RETIRING TO LAKE CHAPALA

Lake Chapala, Mexico is one of the fastest growing retirement destinations in the world, including the nearby city of Guadalajara. Nearly 25,000 retirees call this area home for at least part of the year. Isn't it time you joined them?

11 Reasons to consider Lake Chapala, Mexico:

1. Climate: Lake Chapala is well inland, away from humidity and extreme heat. Nestled in the Sierra Madre mountain range, affords us the benefits of the cool night mountain air. We are protected from hurricanes. Being located on Lake Chapala (Mexico's largest lake) provides moderate temperatures year round. The days are mostly sunny and warm from February through November. We experience some cooler weather during the months of December and January. The rainy season runs from June to September. Comfortable temperatures. Sunny skies. No humidity. What more could you want?

2. Setting: Situated about 5,000 feet above sea level. Gentle breezes flow from the lake during the day; and then down from the mountains at night. Sunrises and sunsets are spectacular. Wherever you go, you are surrounded by natural beauty of bougainvillea, birds of paradise plants, hibiscus, fruit trees, palm trees. Hummingbirds and many others sing their songs of contentment throughout the day.

3. Proximity: You are never far away from home. It's about a 30 minute drive to Guadalajara's international airport with daily flights to the United States and Canada. Guadalajara has everything to offer of any world class city: shopping, theatre, entertainment. And you are never far from a trip to the beautiful coastal areas -- Puerto Vallarta is only 5 hours away by car.

4. You are not isolated: You often hear talk about being "isolated" from people who retire to an island. Here on the Lakeside you never hear people talk about isolation. Or if they do, it is by their own choice. You are mere hours away from any destination in the United States or Canada, it is easy to get to other parts of the world within a day's travel. There is a well maintained 4-lane highway running from Ajijic to the American border.

5. No bugs (well, hardly any): People often say there or no flies or mosquitoes. While that is not entirely true, they do not rule your life or ruin your time out of doors. We do still put screens on our doors and windows, but most of the time, we leave the house wide open. You will quickly find that most dining is done on the terrace where you are enjoying the fresh air and sunshine of the Lake Chapala area.

6. Cost of living: Whenever you read articles about Lake Chapala, everyone will tell you how cheap it is to live here. Well maybe... It's been our experience that although Lake Chapala is not expensive, neither is it all that cheap either. Excluding rent, since many people end up owning their home, a couple could live comfortably on about $1200 to $1500 USD per month. Different lifestyles can lead to vastly different spending patterns.

7. Health Care: I consider health care in Mexico to be a strong positive factor in living here. The Mexican national health care system (IMSS) is easy and inexpensive to join (less than $400 USD per year, depending on age).  You may choose to have supplemental health care for emergency air evacuation, access to Mexican specialists of your choice and access to a hospital of your own choosing.

8. Lifestyle: You will find that by and large people are healthier here. Think about it. You benefit from the clean mountain air, year-round supply of fresh fruits and vegetables. The benefit of wonderful weather where you can enjoy being outside instead of stuffy, air conditioned or heated buildings. You tend to be more active, therefore more physically fit.

9. Acceptance by the locals: On the whole, Mexican people are warm and friendly. They are very gracious and patient with the foreigners who live or visit here. They accept our presence, and mostly welcome it, since we strengthen the local economy. That being said, we need to remember that we are visitors here in Mexico and should accept local customs as they are and not constantly try to change things to meet our own needs.  After all, isn't that partly why we are here?

10. Infrastructure: Just because you are living in Mexico does not mean that you have to forego the comforts that you have become accustomed to. If you choose wisely, you can have a home built with all the conveniences and quality of life that you are used to. We have fiber optic telephone lines, 200 amp electrical service, 24-hour water supply, Satellite TV, high quality appliances, high speed internet.

We have nearby golf courses, and tennis courts, ATM banking machines, community theatre and many English-speaking organizations to belong to.

