July 30, 2025 • 30 mins
👉 Book a Relocation Consult: https://www.entrepreneurexpat.com/consultÂ
👉 Need to start creating a location independent business so you can go anywhere in the world? Get started with our Get Your First High Paying Client Online Bootcamp: https://entrepreneurexpat.com/firstclient-yt
👉 Learn how to use YouTube to build an online business with our YouTube Mastery Workshop: https://www.YouTubeMasteryWorkshop.com
👉 Want to learn how to move to Mexico in the next 12 months? If so, click here https://www.entrepreneurexpat.com/mexico
V I D E O SÂ Â T OÂ Â W A T C HÂ Â N E X T :
Online Business Tips to Working and Traveling In Mexico: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9zGH0voCyOc&list=PLh3xKhkMgH_IA6s3KvB_g9Cc9Ze1eji8j&index=2
Moving to Mexico: 10 Reasons Why We Chose to Live in Guadalajara https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dK23vD8_xjc&list=PLh3xKhkMgH_LAY7UV78YMgms-f2e1UcwN&index=23
Tips for Moving Overseas: Top 5 Remote Work Skills That Make Money: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bFzjCrlNAL8&list=PLh3xKhkMgH_IA6s3KvB_g9Cc9Ze1eji8j
 --------------------------------------------
Inquiries: community@entrepreneurexpat.com
--------------------------------------------
#livinginmexico #movingtomexico #digitalnomad #makemoneyonline #expatsinmexico #digitalmarketingtraning #geoarbitrage #moveoverseasfromus #digitalmarketingcourse #guadalajara #costoflivingmexico #digitalnomadvisa #digitalnomadnews #workandtravel #locationindependentlifestyle #locationindependentbusiness #locationindependententrepreneur #locationindependentbusinesses #locationindependentbusinessideas #secretsoflocationindendentbusiness #howtobecomeadigitalnomad
Disclaimer: The information in this video should not be considered tax, financial, investment, or any kind of professional advice. Only a professional diagnosis of your specific situation can determine which strategies are appropriate for your needs. Entrepreneur Expat can and does not provide advice unless/until engaged by you.
Mark as Played
Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
(00:00):
Looking for the perfect lakesidetown in Mexico.
(00:03):
In this video, we're gonnaexplore the charming cities and
towns around the lake ChipMexico area, where Amanda and I
currently live each with its ownvibe, lifestyle, and appeal to
expats.
Welcome to Entrepreneur Expat.
I'm Amanda.
This is Justin.
And on this channel we talk allabout living internationally as
(00:25):
American expats.
We talk about how to make moneyonline so you can go anywhere in
the world visas, how to getthem, immigration bank accounts,
investments, and everything inbetween.
So if that's something thatyou're interested in, make sure
to subscribe and hit thenotification bell so you don't
me say single video that we havecoming out on this channel.
Also, make sure to give it alike.
Because it helps us get it infront of more people.
(00:45):
And we have a mission ofreaching 1 million entrepreneur
expats and aspiring expats.
And if you are interested inmoving to Mexico specifically,
then we have a free guide tohelp you out.
It's our Moving to Mexico guide.
Hundreds of people havedownloaded this.
We get requests for this guideevery day on Instagram and
(01:05):
YouTube.
So you will find the link forthat below because it'll give
you a good kind of startingplace.
And if you're at the point inyour life where you're like, you
know what?
I am ready to get the heck outof the US or Canada, and you
like our help actually makingthe process possible, whether
that's the immigration, thepaperwork, actually relocating,
(01:26):
figuring out how to bring yourchildren and your pets and your
cars and everything else.
Then we have fully white glovedone for you services to support
with that, so you can learn moreabout those services by
requesting a free consult withour team@entrepreneurexpat.com
slash consult.
Now Chapala is Mexico's largestlake and it's actually quite
(01:48):
big.
Uh, when you fly out ofGuadalajara, you're gonna,
you're gonna go over Chip Pauloactually for several minutes.
It's so big that it's, uh,actually borders.
Both Jalisco and Michan.
Uh, we're looking at our windowhere'cause we have a view of
chip and you can see way, way,way off in the distance all the
way, uh, to Michan from herewhere we are near Kopec.
(02:12):
And uh, yeah, it's, it's a verybig hot spot for expats,
retirees in digital nomads.
And in fact.
Some of the original peopleliving here were kind of Mexican
hippies and writers and peoplethat just wanted to get away
from the city for a whileperhaps to do all of their,
their creative endeavors.
Uh, so it's a, it's a reallycool just vibe here overall.
(02:33):
And, uh, we love that it's nottoo far from the city either.
Like you can, wherever you arein the chip area, you can get
into it like a small city likeAhah or Chapala itself, or you
can be in Guadalajara in aboutan hour.
So that makes it really.
Cool to live, uh, Lakeside.
Yeah.
And we also love that we'retotally surrounded by nature.
So although we liked living inGuadalajara, we were like, Hey,
(02:56):
you know, how about we trysomething different for a while?
Let's get out into nature alittle bit more.
And it is been.
Absolutely worth it.
We are now living on a mountainliterally with a spectacular
view of the lake that we get towake up to every day.
No sunset is ever the same.
Um, and there's so much naturejust around the area.
(03:17):
Like for example, you can gohiking, there's waterfalls,
there's just so much to do andeach little town around the lake
kind of has its own specialty interms of what there is to do
there.
So that's part of what we'regoing to be covering today.
So we're gonna go town by townand tell you just a little bit
about the pros and cons of eachand some of the things that are,
(03:37):
that are the most popular.
We're going to start with Ahheebecause the lake chip area, but
specifically Ahhee has thelargest community of expats.
In the world outside of Yeah.
In the entire world.
So the largest population, forexample, of Americans living
outside of the US for sure.
Uh, anywhere else in the world.
It's right here.
(03:58):
Right here in a backyard.
Yeah.
And also Canadians.
Absolutely.
Yeah.
So it's very popular.
Aah.
Especially it's very popularwith those North American
expats.
You can't really walk a block inwithout hearing a person or a
family speaking English tosomeone.
Uh, all the menus are in, uh,both Spanish and English most of
the time.
(04:18):
It, you know, you kind of said,well, is it really the most
authentic experience in theworld?
Maybe, maybe not, becausethey're definitely toning down
the spicy level to cater towardsgringos.
And, uh, they're also, uh,putting everything in English.
We personally both speak Spanishfluently.
Amanda's family is actually, uh,Latin and so, so she comes from
(04:38):
a, a Latino family.
Uh, I am not, I'm completely,you know, I'm American and
Ukrainian, no, no Latin in myblood at all that I'm aware of.
Um, but I learned Spanish overthe last few years and also
speak it.
Fairly, uh, fluently Sometimesmy, my Mexican, uh, slang is
even better than yours'causeI've spent more time in Mexico.
(04:59):
Um, but anyway, I digress.
Uh, is cool.
Uh, you definitely can find acommunity of expats there.
There's also a very vibrant artscene with cafes and yoga
studios everywhere.
It's very walkable too.
Yeah.
I mean, you can, you can driveto Ahi Park pretty much
anywhere.
Uh, especially outside of the,like Right, you know, right near
the main center if you wannafind parking and just walk the
(05:20):
entire town from the, which isthe boardwalk, uh, to a bunch of
different restaurants.
And, um, yeah, it's also very,very colorful.
So there's a lot of like, uh,different colored paint.
It's a problem Mexico, so you'regonna find a lot of colors.
It's also mm-hmm.
Some of the downsides are, likeI mentioned, you know, maybe
it's not the most authentic, youknow, local Mexican experience.
(05:40):
And there's also definitely ahigher.
Cost of living, but what do youexpect when you can find your
favorite American brands of foodand everything else?
Uh, they even have a Popeye'snext to the Walmart, so if
you're looking for a very softlanding, it's cool, but
definitely expect higher prices.
Uh, expect that maybe you won'tget the exact same experience in
(06:01):
terms.
