Something about the date today got me thinking, and I suddenly realized we’re approaching our fifth anniversary (February 1st, 2017) of moving to Mexico. Tempus fugit and all that. Which got me to thinking about what has changed, what hasn’t, what’s new, what isn’t and all other things expat.
The climate remains spectacular. I’m sitting on my terraza looking out at the lake at 9:00 in the morning in late January, wearing shorts and a t-shirt. The sky is blue, with just a few puffy clouds, and the temperature will hit seventy degrees Fahrenheit shortly; next week we’ll reach eighty. All this with no threat of hurricanes, tornadoes, tsunamis, earthquakes . . . wait, we do have an active volcano, but it’s far away and not that active, I think. Anyway, the climate is still as good as advertised. Some expats claim it is getting colder in winter (due to climate change) but the weather data has changed little. I know that these five years have weathered me to the point I no longer handle cold well. I used to run in the snow in a t-shirt and shorts; now fifty degrees gives me the chills.
The Mexican people are as friendly and welcoming as ever. One would think the pandemic might have put a dent in their good humor, but they choose to look at it all as just another part of life. No carping about difficulties in getting vaccines or masks. No complaining about restrictions, except in that like all government rules, they may be more honored in the breach. Few people getting all exercised about other people’s pandemic behavior, with the exception of a television announcer in Guadalajara:
In general, life continues apace here in Mexico. The government never (really) closed the borders, only shut things down for a week here or there, and mandated some performative measures. Some stores or restaurants still have a wet rag on the floor at the entrance, to “sterilize” your shoes before entering, from back when health officials thought Covid was a contact threat. You step on it, then on a dry rag next to it, pump some anti-bacterial gel onto your hands and enter. Sometimes someone waves a magic thermometer at you: they keep trying until they get a result allowing you to enter. Go figure: the results in illness, hospitalization, and death rates are about the same here as in the States, just without all the drama.
It is still cheap to live here, although housing and rental prices have become challenging to some. Mexico’s inflation rate was over seven percent last year, but the peso exchange rate has varied between twenty and twenty-two pesos per dollar, effectively negating the inflationary effect on expats. The rising cost of living is reflected in a rising federal minimum wage ($173 MXP, or about eight dollars a day), which in turn raises the amount needed for an expat to qualify as a temporary or permanent resident. Likewise, Mexico is tightening its immigration enforcement, meaning we’ll see fewer digital nomads (younger folks working online), fewer boomers retiring to Mexico to live on just Social Security, and fewer free spirits who just come with a backpack and overstay their tourist visas.
What about the current expat composition? Snowbird numbers were down during the pandemic, even though the airline routes remained available. The sizable population of Canadian snowbirds (loons?) suffered some pretty strict federal rules that severely limited their ability to visit. Ottawa used everything from threatening to eliminate access to health care to mandatory, supervised, and expensive quarantines to reduce the number of Canadians travelling abroad. American snowbirds numbers were somewhat reduced due to fear of getting severely ill in another country, but are beginning to rebound. Why? During an average year, about one million baby boomers retire (those numbers usually declined during recessions); during this pandemic, the number of baby boomers retiring has more than tripled and appears to be accelerating! All of them have to go somewhere.
Those in the States already know about the nation-wide escalation in home prices, and it’s especially fierce in warmer, nicer places to retire. We have seen a small increase in housing costs here, but much more of an active market, as the wave of baby boomers look south at the same time the newly-retiring Mexican middle class catches on to the notion of a leisurely retirement in a great location (rather than staying put in the family home).
And these trends prove out in the anecdotes we hear, and our own experiences. While construction has slowed during the pandemic, many new projects are suddenly springing up or back-to-life. Our web boards and social media are filled with potential expats asking the usual questions, planning a reconnaissance trip, or announcing they’re in town and looking to make new friends. Some of the long-term expats we arrived with (or shortly behind) are looking to return to the States, for all the usual reasons: increasing health concerns, separation from family, or death of a spouse. There is a constant churn among the expat community for these reasons, none of which reflect on any expat’s rejection of lakeside, but simply a change in life circumstances necessitating a change in domicile. Speaking of change of domicile, we moved late last year, and I will soon have a little tour of our new place in another post.
What’s the verdict, five years in? Of course we still love it here, or else we wouldn’t have gone all-in in buying a new house. All the things we loved about the town and the country continued; we have added a few new ones. We never anticipated being expats in the midst of a pandemic, but I would argue it has been easier here than anywhere else. Mexico presents no challenges to our ability to travel the world or to return to the States as often as we like: no requirements whatsoever from this end. We ended up being the only members of our immediate family able and willing to travel, so we went to see everyone else as they hunkered down: South Bend, Cincinnati, Baltimore, Wolfeboro (NH). Whenever a country decided it could safely allow tourists, we jumped on the bandwagon: Greece in June, Italy in November. We will continue the torrid pace this year, with a French river cruise plus land tour in May, Thanksgiving in Italy with a side tour to Sicily, and another round of visits to family. All this is made possible by the low cost of living and the ease of travel. And as Mexico seems to be moving to treat Covid as an endemic disease, we plan to take more local trips to places like Manzanillo, Guanajuato, and Oaxaca.
While the increasing number of expats locally do clog up the relatively small number of streets in our little town, I can’t get angry about it. Being an expat is not for everyone, but for those who relish a little spice in life, it is wonderful. I can’t bring myself to get angry about folks who are just trying to discover (like we did) whether the expat life is right for them!
I remember when we lived here the first time in the earlier 2000’s that we use to say “Don’t tell anyone about this place!” Well the word got out!!! Now paradise is crowded BUT still paradise
I am likewise a recent Ex-Pat now residing in South Carlina. Would have never dreamed of that one as recently as 5 years ago. We all take steps some bigger than others.