We made it home yesterday afternoon about 5:00, after a 600+ mile drive from Van Horn, TX. We stopped in Tucson and thanks to Claudia’s quick thinking, snagged some groceries for our Thanksgiving dinner before the stores closed at 4:00. Except for the rotisserie chicken and the rolls, everything else was frozen and it tasted amazing. Hint….if you’ve never tried Bob Evans mashed potatoes in the vegetable isle, you owe it to yourself to try some. You may never make mashed potatoes from scratch again. Yes, I’m serious (my Mom was an amazing cook and she turned Claudia on to these years ago). As we ate and polished off a bottle of wine, we had to laugh at the amount of work we’ve put into preparing Turkey Day feasts in the past. Days of grocery shopping, trying to cook “the perfect turkey”, a full day of cooking all the side dishes….then after all that work….eat for maybe 30 minutes….and clean up for 2 hours. Man, we are so over that! I guess “back in the day”, we ate a lot more. But now….one helping of everything and we’re done.
We drove 3,500 miles over the course of our 25-day journey. That’s a lot of miles on any interstate system….but I’m here to tell you….it’s a massive amount of miles when driving through Mexico. You’ll have to trust me on this one, until you do it on your own.
We learned a lot on the trip….things that could only have been answered by actually going and seeing it for ourselves. Forget the blogs. Forget the International Living articles. Forget the websites. Forget the Facebook posts. Forget the YouTube travel videos. None of them….were even close to being accurate. Mostly, they showed only the good side of Mexico and very little of the bad. In the case of International LIving….that’s how they sell magazines and keep readers waiting for the next magazine to arrive in the mail. Ditto for the YouTube bloggers….that’s how they increase subscribers, which in turn increases the money they get paid from YouTube.
We found Ajijic to be nearly overrun with tourists from the USA, Canada and the UK….a victim of too many “this place is perfect” videos, newspaper articles, magazine articles, etc. This quaint little village is now a parking lot…with bumper to bumper traffic from 8:00am to 9:00pm. Want to park somewhere other than the local WalMart? Forget about it. And…once again, as we have found so often in our travels, too many Californians with too much money (mostly from the sale of their homes in the Bay area) coming to an area and driving up rents and home prices. The phenomenon is now referred to as “Californication”. A year ago, a beautiful home in Ajijic could be rented for $750-$1,000/month. Now, the rate is $1,500 - $2,000….about what you will pay in many beautiful communities around Scottsdale, including the golf course community we currently live in. We saw this pattern in Northern California, Oregon, Colorado and now….sadly, in Mexico. Paradise found…..paradise lost. When a city, or an area, makes it to a magazine cover….it’s all over.
In Puerto Vallarta and the nearby community of Bucerias, we experienced a different problem. Of course, it’s super touristy (cruise ships, etc.) and with that comes lots of traffic. We were prepared for that part. What we weren’t prepared for was the fact that both of these areas have become super popular weekend party spots for the residents of Guadalajara and Mexico City. And when these folks come to party, they start around midnight and they go all night long. We found out the hard way. Noise abatement rules….nope…they don’t exist in Mexico.
The bottom line….Mexico has much to offer and thousands are moving there every year from countries around the globe. For some….it may be worth the sacrifice to live there. And make no mistake about it….it is a huge sacrifice. But after spending a month to experience it up close and personal and running the financial numbers…we’ve decided it isn’t for us. Southern France or Italy maybe…but definitely not Mexico.
So, that’s it for now. Stay tuned for the next edition of Tuck’s Travels, which will come fairly soon, as we’re going to check out the Austin, TX area in early December. Yep….back on the road!
Thanks for joining us on this amazing journey. Get out there and travel!
Wayne, Claudia & Tuck