You know, if you, if you reallylike, uh, understanding Mexico
and its local traditions andcultures and things, it
definitely has them, but it'snot the same type of experience.
Maybe you would get somewherelike out here, uh, close to
Hako.
I will also say that one of thethings I enjoy about AAH is the
properties.
The properties in AHI arestunning, especially like the,
(06:23):
the more NDA type properties.
Or there's an area in Ahi calledLa Floreta, which we were
driving around the other day.
Yeah.
Where the horses were, right.
Where the horses were.
Spectacular.
Properties.
So if you're like me and youlike to enjoy real estate tours
and a lot of our clients do,it's actually one of the things
we help you organize is realestate tours.
For those of you who areinterested in purchasing in
(06:45):
Mexico is a lot of fun in termsof the properties that they have
because they have that oldschool Mexican NDA with the
traditional kitchens.
The Vera.
Mm-hmm.
Sinks.
I saw a property.
Amanda, uh, Amanda Turner is oneof their favorite real estate
agents to work with here.
She had a property the other daythat underground, it had like,
almost like a Game of Thronesseller.
(07:07):
Oh, that's cool.
Kind of thing.
So I'll do my, I'll put mybunker there.
I'll set, I'll set up my bunkerunder underground.
So you can find some sp likereally interesting fun
properties in Ahhee.
I personally like to, I enjoythose things.
So if you enjoy those things andyou might also like, uh, ahhee
and generally it's a be it's abeautiful town.
It's, it's a really, reallybeautiful town.
(07:27):
You can also find a lot moreinternational cuisine.
That's true in Ahhee.
Then you might be able to insome other parts of the link.
We're not counting Popeye'sInternational.
No, I'm saying like there's aMongolian restaurant for
example.
Uh, that you can go to, or wehad, you know, Argentinian steak
the other day.
Um, so you'll find more, youknow, food variety in terms of
(07:48):
international cuisine.
Over in.
Now another less talked aboutarea is the town of San Antonio.
La Kaan, which, uh, even I havea hard time pronouncing even
though my Spanish is halfdecent.
Um, but yeah, San Antonio iswhat, it's, what it's called,
typically colloquially here, uh,especially by the expats and
it's between Aki and Al.
(08:09):
That's where you can find cool,uh, grocery stores like Super
Lake, which literally is likewalking into.
Uh, literally that is likewalking into a, a Safeway or
Vaughn's or, or Ralph's.
In, in the US you can find halfthe store is Kirkland products.
Yeah.
You can find all the, likeCostco brand stuff.
You can find, um, Progresso soupif you really want to pay like
(08:30):
seven or$8 for a can of soup,which I don't understand why you
would want to do that when youcan get soup freshly cooked for
less.
Locally, but hey, you want toget your comfort food?
We bought crescent rolls there.
We just, we just went in like asa fun little trip and we somehow
ended up spending$350 ongroceries, which is probably
normal for like the us.
(08:51):
Um, for, you know, a littlegrocery trip with, uh, you know,
to buy some snacks and somefoods and things.
But in Mexico it's about threeor four times what we would
normally spend for, for a coupleweeks of groceries.
But, you know, we got like our,some of our organic products
that were in the US we boughtthose crescent rolls, um, which,
you know, are, you can find somemac and cheese.
My guilty pleasure.
Yeah, you can get mac and cheeselike the, the American brands
(09:12):
and things like that.
So it's kind of.
It's kind of cool, uh, get your,get your little dose of
glyphosate for the month.
Um, but yeah, super, like, uh,it was, it was a vibe.
It was, it was a nice little,little, uh, just, uh, what do
you call it when you side Questside.
Yeah.
But when you're like, uh, youknow, your, your, your nostalgic
nostalgia.
Yeah.
We had a little bit of thenostalgia from, oh, here's all
(09:34):
this stuff we got.
Before in the us.
Um, yeah, so San Antonio is a,is a little bit more quiet, more
residential.
Uh, I kinda like it in a sensebecause it's, it reminds us a
little bit of where we live,although we we're more in the
boonies, like we're a little bitmore, you know, in a very local
Mexican area, but almost ElCampo not quite.
Um, but San Antonio is a nicebalance because it's sort of
(09:56):
like suburbs versus is alreadyturning into a small city with a
really, you know.
Active, but also loud downtownarea.
So if you like a little morepeace and quiet and you don't
want to necessarily be right inthe middle of the action than
San Antonio might be a goodplace for you.
And there's shopping centers andmore hospitals and things like
that.
Um, because Ahah, he was sort ofdeveloped, you know, around this
(10:17):
expat community.
Um, but there's more establishedhospitals and doctors and
shopping centers in San Antoniobecause they just have more
space, uh, to do it there.
Ahah he is more, um, likerestaurants and residential
areas and, and they're startingto build more, more residential
buildings there.
But San Antonio's a little morespread out, uh, and definitely
great for families and long-termexpats, especially if you speak
(10:38):
Spanish, uh, it's a nice kind ofcompromise between somewhere
like where we're at.
Uh, and somewhere like Ahi, ifyou want to sort of be in a, in
a middle ground kind of areawhere you're like, you want to
practice your Spanish, you wannaintegrate into the local
community, um, but maybe you,you know, you don't want to be
like more out there right.
(10:58):
And on your own.
So, um, next we have Chip.
So Chapala is also very popularwith expats, just like Ahhee.
It's, you know, also typicalpueblo maco kind of a thing.
You'll find a lot of foreignersin Chapala.
You know, Malcon, every townhere has a Malcon, which is like
a pier and every, A boardwalk.
Yeah.
At the boardwalk.
And every town has its own.
(11:19):
Uh, I thought the Giallo one wasvery nice, but you know, similar
vibe as.
Ahi, uh, you can find a littlebit more cuisine.
I would say it's probably moreof a straight shot to
Guadalajara and the airport fromChapala than it would be
anywhere else on the lake.
So that's something to consider.
If you need, if you need a lotof lights yeah, to the airport,
that might be something toconsider.
(11:41):
But other than that, it's notthat different, uh, from Akhi, I
would say.
I don't know if you have adifferent opinion.
Yeah, I, I think I kind ofactually, like in terms of
comparing the, you know, al toAhhe, I kind of like the.
Uh, I kind of like the Chapalaboardwalk a little better.
Oh yeah, I already heard that.
That chip, there's like morethings to eat.
You can also, um, find moreboats and things like that.
(12:03):
There's a little boat that'll, alittle lunch that'll take you to
Isla, which is the scorpionisland, which I haven't actually
seen any scorpions there inperson fortunately.
But there's, you know, you cankind of go, go to this little
tiny island and in the middle ofthe lake and, um, it's kind of
cool.
I've, I've gone there, uh, oncewith some friends and with, with
Daisy.
She liked it.
She met, she, uh, met this petmonkey that they have there on
(12:24):
the island, and she, she triedto make friends with the monkey.
It was really adorable.
Um, maybe we have some videos ofthat somewhere.
Uh, but yeah, so Chappal isdefinitely a vibe and it's, I
would say, a little more localof a feel, um, because there're
fewer expats than I, I kind oflike the vibe in Chapala overall
more.
(12:44):
Uh, personally, and it's moreaffordable for real estate and
rentals.
There's a little bit, um, biggerof a market for rentals as well
because aahh is, is smallerrelative to chip.
So there's, there's moreavailability and definitely
lower prices.
Ahah.
He's just sort of where all theexpats really want to
congregate.
So yes, that's part of what'shappening.
So we did an interview withAmanda Turner.
(13:05):
She was saying, yeah, with theshort term rentals, there's an
issue in Ahhee because I guess,uh, people will come like for
very immediate, short term orthey're, it's like the rental
market is kind of tough.
Mm-hmm.
Uh, in ahah.
So that's a very good point.
Yeah.
And next up we have one of ourfavorites, and this is.
Where we don't actually liveright in the middle of this
(13:26):
town.
Uh, but we do live close by toit, so it's closer to us than
other towns.
