We Moved to Lake Chapala! | Living In Mexico - Entrepreneur Expat

Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Justin Keltner (00:00):
We just moved from Guadalajara to the Lake
Chip area here in Jalisco,Mexico, and we're gonna tell you
all of the reasons why wedecided to move some of the pros
and cons of Guadalajara versusLake chipa.
As well as what are the thingsthat you should consider if
you're planning on moving toMexico, where's the best place
potentially for you?

Amanda (00:21):
Welcome to Entrepreneur Expat.
I'm Amanda.
This is Justin.
And on this channel we talk allabout how to make money online
so you can go anywhere in theworld.
We talk about internationalinvestments like real estate,
and right now we're spendingmost of our time in Mexico, so
you're gonna see a lot ofcontent about how we help our
relocation clients.
Move to Mexico as well as somethings you should consider if

(00:43):
you're considering moving tothis country.
So if that's something that youare interested in, make sure to
subscribe and hit thenotification bell so you don't
miss a single video that we havecoming out on this channel.
And if you are interested inmoving to Mexico, whether it's
the Lake chip area, Guadalajara,Merida, Mexico City, you name
it, we've got a network all overthe country, then make sure to

(01:04):
apply for a relocationconsultation.
Below,

and you can also just go to entrepreneur
expat.com/consult and you'll seethe page and all the details
right there.
And you may even qualify for afree relocation consultation
with us.

Amanda (01:20):
So let's talk a little bit about how we ended up in
Lake Chip, Paul, because we'vespent the last, well, I spent
the last two years.
You spent the last three years.
Mm-hmm.
Uh, in Guadalajara.
It's an amazing city.
A lot of you have discoveredGuadalajara because of this
YouTube.
Channel and a lot of the thingsthat we would share, well, it
kind of wasn't planned.
The universe kind of planned itfor us.

(01:41):
This opportunity just kind ofshowed up without us even really
trying to move to Lake ChipPaulo or anything.
And we decided that we were justgoing to take the opportunity
because it showed up.
So yolo.
Yolo, exactly.
Yolo.
So we got out of our lease inthe city and we decided to move
out to the lake.
One of the reasons why wedecided to make this move is

(02:05):
because so many of you ask usabout the Lake Chapala area,
whether it's Chapala itself, oraki or some of the surrounding
towns.
Now a lot of you're finding outabout kopec, which is where
we're closest to right now, anduh, we wanted to see it for our
own eyes.
Part of what we try and do onthis channel is, you know,

(02:27):
experiment and go through thestuff so then we can.
Report back to you.
So since this is one of theareas we get asked about the
most, and the opportunity justkind of showed up, we decided,
hey, let's go check it out so wecan report back from the to the
YouTube channel and see whatit's actually like, uh, to live
in this very highly desired areaof Mexico.

(02:49):
So

I'll start off by just telling you guys a
little bit about some of thethings that we absolutely love,
and we've only been here now.
For a couple weeks and we even,we haven't even gotten to
experience too much of the areabecause of course, most of
that's been in the middle of amove, bringing furniture back,
going back and forth to makesure like our old house is fixed
up and, uh, we can get settledhere and have all our internet

(03:10):
and wires and all the thingsthat we need for our smart home
because.
You know that, uh, I'm a little,a little obsessive about that.
Um, but of course I want ournetwork to work well.
I want us to get wifi in everyroom.
So we gotta, you know, we'vebeen, we've been setting up,
we've been finalizing all the,all the setup here, um, with our
servers, all the things we usefor video, all the lighting, all

(03:31):
the things we need for ourstudio.
Um, but with that said, we'vestill had a, a chance to go into
town actually yesterday, andthis is one of the biggest pros
that I think is amazing aboutthis area.
Just everything that you can doaround here to relax.
So, so yesterday we had thechance to go to the thermal
spas.
There's a place called Al Salain the town of San Juan Sala.

