# Living Without a Car



## ElPaso2012 (Dec 16, 2012)

There are all kinds of good information about importing cars, getting a license, and driving in Mexico here. 

But how many of you actually live without a car? 

For three years I had an apartment on Ave. Vicente Guerrero in Juarez, and I know I could have lived there without a car and many weekends came and went without me even getting mine out of the garage. There were little stores for fresh produce and meat within a couple of blocks, and getting to S-Mart was a breeze. Just hop on the next bus and get off five minutes later. The buses, in fact, were a great, cheap way to get to know the city. 

I'm thinking right now that it would be nice to start without a car at all, and go from there. 

Is this actually a practical idea in your opinion? I realize the answer will vary depending upon location. So I'll narrow it down to people who live in cities of over 500,000. In a small town, obviously, you would need one.


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## Hound Dog (Jan 18, 2009)

Well, ElPaso, you threw me off with that last rule about limiting your inquiry to people who live in towns of 500,000 souls. The question of whether or not one needs a car revolves around community layout, walkability and availability of inexpensive and convenient public transportation more than population in my judgment. We live in two smaller cities. Chapala (in the delegacion of Ajijic), Jalisco, population of the municipality of Chapala probably around 60,000 and San Cristóbal de Las Casas, Chiapas, population probably around 130,000. While quite a few people live without cars in Ajijic, we would find that uncomfortable but, nevertheless possible if inconvenient. On the other hand, in San Cristóbal, where we live adjacent to many small grocers and the enormous indigenous market as well as within a short walk to the city´s historic center, we never even use our car except when we go on extended road trips. Because taxis in San Cristóbal are inexpensive with no meters and fares limited by local regulation anywhere in the city, we don´t even drive to the fairly distant supermarkets but take taxis even for shopping there. 

Readers contemplating where to move in Mexico without a car, need to think about the above issues rather than the size of the city. One of the nice things about both Chapala and especially San Cristóbal is that all of the services one may need are located within reasonable reach by walking over relatively flat terrain or by inespensive public transportation. As one ages living on a pension, that factor becomes more and more important.

If I had to continue without a car, I would pick San Cristóbal over Ajijic anyday. Think these matters over when choosing a place down here to live since we all age and all risk physical debilitation in future conditions so there might come that day when we really need a cold beer and can´t get one without begging nurse Cratchette so check out the neighborhood before buying or renting.


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## ElPaso2012 (Dec 16, 2012)

Hound Dog said:


> Well, ElPaso, you threw me off with that last rule about limiting your inquiry to people who live in towns of 500,000 souls. The question of whether or not one needs a car revolves around community layout, walkability and availability of inexpensive and convenient public transportation more than population in my judgment. We live in two smaller cities. Chapala (in the delegacion of Ajijic), Jalisco, population of the municipality of Chapala probably around 60,000 and San Cristóbal de Las Casas, Chiapas, population probably around 130,000. While quite a few people live without cars in Ajijic, we would find that uncomfortable but, nevertheless possible if inconvenient. On the other hand, in San Cristóbal, where we live adjacent to many small grocers and the enormous indigenous market as well as within a short walk to the city´s historic center, we never even use our car except when we go on extended road trips. Because taxis in San Cristóbal are inexpensive with no meters and fares limited by local regulation anywhere in the city, we don´t even drive to the fairly distant supermarkets but take taxis even for shopping there.
> 
> Readers contemplating where to move in Mexico without a car, need to think about the above issues rather than the size of the city. One of the nice things about both Chapala and especially San Cristóbal is that all of the services one may need are located within reasonable reach by walking over relatively flat terrain or by inespensive public transportation. As one ages living on a pension, that factor becomes more and more important.


You're right about the 500,000 thing. Smaller cities have buses and local stores, too. That was a mistake on my part. Comments from anyone are welcome. 

Sounds like San Cristobal is a good place for carless living. Regarding living on a pension, it's only been 10 months for me, and I'm amazed at how difficult it is. I need to get to Mexico soon but finding a buyer for my property is going to be problematic. But it will get done...


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## diablita (May 7, 2010)

I've lived here for more than 15 years and have never had a car.


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## Isla Verde (Oct 19, 2011)

I've lived in Mexico City for over 6 years without a car. Public transportation, at least in the center of the city where I live, in plentiful and cheap, and the occasional taxi I take is also inexpensive. Most days I get everywhere I need to go on foot because my neighborhood has most of the stores and restaurants I patronize just around the corner or a few-minutes walk away. Of course, I should confess that I haven't owned a car (or even had a driver's license) since 1970 and have always sought out places to live where a car wasn't needed, both in the US and abroad.


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## Hound Dog (Jan 18, 2009)

[_QUOTE=ElPaso2012;2050745]You're right about the 500,000 thing. Smaller cities have buses and local stores, too. That was a mistake on my part. Comments from anyone are welcome. 