And that is Hoko Debe.
Um, obviously we love Hoku, welove it.
We're a little biased.
Uh, it's at the west end of thelake.
Uh, there's actually a separateroad here.
So you would probably take, ifyou're going from Guadalajara,
you take the HoCo bypass, whichgoes, uh, down Lopez Mateos, uh,
(13:48):
south of Guadalajara.
And then you take that bypassroad.
On the mountain and you wouldget to hako.
It's faster to do that than totake the chip highway.
Um, but yeah, it's definitelymore local than touristy.
There's a lot of, uh,agriculture here.
It's where actually Driscoll'shas their berry farms, so
there's a lot of fresh berries.
Um, you can get meat very fresh,close by from the, the local
(14:09):
farms.
There's natural hot springs veryclose by, not actually in Hako
tope.
We'll talk about where, wherethose are exactly.
But it's more of a laid backlifestyle.
More of a local vibe.
Uh, a little bit harder to findcontractors out here and get
them to do their job, but hey,there's, there's pros and cons,
um, to everything.
And, uh, what we think is thatthere's definitely a better
(14:30):
value here on the homes and theland.
It's a little more gritty.
In the sense that it's not, Iwouldn't call it dangerous.
We've never really felt unsafehere in any of the towns.
Um, but it's more gritty.
Like it's not quite as developedout.
You know, you, you, you can comehere and just, just spend a day
in al, spend a day in Ahi, spenda day in Hoku, and you'll kind
of see the difference.
(14:51):
Uh, you definitely wanna havesome Spanish, I mean, I'm sure
you can get by with English andGoogle Translate.
Yeah.
You'll definitely need moreSpanish and Hoko Yeah.
Than you would, or nah.
That, that's probably one of thedownsides is if you don't speak
Spanish, I mean, you'll learnjust being here eventually.
Right.
Uh, but you want to, uh, youwant to definitely speak Spanish
if you want to make friendslocally and things like that,
(15:13):
because there are not as manyexpats.
We met a few, we actually had,um, people recognize us on the
street just from the YouTubechannel, which was kind of cool.
In HoCo.
Um, but yeah, it's cool andthere's, there's a lot of land,
uh, available here in, in andaround HoCo.
Uh, so I, I like it.
It's, it's a vibe.
Downsides are downsides that itis, uh, very geologically active
(15:35):
in the sense that there's,there's like faults and things,
so we haven't really heard oftoo many earthquakes, but
sometimes buildings and thingsdo shift.
It's happened a lot in the cityand definitely something to be
aware of, uh, that there's,there's some like, you know.
Plate activity here that causesbuildings to, to shift and
whatnot.
So what you wanna, yeah, likeChip Paul is actually like a
giant volcanic crater, which,uh, we'll talk more about when
(15:57):
we get to the next town'causeit's actually kind of cool.
But, you know, if you're near,like, we literally see a dormant
volcano out our window right nowif you're near a volcano crater,
than obviously there's going tobe more of that kind of
activity.
So that's just something to, tokeep in mind as well.
Um, I'd say the only real ddownsides of HoCo is maybe it's
not as active as Ahah.
(16:18):
Maybe for those of you whoreally want to be active and
have a lot of stuff to do andall that stuff, HoCo is a little
bit more of a sleepy townmm-hmm.
In comparison, uh, to Ahah.
And then of course if you don'tknow Spanish, you'll have a
little bit more of a difficulttime in Hoko.
But I think Hoko has a prettypromising future because as AHI
gets more saturated, and this iswhat we were talking about with
some of our real estate expertsthat we work with for our
(16:39):
relocation clients, it'sstarting to expand.
Outward.
So there's a lot of potential inHoku for those of you who are
investors.
And I would also say Hoku hasthe best views of the lake of
any of these towns mm-hmm.
That we're talking to becauseit's all the way at the west
end.
So when you're on an, um, itjust looks like a ocean, it
looks like a bay and an oceanthat just goes out.
(17:01):
Yeah.
And I'll also also that anotherthing that I really love about
Hoko is, is the male.
Uh, it's a very wide boardwalk,like the area there, so it's,
it's really wide.
There's like parks andeverything there, which you
don't really see in Chapala orAhi too much.
It's in Ahi, like it's just avery small boardwalk.
But here it's massive.
It's like an entire area, like agreen area with parks, and
(17:23):
there's little, it's not asdeveloped.
Like there's only sort of smallrestaurants and for the most
part, they're only open, uh,like on the weekends other than
maybe ice cream or simple thingslike that.
But in terms of like getting,uh.
Seafood, you know, mariscos orshrimp or whatever.
There, there are a couple smallspots like that, but they're,
they're not quite as developed,but it's, in terms of the
spaciousness though, there'sjust a lot of room.
(17:44):
You can kind of take your dogand play ball and run around.
We met a baby goat the otherday.
We met a baby goat and Daisy wasmaking friends with a baby goat.
You attempted to name.
Said baby goat.
I did, we were giving the ownerfeedback on baby goat names,
which was adorable.
Yeah.
Um, and yeah, we, we personally,we really like Coco.
Um, and then the next town isactually probably one of our
(18:07):
favorites.
We, we've, which we've mentionedseveral times on this channel.
It's actually one of the reasonswhy we moved out here when the
opportunity showed up, which isSan Juan.
Uh, now San Juan is quite wellknown for, its.
Thermal spas, it's full of spaswhere you can go into its hotels
and spas and, uh, boutique areaswhere you can actually go enjoy
(18:30):
natural thermal waters.
'cause remember how I said that,you know, this is basically a
volcanic crater.
Well, for some reason, and maybesomebody can explain them the
comments.
Um, San Juan Sala, all the waterthat goes through there is
thermal.
A lot of the houses in San JuanSala actually need cooling
systems because the water comesout so hot rather than mm-hmm.
(18:51):
Heaters, but it's full of littleboutique.
Spas and hotels where you can goenjoy the thermal waters In
jacuzzis, they're said to havehealing properties.
We go at least like once ortwice a month.
We were just there last weekendwith another real estate
partner.
Yeah.
Uh, that we work with in Mexico.
She covers more like the LANarea.
There's some interesting stuffgoing on.
Is there, there as well?
(19:11):
We did an interesting videoabout that last year, but she
came over, uh, to hang out withus here on the lake and we took
her to the thermal spots andshe's like, this is so cool.
So they have, um.
You know, there's differentboutique spas, right?
There's some that are morefamily friendly, where people
like, um, Rio, where like peopletake the ADA and the six pack of
(19:32):
beers and they take the wholefamily and it's full of pools.
And then they have a separatesection, uh, that's more like
the, uh, the, which is, how doyou say ri in English?
Now I'm forgetting Englishwords.
Like a tour.
Tour maybe?
Yeah.
Like, um.
Yeah, like a tour, like a sprintor something.
Um, and then in those jacuzzis,in the spa, then they have like,
(19:53):
oh, this jacuzzi has apple cidervinegar.
This jacuzzi has hibiscus, thisjacuzzi.
Uh, and in the, in Rio, it'slike an actual like process that
they take you to.
There's other ones, like the onethat we like to go to instead of
sala.
Um, and they just have like thepermanent installments,
lavender, rosemary, hibiscus,uh, red wine, um, uh, Veena,
(20:16):
which is a oatmeal.
Oatmeal.
Oatmeal.
Yeah.
Uh, and they just opened a nutmascal in that one because, um,
Rio had like a much bigger temascal.
And then now in Tam mescal is atraditional sweat lodge.
Mm-hmm.
Uh, for those of you who do notknow, um, yeah, it's like a
steam room, but very hot.
Very hot steam room.
Very good.
I really, I really like it.
It helps with the sinuses andeverything.
(20:38):
So in, they had a tinier onethat looked like a little cave,
and now, uh, they just opened amassive one that we got to
enjoy, uh, over the weekend.
And it's heated up by thosethermal waters.
Like that's how freaking.
The water is, it's like sweatlodge, like it's the water
heating up the sweat lodge.
