad government, weak institutions and corruption?

I propose it’s time for a communal coming of age for Mexico expats. Learn some Spanish, get your residente permanente visa, vary your dining and drinking routine, make Mexican friends, volunteer, mentor kids and find a cause. Maybe then we act arm-in-arm with our neighbors in resolving shared afflictions.

Mexicans would cheer our taking notice of public nuisances. Even more would appreciate us working toward solutions.

Greg Custer has worked in Mexico tourism for over 40 years. He helps foreigners find their village in the sun at www.mexicoforretirement.com.

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Expats take pride in our chosen places of residence; it is part of a compare/contrast mindset that put us living abroad in the first place. So, when the expat think-tank organization Internations.org published data from their 2020 Expat Insider survey in October, I dove excitedly into its Environment & Sustainability Ranking findings.

The ranking asks respondents to rate 60 countries in areas such as sustainable goods and services, energy supplies, recycling and waste management, green policies, environmental awareness, the natural environment and air and water quality. The 15,000 expats who participated live in 181 countries and represent 173 nationalities.

I immediately looked for an easy-to-digest infographic or map showing my adopted country’s status. It did not take long to find Mexico, painted in black and next door to a gray U.S. and orange Canada. Most of Central and South America was similarly oscuro.

It will not surprise many expats and those interested in living overseas that Nordic nations and Western Europe dominate the ranking’s upper shelf; Asia falls to the lower levels. And Mexico? The news is not great. Mexico comes in at a very disappointing 43rd out of 60 nations, the worst-ranking country out of the North American destinations featured in the report. This puts Mexico eons behind Sweden, Finland and Austria, though ahead of India, Egypt and Indonesia. Tiny Costa Rica ranks best in the Western Hemisphere.

Mexico manages to stay out of the top 10 (and bottom 10) in all subcategories, should this be any consolation. However, it does get one notably low mark: 51st place (out of 60) for none other than water quality and treatment.

For someone who lives along the shore of Mexico’s largest lake, Chapala, this is not a big surprise. Lake Chapala’s health rises and falls with whatever happens upriver in the México state, Guanajuato and Michoacán. The effluent from industry, agriculture and ranching is often debilitating to the lake’s health, mirroring a general apathy toward water issues across Mexican society.

In the green products and utilities ranking, in which respondents shared their satisfaction with the availability of green goods and services like renewable energy, organic food, sustainable products, clean energy, and waste management and recycling efforts, the contrast between top-ranked Sweden (thanks to progressive taxation) and last-place India (failing hard in waste management and recycling) could not be starker.

And Mexico? With a ranking of 43, do not expect much good news. Almost half, 47% of respondents, rank Mexico’s waste management and recycling negatively. Of course, the waste management debacle belies what happens at the pueblo level of Mexican society. In this stratum, nothing is wasted, thrown away or discarded haphazardly without ensuring the article has no remaining value; even then, little of material heft is discarded by Mexicans in the lower economic stratum.

If the global mantra be “reduce, reuse, recycle,” then Mexico’s nonurban dwellers are beholden to the first two but utterly helpless when it comes to the last. Only 35% of Mexico expats are happy with the waste management and recycling efforts, as opposed to overall 60% globally.

In Mexico, just 32% of expats say the local population is interested in environmental issues, and only 31% say the government in Mexico supports policies to protect the environment, versus 55% globally. It is, of course, important to remember that these statistics are subjective, based on respondents’ awareness. There is no doubt some ignorance about successful, grassroots environmental advances in Mexico that have not reached English-only readers.

Readers of this fine online newspaper may cringe reading about the Mexican government’s shortcomings and private-sector abuses related to the natural world.

In the policies and people subcategory of the survey, the Nordics are believed to take the environment most seriously. Egypt, Kuwait and India round out the bottom dwellers. Mexico stays out of the bottom 10, no doubt thanks to a generation of ecologically aware urban activists who continue to push for progress. There is a positive vote for Mexico’s youth and expat-led farmers’ markets and organic food producers, as 61% of Mexico’s migrants are happy with the availability of green goods and services.

In the quality of environment subcategory of the survey, Mexico came in 45th, but there is a mixed bag of findings: 85% of expats in Mexico rate the natural environment positively, as opposed to 82% globally. I believe that is because we live in an adopted nation labeled by naturalists as “mega-diverse.” Our natural surroundings are a constant source of awe and inspiration to us, giving Mexico a head start over whatever the Nordic and European leaders can claim.

Some readers may react to these findings about Mexico with a certain “love it or leave it” mindset. If we expats are cast as invaders from abroad, then why not just pick up and invade somewhere else like, say, Costa Rica?

I prefer to take the report’s benchmarking for what it is, while helping my Mexican neighbors understand the road ahead may be potholed but navigable. And what a road it is.

Greg Custer is as a permanent resident of Ajijic, Jalisco. He operates the online community www.choosingmexico.com.