(03:53):
And uh, we just, we're kind ofvery laid back.
We like to just chill.
Um, you know, self, self care, Iguess you call it.
Um, relax.
Spa junkies.
We're kind of spa junkies.
Yeah.
So de Sala is actually a.
Spa that, that's got a bunch ofdifferent jacuzzis.
And they're not just normaljacuzzis, they're actually fed

(04:15):
by the, uh, thermal water.
And the reason that there'sthermal water here in the area
is because there's actually adormant volcano, um, right
across the lake.
You may even be able to see itright there off in the, in the
distance.
But that volcano, uh, is whatheats up the water that runs
underground here in thisaquifer.
And so when you're within acertain distance of that

(04:36):
volcano, the water comes outsteaming hot.
They actually will cool it downa little bit so that it's not
too, too hot because it can be,I don't know the exact
temperature.
I think the hottest one theyhave is 42 degrees Celsius.
And I think even that is cooleddown.
Um,'cause they have to managethe, the different temperatures
and things.
But so there's, there's a veryhot jacuzzi in there that's 42
Celsius.
The other ones are a little bitcooler.

(04:57):
Um, but all the differentjacuzzis there have, uh,
different ingredients that theyput in them.
So you have a, a jacuzzi that'sgot wine.
There's one that's got oatmealhere.
It's Avena.
So you, they have a littleoatmeal that you can actually
put on your face.
And the whole thing has likethis oatmeal, uh,

Amanda (05:14):
hi, uh, hibiscus.
Hibiscus, lavender.
Yeah, Rosemary.
I think Rosemary might be,they're all really good for like
different things.
Um, but there's all these in thetown over called San Juan.
To your point, all the waterthat comes into San Juan is
thermal water.
So even if you

have a house there Yeah, you're, you're gonna
basically have a well where youcan get that.
That very, very warm thermalwater.
So you don't need any heating atall.
If anything, you've gotta coolit.

Amanda (05:38):
Yeah.
If anything that, those of youwho have been prying properties
in San Juan, like in racket cluband stuff like that, those
houses have cooling systems.
Mm-hmm.
So all of that to say like, ifyou like to chill out, uh, if
you like to take it a little bitslower, then that's one of the
reasons why we like LakeChapala, because it's not just
the thermal waters that we nowhave 15 minutes from us and all

(05:59):
the

spots too, and all the spots.

Amanda (06:02):
That are around.
It's also like there's morenature, it's more chill.
Like even if you go to, um, the,the malcon in Kopec for example,
you're surrounded by trees andbirds and it's just really nice
as opposed to like the concretejungle, uh, in Guadalajara,
which has its pros and its cons.
And we'll do another video likereally comparing the two.

(06:23):
But that's one of the thingsthat we love about Lake Chapala.
We would come out here to get abreak from the city, and we just
decided, you know what, like.
We're chill people.
How about we just try more chilllife for, for a little while?
Yeah.

And you touched on another thing.
So, so the spas and just thegeneral, I mean, there's,
there's actually a few things tounpack there.
So proximity to, to spas andother things to relax.
Um, more laid back five ingeneral, because this is where
people really come to vacation.
Um, that's, that's another profor sure.
And then a lot less noise aswell.
So in the city you can havethings like, like people playing

(06:59):
mariachi music and.
A Banda and like a lot offireworks and things like that.
It's not all the time.
It's, you know, uh, sometimesthe, the first of the month,
sometimes the middle of themonth, sometimes all of
December, but it's Mexico.
Yeah.
Yeah.
Um, but like, uh, yeah,especially during the, during
the holiday season, there's alot of noise and there's some,
for sure in towns like this, butbecause we live in a, in a gated

(07:22):
community, kind of on top of a,of a hill here, you don't really
see too much of that.
Hey Mia.
A little, little cat.
Hi.
She came to join us here.
Video.
Um, so yeah, we got What do you,what do you think, Mia?
Are you chill?
The, the pets also are actuallya lot more chill as well, so Mia
has been a lot more calm.
I think they pick up on theenergy.
Yeah.
A lot, um, of the, of the townversus like being in the city

(07:45):
where it's a little bit morefrenetic.
So just energy wise, it's just,it just feels a lot more
grounding.
Yeah.
And speaking of grounding,because there's so much nature,
like in fact right outside, youcould probably see that.
There's a, a whole like streetof grass in our, in our little
gated community here that'srunning, I don't know, probably
several hundred feet, uh, up anddown this, this area that's in

(08:06):
our, in, in this.
So that we we're in a gatedcommunity and then we have
another gate.
Um, so that's a lot moreaccessible here outside of the
city as well, because if we wereto have something like this with
the same amount of, um, spaceand amenities, it would probably
be three or four times as much.
Um, and that leads us to anotherpoint, which is the cost.
We are actually paying abouthalf in rent here, even in a

