Ajijic’s narrow, cobblestoned streets are lined with colorful houses, along with more boutiques, galleries, and restaurants than you’d expect in a town this size.
Less than an hour from Guadalajara, Ajijic has attracted retirees for decades thanks to its lake (despite the lake’s on-and-off environmental problems) and cool weather.
For instance, you could buy a property here, small and modest, for less than US$100,000. Or rent a two-bedroom home with lake views for $1,495…or less.
And, above all, Ajijic is an easy and established expat haven.
The town and the area around Lake Chapala, host the most organized, developed expat community in the world.
The Lake Chapala Society reports about 20,000 American and Canadian residents in Chapala proper.
Meantime, the Mexican government estimates that nearly 30,000 expats reside full-time in the state of Jalisco, the region where Lake Chapala sits.
In other words, the path has been cut.
Moving here, you could slide into a way of living not dramatically different from the life you left behind in the States.
You wouldn’t have to worry about learning the local language if you didn’t want to. You wouldn’t have to work to make a place for yourself among the local community. Plus, you could connect with the big and welcoming community of nonlocals.
You could wander into the restaurant down the street anytime and find English-speaking companionship, someone to complain to about the bureaucracy at the Department of Immigration or the challenges of studying to take a driving test in Spanish.
Retiring to Ajijic, you could make a comfortable life for yourself in a place that’s exotic, beautiful, safe, and very affordable.
Friends of Live And Invest Overseas, Akaisha and Billy, have taken this path. They’ve been in Chapala for years, where they live comfortably on $50 per day, including housing, food, transportation, entertainment, and in-country travel. They eat well, play tennis, socialize, and travel comfortably.
As they put it themselves, they want for nothing.
Don’t misunderstand. Ajijic isn’t a retirement village. This isn’t Sun City South, at least not formally.
This is a legitimate Mexican town that, over decades, has attracted such a volume of expat retirees that it offers the opportunity for a low-impact transition to a new life abroad.
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