November 2021 - Let's hit the road! Chapala

Though we’ve both been to Mexico before, this trip was quite a bit different. No pre-

planned itinerary, no work obligations, and no all-inclusive resort. For our first long-stay retirement trip, we identified Chapala for our destination. It gets a lot of coverage online and in podcasts as a retiree destination. Apparently, people have been going there for years, and approximately 1/3 of the residents are expats.

Our first Airbnb rental

Once we identified the area, we dove in to find our lodging. It turns out that there are a number of small towns along the northwest coast of Lake Chapala. We had browsed Airbnb in preparation for our travels, but had never actually rented or stayed in one before. Using their platform, we considered a number of places, and settled on a condo in Chantepec, towards the western end of the Lakeside area. Reasons: the options were more modern, with a good-sized refrigerator, a stove and oven, a washing machine, off-street parking, and an area for Gunner to be outside. We printed out our reservations (old habit and not needed, but I wanted to be prepared in case immigration asked for our lodging details) and checked in by coordinating with our host to use open a lockbox to get our keys.

The condo ended up having a lot of what we were looking for. All of the above, plus reasonable wifi and a good amount of space. It had double beds, and we soon learned that Gunner would not reasonably share a bed with us, or sleep in his own room. As a result, Sandy and I ended up sleeping in different rooms for our time there. The wifi was fast enough for our needs. I was able to surf the internet to plan our trips, and we were able to stream videos from Netflix or Sling (to use Sling, I had to use my computer with VPN set to a US location, then project the video to the TV). We had prepared to get a local sim card (including having an old spare cell phone) but found that roaming from T-Mobile on Telcel worked very well and we often had a full data connection. We did have a few bugs and spiders get into the condo, through cracks around the doors. The spiders were large enough to be scary, and a few weird looking bugs as well. I also found a very tiny dead scorpion under the couch. Our host provided weekly cleaning (we added a 100 peso tip), which was really more frequent than we needed.

Gunner at the condo

The condo was in a nice neighborhood. We had no concerns about crime or our neighbors. The yard was small and not really enough room to play with Gunner. We were able to throw a bumper a short distance, or take him for walks in the neighborhood. The neighborhood was on the side of a hill, so good exercise walking up/down. There was a pool, but the weather was too cool, so we never used it. The general location was ok. It would have been nice to be closer to town for food, entertainment, etc. We ended up driving almost every day, taking Gunner to the local park for morning walks, then out again in the afternoons for food or exploring. We used a lot of gas and would potentially look for something closer if we return. The roads were in good shape. There are speed bumps (“topes”) to slow traffic down, often signed, but easy to miss. It was about 10 minutes to Jocotepec to the west, and 40 minutes to Chapala to the east. There was ongoing construction in San Juan, causing some delays and one-way traffic, but nothing major or concerning.

Mazamitla

We also visited Guadalajara a few times. We encountered terrible traffic every time, and ended up seeing almost all of the tourist locations downtown, so don’t feel there’s really any reason to return. We did find the nice suburb of Tlaquepaque, where the roads were closed in the city center, so only foot-traffic allowed. It would be a nice place to return to for a few days or a week. We also visited the small town of Mazamitla, south of Lake Chapala. It had an oddly Swiss feel and is a touristy mountain town, similar to Breckenridge or Aspen in Colorado.

For food, we ate breakfast mid-morning, then went out for a late lunch almost every day. We tried to make lunch our main meal, and either skipped dinner or ate something light at the condo. The condo had a well, but the water was not potable. We bought 20-liter jugs of water every 4 or 5 days for less than $2 each. Eating out was easy. I joined some local Facebook groups and was able to get lots of tips, including a nice place to have a Thanksgiving dinner. Most of the places we went were mid-priced and included international dishes. We often ate for $20-$30 total, including drinks and tip. Later in our trip we started exploring some of the more local restaurants, eating traditional Mexican food, and spending closer to $15 total. We typically drank Negra Modelo, but also found some craft beer options. We were surprised to find 2 breweries in the local area, plus 1 on the south side of the lake, and some others in Guadalajara. Most of their options were just ok, but a few would rival our typical beers back home.

Thanksgiving at Cocinart

La Dona guiso and chilaquiles

Tortugas torta

The majority of our transactions were in cash. We used credit cards at the hotels when traveling in and out of Mexico, but used cash for all food and gasoline. Many of the local restaurants have started taking credit cards, but we stuck to cash to prevent any issues with a stolen card. To get cash, we found that local bank branches were the most reliable. Trying to use the ATM at Walmart, or at an ATM kiosk didn’t work (but we’re not sure why). At the banks, it was easy to pull money from our US checking account and to get the better rate by declining the local ATM conversion. The most challenging parts of using cash were 1) tracking our spending to help refine our budget and 2) maintaining a good selection of small bills and coins for tips and flexibility. For the budgeting, I ended up downloading an app called “Travel Spend”, which allowed me to enter transactions, assign them to categories, and reconcile our balance every week.

Jocotepec malecon

Ajijic malecon

Lake Chapala

We didn’t find very many cultural attractions in the Chapala area. No museums, and only a couple of small cultural centers in the towns. Both Chapala and Jocotepec had nice churches, city parks, and malecons. We spent a lot of time at the Joco malecon, because it was part of the city park, and was a good place to walk Gunner. It was typically busy with people walking, exercising, taking Zumba classes, or even fishing. The downside is that it’s not next to the main part of the town. The Chapala malecon was always busy, though never crowded, with many shops and restaurants nearby. The malecon at San Juan was disappointing. Some poor/homeless people appeared to be living at one end, and the majority of the malecon was barren. The west end had a nice park, and lots of locals seemed to be enjoying picnic and a local band. Ajijic was my favorite malecon. It had a nice parking area, provided a nice area for a walk, and was right next to the town, so we could walk for food or shopping without having to move the car. It got busy on weekends, so we planned our Ajijic trips for the weekdays. The lake itself is quite scenic, but has become polluted over the years and is not suitable for swimming. While some people fish from shore or from boats, it did not seem to be common, and is not part of the local tourism. Because we were there in early December, all of the towns started decorating for the holidays. Lots of banners or decorations hanging over the streets. But none of the commercial décor you would expect in the US. The locals also shot off fireworks. Many nights we would fall asleep to the booms, only to be awakened by them again at 6AM.

The general expat population in Chapala was older than us. Many seemed to be retirees that had been there for a while. We did see a few younger couples, but they appeared to be the exception. We met some people while hiking, but did not keep that up. The hillsides are very steep, and the trails are very rough. We were actually afraid that we would end up getting injured if we hiked a lot. We also did not seek out any expat groups for hobbies/games/socializing. Mainly we were focused on starting our retirement journey, relaxing, and making sure that we got all the infrastructure set up (health insurance, trip planning, exploring visa options, etc.). There is good healthcare in the area – Sandy was able to finalize her requirements for health insurance and I got a dental checkup/cleaning.

Overall, we definitely enjoyed the Chapala area and would return. There is plenty of good infrastructure that life is not too different from the US. We had hoped to minimize our transition and culture shock, and Chapala ended up being perfect for that. For lodging, we would consider returning to the same location, and our Airbnb host was very nice and accommodating. It’s hard to say if another location would be any better, as we did not find a great combination of walkability, play areas for Gunner, restaurants, and general shopping.