11. Comfort in numbers: For some, its comforting to have neighbors close at hand who have common backgrounds and customs. It gives people a chance to become accustomed to the traditions of their new neighbors while enjoying customs and friends from their own backgrounds. You can take the time to learn the language, but DO learn to speak Spanish. You will find that it will heighten your experience of living in this wonderful country, MEXICO!

The Facts Concerning Violent Crimes Committed Against US Tourists in Mexico

By Jim Scherrer

This article is prepared in response to an extremely misleading and obviously biased piece recently published on a site known as www.OfficialWire.com and shown under the topic of Official Spin; and spin it is! It was written by Derek Armstrong and posted on his website, Crime Report USA, as follows:

Mexico the Most Dangerous Country for Americans
Wednesday, December 23, 2009 at 3:39PM
U.S. Department of State Warns Largest Number of Non Natural Deaths Occur in Mexico.
Derek Armstrong, Chief Crime Correspondent
Crime Report USA: Mexico is overwhelmingly the most dangerous place for non-service Americans, topping the list of destinations with the highest "Non Natural Deaths", according to the US Department of State:
Top 5 Countries for Non Natural Deaths
Mexico 651
Iraq 82
Costa Rica 69
Thailand 67
Germany 63

Since shocking and misleading headlines such as "Mexico the Most Dangerous Country for Americans" are designed to be attention grabbing, tourists that read such nonsense might want to do their homework before considering vacation destinations in Mexico; they must understand the facts and not be frightened by ridiculous fear tactics put forth by those with ulterior motives.

At first glance, the above article seems to indicate 651 non natural deaths occurred in Mexico last year, however, when the reader digs deeper into the article he finds that the data was obtained over a three year period from 2006 through 2008, resulting in about 220 non natural US deaths per year in Mexico. Of the 220 non natural deaths per year, approximately 50 are homicides, the balance being auto accidents, drownings, suicides, etc. per the US Department of State.

Next, the reader needs to understand that approximately 20 million Americans visit Mexico each year, far more than any other country in the world per the US Dept Commerce. Therefore, we know that about 50 individuals out of every 20 million US visitors to Mexico are murdered during a violent crime every year while in Mexico.

Okay, let's take it a step further; let's determine where in Mexico these violent crimes take place. When reviewing the data presented by the US Department of State, you'll see that the majority of these violent crimes occur in the border towns such as Ciudad Juarez and Tijuana.

Therefore, the next time you plan your winter vacation you might want to avoid these areas; they're probably about as dangerous as Chicago, Detroit, or Los Angeles! Instead of vacationing in beautiful downtown Juarez, you might want to consider a resort destination such as Cancun, Cozumel, Cabo San Lucas, Ixtapa/Zihuatanejo, Acapulco, Huatulco, or Puerto Vallarta.

As 13 year residents of Puerto Vallarta, we can attest to the safety of this magnificent resort destination south of the border where the possession of hand guns is prohibited and violent crime is virtually nonexistent. For proof of this claim, we'll first determine the number of US citizens that visit PV annually and then get the facts related to violent crime in the area.

There are in excess of 200 cruise ships that visit PV from the US every year with an average of more than 2,000 passengers each; i.e. approximately 400,000 passengers arriving annually. During the six month "high season", PV receives more than 50 international flights daily. Let's assume that 40 are from the US carrying an average of 100 passengers on each plane; that's more than 700,000 passengers arriving by air during the six winter months.

Next, let's assume that 30 planes arrive daily in PV during the six summer months of which 20 are from the US; that's another 350,000 passengers arriving by air during the "low season".

Finally, we'll assume that another 50,000 people drive to PV every year. Totaling these conservative numbers, we find that at least 1.5 million tourists from the US visit Vallarta annually. A number of websites such as http://www.travels.com/destinations/...ta-information put the total number of visitors at 2 million, others such as http://www.puertovallarta.net/fast_f...o_vallarta.php peg it at 2.2 million and assuming at least 75% are from the US, our estimate of 1.5 million US visitors to PV per year is quite accurate.