(20:58):
And the other hotel too, theyhad like trickles of water.
Mm-hmm.
Uh, heating up the sweat lodges.
There's also like a hotel up onthe mountain that I always
forget how to pronounce it, butit basically, it looks like a
big.
Statue, like I think EasterIsland head and there's a, um,
thermal waters in there.
There's other little boutiquehotels around as well.
So San Juan, we really enjoy it.
(21:21):
We're there once or twice amonth, literally.
That might be a place where,where we'll buy some land and
build because.
Uh, I would love to be able tojust fill up our jacuzzi right
there with fresh thermal waterand you, you know, I'm big on
the systems and yeah, solar andwater pumps and I'll build us a
whole, like, we'll have to,we'll have to build our own spa
there where people can, can comeand visit us.
(21:44):
Um, yeah, it's also more laidback than Ahah, right?
So it's not far.
Literally all these towns areright next to each other.
So we might be like, we're likein between HoCo and San Juan
Sala in a town called el, whichis like 3000 inhabitants, but
they're all literally like this.
So we're like 10 minutes fromthe thermal waters or 10 minutes
from HoCo, or we're mm-hmm.
(22:04):
20 to 30 minutes to Ahi.
That's a good deal.
It's a good deal.
Yeah.
Now you're probably wondering,Hey, what is the best town for
me?
Obviously, we can't tell youwithout knowing you and one of
the first places to go.
If you're like, Hey, I'm reallythinking about moving there.
Tell me about the best place togo and how to get the visa
paperwork situated and all that.
(22:25):
Uh, if you want personalizedinformation and consultation to
actually help you make thatdecision, definitely apply for a
call with ourteam@entrepreneurexpat.com slash
consult.
But in a nutshell, we can kindof tell you that.
The best place for retirees mostlikely is gonna be AHI or San
Antonio Digital Nomads Ahi, orpossibly San Juan Sala.
(22:50):
Uh, because you still have likethat XVA community, if you're
budget conscious.
Poco HoCo is a really good placeto to live.
Now.
Where we are up on the mountain,we're paying a lot more than
actually being in town justbecause we like the view.
Let's be honest.
It makes some really goodcontent.
Um, but we're still saving moneyeven over what we were paying in
Guadalajara.
We're paying half and we've gotlike a two bedroom, uh, house
(23:12):
here.
That's a condo, gatedcommunities 24 7 security.
We've got fiber optic internet.
We've got a view of the lake youcan run up and down the
mountain.
We can get anything we needdelivered.
So like, it's not that Iwouldn't, I wouldn't say that
just because HoCo overall is alittle bit cheaper that it's,
that it's necessarily bad,although most.
Expats tend to prefer the expatcommunities, you know, of Ahhee.
(23:35):
Um, but yeah, family friendlySan Antonio or Al for sure, but
both are definitely good places.
I mean, if, if your, if, if yourfamily speaks Spanish though, I
would still encourage you tocheck out Hoku and check out
some of the surrounding areashere.
And Hoko, Debe definitely betterfor people who really like being
off the beaten path.
Maybe real estate investors thatare looking at taking advantage
(23:57):
of the opportunity.
Uh, that's here as well becauseprices definitely are gonna go
up.
So if you're thinking aboutmaybe buying a house, or even
buying some land and building,obviously book a call with our
team because sometimes peoplewill try to sell you land that's
not really theirs.
That's a very common thing inMexico.
So we can help you navigate thatentire process of real estate
investing and purchasing andthings like that.
(24:18):
Um, but yeah, tons of greatopportunity to invest here in in
HoCo.
Well, that's what we have foryou guys today.
There are also, there's alsolittle areas like or.
You know, there's like a wholestretch of restaurants between
like San Juan that are reallycool.
So we couldn't cover everythingin this video because honestly,
(24:39):
we're kind of shocked at howmuch there is to do around the
lake.
One of the things that you wereconcerned about when we moved
out, here's who thought you weregonna be bored.
There was gonna be nothing todo.
It's like, what am I gonna doall day?
And you're like, honey, we don'tdo anything.
We work from home, we hang outby the pool.
You know, we go to the thermalspas, we, we get our massages,
we record videos.
So I'm pretty happy.
(25:00):
Yeah, and I was saying we'veactually been more out here than
we were in Guadalajara, becausein Guadalajara we were having
this conversation with ourfriends over the weekend.
It's like in Guadalajara youhave to like.
Psych yourself up to go.
Like drive.
Yeah.
To get on Lopez Mateo and bemerging in and out of traffic
and doing all the crazy Ifyou're trying to get like from
one side of the city to theother.
Yeah.
But here it's just way morechill.
(25:22):
Um, and you know, Martha wastelling us like, wow, it's so
peaceful out here.
Like we were out at the spas andshe goes, it's such a peaceful,
chill vibe.
And this is coming from a womanwho lives in an even smaller
town out in tequila country,which is very peaceful in and of
itself.
And she was like, this isamazing.
This was like a great move, uh,for you guys.
And yeah, overall, like we'vebeen actually very impressed
(25:45):
with everything that there is todo out here.
Obviously, we already knew thatthere was stuff out here.
We'd come out here on weekends,uh, when we needed a break from
the city, but living here is atotally different.
Situation a totally differentvibe and we freaking love it.
And for those of you who've beenasking, like, isn't it just like
(26:05):
retired people out there?
Yes, for the most part.
Especially in however, uh, inHoku you'll find a lot more
younger people and.
They're Mexicans, right?
So a lot more younger people.
Same in San Juan Sala.
Um, and we're starting to seemore younger people move out
here.
And I think another importantnote, and we'll end it here, the
infrastructure out here for likeinternet and stuff like that is
(26:27):
actually quite good.
So if you're, I was verysurprised.
I mean, so if you're a digitalnomad, this area could, it
really depends.
But, but for the most part, likeyou'll, you'll actually have
multiple internet providers tochoose from depending on where
you are.
Like you can get, at least intown, you can get total play,
you can get mega cab play, bothof which.
I think Mega Coley does havefiber here as well, but total
play is all fiber.
We have fiber optic internet.
(26:48):
Uh, we can get up to, I think agig or maybe even faster here,
like a gigabit up and down,which is very fast.
Uh, it's, you know, just likethe, the Google fiber in Austin.
Yeah.
And when you else, when you runbusinesses online and you need
access to the internet or youwork remotely.
That's kind of a reallyimportant thing to consider.
Yeah.
And I'm a stickler for, for goodinternet, and the Internet's
(27:10):
solid that's her breakdown ofthe Lake Chipotle area and the
multiple towns.
Like I said, there's a lot to dohere, and each town has its own
thing.
Each town even has its own food.
That it's known for.
We didn't even get into that.
Mm-hmm.
So if you want us to do anothervideo on that, leave a comment
below and do like a Lakesidefood tour.
Yes.
Yeah.
Let us know in the comments.
If you wanna see a Lakeside foodtour, we will absolutely do
(27:32):
that.
If there's enough people in thecomments, uh, who would be
interested in that, becauseeach, each town kind of has its
own.
Food that you can go find.
Um, so we'll definitely do avideo on that.
Thank you so much for giving usyour time today.
Uh, don't forget to download ourMoving to Mexico Guide.
For those of you who arethinking about it and kind of
need the first steps in order toget started.
It will also add you to ouremail list.
(27:53):
We've got some really cool stuffthat we're working on behind the
scenes that's gonna be madeavailable to help you move.
Abroad more easily.
And for those of you who arelike, I'm a high net worth
individual, uh, like one of ourclients told us last week, I'm
at the stage in my life where Ijust pay people to do this stuff
for me, then go to entrepreneurexpat.com/consult and we'll take
care of all the details.
(28:13):
So all you have to do is show upwhere you have to show up on the
rest of the time.
You're having a very good time,and we will make sure of that.
So entrepreneurexpat.com/consult and we'll see
you again on the next one.
Bye for now.
Looking for the perfect lakesidetown in Mexico.
