Money and Such

Our circle revolves around our expat Friends group mostly. We marvel at the price of things as we do a quick "ballpark" mental exchange rate conversion. Mexicans of course don't do any mental exchange rate  exercise. The Peso IS their currency. My visit to the dentist cost me 400 pesos and I quickly knew it was less than $40 US, $32 to be exact. It was 400 to them in their currency. Last month we bought our first replenishment of our Rx meds since moving to Mexico. It cost Carolina and me $150 US, which is about 1875 pesos, and we were still missing a couple of meds. This will be our cost per month. We sure miss copays! More to the point how do Mexicans afford Rx meds?

I read somewhere that the minimum wage in Mexico is about $5.75 US...per day! The average "middle class" Mexican family earns about $20,000 US per year. Our SS checks combined are about 70% more than that, and we're among the "poorest" of the expats that we know. We are considered RICH by the locals. I NEVER loose sight of that fact and treat all the locals with the utmost respect.  When you get off of the main roads and away from town a little, you'll see some very bare and humble homes. You and I would never live in them...Every so often you come across "the Ugly American" and my skin crawls. Many are gringo real estate agents! They don't like Mexican food or the Mexican people...why do they even come and live here...?

Jalisco is a prosperous state, top notch universities, medical, and industry and the Chapala/Ajijic (the Lakeside) area is considered prosperous too. The expat community is good for the local community. It is estimated that one full time resident annually contributes as much as 600 tourists. Most expats have a maid and a gardener. The expats do much remodeling and upgrading of their homes as labor is cheap. Most of the expats eat out at least half of their meals, many eat out almost all of their meals. Of course there is a wealthy Mexican class that lives in Guadalajara and comes to the Lakeside to escape the 7 million others in the city. More and more the wealthy are building, buying and/or rehab-ing second homes, which of course, is good for the local Lakeside economy.

I'll try and take a few more pictures that I can share with you. Many times I'm in the car and there's just no way to get a shot and/or the moment is so fleeting.

It's late. Buenas Noches.