I've mentioned this a time or two, but maybe today is a good time for a review, primarily on the old myth of living cheapo in MX. Sometimes people who are considering moving here see the weather station or this blog and write to ask questions and the one thing I tell them without fail is the yes, Mexico can be very inexpensive it you live native, but if you live gringo, it's gonna cost a lot more.

We develop patterns of life, foods we like, creature comforts we insist on and just generally where we see ourselves living, having spent most of a lifetime acquiring and polishing these little millstones around our necks, we're loath to let them go without a fight. So, we read about "live in Mexico for $1,200 a month" and it sounds great - and you can do that, but not in the style you're accustomed to, not in today's Mexico.

The "gringo ghetto" as we refer to the N shore has disproportionate pricing due to the large congregation of mostly old (sometimes even older), gray haired, white chicken legged, pot bellied lifetime leftovers known as retirees. It's really amazing when you look at us through the eyes of the local folk, seeing us creaking around in our dotage should discourage anyone from wanting to illegally cross the border - if we're any representation? We're at times rude, we mangle their language at best and have no idea why they cling to 19th century ideas and habits. I digress, back to "living gringo".

Renting a place here is easy, many, if not most, are 2 bdrm furnished and can vary from very cheap in MX neighborhoods to as much as you want to pay. Generally they include a gardener and sometimes maid, often TV and even Internet, so when you look at the rent you have to back out those peripheral costs which are very similar to NOB costs. Utilities are never included because the CFE electrico can eat your lunch in a heartbeat, or can be so silly cheap it's not worth mentioning. Propane gas runs our dryers, stoves and even some refrigerators, it's relatively reasonable as we don't have heating systems. Oh, pool maintenance is also included in your rent, that along with the gardener, maid in some cases are provided as protection for the property by the owners, they can also serve to keep track of goings on at the property which might be negative.

Your new casa won't look like anything you're used to, it won't be a nice little cottage with a white picket fence and a big yard, it will be more like a "row house" connected to the guys on either side and behind. It will be concrete, brick and steel, so it holds heat when it's hot, stays chilled when it's cold, it's basically a real big pizza oven. It will be on a narrow, but deep lot usually with off street parking. It may have a courtyard in the back, but not necessarily. Mexicans are used to being close to each other, have you ever noticed when you see them at a WalMart etc. they're in a "cluster" - often family, but they travel in a bunch, noise from a neighbor or the highway right outside doesn't bother them, they hardly notice - if their noise bothers you? - that's your problem, not theirs, get used to it. With the exceptions of gated enclaves, there don't seem to be any zoning laws, that's what your perimeter walls are for, to wall in your little paradise and wall out the rest of the world, no matter what or who it is.

Now, those things being said, of course they are the antithesis of what I want and who I think I am - so, naturally my rent just went up proportionally, I'm still living gringo, old habits die hard, what can I say? But generally it's still a nice place for what I might spend on an apt NOB - and why? - well, that's another part of the story, their tax structure here is totally different. This estate was recently valued between $350-395K, about what my house in TX was, my Texas taxes were $6K per year, this house? - $150 per year, yes, you read it right, $150. So, in TX to rent that house would cost you $500 a month just for tax, this house, $13, so that's a huge break.

Food can be inexpensive again if you stick with Mexican products, but if you have a taste for pork & beans, or Bush's Baked Beans or Hormel Chili? - hold on, a medium size can of Bush's is $7, hard cheese is very expensive, so you learn to alter your taste buds and if you have these things, it's a real treat, just like the old days huh? Medicine can be either high or low and plain old 325mg aspirin is non-existent. I buy them 500 in a bottle for a few dollars in TX, here Aspirina is a 500mg horse tablet that will turn your stomach inside out, apparently they're not coated or buffered or something because they are really hard on you. And Tylenol PM? - don't even go there, I take one at night so buy a couple 200 tablet bottles NOB for the year, here I ran out the first year, bought a MX product which had 12 tablets for $6, in TX I get 200 PM for maybe $10? - but, an Advair inhaler in TX is $200 (without insurance) here it's $50 OTC.

There is no free lunch, the real gotcha is when you start buying electronics, tools etc. then you pay and pay dearly. I was looking at a computer router the other day in Guad, it was $67. I looked online at Amazon and I could buy it for $30 delivered in TX. A bit of figuring exposed the cost of things here. One of the primary sources of revenue for the MX government is the 16% IVA tax on everything but food. So, you take the router which is list price $50, you import it into MX and they add 15%, then when you buy it, they add 15% again and guess what, you now have $67.28 - I rest my case.

That means a shopping trip to TX is well worth the annual cost, at worst if I buy something and get stuck at the border with the 16% import tax, I still save 16% and of course there is no reason to pay MFG retail NOB. In the past the border customs agents didn't really check much, that's changed some, but still it's pretty loose. When you drive in you're allowed to bring in $75 in merchandise, when you fly it's $300? - why? - who knows, this is Mexico, they don't need no stinkin' reason.

So living gringo costs a little more, also you have to add in base costs like an annual visa which is about $125 and if you have a lawyer do it for you, double that. Anything wooden or paper is more, they don't have the industry here to support those products. If you keep your NOB plates they really don't care if they are current or not, drivers license yes, plates no, so you can save some there, I know a lady with 10 year old TX plates, never renewed. Insurance is maybe half what it is NOB, gas around $2.40 a gallon, you don't even notice because Pemex is your only option and so you just hand them a $500 peso note and when they're finished, give them a tip and drive on until the cycle repeats itself.

All in all, Mexico is a land of opposites, contradictions wherever you go, it can be many different things to different people, some love it, some leave it - me? I like it, the weather is fine, most days I don't mind some of the nuisance things and as noted, I've reupped for another year.