(00:03):
In this video, we're gonnaexplore the charming cities and
towns around the lake ChipMexico area, where Amanda and I
currently live each with its ownvibe, lifestyle, and appeal to
expats.
Welcome to Entrepreneur Expat.
I'm Amanda.
This is Justin.
And on this channel we talk allabout living internationally as
(00:25):
American expats.
We talk about how to make moneyonline so you can go anywhere in
the world visas, how to getthem, immigration bank accounts,
investments, and everything inbetween.
So if that's something thatyou're interested in, make sure
to subscribe and hit thenotification bell so you don't
me say single video that we havecoming out on this channel.
Also, make sure to give it alike.
Because it helps us get it infront of more people.
(00:45):
And we have a mission ofreaching 1 million entrepreneur
expats and aspiring expats.
And if you are interested inmoving to Mexico specifically,
then we have a free guide tohelp you out.
It's our Moving to Mexico guide.
Hundreds of people havedownloaded this.
We get requests for this guideevery day on Instagram and
(01:05):
YouTube.
So you will find the link forthat below because it'll give
you a good kind of startingplace.
And if you're at the point inyour life where you're like, you
know what?
I am ready to get the heck outof the US or Canada, and you
like our help actually makingthe process possible, whether
that's the immigration, thepaperwork, actually relocating,
(01:26):
figuring out how to bring yourchildren and your pets and your
cars and everything else.
Then we have fully white glovedone for you services to support
with that, so you can learn moreabout those services by
requesting a free consult withour team@entrepreneurexpat.com
slash consult.
Now Chapala is Mexico's largestlake and it's actually quite
(01:48):
big.
Uh, when you fly out ofGuadalajara, you're gonna,
you're gonna go over Chip Pauloactually for several minutes.
It's so big that it's, uh,actually borders.
Both Jalisco and Michan.
Uh, we're looking at our windowhere'cause we have a view of
chip and you can see way, way,way off in the distance all the
way, uh, to Michan from herewhere we are near Kopec.
(02:12):
And uh, yeah, it's, it's a verybig hot spot for expats,
retirees in digital nomads.
And in fact.
Some of the original peopleliving here were kind of Mexican
hippies and writers and peoplethat just wanted to get away
from the city for a whileperhaps to do all of their,
their creative endeavors.
Uh, so it's a, it's a reallycool just vibe here overall.
(02:33):
And, uh, we love that it's nottoo far from the city either.
Like you can, wherever you arein the chip area, you can get
into it like a small city likeAhah or Chapala itself, or you
can be in Guadalajara in aboutan hour.
So that makes it really.
Cool to live, uh, Lakeside.
Yeah.
And we also love that we'retotally surrounded by nature.
So although we liked living inGuadalajara, we were like, Hey,
(02:56):
you know, how about we trysomething different for a while?
Let's get out into nature alittle bit more.
And it is been.
Absolutely worth it.
We are now living on a mountainliterally with a spectacular
view of the lake that we get towake up to every day.
No sunset is ever the same.
Um, and there's so much naturejust around the area.
(03:17):
Like for example, you can gohiking, there's waterfalls,
there's just so much to do andeach little town around the lake
kind of has its own specialty interms of what there is to do
there.
So that's part of what we'regoing to be covering today.
So we're gonna go town by townand tell you just a little bit
about the pros and cons of eachand some of the things that are,
(03:37):
that are the most popular.
We're going to start with Ahheebecause the lake chip area, but
specifically Ahhee has thelargest community of expats.
In the world outside of Yeah.
In the entire world.
So the largest population, forexample, of Americans living
outside of the US for sure.
Uh, anywhere else in the world.
It's right here.
(03:58):
Right here in a backyard.
Yeah.
And also Canadians.
Absolutely.
Yeah.
So it's very popular.
Aah.
Especially it's very popularwith those North American
expats.
You can't really walk a block inwithout hearing a person or a
family speaking English tosomeone.
Uh, all the menus are in, uh,both Spanish and English most of
the time.
(04:18):
It, you know, you kind of said,well, is it really the most
authentic experience in theworld?
Maybe, maybe not, becausethey're definitely toning down
the spicy level to cater towardsgringos.
And, uh, they're also, uh,putting everything in English.
We personally both speak Spanishfluently.
Amanda's family is actually, uh,Latin and so, so she comes from
(04:38):
a, a Latino family.
Uh, I am not, I'm completely,you know, I'm American and
Ukrainian, no, no Latin in myblood at all that I'm aware of.
Um, but I learned Spanish overthe last few years and also
speak it.
Fairly, uh, fluently Sometimesmy, my Mexican, uh, slang is
even better than yours'causeI've spent more time in Mexico.
(04:59):
Um, but anyway, I digress.
Uh, is cool.
Uh, you definitely can find acommunity of expats there.
There's also a very vibrant artscene with cafes and yoga
studios everywhere.
It's very walkable too.
Yeah.
I mean, you can, you can driveto Ahi Park pretty much
anywhere.
Uh, especially outside of the,like Right, you know, right near
the main center if you wannafind parking and just walk the
(05:20):
entire town from the, which isthe boardwalk, uh, to a bunch of
different restaurants.
And, um, yeah, it's also very,very colorful.
So there's a lot of like, uh,different colored paint.
It's a problem Mexico, so you'regonna find a lot of colors.
It's also mm-hmm.
Some of the downsides are, likeI mentioned, you know, maybe
it's not the most authentic, youknow, local Mexican experience.
(05:40):
And there's also definitely ahigher.
Cost of living, but what do youexpect when you can find your
favorite American brands of foodand everything else?
Uh, they even have a Popeye'snext to the Walmart, so if
you're looking for a very softlanding, it's cool, but
definitely expect higher prices.
Uh, expect that maybe you won'tget the exact same experience in
(06:01):
terms.
You know, if you, if you reallylike, uh, understanding Mexico
and its local traditions andcultures and things, it
definitely has them, but it'snot the same type of experience.
Maybe you would get somewherelike out here, uh, close to
Hako.
I will also say that one of thethings I enjoy about AAH is the
properties.
The properties in AHI arestunning, especially like the,
(06:23):
the more NDA type properties.
Or there's an area in Ahi calledLa Floreta, which we were
driving around the other day.
Yeah.
Where the horses were, right.
Where the horses were.
Spectacular.
Properties.
So if you're like me and youlike to enjoy real estate tours
and a lot of our clients do,it's actually one of the things
we help you organize is realestate tours.
For those of you who areinterested in purchasing in
(06:45):
Mexico is a lot of fun in termsof the properties that they have
because they have that oldschool Mexican NDA with the
traditional kitchens.
The Vera.
Mm-hmm.
Sinks.
I saw a property.
Amanda, uh, Amanda Turner is oneof their favorite real estate
agents to work with here.
She had a property the other daythat underground, it had like,
almost like a Game of Thronesseller.
(07:07):
Oh, that's cool.
Kind of thing.
So I'll do my, I'll put mybunker there.
I'll set, I'll set up my bunkerunder underground.
So you can find some sp likereally interesting fun
properties in Ahhee.
I personally like to, I enjoythose things.
So if you enjoy those things andyou might also like, uh, ahhee
and generally it's a be it's abeautiful town.
It's, it's a really, reallybeautiful town.
(07:27):
You can also find a lot moreinternational cuisine.
That's true in Ahhee.
Then you might be able to insome other parts of the link.
We're not counting Popeye'sInternational.
No, I'm saying like there's aMongolian restaurant for
example.
Uh, that you can go to, or wehad, you know, Argentinian steak
the other day.
Um, so you'll find more, youknow, food variety in terms of
(07:48):
international cuisine.
Over in.
Now another less talked aboutarea is the town of San Antonio.
La Kaan, which, uh, even I havea hard time pronouncing even
though my Spanish is halfdecent.
Um, but yeah, San Antonio iswhat, it's, what it's called,
typically colloquially here, uh,especially by the expats and
it's between Aki and Al.