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Adding to the complexity is a likelihood that your parents’ futures are part of this life 2.0 decision. Like never in our history, our parents are living longer, staying active, and facing (with their grown-up children) an uncertain future. The question for many is, “Can we afford quality senior care, while not draining a lifetime of assets and savings?”

For my family, this quandary was more than philosophical. Things up north in Bend, Oregon, changed as my wife and I were joined by a new roommate — my 83-year-old mom. We embraced this change with open arms — yet over time came to accept how tenuous our situation had become.

Today, millions of Americans are at least considering abroad options (some nine million U.S. passport holders now live outside the U.S.), choices scarcely considered a generation ago. And for many, the reality of taking along aged parents is now squarely part of our “what next” lifestyle decision.

Many of us boomers cozy up to the idea of living abroad. It might have started as a trivial, somewhat voyeuristic form of inquisitiveness, peeking from our U.S. living rooms at media outlets such as House Hunters Abroad and International Living. A “Wouldn’t it be fun?” form of escapism has seeped into our retirement consciousness.

For us, the first decision to resolve was, “Is migrating with Mom the right thing to do?” An unsuccessful and expensive go at assisted living in Oregon (more and more like all-inclusive resorts for active boomers and/or their parents), left us seriously talking about options. There had to be a better way.

The jaw-dropping cost and insular, institutional memory care experience convinced us to do some exploring, and led to our first of many “Ah ha!” moments.

It’s not unlike the path many of you have entered upon over the last 30 or so years. Go on vacation, find a place that clicks, make the timeshare down payment, and start to wonder why your special place can’t become your year-round home.

For some places, like Mexico, the boom began long before the 2007 housing crash. No one really knows the real number, but a commonly-sited statistic is that over one million Americans are now residing full-time under the Mexican sun.

Another “Ah ha!” moment came following a visit with a friend in Guadalajara when my wife Jane brought me two 1940s books about Mexico lakeside living by writer Dane Chandos (he’s really Englishman Peter Lilley), who adopted Lake Chapala as his home and lived lakeside for over 30 years. 

His “House in the Sun” still stands lakefront in San Antonio Tlayacapan. In an era before gated expat communities, the books recount the challenges and everyday curiosities that enchant so many norteamericanos with Mexico.

“Chapala, huh? Didn’t Americans and Canadians used to go there to retire?” In fact, yes; the villages lining the lake’s northern shore have been attracting expats for decades. Chapala is both a town and a lake (Mexico’s largest). Tucked between shoreline and sierra is a string of cobbled and colorful colonial-era villages.

At a quite comfortable 5,000 feet altitude, Chapala is half an hour from Guadalajara’s international airport and under an hour to the nearest Costco and the city’s world-class medical care. We’d be under a three-hour drive to the coast (Manzanillo), be able to get familiar brands at Ajijic’s “scenic-view” Walmart and be sure to find an assortment of home rentals for under US $800 a month.

But we weren’t really looking for a gringo bubble of country clubs and expat-led organic markets. What cinched the deal for us was Chapala’s amalgamation of Mexican village simplicity, spectacular scenery, the world’s best climate, and a better place for Mom.

Yes, there are going to be decisions and trade-offs – and some hard ones. You will collaborate with your spouse and perhaps conclude that it’s just not practical, it’s not the right time, we won’t see our grandkids, we need to work a few more years before retiring, we don’t speak any foreign languages.

Picking up and moving abroad is daunting to even the most seasoned global traveler. And it’s not everyone’s path to a successful, sustainable lifestyle migration. But many, many of us overcome our apprehensions and take the proverbial plunge.

We moved with Mom to the Chapala lakefront in 2015. Mom passed away on Easter Sunday, 2020.

Demographers tell us that an astounding 10,000 Americans reach retirement age every single day, and few are either financially equipped or emotionally prepared to manage our own retirement – and even fewer of us are able to do so while caring for an aging parent.

Your first inclination might be to jot down a short list of “Why we CAN’T do this now.” Be careful! You might find writing down the obvious obstacles becomes a roadmap rather than an offramp to a new generational partnership in a foreign land.

For us, fulfilling a decades-old dream became something much more than an escapist TV show. Ironically, it was Mom’s fading memory that helped us decide that it was time to start making new memories, while living atop Mexico’s hospitable altiplano.

Greg Custer lives lakeside in Ajijic and helps expats find their own village in the sun with his company www.choosingmexico.com.

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How can the U.S. rebound with sharper focus on regional alliances? A good place to start can be a pivot, south toward our relationship and border with Mexico.

In this world of shifting alliances and loyalties, the U.S.-Mexico border should be understood and probed with renewed determination. This line of sand and river embodies the inevitable reckoning of our binational, ingrained bonds.

A border “fix” could dramatically reduce America’s tenuous overseas dependencies and put Mexico on a development path toward addressing the grinding poverty across its southernmost states, the focus of President López Obrador’s administration.

