The DARK SIDE of Ajijic, Mexico.

One bite. What's up Tangerineys? What's up guys? So as you guys know, we are here in Ajijic, Mexico right now. We've run into so many of you guys who said, I'm here because of you, or I'm here partially because of you. And that just reaffirms how we want to always be completely honest with you guys, and not only share what we love about a place, but also the downsides. And we understand that that's sometimes not what people want to hear, but we think if someone's making big life decisions, like moving here, or planning an expensive trip, that they should know the full story. So we're not going to delay this anymore. We're going to get right into the list of the ugly details about Ajijic. This might be somewhat of an obvious one. People do typically talk about this a lot, and that is the traffic. There is one main road that goes through all of the towns on the shore of Ajijic, or no, on the shore of Lake Chapala, and that's the Carretera. We are walking by this right now, and sometimes it can get pretty congested. We are in the off-season right now, which means there aren't, there isn't as much traffic, but it's still pretty noticeable. And if you wanted to try to avoid that, you've got the side roads, which are very cobblestone-y and not as ideal. And not very many of them go all the way through either. Exactly, that as well. So we've talked to quite a few people here, and it seems like a very common theme that people are having a lot of trouble finding a place to rent. There's a lack of rentals, and the prices are going way up. So people are venturing outside of Ajijic and looking in Jocotepec, or Chapala, or where we're at right now in San Antonio. Which is, all these little towns are right along in the same strip. But even still, venturing outside of there, they're still having a lot of trouble. And the same thing is true with house prices. We have heard of multiple times where a house is listed for a certain price, and people are having to go way above that price just to get the house that they want. And we hear it's very difficult. There aren't many houses available under a quarter of a million dollars in Ajijic. There is definitely a shortage of rentals right now, and homes for sale too. But there's places like this behind us that are being built right now because of that shortage. And we've also talked to plenty of people who are taking the opportunity to refurbish, revamp places, and rent them out. So another thing that we've been hearing a lot is, stop telling people to come here. Don't make Ajijic seem too great. We don't want people to ruin it. This is something that we said we were going to talk about, like the other side of that, or kind of what we think about that statement. And we get it. It's really nice here. The people are friendly and sociable. It's a really great atmosphere. What people are kind of saying is, they don't want assholes. They don't want people being douchebags and bringing everyone else down. And we've seen this a little bit. We walked by this restaurant and this lady, this total Grinch, had ordered a hamburger and she got it and it was just a plain hamburger. So she holds up the plate and disgusts like, uh, tomato, lettuce, onions, hello? And it was just, and in English too, in a restaurant here. Which is just like, that's what people don't want. They don't want people that are closed-minded, that are jerks, coming in here and ruining it. So although that's the exception to the rule, most people are super great. There are people coming in that are kind of like that, so. And if you're coming just for price, like you should have a lot of other reasons you want to be here other than just it's cheaper retirement. Exactly, or you're probably going to be disappointed that it's not the exact same culture that you're used to and you might have to learn a new language. So this kind of relates to heavy traffic, but with heavier car traffic also comes more people. And with more people, it's very difficult to get a seat on the bus, particularly in the high season. We've heard that complaint and it can get really bad. This kind of ties into a question we get asked a lot, what can people do here to make money? Well, with every one of these problems, is an opportunity to make money if you come here with the right entrepreneurial mindset. For example, with traffic or not enough seats on the bus, someone could start up a luxury mass transportation company that charges like 20 pesos instead of 10, but it's a much nicer seat, you have more room. Another idea you had was that people could start utilizing the lake over here because there's no water taxi services that we know of. Yeah, and there's a gigantic lake that could have a ton of boat traffic on it that no one's using, so. And hey, you could make it more luxury and serve margaritas or glasses of wine, and if that's the case, sign me up. Hi, I'm a tree. Alright, so the next thing on this list is kind of a hot issue right now. What's the hot issue? It is the sun and the temperature. No, I'm just kidding. What's the hot issue? I recognize you. We're actually shooting one right now. Oh well, I better turn this off then. We were just rolling. Okay, so this hot issue. Hot, hot, hot. What's the hot issue? This hot issue is prices, and we mentioned this briefly in the $10 challenge, but we really can't talk about how the prices have changed over time because obviously we haven't been here that long. It doesn't seem too much like they're like exorbitantly higher than other cities. For most things, there are exceptions to that, but one thing that we do want to mention is that people, if we're going to stake, stop saying this is only this, or oh my gosh, this is just x pesos. Because the more you say that, the more prices are going to go up in instances