(08:27):
gated community than we were ina house, uh, with no, no
additional security.
And it's also safer because it'sa little bit farther out there.
Um, now if you compare it toeven countries, let's say like
the US where there's a prettygood chance of civil unrest,
especially in the larger citieswhen there are like political
things happening and whatnot.
I mean, take LA for example,where I lived for, uh, over two

(08:48):
years.
Uh, there was a lot of.
Of civil unrest and things likethat happen.
And you just don't see that inMexico in general, but
especially not in the smalltowns.
Yeah.
So you've got the safety, thesecurity lower, um, just
general, like it's, it's lessfrenetic and a lot less traffic
too.
Yeah.
I mean there's almost notraffic.
There's like one kind of majorstreet, the highway that
connects little towns here and

Amanda (09:10):
yeah,

there's no traffic really.

Amanda (09:11):
Yeah.
And we'll do another video withupdated cost of living once we
get past this move.
But one thing I will say, whichis a caveat.
About the cost of living is thatit does depend where you are on
the lake.
'cause for example, if you're inChapala or Ahi, we were hanging
out in Ahi uh, last week.
We have noticed that things arejust way more expensive, uh,
because there are a lot moreforeigners mm-hmm.

(09:34):
In Chapala and Nahah.
Yeah.
But if you speak Spanish, uh,and you don't mind going a
little bit out of there, likemaybe you want to go to the
Kopec area or Hoko as they callit, or more towards San Juan co
sala, uh, then you can find alot more bang for your buck.
Yeah, so that's the caveatthere.

Anything else that I missed in terms of pros?
Because there's definitely a lotof them.

Amanda (09:56):
Yeah.
Um, I would say just generallyspeaking, the reasons why we
decided to move out.
Oh, water

in and of itself.
Like having a water view.
Having water around you.
Oh

Amanda (10:05):
yeah, of course.
I mean, in the city, like youdon't really see much of, I
mean, like I said, it's concretejungle.
You'll see the hills, you'll seethe mountains.
But out here, you know, we lookoutside our patio and it's a
beautiful lake view.
You see the mountains, you seethe.
Dormant volcano.
If we look over that way, uh,just to the front of the house
and the entrance, it's justGreen Mountains because right

(10:26):
now it's rainy season, so allthe mountains are turning, uh,
green.
But I would say main thing, wejust wanted a little bit more of
a, of a chill life.
And also so did Mia.
So did Mia.
Yeah.
She's calmed down a lot.
So is Daisy.
And one pro, I would say, whichwe were not expecting.
Um.
In terms of Lake Chapala is, orthe Lake Chapala area is

(10:49):
actually, the infrastructure ispretty good.
Mm-hmm.
I know that kind of shocked you,so can you speak a little bit
more to that?
Yeah,

so I mean we, we had a couple little brownouts.
I mean there's one brownout thelast, not last night when it
rained, but like one of thefirst, I guess the second storm
of the season.
'cause we just got here right asrainy season in this area was
starting.
So there's one little brownoutwhere I think things went down
for, you know, five or 10minutes.
Um, and then there was anotherone when you, when you were
here, when I had to go back toGu Lahar to move some more of

(11:17):
the stuff, or was that for what,an hour or two?

Amanda (11:21):
Yeah, it was only like 45 minutes to an hour.
Yeah.
And,

and I think now that it's been the first couple
brownouts and they've, orblackouts or whatever for, for a
brief period of time and they'velike fixed whatever they needed
to fix, I'm not sure if it'seven gonna go down that much
more at all.
Uh, in capita where we wereliving in Guadalajara though,
um, it actually, uh, sometimeswould go down.
For hours or half a day, orsometimes even longer, um,

(11:45):
depending on how severe thestorm was, because the, the area
was so old and theinfrastructure was really just
old and outdated, so it would godown for longer periods of time.
Um, it would take a long time tocome back up.
And now we also do have somepanels on the roof that I'm
still, uh, getting ready to, toconnect now that we move them.
Uh, I, we do also have a, acouple kilowatt hours of

