Quite honestly, we didn't settle here because we fell in love with the place; the kids needed to stop for a while and the price was right and the future looked good as an investment.
The Caribbean only steps away, snorkeling every calm afternoon with a kid or two, even the kids swim to the reef it is so close, watching the amazing array of blues and greens, exercise walks along deserted beaches, proximity of amazing history, amazing food, city with large box stores 15km away, incredibly cheap rent (we're paid until 2011 or something crazy like that; water, electricity, garbage) all are positives.
However, I really hear the call of the open road. I can't think of one place I'd like to settle, but I am very happy exploring all of them. Once the kids are grown I'd like to hit the road again, and next year, assuming a more positive cash flow, I'd like to at least roam around Mexico a bit. We've been in the same place (although Jamie and I always remark to each other, "if we have to be stuck somewhere, this is pretty damn good") for over a year. That is pretty difficult for me. I'm really a gypsy at heart (and my 12yo keeps telling me, "Mom, I'm just not a gypsy like you are.").
- Kathy
2002 Ford Econoline E350 PSD 7.3L TV.
2005 Ameri-Camp T315QBS.
Jonna wrote: Really Dan, that is the real bottom line. Most places you would enjoy leaving for a couple months a year, there in Jalisco you would go to the beach in the winter, here we would go to the mountains or the US in the spring. I'm pretty comfortable here year around but I do admit that it gets hot before the rains start, around April and May. For me, that is a perfect time to visit friends in the US or elsewhere.
Oh, and it is cold as heck in Ajijic as well as GDL. I had the furnace going full time one Thanksgiving there and I won't even bring up the Janurary we were there for a few weeks. It's cold, and while you may use your pool year around I have a solar heater on mine in Merida so I can use it in the winter. No polar bear club here.
This is very true. We've very much aclimated to the Yucatan heat and for me, I'm in fleece (I have fleece pants and a jacket on right now) at 80F. The kids do the same during the nortes and 60F is simply unbearably cold. We were in the SF Bay Area last November and thought we were going to die. I LOVE the "wall" of heat that hits you here and while I don't exactly love being sweaty all the time, I'm very used to it. In the wintertime, when all the snowbirds are frolicking in the "warm" seas, my family is shivering on the shore.
And Jonna, you're so right. April and May are always hotter to me than any month after the rains start.
Chris and Rockmoc - the mountains between Saltillo and Monterey (well, Santiago) ar some of the prettiest areas we've seen in Mexico (though we haven't been to Oaxaca).
Without humitity you're going to be away from shores, so have you checked out Bernal (a little east of Queretaro)? Or the mountains between the East Coast and SLP? Even between Xico and Pachuca is beautiful, (remote as hell) and lovely climate. And then there is the entire area around Cuernavaca - lovely climate, lots of history, lovely little villages.
harvestmoon wrote: Chris and Rockmoc - the mountains between Saltillo and Monterey (well, Santiago) ar some of the prettiest areas we've seen in Mexico (though we haven't been to Oaxaca).
Without humitity you're going to be away from shores, so have you checked out Bernal (a little east of Queretaro)? Or the mountains between the East Coast and SLP? Even between Xico and Pachuca is beautiful, (remote as hell) and lovely climate. And then there is the entire area around Cuernavaca - lovely climate, lots of history, lovely little villages.
Well, I guess I am not a hot weather person. I live here in Santiago and in the summer, unless you are above 6000ft, it is too hot for me. Sure, the nights are down to 14C which I love.
Looking for something cooler. I remember living in California, on Christmas Day we went to the beach for sunrise, Big Bear for snow and finished with dinner in Palm Springs. But I refuse to move back there.
Hope that someone finds the "perfect" place--no hurry as we still suffer from "hitch-itch" and aren't ready to put the 5W up on blocks (right now San Miguel de Allende is on top of our list). The comments regarding temps make us laugh. SOB in various places in the winter, we're dressed in Ts and shorts and the locals have parkas, scarves and gloves. They point at us and laugh and we point at them and laugh.
BillMoRex&Princess
'06 Chev D/A--'08 Cardinal 35 SB
Fulltiming since 8/93
-few to no vehicles/smog/noise;
-exotic local dishes at least accessible, or their ingredients;
-a good Mayan bonesetter close by (for major or minor injuries);
-4 10,000+ foot volcanoes very close by for cardio exercise (just 1 live);
-a calm 3000-foot deep lake with few people in it at 80F for afternoon swim year-round;
-boating (only paddle craft) available year round;
-absolutely no tropical storms possible --ever;
-low but not too low humidity year-round-- 60% relative;
-average temperature 27C year round, not varying by more than +/- 3F day or night;
-minimum 5 months of little to no rain, short monsoon season;
-no biting insects and no malaria nor dengue whatsoever 365 days a year;
-a $20-million dollar view from anywhere one stands;
-few Europeans or North Americans;
-a thriving primitivist art scene;
-7 grades of coffee grown within a 1.5 hour walk;
-2 hours access to the Pacific ocean;
-a natural hot mineral spring and meditation center;
-all inhabitants still wear, to the most part, traditional traje;
-internet possible, but not in your face;
-all streets paved in 200-year old cobble-stone or volcanic sand;
-thousands of ancient petroglyphs and monuments yet to be discovered nearby;
-modern banking just 1-hour by boat away.
I've probably missed a few, but there it is. Oh, I've actually found this place by the way; can anyone guess where it is?
Somewhere up in the highlands of Guatemala? I'd say lake Atitlan but they have more people and motorized boats. Also, you didn't mention the possibility of volcanic eruption. I couldn't live in a caldera, it's beautiful though.
You're an experienced and truly esteemed traveler! I wish I could send you a prize
Actually, the in situ population is stable, however the transient population influx varies by village and season.
The key is: choosing a village that is minimally affected by incoming transient travelers: San Marcos.
Eruptions:
It is possible, but highly unlikely in the near term (1500 years many say?)
The motorized boat population is tempered by the fact that there are few entries into the lake. The boats that ply the lake are a hand-full of transports operated be the Batz family.
I made a series of photo essays of San Pedro/San Marcos/San Juan/Tzununa (while living there), if you'd like to view them at ArteMaya: here-->
One of my ideal locations in North America is Campeche (across the Peninsula from you). I lived there too for a while, in the early '90s
I do think that Lake Atitlan is one of the most beautiful places I've ever been on this planet and probably ranks in the top 10 of anyone's list. It's stunning, every morning I would get up and just stare - it was hard to believe I was really looking at such beauty.
It is a hard place to live for those born there though, we were there in February of 2006 and only a month or so before entire villages had been buried in mud. Many people were killed and in some they didn't even try to dig them out, they just planted crosses. Coming down into the caldera with our 27' RV and our friends 27' 5th wheel was interesting. The road had washed out in several places or bridges were missing and we had one many hour delay while they winched a truck back up the mountain from where it had gone over the side.
We stayed a couple weeks and made a lot of trips up and out to other places from there. We were camped right on the shore of the lake and this view taken at dawn is what I saw every morning. Just stunning!
Oh, and I've heard some really wonderful things about the city of Campeche. We've never stopped there, a big oversight. What has always happened is that we are so close to our home base that we get that 'smell the barn' thing happening and don't stop. Once we get the house done we have plans to go over and spend some time there. I've also heard that the RV park there is one of the finest in Mexico. It's at a country club I think with golf and all.
I'm really a gypsy at heart (and my 12yo keeps telling me, "Mom, I'm just not a gypsy like you are.").
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