where it's kind of like a monopoly type deal, or a niche market where there's like maybe one person selling the thing. You were saying how we can't talk about prices going up because we haven't been here this long, but we can talk about what people have told us who have been here, and even over the past year, they've seen prices going up at restaurants and such. And obviously, that's not the only reason prices are going to go up because people are saying, oh that's only this. But there are cases where that definitely affects the prices. This is what I like to do. They tell you a price, and I try to conceal my emotions, whether I think it's too high or too low. I think about it for a moment. Hmm, okay. And then maybe I'll go ahead with the purchase, or I'll walk away. Sometimes you'll see that the price drops pretty fast when you decide to walk away. But anyway, it's that prices are fluctuating right now. So that may be a consideration, especially if you're thinking this is going to be a very affordable place for you, and you need the prices to be xyz. They're trending up. Something to keep in mind. Trending up, yeah. People are talking about this becoming another San Miguel de Allende, where it's almost impossible to live here, and to be able to afford things. And that goes for the gringos moving here, and also the Mexicans who no longer can eat at the restaurants that they always did. So it's not trash day today, but this is the corner of our place where people put all their trash, and that's three days a week. Basically, the system is just put your bags of trash here, and the trash ferries come and pick it up. Thankfully, we have these neighbors here that sort of educate people not to put it there throughout the week, otherwise it would just be one big trash pile that is an eyesore. But that's kind of something that happens in Ajijic. Everywhere there aren't dumpsters, people just put the trash on various street corners, or on the sidewalk, which is kind of a dirty solution. There are cities that are a little bit cleaner about it, like we didn't really notice that being the case in Guadalajara. And there were cities that were even worse, we thought Puerto Vallarta was the worst. And there are some right around here that just like San Antonio, we were just there and they have big barrels that you go put your trash bags in, which is a much better solution, and it's a very cheap solution to take care of them. Someone once commented on our channel saying that we better watch ourselves, and we better watch what we say, or we're going to end up in a dumpster. And this is a ridiculous comment on multiple levels. Yes, we've maybe seen like a handful of actual legit dumpsters in all of Mexico, and there's nothing bad about Mexico, but there's just a different trash system, and that's not it. But anyway, the point that we're trying to make about the trash is that if you're coming from somewhere like the U.S., I had never seen anything like this before, so I might have been a little bit put off by that. Moving somewhere and then having there be trash everywhere, it's not the most beautiful thing, but that's just the way it is until someone comes in and changes it. So how's the internet in these here parts? The internet leaves a little bit to be desired. We originally had Telmex at our place, and it was super super slow for uploads. It was usually good enough for watching Netflix, but we ended up having to get another provider to upload our videos, so our upload times went from like 36 hours to an hour. Or less. Yeah, so it's much better now. And that's pretty common for people around here to have two internet providers, because our internet goes out pretty frequently. Although it's usually only for a few minutes, but it is nice to have another provider to just go over to when one goes out. We've also asked around, and people have said that it is, the internet is better in some parts of the lake versus others, and then also at some times of day versus others. So at around 7 p.m. or so, when everyone wants to get on and watch their favorite show or movie on Netflix, the internet might slow down a little bit. You might have more outages, but it really seems like it fluctuates throughout the day, and throughout the area. Having a YouTube channel, naturally we need internet, and we need it every day. But what was I going to say? Nothing has ever been so bad, like an outage, or the speed, or anything that it's prevented us from doing what we need to do. So this is something to keep in mind. It's probably not going to be the laser-fast internet speeds that you might have where you're moving from, but it's not the worst ever. And you can easily overcome that with two service providers, which is still probably going to cost you less than you're paying for Cox, or what are the other ones? I don't know, it varies throughout the country. And other ones throughout the country than you would have before. For example, AT&T internet in Casa, it's 350 pesos a month plus the cost of the motor. So the next one on the list, isn't exactly an ugly side of Ajijic, but it is kind of a sad one. And that is that there are a lot of stray dogs. So this is something I personally have a big soft spot for, and we've kind of made a point to buying, made a point of buying food, or something for dogs whenever we see them, or trying to get them water. But there are a lot of strays. The good thing though, is that they have a very mild temperament. They're not aggressive, most of them. And so it's not really, I don't consider this a huge problem. Like if you had pets, it might not be a huge deal. It's something you would want to look out for, but they're not like gonna tear your dogs apart, most likely. And they're well-fed. And they're well-fed. People around here seem to have a similar mindset