(12:06):
batteries that I, that I built,like for our.
Our home backup, uh, systemthat, that's connected to like
all of the major stuff that weuse regularly, like the tv, uh,
lights down here, offices, andthen all of the, all of the
servers and home automation.
Um, and the cool thing is theinternet is fiber optic.
So if the power goes down, itdoesn't bring down the internet

(12:27):
as long as we have our ownbackups like inside the house
for power.
So that's pretty cool.
And we have a cell backup.
But even with all that said, Imean other than when that
electricity was out before webrought all our batteries over,
where you had an an hour or soof outage that you could still
kind of get on the cell internetif you had to.
Uh, it's, it's been been prettygood.
Um,

Amanda (12:47):
yeah, and our neighbor was telling us that since total
play just got here about a yearago and the internet's maybe
gone down twice last year incomparison to what we were
seeing in Guadalajara.
Uh, which was like, I guess,'cause there's so many people.
Then, you know, total play wouldgo down.
Mega Godley would go down.
We had two internets and thestarlink.

(13:08):
Mm-hmm.
Uh, just in case, because wework online, so we, so

it's, it's really important that we need
internet stays up.
Exactly.
Yeah.

Amanda (13:14):
And we had been told before we moved out here, uh, by
a lot of our Mexican friends,that they have vacation
properties out here and stufflike that, that the internet out
here is typically better.
Uh, number one, I think it's'cause a lot of the places are
newer.
So a lot of the stuff isunderground.
And

they don't have to do as much maintenance and
they don't because somethingfalls.
Yeah.
They don't have to

Amanda (13:32):
do as much maintenance, things like that.
Uh, and in addition to that,there's so many foreigners out
here, uh, retirees, digitalnomads, uh, people, snowbirds,
uh, investors and things likethat.
We'll get to investing in asecond that the infrastructure
for those things is typicallybetter, uh, in this area because

(13:52):
it was kind of like, um.
I don't think people really knowthis, but like Lake, the Lake
Chapala area has only reallybegun developing in the last few
years, uh, in comparison toGuadalajara, which is like a 500
year old city.
Exactly.
Yeah.
So, uh, that goes and Alto's

a pretty old lonna also.

Amanda (14:11):
Yeah.
So, uh, different strokes fordifferent fruits.
And then the final reason why wedecided to move out here, and
then we'll do like a proper prosand cons because, uh, part of
what we like to do on thischannel is.
You don't have to do what we do.
You know, we understand thatthere's different profiles, so
we just try and kind of lay itall out and then you make the
decision that's best for you, orwe can help you make a decision
that's best for you.
Sign up for one of thoseconsults and we can help you

entrepreneur expat.com/consult.

Amanda (14:35):
But one of the reasons we decided to move out is
because, uh, because we help somany people with relocation and
many of them are interested inthis area.
We also work with a lot ofpeople who are interested in
investing.
In Mexico, we'll be doinganother video on a lot of the
investment opportunities andthings like that with one of our
real estate partners.
Uh, but basically we know thatthis area out here is brimming

(14:58):
with opportunity.
You know, Al nah, maybe not somuch anymore.
Uh, it is a very desirable areafor very good reason and we'll
show you guys videos later.
So the prices are definitely alot higher there.
Um, they're probably runningoutta space soon.
Um.
But the other areas around thelake, oh my gosh, they are
fertile ground for real estateinvestment, uh, opportunity.

(15:21):
We are on a side of the, on aside of the lake right now where
now they're opening up Oxo,they're opening up pharmacies,
they're opening up, um, moredevelopments and things like
that.
And that's usually a pretty goodsign.

And in fact, we're gonna go to, uh, town by
Lan pretty soon.
We're gonna show you the video.
And, uh, there's, there's a lotof open space, a lot of land out
there.
Um, and it's, you know, not thatfar from Guadalajara still or
from, from other major towns.
Yeah.
Uh, so we're gonna start showingyou guys a lot of the even more
underdeveloped areas where inthe next two to three years

(15:56):
there's gonna start to be a lotof growth.
There's, so there's a lot ofground floor opportunity there
right now.

Amanda (16:00):
Yeah.
And that's one of the reasonswhy we decided to move out here
as well, is'cause we wanted tosee it and we wanted to be
closer, uh, to, because there'smore opportunity for us.
Yeah.