Sounds like San Cristobal is a good place for carless living. Regarding living on a pension, it's only been 10 months for me, and I'm amazed at how difficult it is. I need to get to Mexico soon but finding a buyer for my property is going to be problematic. But it will get done...[/QUOTE]_

Since, hopefully, many readers of this form are still in the stage of choosing factors that would make any community desirable or undesirable as a place to retire, it is only fair that I point out that, despite the positives I cited about San Cristóbal in terms of living without a car, the city sits at 7,000 feet in the Chiapas Highlands with a highly variable climate subject to constant change. It can be quite chilly down there at any time of the year with sometimes incessant overcast often accompanied by copious intermittent rainfall often becoming inundations which can turn streets into dangerous torrents which is why it´s so green. Also, many sidewalks are very old and narrow and sloping, slippery and hazardous and if you slip on the wet and difficult sidewalks and really hurt yourself; remember that, in Southern Mexico, you are on your own and you have no regress to the city because the sidewalk is 300 years old and not properly maintained. 

As my very reputable health insurance company agent said to me; if you reside on Lake Chapala near Guadalajara with its great medical care facilities that´s great. On the other hand, if you really want to live in the boonies in the middle of nowhere in Chiapas with their lousy and primitive medical care. we´ll still cover you if you collect those facturas but only if you live long enough to submit a claim.


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## joaquinx (Jul 3, 2010)

You don't need a car in most Mexican cities. Here in Xalapa, I have a small store a half a block away, a shopping center two blocks away. A bus stop one block away and it's near my doctor's office. Driving to el centro is insane. Parking will cost me 30 pesos for two hours while the bus is 8 pesos each way. However, if I want to go to a near pueblo, it will take the better part of an hour while I can drive there in 15 minutes. Going anywhere on the highway within a 15 to 30 km distance is a chore without a car. Five years ago I bought a car here and today the odometer reads 16,400 kms. I don't use it much but it has made many trips to the port of Veracruz, visits to friends in Minatitlán, and four trips to Oaxaca.


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## ElPaso2012 (Dec 16, 2012)

diablita said:


> I've lived here for more than 15 years and have never had a car.


Where is that?


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## ElPaso2012 (Dec 16, 2012)

joaquinx said:


> You don't need a car in most Mexican cities. Here in Xalapa, I have a small store a half a block away, a shopping center two blocks away. A bus stop one block away and it's near my doctor's office. Driving to el centro is insane. Parking will cost me 30 pesos for two hours while the bus is 8 pesos each way. However, if I want to go to a near pueblo, it will take the better part of an hour while I can drive there in 15 minutes. Going anywhere on the highway within a 15 to 30 km distance is a chore without a car. Five years ago I bought a car here and today the odometer reads 16,400 kms. I don't use it much but it has made many trips to the port of Veracruz, visits to friends in Minatitlán, and four trips to Oaxaca.


That's all good news for someone with Xalapa on his list of candidate cities...


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## diablita (May 7, 2010)

ElPaso2012 said:


> Where is that?


Suburban Acapulco. It is an Infonavit community called El Coloso and I have never encountered another ****** here.


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## Isla Verde (Oct 19, 2011)

diablita said:


> Suburban Acapulco. It is an Infonavit community called El Coloso and I have never encountered another ****** here.


That could be because Infonavit communities are supposed to be for Mexicans only. How did you manage to find a place to live in one?


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## ElPaso2012 (Dec 16, 2012)

diablita said:


> Suburban Acapulco. It is an Infonavit community called El Coloso and I have never encountered another ****** here.


Hmm, that last part is especially appealing...


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## diablita (May 7, 2010)

Isla Verde said:


> That could be because Infonavit communities are supposed to be for Mexicans only. How did you manage to find a place to live in one?


My situation is rather unique but there are lots of departamentos for rent in the community. It's not, however, very scenic, the buildings are very close together and very old and the neighbors can be quite loud at times. I like to play loud music too so it doesn't bother me. Right now it is particularly unpleasant because since the 15th of Sept. we haven't had water from the tap due to the big storm Manuel that battered the area. But, as my grandfather used to say, "**** happens!".


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## Isla Verde (Oct 19, 2011)

diablita said:


> My situation is rather unique but there are lots of departamentos for rent in the community. It's not, however, very scenic, the buildings are very close together and very old and the neighbors can be quite loud at times. I like to play loud music too so it doesn't bother me. Right now it is particularly unpleasant because since the 15th of Sept. we haven't had water from the tap due to the big storm Manuel that battered the area. But, as my grandfather used to say, "**** happens!".


I see, you're renting. The INFONAVIT communities are similar to public housing in the US, so it's no wonder that it's not such an idyllic place to live. But if you feel at home there, that's all that matters.