as us. Oh gosh, those bees! Similar mindset as us, where they try to feed the dogs as well. And there seem to be a lot of organizations, or groups, or efforts in place to combat that. Like getting them fixed, or finding homes for them, things like that. People on our Patreon know this really well, that we've pretty much adopted a few dogs, and fed them, and whatnot. One of those is named Micey, which you saw in the $10 challenge. Such a sweetheart! We were warned not to name street dogs, but we did anyway. Oops! So at this point, some people might be thinking, wow, you guys are so negative! Like can't you think of the positive side of things? And really, we just have so many people telling us how they're making these big life decisions, like planning a move to Ajijic or something. And so, it kind of feels like our responsibility to be the eyes on the ground, and share the whole picture of things. So yeah, not everything is perfect with any place. Laska, what do you think of Ajijic? So we have mentioned this before briefly, but another dark side, or undesirable side of Ajijic are the cobblestone streets. And we've talked to people who think that it's sort of charming, and gives the place character, and to a certain extent it does. But at the same time, when you're walking around, it's really easy to twist an ankle. You're constantly having to look where you're walking. We've heard that one of the most common injuries here are like torn ligaments in your ankle. I find myself looking down the entire time I'm walking on these streets because you have to have every step right. For other reasons as well, like dog poop. But also, I mean, if you're coming here or you're wanting... Whoa! There's mud out there. If you're coming here in maybe a wheelchair or something, or you do have like knee or ankle problems, then this would be a pretty big problem for you because there are sidewalks. In some neighborhoods, there's more than others. And some are better than others. And some, yeah, better or wider, more well-maintained. They're, for the most part, are cobblestone streets pretty much everywhere. So that could kind of be an issue for certain people. Yeah, if I didn't, if I was confined to a wheelchair and I didn't have a really good power scooter, then I don't think it'd be for me. We've mentioned in past videos that one of the things we really like about Mexico is that people are willing to work for their money. Whether that's washing people's windows, or like doing tricks outside in the intersection, or whatever it is. Just the odd job even if they aren't employed. Or even if it's like a handyman job or something. People work damn hard here for their money. They really have a lot of integrity and we appreciate that a lot about Mexico. Yeah, and here in Ajijic, we've noticed a lot more begging than other places in Mexico. And along with that, are people training their kids to do the same thing. So we've noticed a lot of times where very young children come up to the table, mumble some inaudible thing, or potentially say something to you, and they just stare at you for, I mean, they like stare at you in your face, in your eyes, for like 30 seconds. And to be perfectly honest, that's sociopathic and it's kind of scary that people are training kids at such a young age to do something like that when it's comfortable for a human to look at someone for no more than six seconds unless they want to have sex with them, or want to kill them. So I think that's kind of a problem, and a social problem too, which is, I mean, it's not a great thing. Yeah. In society. And I think that begging is here because it gets rewarded. True. So maybe to curb this behavior for people who live here, or people who want to live here, just don't. I mean, buy mazapans from people, buy lollipops from people. We have kind of a daily budget for like charitable spending, but we'd rather reward people who are actually selling something than people who are trying to provide service because at least they're trying. Yeah, or than people who are begging and teaching their kids to just stare at you forever. So we never, ever, ever give any of those people money. So what is the thing that you like saying? Oh, whenever someone comes up begging, I like to say, ¿Qué vende? What are you selling? Nothing. Si no vende nada, no tengo monedas. If you're not selling anything, I don't have any money. There's a freaking cow right here! Eat more chicken! This has got to be the Chick-fil-a cow. Move! Come back! I know! Oh my gosh! So kind of just to wrap this topic up, our personal opinion is buy items from people who are selling and working hard to make a living, but don't reward the begging. There's a lot of great things about this city. So many! And if you've watched our other videos, you've seen that. But there are some negatives too. And we like to point those out because as we've been traveling through Mexico, we realize with each city that there are some things that are just huge deal-breakers. And they might just be a small aspect like pollution, or cobblestone streets, or kind of people's attitudes, or something. So we think it's only right to share these things because so many people are considering moving to Ajijic. And many people are asking these questions like, what should I watch out for? Is there anything negative? So let us know what you guys think. Did we get stuff right? Do you disagree? Let us know in the comments. Be nice. What don't you like about it? Is there anything that was not on our list that you would put high up on your list? And if you like this video, please give it a thumbs up and subscribe to our channel. We're putting out more videos in Mexico every week. Lots of times during the week. And... GONG! To get notified the next time we put out a new video. And we'll see you there!