(08:09):
That's where you can find cool,uh, grocery stores like Super
Lake, which literally is likewalking into.
Uh, literally that is likewalking into a, a Safeway or
Vaughn's or, or Ralph's.
In, in the US you can find halfthe store is Kirkland products.
Yeah.
You can find all the, likeCostco brand stuff.
You can find, um, Progresso soupif you really want to pay like
(08:30):
seven or$8 for a can of soup,which I don't understand why you
would want to do that when youcan get soup freshly cooked for
less.
Locally, but hey, you want toget your comfort food?
We bought crescent rolls there.
We just, we just went in like asa fun little trip and we somehow
ended up spending$350 ongroceries, which is probably
normal for like the us.
(08:51):
Um, for, you know, a littlegrocery trip with, uh, you know,
to buy some snacks and somefoods and things.
But in Mexico it's about threeor four times what we would
normally spend for, for a coupleweeks of groceries.
But, you know, we got like our,some of our organic products
that were in the US we boughtthose crescent rolls, um, which,
you know, are, you can find somemac and cheese.
My guilty pleasure.
Yeah, you can get mac and cheeselike the, the American brands
(09:12):
and things like that.
So it's kind of.
It's kind of cool, uh, get your,get your little dose of
glyphosate for the month.
Um, but yeah, super, like, uh,it was, it was a vibe.
It was, it was a nice little,little, uh, just, uh, what do
you call it when you side Questside.
Yeah.
But when you're like, uh, youknow, your, your, your nostalgic
nostalgia.
Yeah.
We had a little bit of thenostalgia from, oh, here's all
(09:34):
this stuff we got.
Before in the us.
Um, yeah, so San Antonio is a,is a little bit more quiet, more
residential.
Uh, I kinda like it in a sensebecause it's, it reminds us a
little bit of where we live,although we we're more in the
boonies, like we're a little bitmore, you know, in a very local
Mexican area, but almost ElCampo not quite.
Um, but San Antonio is a nicebalance because it's sort of
(09:56):
like suburbs versus is alreadyturning into a small city with a
really, you know.
Active, but also loud downtownarea.
So if you like a little morepeace and quiet and you don't
want to necessarily be right inthe middle of the action than
San Antonio might be a goodplace for you.
And there's shopping centers andmore hospitals and things like
that.
Um, because Ahah, he was sort ofdeveloped, you know, around this
(10:17):
expat community.
Um, but there's more establishedhospitals and doctors and
shopping centers in San Antoniobecause they just have more
space, uh, to do it there.
Ahah he is more, um, likerestaurants and residential
areas and, and they're startingto build more, more residential
buildings there.
But San Antonio's a little morespread out, uh, and definitely
great for families and long-termexpats, especially if you speak
(10:38):
Spanish, uh, it's a nice kind ofcompromise between somewhere
like where we're at.
Uh, and somewhere like Ahi, ifyou want to sort of be in a, in
a middle ground kind of areawhere you're like, you want to
practice your Spanish, you wannaintegrate into the local
community, um, but maybe you,you know, you don't want to be
like more out there right.
(10:58):
And on your own.
So, um, next we have Chip.
So Chapala is also very popularwith expats, just like Ahhee.
It's, you know, also typicalpueblo maco kind of a thing.
You'll find a lot of foreignersin Chapala.
You know, Malcon, every townhere has a Malcon, which is like
a pier and every, A boardwalk.
Yeah.
At the boardwalk.
And every town has its own.
(11:19):
Uh, I thought the Giallo one wasvery nice, but you know, similar
vibe as.
Ahi, uh, you can find a littlebit more cuisine.
I would say it's probably moreof a straight shot to
Guadalajara and the airport fromChapala than it would be
anywhere else on the lake.
So that's something to consider.
If you need, if you need a lotof lights yeah, to the airport,
that might be something toconsider.
(11:41):
But other than that, it's notthat different, uh, from Akhi, I
would say.
I don't know if you have adifferent opinion.
Yeah, I, I think I kind ofactually, like in terms of
comparing the, you know, al toAhhe, I kind of like the.
Uh, I kind of like the Chapalaboardwalk a little better.
Oh yeah, I already heard that.
That chip, there's like morethings to eat.
You can also, um, find moreboats and things like that.
(12:03):
There's a little boat that'll, alittle lunch that'll take you to
Isla, which is the scorpionisland, which I haven't actually
seen any scorpions there inperson fortunately.
But there's, you know, you cankind of go, go to this little
tiny island and in the middle ofthe lake and, um, it's kind of
cool.
I've, I've gone there, uh, oncewith some friends and with, with
Daisy.
She liked it.
She met, she, uh, met this petmonkey that they have there on
(12:24):
the island, and she, she triedto make friends with the monkey.
It was really adorable.
Um, maybe we have some videos ofthat somewhere.
Uh, but yeah, so Chappal isdefinitely a vibe and it's, I
would say, a little more localof a feel, um, because there're
fewer expats than I, I kind oflike the vibe in Chapala overall
more.
(12:44):
Uh, personally, and it's moreaffordable for real estate and
rentals.
There's a little bit, um, biggerof a market for rentals as well
because aahh is, is smallerrelative to chip.
So there's, there's moreavailability and definitely
lower prices.
Ahah.
He's just sort of where all theexpats really want to
congregate.
So yes, that's part of what'shappening.
So we did an interview withAmanda Turner.
(13:05):
She was saying, yeah, with theshort term rentals, there's an
issue in Ahhee because I guess,uh, people will come like for
very immediate, short term orthey're, it's like the rental
market is kind of tough.
Mm-hmm.
Uh, in ahah.
So that's a very good point.
Yeah.
And next up we have one of ourfavorites, and this is.
Where we don't actually liveright in the middle of this
(13:26):
town.
Uh, but we do live close by toit, so it's closer to us than
other towns.
And that is Hoko Debe.
Um, obviously we love Hoku, welove it.
We're a little biased.
Uh, it's at the west end of thelake.
Uh, there's actually a separateroad here.
So you would probably take, ifyou're going from Guadalajara,
you take the HoCo bypass, whichgoes, uh, down Lopez Mateos, uh,
(13:48):
south of Guadalajara.
And then you take that bypassroad.
On the mountain and you wouldget to hako.
It's faster to do that than totake the chip highway.
Um, but yeah, it's definitelymore local than touristy.
There's a lot of, uh,agriculture here.
It's where actually Driscoll'shas their berry farms, so
there's a lot of fresh berries.
Um, you can get meat very fresh,close by from the, the local
(14:09):
farms.
There's natural hot springs veryclose by, not actually in Hako
tope.
We'll talk about where, wherethose are exactly.
But it's more of a laid backlifestyle.
More of a local vibe.
Uh, a little bit harder to findcontractors out here and get
them to do their job, but hey,there's, there's pros and cons,
um, to everything.
And, uh, what we think is thatthere's definitely a better
(14:30):
value here on the homes and theland.
It's a little more gritty.
In the sense that it's not, Iwouldn't call it dangerous.
We've never really felt unsafehere in any of the towns.
Um, but it's more gritty.
Like it's not quite as developedout.
You know, you, you, you can comehere and just, just spend a day
in al, spend a day in Ahi, spenda day in Hoku, and you'll kind
of see the difference.
(14:51):
Uh, you definitely wanna havesome Spanish, I mean, I'm sure
you can get by with English andGoogle Translate.
Yeah.
You'll definitely need moreSpanish and Hoko Yeah.
Than you would, or nah.
That, that's probably one of thedownsides is if you don't speak
Spanish, I mean, you'll learnjust being here eventually.
Right.
Uh, but you want to, uh, youwant to definitely speak Spanish
if you want to make friendslocally and things like that,
(15:13):
because there are not as manyexpats.
We met a few, we actually had,um, people recognize us on the
street just from the YouTubechannel, which was kind of cool.
In HoCo.
Um, but yeah, it's cool andthere's, there's a lot of land,
uh, available here in, in andaround HoCo.
Uh, so I, I like it.