Both nations want the same things: peace, security, and international trade. An innovative response to the border quagmire could become the economic engine and social justice solution driving our binational, mid-21^st century connectiveness. Especially at a time when China-American relations are imploding, the border needs a new future. In this spirit, is it time to move it?

The U.S. and Mexico do need a border, just not the one currently delineated. Borders exist for good reasons, but this border is not working. Could the border be moved? With a pen stroke, yes. Let us suppose for the moment it could happen.

By most measures of binational cooperation, the current demarcation running through mega-urban centers is broken. Environmental violations, crime, smuggling, and the migration crisis make it impossible to expect the current megacity clusters to remain viable. The existing international border treaty (re-negotiated in 1970, modifying the 1840-1850s treaties) reaffirms the notion that international borders can be moved by the will of governments.

The efficacy of a newly drawn border lies in its isolation, completely detached from any developed towns or settlements. The new border would bypass all urban areas and be entirely unpopulated and in the middle of barren desert, but for humanitarian aid stations and certain immigration functions.

There would be no repeat of the 1850s attempt to establish towns across the new border, when Mexicans were given free land in exchange for returning and repopulating the area. The new border would remain unpopulated, possibly for decades or until both nations agree it is the right time, under strict development rules.

Most of Mexico’s border culture and society already peers northward to U.S. trends, commerce, news, sports and values. Support for some form of MEXit is fathomable for many of those making the 350 million border crossings that happen each year. San Diego united with greater Tijuana; El Paso and Ciudad Juárez as a single urban unit. You get the picture.

Border policing becomes greatly simplified (and more secure) with a silver lining of treating migration as a humanitarian activity. Both nations could equip this new border (built by a binational Conservation Corps-type plan) with health and repatriation “stations” that would attract migrants (and reduce remote, deadly migration routes) to understand their individual options and receive basic human needs assistance — but not a free pass into the U.S.

It is all paid for via a diversion of the billions supporting border security on both sides.

Mexico gets lower enforcement costs for border and immigration services obligated by the U.S. government; crime rates fall across Mexico, as syndicates lose transit routes and border allies. All border-based businesses (export-oriented, including maquiladoras) retain their favorable export tax status, albeit with labor law alterations.

There would, of course, be monetary compensations to Mexico for lost real estate, and an offer of dual citizenship for those Mexicans living within the “new” U.S. territory. Mexico’s surging population is dramatically reduced as are associated externalities of surging border populations and policing the current line.

Mexico would obtain an unencumbered, better managed, humanitarian-focused northern border, equally managed by Mexican and U.S. stakeholders across social, environmental, and economic spheres. The U.S. gets new taxpayers and a renewed charge into manufacturing and industry.

A secure alliance between Mexico and the U.S. is achieved, dissuading other players (e.g. China) from economically toying with the unprotected U.S. southern flank. New consumers with values in line with the U.S. economy and society are offered a path to citizenship and dual nationality.

Most importantly, as the U.S. population ages, it gains a young and talented workforce, consolidated and ready to expand its labor and language skills at a time when the post-Boomer U.S. economy will face demographic pressures related to population decline.

Of course, not all Mexicans would accept being melded into U.S. society; repatriation options with compensation would have to be considered. Fears that a tsunami of Mexicans demanding U.S. citizenship would leave both nations weaker.

But a 2015 Gallup poll showed that less than 5% of Mexicans would prefer to live in the U.S., if given the opportunity.

With a newly drawn border that skirts urban areas would come a mountain of socioeconomic and environmental challenges, some insurmountable. But an “unencumbered” border would be a body blow to entrenched illicit industries in both nations, reduce crime (as the new border will be totally uninhabited), human smuggling, and force this porous line to become something it’s never been: a demarcation for changing our geopolitical priorities in favor of humanitarian (and economic) realities.

Without tensions, such a unilateral move-the-border decree would seem utter fantasy. However, with the stroke of a pen, the 21^st century could take a bold first step toward economic integration and social justice across the longest international border on the planet.

Can we humanely turn the new “la línea” from a human debacle into a fused urban zone of growth and opportunity? Of course, there will be winners and the less fortunate, and many who reject the entire concept as unworkable. However, doing nothing is not an option in the long run.

International borders are at best temporary lines in the sand; at their worst, a bungled bundling of societies and disparate cultures and languages that over time need to be reexamined and reworked.

If the U.S. has any kind of hemispheric destiny — that of owning a responsible posture toward Latin America, then there is one decree (move the border) that must not be rejected out of hand. Without a better border, the Western Hemisphere is the big loser.

Greg Custer resides in Ajijic, Jalisco, and has worked in the Mexican tourism industry for over 35 years. He writes about retirement living across Mexico at www.choosingmexico.com.

The post Is it time to move the US-Mexico border? Here are some benefits appeared first on Mexico News Daily