Now, let's return to the data from the US Department of State. You will notice that during 2008, there were merely five non natural deaths of US visitors in Puerto Vallarta and only one was a homicide. (Chances are that he was doing something or involved with something that he shouldn't have been!). That's one violent death out of 1.5 million visitors for the year or less than 0.7 per million.

According to US government provided data, the US has 6.2 violent deaths annually per 100,000 residents. This information is readily available at the US Bureau of Justice and on other websites such as http://www.cdc.gov/nchs/FASTATS/homicide.htm.

In other words, we have 62 homicides or violent crimes resulting in death per million residents in the US, or 93 homicides per 1.5 million; i.e., 93 times as many as in Puerto Vallarta!

You'll notice that the author of the referenced article is from Toronto, Canada; a beautiful city with a reputation for being quite safe, having a homicide rate of only 3.1 homicides per 100,000 residents per the Toronto Police Department or approximately half of that in the US.

Still, that equates to 31 per million residents or 46 murders per 1.5 million people, i.e. nearly 50 times as many as the number of Americans murdered in Puerto Vallarta, Mexico!

For example, in 2007, Toronto, with a population of 2,750,000 inhabitants, experienced 84 homicides or approximately 31 per million people.

You'll also notice that the author of the article publishes his propaganda on sites where feedback and comments are impossible; is it any wonder? There have been plenty of knowledgeable folks that have read preposterous articles such as the one addressed above and they too, are voicing their opinions and commenting on websites such as www.TheTruthAboutMexico.com.

For the most part, these are people with intimate knowledge of Mexico and if it were dangerous for Americans in Mexico, they probably wouldn´t be living or vacationing there on a routine basis.

(Yes, I am biased and yes, I have an axe to grind [representing real estate buyers in Puerto Vallarta]; but more importantly, I feel it imperative for someone to set the record straight and not allow misleading propaganda to be published on the Internet without being challenged)

Finally, the above data tends to indicate that living in Mexican resort areas such as Puerto Vallarta is nearly 100 times safer than living in the US and 50 times safer than in Toronto, however this is really not the case since the data is skewed by the element of time.

The millions of Americans living in the US or Toronto are permanent residents spending 52 weeks per year at home whereas the Americans visiting PV are only temporary.

In order to adjust for this time differential, the following assumptions must be made: Those 400,000 cruise boat passengers spend only one day in town, those 1,050,000 passengers arriving by air spend an average of 10 days in town, and half of the remaining 50,000 that consider themselves to be American expats live in PV only during the "high season" while the other half live here year round resulting in an average for this group of 40 weeks per year in Vallarta.

The following calculations show that this is equivalent to 68,200 Americans living full time in Puerto Vallarta.

400,000 cruise x 1day + 1,050,000 air x 10 days + 50,000 expats x 280 days =
year year year
400,000 days + 10,500,000 days + 14,000,000 days = 24,900,000 days
year year year year
24,900,000 days x year = 68,200 full time expats in PV
year 365 days

One American homicide per year in PV per 68,200 American expats equates to 14.6 per million or less than half experienced at the safe home town of the author of the misleading article and 1/4 as many as in the US.

In summarizing, the next time someone insinuates that traveling to or vacationing in Mexico is dangerous for Americans, you can present the facts to them. Hopefully, after reviewing this analytical approach with the documented facts and figures provided by the US government, you'll feel much more comfortable and inclined to visit our beautiful Paradise south of the border....

Jim Scherrer has owned property in Puerto Vallarta, Mexico for 26 years and resided there for the past twelve years. The mission of his series of more than 70 articles pertaining to retirement in Puerto Vallarta is to reveal the recent changes that have occurred in Vallarta while dispelling the misconceptions about living conditions in Mexico. For the full series of articles regarding travel to and retirement in Vallarta as well as pertinent Puerto Vallarta links, please visit us at PVREBA. http://pvreba.com