It's, it's a vibe.
Downsides are downsides that itis, uh, very geologically active
(15:35):
in the sense that there's,there's like faults and things,
so we haven't really heard oftoo many earthquakes, but
sometimes buildings and thingsdo shift.
It's happened a lot in the cityand definitely something to be
aware of, uh, that there's,there's some like, you know.
Plate activity here that causesbuildings to, to shift and
whatnot.
So what you wanna, yeah, likeChip Paul is actually like a
giant volcanic crater, which,uh, we'll talk more about when
(15:57):
we get to the next town'causeit's actually kind of cool.
But, you know, if you're near,like, we literally see a dormant
volcano out our window right nowif you're near a volcano crater,
than obviously there's going tobe more of that kind of
activity.
So that's just something to, tokeep in mind as well.
Um, I'd say the only real ddownsides of HoCo is maybe it's
not as active as Ahah.
(16:18):
Maybe for those of you whoreally want to be active and
have a lot of stuff to do andall that stuff, HoCo is a little
bit more of a sleepy townmm-hmm.
In comparison, uh, to Ahah.
And then of course if you don'tknow Spanish, you'll have a
little bit more of a difficulttime in Hoko.
But I think Hoko has a prettypromising future because as AHI
gets more saturated, and this iswhat we were talking about with
some of our real estate expertsthat we work with for our
(16:39):
relocation clients, it'sstarting to expand.
Outward.
So there's a lot of potential inHoku for those of you who are
investors.
And I would also say Hoku hasthe best views of the lake of
any of these towns mm-hmm.
That we're talking to becauseit's all the way at the west
end.
So when you're on an, um, itjust looks like a ocean, it
looks like a bay and an oceanthat just goes out.
(17:01):
Yeah.
And I'll also also that anotherthing that I really love about
Hoko is, is the male.
Uh, it's a very wide boardwalk,like the area there, so it's,
it's really wide.
There's like parks andeverything there, which you
don't really see in Chapala orAhi too much.
It's in Ahi, like it's just avery small boardwalk.
But here it's massive.
It's like an entire area, like agreen area with parks, and
(17:23):
there's little, it's not asdeveloped.
Like there's only sort of smallrestaurants and for the most
part, they're only open, uh,like on the weekends other than
maybe ice cream or simple thingslike that.
But in terms of like getting,uh.
Seafood, you know, mariscos orshrimp or whatever.
There, there are a couple smallspots like that, but they're,
they're not quite as developed,but it's, in terms of the
spaciousness though, there'sjust a lot of room.
(17:44):
You can kind of take your dogand play ball and run around.
We met a baby goat the otherday.
We met a baby goat and Daisy wasmaking friends with a baby goat.
You attempted to name.
Said baby goat.
I did, we were giving the ownerfeedback on baby goat names,
which was adorable.
Yeah.
Um, and yeah, we, we personally,we really like Coco.
Um, and then the next town isactually probably one of our
(18:07):
favorites.
We, we've, which we've mentionedseveral times on this channel.
It's actually one of the reasonswhy we moved out here when the
opportunity showed up, which isSan Juan.
Uh, now San Juan is quite wellknown for, its.
Thermal spas, it's full of spaswhere you can go into its hotels
and spas and, uh, boutique areaswhere you can actually go enjoy
(18:30):
natural thermal waters.
'cause remember how I said that,you know, this is basically a
volcanic crater.
Well, for some reason, and maybesomebody can explain them the
comments.
Um, San Juan Sala, all the waterthat goes through there is
thermal.
A lot of the houses in San JuanSala actually need cooling
systems because the water comesout so hot rather than mm-hmm.
(18:51):
Heaters, but it's full of littleboutique.
Spas and hotels where you can goenjoy the thermal waters In
jacuzzis, they're said to havehealing properties.
We go at least like once ortwice a month.
We were just there last weekendwith another real estate
partner.
Yeah.
Uh, that we work with in Mexico.
She covers more like the LANarea.
There's some interesting stuffgoing on.
Is there, there as well?
(19:11):
We did an interesting videoabout that last year, but she
came over, uh, to hang out withus here on the lake and we took
her to the thermal spots andshe's like, this is so cool.
So they have, um.
You know, there's differentboutique spas, right?
There's some that are morefamily friendly, where people
like, um, Rio, where like peopletake the ADA and the six pack of
(19:32):
beers and they take the wholefamily and it's full of pools.
And then they have a separatesection, uh, that's more like
the, uh, the, which is, how doyou say ri in English?
Now I'm forgetting Englishwords.
Like a tour.
Tour maybe?
Yeah.
Like, um.
Yeah, like a tour, like a sprintor something.
Um, and then in those jacuzzis,in the spa, then they have like,
(19:53):
oh, this jacuzzi has apple cidervinegar.
This jacuzzi has hibiscus, thisjacuzzi.
Uh, and in the, in Rio, it'slike an actual like process that
they take you to.
There's other ones, like the onethat we like to go to instead of
sala.
Um, and they just have like thepermanent installments,
lavender, rosemary, hibiscus,uh, red wine, um, uh, Veena,
(20:16):
which is a oatmeal.
Oatmeal.
Oatmeal.
Yeah.
Uh, and they just opened a nutmascal in that one because, um,
Rio had like a much bigger temascal.
And then now in Tam mescal is atraditional sweat lodge.
Mm-hmm.
Uh, for those of you who do notknow, um, yeah, it's like a
steam room, but very hot.
Very hot steam room.
Very good.
I really, I really like it.
It helps with the sinuses andeverything.
(20:38):
So in, they had a tinier onethat looked like a little cave,
and now, uh, they just opened amassive one that we got to
enjoy, uh, over the weekend.
And it's heated up by thosethermal waters.
Like that's how freaking.
The water is, it's like sweatlodge, like it's the water
heating up the sweat lodge.
(20:58):
And the other hotel too, theyhad like trickles of water.
Mm-hmm.
Uh, heating up the sweat lodges.
There's also like a hotel up onthe mountain that I always
forget how to pronounce it, butit basically, it looks like a
big.
Statue, like I think EasterIsland head and there's a, um,
thermal waters in there.
There's other little boutiquehotels around as well.
So San Juan, we really enjoy it.
(21:21):
We're there once or twice amonth, literally.
That might be a place where,where we'll buy some land and
build because.
Uh, I would love to be able tojust fill up our jacuzzi right
there with fresh thermal waterand you, you know, I'm big on
the systems and yeah, solar andwater pumps and I'll build us a
whole, like, we'll have to,we'll have to build our own spa
there where people can, can comeand visit us.
(21:44):
Um, yeah, it's also more laidback than Ahah, right?
So it's not far.
Literally all these towns areright next to each other.
So we might be like, we're likein between HoCo and San Juan
Sala in a town called el, whichis like 3000 inhabitants, but
they're all literally like this.
So we're like 10 minutes fromthe thermal waters or 10 minutes
from HoCo, or we're mm-hmm.
(22:04):
20 to 30 minutes to Ahi.
That's a good deal.
It's a good deal.
Yeah.
Now you're probably wondering,Hey, what is the best town for
me?
Obviously, we can't tell youwithout knowing you and one of
the first places to go.
If you're like, Hey, I'm reallythinking about moving there.
Tell me about the best place togo and how to get the visa
paperwork situated and all that.
(22:25):
Uh, if you want personalizedinformation and consultation to
actually help you make thatdecision, definitely apply for a
call with ourteam@entrepreneurexpat.com slash
consult.
But in a nutshell, we can kindof tell you that.
The best place for retirees mostlikely is gonna be AHI or San
Antonio Digital Nomads Ahi, orpossibly San Juan Sala.
(22:50):
Uh, because you still have likethat XVA community, if you're
budget conscious.
Poco HoCo is a really good placeto to live.
Now.
Where we are up on the mountain,we're paying a lot more than
actually being in town justbecause we like the view.
Let's be honest.
It makes some really goodcontent.
Um, but we're still saving moneyeven over what we were paying in
Guadalajara.
