Mexico Forum

MsAlex
Joined 2009
Posts: 269

4 years ago

What's Important to Consider When Deciding Where to Move?

4 years ago

I wrote a long email to a friend who is considering where to retire within Mexico, Ecuador or elsewhere in South America. I wrote him the following, and I invite other long-time expats to comment about the things I mention as being important to consider, and add what YOU think is important.

When it comes to where you LIVE (as opposed to where you like to visit), I’ve accepted that proximity to good healthcare has to be non-negotiable. (My husband had a major case of Deep Vein Thrombosis ten years ago, shortly after we moved to Mexico, which was very, very poorly handled in Michoacan, where we were living at the time. It was so bad, it is a miracle he survived. And the big thing we’ve been going through lately is that he has recently been diagnosed with a Pulmonary disease. Fortunately he is a candidate for new meds available for that condition, so our fingers are crossed he has a good number of years ahead of him. The meds, btw, cost well over $10,000 USD per MONTH in the US, and would cost $2,500+ USD per month WITH our Medicare coverage, including Part B. In Mexico the VERY SAME PILLS cost $400 USD per month, and our private Mexican insurance, we believe, will cover 90% of that. Good thing we’re in Mexico!!!) So while these events influence the “non-negotiability” of healthcare access for us, the truth is that as we age none of us know what’s around the corner. So if you want to settle somewhere and really make it be your home into your older years, I think it’s best to think strategically and be close to good medical help.

If we’re going to live somewhere year round, the climate has to be at the very least tolerable even in its worst season. (We don’t have the luxury of having homes in two places, so as to switch off for preferred seasons.) And somewhere at the top of considerations are social considerations. I speak Spanish and I love cultural interaction, going between two cultures. However, in the “real world”, my greater comfort is to have deeper relationships with people who share my (gringo) cultural roots. So living somewhere where I can have fun times and such social relationships is important. Then there’s the issue about how easy is it to get from there to anywhere else you want to go. That was one of the problems we experienced with living in Michoacan, for example. The closest airport was about 1 ½ hours away (as I recall, as it might have been more). Worse, it had few flights in or out and they were all expensive and all came and went at very inconvenient hours (e.g.: in the middle of the night), and at least back then, there was no such thing as a non-stop flight to anywhere in the US. Again, if you’re a traveler and you’re visiting, it’s not a major issue. But if you live there for years, it becomes an issue.

About infrastructure: again this is a big issue when you live somewhere LONG TERM. The quality of the roads, the purity of the water, what is done with garbage/sewage/run-off, even the existence or non-existence of sidewalks… can impact your health and enjoyment of being there. I can’t say whether Ecuador is worse on these points than other South American countries, and it’s not as if Mexico is great on these points either. Mexico’s road system has grown and gotten better, but when they repave a road, they put a microscopic layer of asphalt on it that washes away by the next rainy season. We use a reverse osmosis filter for our water in our house, because otherwise Mexicans basically all consume bottled water. There is either no drainage, or very inadequate drainage for rain water, even in a big city like Guadalajara, leading to flooded streets during rains. So it’s not like Mexico has “good” infrastructure, but we wouldn’t want to live long-term with less.

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