Um, as investors and as.
People that that work with.
A lot of investors who have comedown here, were like, where can
you really get your, the bestreturn on investment?
And to Amanda's point, chappal,sure there's a lot of good
investment opportunities stillsame without, but it's, those
areas have already been likesuper discovered.
Uh, and so they're eitheradequately rated or potentially

(16:30):
a little overrated in myopinion.
Um, and we'll get some, somemore insight about a few of
those different things fromsome, some real estate
professionals.

Amanda (16:40):
Then a final thing is just, it's pretty convenient.
So Chip, the Chapala area isonly about an hour from Walla
Hara when there's no traffic.
When there's traffic, there'smore.
So you have to figure out kindof like your, your, when your
comings and goings, uh, into thecity and, and, uh, monitoring
the traffic and things likethat.
But when there's no traffic, youknow, it's an hour to

(17:03):
Guadalajara with traffic.

It's only about an hour and a half.
Yeah.
Pending.

Amanda (17:06):
Yeah.
So you're very convenientlylocated to Mexico's second
largest city.
So if you need to go get yourcity vibes, or for example, we
had to go to Guadalajara overthe weekend to go pick up my
passport from DHL, uh, in thecity.
'cause that was already inprocess.
Or if you have to run errands,uh, that need to be done in the
city.
'cause perhaps it's notavailable out here, it's not a

(17:27):
big deal.
Mm-hmm.
Uh, to go into the city.
It's also.
Still relatively close to theairport.
I mean, the airport's kind oflike the halfway point between
like Guadalajara and then theChapala area.
So you're still not far from aninternational airport either.
So, you know, when we came out,we would come out here and we
would go to the thermal spas andthings like that.

(17:47):
So we were already familiar withthe area and when the
opportunities showed up, um,because we were already
familiar, we were like, okay,that, that sounds like a really
good time.
We're not far from the city,we're not far from an airport.
But it feels almost worldsapart.
It does, yeah.
From a major city in a lot ofways, because it is a lot more
relaxed.
It is a lot more chill.

(18:08):
Much

more country vibes.

Amanda (18:09):
Yeah.
A little bit more country vibes,more Pueblo vibes.
Mm-hmm.
I would say, rather than majorcity.
So if you're interested insomething like that, then you
know that could be good for youas well.
And then this isn't really aconcern for us, but it is a
concern for some of you whowatch.
Is, uh, this whole area,particularly al Nah, not so much

(18:30):
where we are, you'll need tospeak a little bit more Spanish,
uh, where we are.
But you know, Al nahspecifically is a soft landing,
uh, for people who are starting.
Yeah.
A lot of people speak English.
Yeah.
A lot of the, the

signs are in English and Spanish.

Amanda (18:42):
Yeah,

just like the us.

Amanda (18:45):
Uh, so for those of you who are looking for a soft
landing as you embark on theinternational lifestyle, or
maybe you're moving to Mexico,then yes, Al nah.
Are considered, uh, softlandings for foreigners.
So I think that's it in terms ofall the reasons why we decided
to make the move when theopportunity showed up.
Can you think of anything else?
I think we just wanted to chillout for a while.

(19:08):
We wanted to be closer to realestate opportunities that we
know were, we're happening outhere.
Uh, and we really wanted to tryit out because we get so many
questions about it that we'relike, Hey, why don't we just
like go live over there, seewhat it's like and report back

exactly.
Yeah, that's about it.
And we're gonna do a video withsome more specific pros and cons
of each as well.
So make sure you like this videoand, uh, you'll be shown more of
our content and also subscribe.
If you're watching this andyou've seen our videos before
and you're not alreadysubscribed, what's going on?
Subscribe.
Make it Happen.
Sorry Mia.

(19:43):
It was loud, wasn't it?
Uh, subscribe to this channeland if you're interested in
moving to Mexico or anywhereelse in Latin America.
Definitely book thatconsult@entrepreneurexpat.com
slash consult and our team ofexpert real estate, immigration
and legal people are going to beable to help you with that move.

(20:03):
So we'll, we'll talk to you and,and show you exactly how you can
do anything that you want interms of coming down here.
Uh, and we'll go over yourpartic particular personal case
and, uh, and help you create aplan.

Amanda (20:16):
Thanks so much for watching and we'll catch you
guys on the next one.
Say

bye Mia.
Bye.
Okay.

Amanda (20:25):
I know you got the cat, so,

oh, Mia's.
Mia's gonna be famous, huh?

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