We're paying half and we've gotlike a two bedroom, uh, house
(23:12):
here.
That's a condo, gatedcommunities 24 7 security.
We've got fiber optic internet.
We've got a view of the lake youcan run up and down the
mountain.
We can get anything we needdelivered.
So like, it's not that Iwouldn't, I wouldn't say that
just because HoCo overall is alittle bit cheaper that it's,
that it's necessarily bad,although most.
Expats tend to prefer the expatcommunities, you know, of Ahhee.
(23:35):
Um, but yeah, family friendlySan Antonio or Al for sure, but
both are definitely good places.
I mean, if, if your, if, if yourfamily speaks Spanish though, I
would still encourage you tocheck out Hoku and check out
some of the surrounding areashere.
And Hoko, Debe definitely betterfor people who really like being
off the beaten path.
Maybe real estate investors thatare looking at taking advantage
(23:57):
of the opportunity.
Uh, that's here as well becauseprices definitely are gonna go
up.
So if you're thinking aboutmaybe buying a house, or even
buying some land and building,obviously book a call with our
team because sometimes peoplewill try to sell you land that's
not really theirs.
That's a very common thing inMexico.
So we can help you navigate thatentire process of real estate
investing and purchasing andthings like that.
(24:18):
Um, but yeah, tons of greatopportunity to invest here in in
HoCo.
Well, that's what we have foryou guys today.
There are also, there's alsolittle areas like or.
You know, there's like a wholestretch of restaurants between
like San Juan that are reallycool.
So we couldn't cover everythingin this video because honestly,
(24:39):
we're kind of shocked at howmuch there is to do around the
lake.
One of the things that you wereconcerned about when we moved
out, here's who thought you weregonna be bored.
There was gonna be nothing todo.
It's like, what am I gonna doall day?
And you're like, honey, we don'tdo anything.
We work from home, we hang outby the pool.
You know, we go to the thermalspas, we, we get our massages,
we record videos.
So I'm pretty happy.
(25:00):
Yeah, and I was saying we'veactually been more out here than
we were in Guadalajara, becausein Guadalajara we were having
this conversation with ourfriends over the weekend.
It's like in Guadalajara youhave to like.
Psych yourself up to go.
Like drive.
Yeah.
To get on Lopez Mateo and bemerging in and out of traffic
and doing all the crazy Ifyou're trying to get like from
one side of the city to theother.
Yeah.
But here it's just way morechill.
(25:22):
Um, and you know, Martha wastelling us like, wow, it's so
peaceful out here.
Like we were out at the spas andshe goes, it's such a peaceful,
chill vibe.
And this is coming from a womanwho lives in an even smaller
town out in tequila country,which is very peaceful in and of
itself.
And she was like, this isamazing.
This was like a great move, uh,for you guys.
And yeah, overall, like we'vebeen actually very impressed
(25:45):
with everything that there is todo out here.
Obviously, we already knew thatthere was stuff out here.
We'd come out here on weekends,uh, when we needed a break from
the city, but living here is atotally different.
Situation a totally differentvibe and we freaking love it.
And for those of you who've beenasking, like, isn't it just like
(26:05):
retired people out there?
Yes, for the most part.
Especially in however, uh, inHoku you'll find a lot more
younger people and.
They're Mexicans, right?
So a lot more younger people.
Same in San Juan Sala.
Um, and we're starting to seemore younger people move out
here.
And I think another importantnote, and we'll end it here, the
infrastructure out here for likeinternet and stuff like that is
(26:27):
actually quite good.
So if you're, I was verysurprised.
I mean, so if you're a digitalnomad, this area could, it
really depends.
But, but for the most part, likeyou'll, you'll actually have
multiple internet providers tochoose from depending on where
you are.
Like you can get, at least intown, you can get total play,
you can get mega cab play, bothof which.
I think Mega Coley does havefiber here as well, but total
play is all fiber.
We have fiber optic internet.
(26:48):
Uh, we can get up to, I think agig or maybe even faster here,
like a gigabit up and down,which is very fast.
Uh, it's, you know, just likethe, the Google fiber in Austin.
Yeah.
And when you else, when you runbusinesses online and you need
access to the internet or youwork remotely.
That's kind of a reallyimportant thing to consider.
Yeah.
And I'm a stickler for, for goodinternet, and the Internet's
(27:10):
solid that's her breakdown ofthe Lake Chipotle area and the
multiple towns.
Like I said, there's a lot to dohere, and each town has its own
thing.
Each town even has its own food.
That it's known for.
We didn't even get into that.
Mm-hmm.
So if you want us to do anothervideo on that, leave a comment
below and do like a Lakesidefood tour.
Yes.
Yeah.
Let us know in the comments.
If you wanna see a Lakeside foodtour, we will absolutely do
(27:32):
that.
If there's enough people in thecomments, uh, who would be
interested in that, becauseeach, each town kind of has its
own.
Food that you can go find.
Um, so we'll definitely do avideo on that.
Thank you so much for giving usyour time today.
Uh, don't forget to download ourMoving to Mexico Guide.
For those of you who arethinking about it and kind of
need the first steps in order toget started.
It will also add you to ouremail list.
(27:53):
We've got some really cool stuffthat we're working on behind the
scenes that's gonna be madeavailable to help you move.
Abroad more easily.
And for those of you who arelike, I'm a high net worth
individual, uh, like one of ourclients told us last week, I'm
at the stage in my life where Ijust pay people to do this stuff
for me, then go to entrepreneurexpat.com/consult and we'll take
care of all the details.
(28:13):
So all you have to do is show upwhere you have to show up on the
rest of the time.
You're having a very good time,and we will make sure of that.
So entrepreneurexpat.com/consult and we'll see
you again on the next one.
Bye for now.
Popular Podcasts
On Purpose with Jay Shetty
I’m Jay Shetty host of On Purpose the worlds #1 Mental Health podcast and I’m so grateful you found us. I started this podcast 5 years ago to invite you into conversations and workshops that are designed to help make you happier, healthier and more healed. I believe that when you (yes you) feel seen, heard and understood you’re able to deal with relationship struggles, work challenges and life’s ups and downs with more ease and grace. I interview experts, celebrities, thought leaders and athletes so that we can grow our mindset, build better habits and uncover a side of them we’ve never seen before. New episodes every Monday and Friday. Your support means the world to me and I don’t take it for granted — click the follow button and leave a review to help us spread the love with On Purpose. I can’t wait for you to listen to your first or 500th episode!
Crime Junkie
Does hearing about a true crime case always leave you scouring the internet for the truth behind the story? Dive into your next mystery with Crime Junkie. Every Monday, join your host Ashley Flowers as she unravels all the details of infamous and underreported true crime cases with her best friend Brit Prawat. From cold cases to missing persons and heroes in our community who seek justice, Crime Junkie is your destination for theories and stories you won’t hear anywhere else. Whether you're a seasoned true crime enthusiast or new to the genre, you'll find yourself on the edge of your seat awaiting a new episode every Monday. If you can never get enough true crime... Congratulations, you’ve found your people. Follow to join a community of Crime Junkies! Crime Junkie is presented by audiochuck Media Company.
Cardiac Cowboys
The heart was always off-limits to surgeons. Cutting into it spelled instant death for the patient. That is, until a ragtag group of doctors scattered across the Midwest and Texas decided to throw out the rule book. Working in makeshift laboratories and home garages, using medical devices made from scavenged machine parts and beer tubes, these men and women invented the field of open heart surgery. Odds are, someone you know is alive because of them. So why has history left them behind? Presented by Chris Pine, CARDIAC COWBOYS tells the gripping true story behind the birth of heart surgery, and the young, Greatest Generation doctors who made it happen. For years, they competed and feuded, racing to be the first, the best, and the most prolific. Some appeared on the cover of Time Magazine, operated on kings and advised presidents. Others ended up disgraced, penniless, and convicted of felonies. Together, they ignited a revolution in medicine, and changed the world.