So after 3 months in Chapala, and some final reflection, here's my "review" on Chapala's suitability as a retirement option with grades for the major considerations:
Weather: B+ This would be an A if not for the humidity. And the reason it's still this high with the humidity is that the temp doesn't get too bad and the humidity decreases as the day goes on. May is their warm month with highs consistently in the low 90s. June & July low 80s for the high and I understand the rest of the year is the same or cooler. There's a fair amount of rain in the "rainy season" but it's almost all at night, so that's a plus.
Safety: A I feel like this is illustrated best by the number of elderly (expat) women I see walking around alone. Never felt unsafe here, and even DJ - normally a timid soul with this kind of sutff - felt safe enough to go to the weekly Monday market on his own if I wasn't up to it - and it's a good 15 min walk away.
Food: B+ Points off for lack of variety, but of course tons of good Mexican across all price points, a few random cafes/restuarants with American and other food, and adjacent Ajijic has even more diversity and availability.
Infrastructure: C+ Mexico remains a somewhat poor country, and while Chapala is more of a "vacation area," many buildings are still run down, most main roads are cobblestone, etc. It's an easy trip to Guadalajara and the airport, the busses do run frequently and are cheap, albeit often crowded and sometimes not the most comfortable around town. Utilities were fine, altho we did have a generator for when sotrms knocked out the power (which was very rare, actually, considering the strength of the storms).
Health Care: N/A we didn't need to access health care here, but I do know there were multiple docs who spoke English, there's a nice hospital in Ajijic, and from some expats I talked with who DID have to use the health care system, they had nothing but good things to say. I'm guessing we'll have to access health care in Oaxaca, so we'll see. I've also heard/read from others here that Ajijic is very well set up for older folks - including those needing assisted living services.
Costs: A Our very large, modern apartment was $500 a month (2 bedrooms, 1 bath, large, clean, huge wrap around patio with great views of the lake) and included all utilities and internet (which went out once in 3 months - WAY less than Cox in Oklahoma). Dining out was about half what we paid in Oklahoma for small/quick service restaurants and/or for mid-range sit down restaurnats (we did no fine dining). U.S. chains were about the same costs altho the only ones we did here were Popeyes and Little Caesar (for DJ). On the whole, I would say our cost of living is about HALF/a little less than it was in Oklahoma.
Social/People: C- There IS an expat community here, mostly older/retired folks, and the locals are friendy enough, AND if I knew this was a place I was seriously considering, I might have made more of an effort, but considering the next category, there's not much to do in this sleepy town. Probably a little more in Ajijic. So far we have found Mexican folks to be friendly, helpful, and honest (one small example: when folks get on the back of the bus, they pass their 13 pesos in a chain up to the driver through the crowded bus. No one thinks to try and get off w/o paying, and folks along the way don't pocket the fares).
Culture: D There's a small museum/culture center in Ajijic, and a couple of movie theaters, but that's about it. Again, if I dug more, might find more things, but this is defintiely a weak area here. We did catch a local parade by accident! lol
Flora/Fauna: C It's cool being by the lake, but because it's polluted, you cant really DO anything in it. Sad face! As mentioend in previous posts, there are a lot of "roaming" dogs, but mostly friendly, and DJ & I have our favorites in the neighborhood. And the foks who own dogs up here in this neighbrohood have no issues with letting them bark their effing heads off. VERY annoying and I would not recommend this otherwise amazing apt. just because of that. Other areas are supposedly not so bad in this regard. The cicadas are annoying for about 6 weeks, and there are JUST enough other bugs to be annoying and gross for two boys who hate bugs! Lol About once a week a large cockraoch or cicada would get in the house, grossing us out. Had a few weeks when flies were really annoying, and even had a couple of lizard sightings inside the house. There ARE some cool birds and even a handul of horses and a couple of donkeys in the hood - that was fun for the two of us. Plentiful trees, our allergies weren't oo bad, but also too dusty in the height of summer.
Location: C+/B- Again, being by a large lake is cool to look at, it's quiet, etc. We're about a 40 minute taxi ride from Guadalajara so that's a big plus for flights out, and it's also in the mountain time zone so doing stuff on "U.S. time" is pretty easy. But otherwise it's more of a "vacation" / chill place in MY mind and not so great for every day living for a confessed city boy!
At the end of the day, Chapala is a pretty hard pass for me as a retirement option. Too sleepy and small, altho others may appreciate that!
BONUS CONTENT: Before heading to Oaxaca, we spent a few days in Guadalajara, since we were flying out of there from Chapala. GDL is a pretty cool city, historic, lots of cool things to see and do, etc. I would recommend it if you find yourself in the area, but not sure if it's worth a trip on its own.
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