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## buzzbar (Feb 9, 2013)

Getting back to the original question, I think climate is a major factor in determining the comfort and practicality of a carless existence. I’m sure I’d have no problem spending a day going about my business on foot in the cooler locales, but walking the short five blocks to San Jose Del Cabo Soriana, and returning with just a small bag of groceries, is enough to make a second outing the same day very unappealing, even if it’s just a walk to the bus stop.


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## Isla Verde (Oct 19, 2011)

buzzbar said:


> Getting back to the original question, I think climate is a major factor in determining the comfort and practicality of a carless existence. I’m sure I’d have no problem spending a day going about my business on foot in the cooler locales, but walking the short five blocks to San Jose Del Cabo Soriana, and returning with just a small bag of groceries, is enough to make a second outing the same day very unappealing, even if it’s just a walk to the bus stop.


Good point. The generally perfect weather in Mexico City (not too hot, not too cold, usually dry with lots of sunshine) is yet another good reason for living here.


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## Hound Dog (Jan 18, 2009)

_


buzzbar said:



Getting back to the original question, I think climate is a major factor in determining the comfort and practicality of a carless existence. *I’m sure I’d have no problem spending a day going about my business on foot in the cooler locales, but walking the short five blocks to San Jose Del Cabo Soriana, and returning with just a small bag of groceries, is enough to make a second outing the same day very unappealing, even if it’s just a walk to the bus stop*.

Click to expand...

_ Boy, do I understand that buzzbar. Many years ago when we lived in Mobile which has a nice climate in the fall (which begins in late October) and the spring (which ends in late April welcoming in the ferocious summers), we used to leave our air conditioned homes in the summer, entering our air conditioned cars and driving to the air conditioned Piggly Wiggly to grocery shop nearly fainting from heat exhaustion just crossing the supermarket parking lot from the car to the store. 

A few years before we moved from Northern California to Highland Mexico I was chatting to my sister who lives in exurban Mobile on the east shore of the bay in a town named Montrose. We were living in the Mayacamas Mountains between Sonoma and Napa Counties in those days and we had had a particularly hot August there and I, in passing, complained that it had been so hot there in Sonoma County that August that we had had to have turned on the air conditiioning for an entire week. Her response was, "Bob, we turn on the central air conditioning here on Mobile Bay in early April and turn it off in mid-October. Those are the only times we use the switch" I got the message. 

Happiness is the Mexican Highlands at at least 5,000 feet as a goal and the U.S. in the rear view mirror.


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## ElPaso2012 (Dec 16, 2012)

buzzbar said:


> Getting back to the original question, I think climate is a major factor in determining the comfort and practicality of a carless existence. I’m sure I’d have no problem spending a day going about my business on foot in the cooler locales, but walking the short five blocks to San Jose Del Cabo Soriana, and returning with just a small bag of groceries, is enough to make a second outing the same day very unappealing, even if it’s just a walk to the bus stop.


My own search for a destination is mainly climate driven. My first stop when I hear people on the forum talking about a place is to check out the climate chart on Wikipedia. Anything with an average high much over 90 in any month of the year is pretty much out, with a couple of exceptions on the coast purely because the availability of fresh seafood in the markets would outweigh a few weeks of warmer than usual weather.


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## buzzbar (Feb 9, 2013)

Hound dog, I swear one day I'm going to visit Mobile, Alabama.... My only hesitation is that the word pictures you paint of it in your various posts here have given me a such a vivid and intense perception of the city that I'm worried the reality won't match it......


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## Monty Floyd (Aug 31, 2010)

16 mos. in Rioverde, SLP and 2 yrs in Rosarito, BC without wheels... weather wise, western Baja is much like San Diego.


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## Hound Dog (Jan 18, 2009)

[_QUOTE=ElPaso2012;2053897]My own search for a destination is mainly climate driven. My first stop when I hear people on the forum talking about a place is to check out the climate chart on Wikipedia. *Anything with an average high much over 90 in any month of the year is pretty much out, with a couple of exceptions on the coast purely because the availability of fresh seafood in the markets would outweigh a few weeks of warmer than usual weather.[/*QUOTE]_

Well, now, ElPaso, allow me to help you over that "fresh seafood" hump. As an Alabama Gulf Coast /San Francisco boy used to wonderful seafood from the Gulf and Pacific respectively plus, what I really consider the best seafood I have ever tasted from France both from the Atlantic and Mediterranean, I have no bone to pick with anyone about Lake Chapala but, I must say, here we are in Ajijic, Jalisco, about at least three hours from any Pacific Coast and the seafoood in Guadalajara and environs is trucked in daily from the Pacific to the metro area from the Pacific to a place known as the Mercado Del Mar in Zapopan and that place has many storefronts selling the fish wholesale and retail to anyone passing by. A great and fun place for anyone who loves seafood. One of the big retail outlets in the Zapopan Mercado Del Mar has a branch just one block from my house on Lake Chapala so we buy the freshest seafood imaginable in great variety within a two minute drive with the exceptions that they do not have the fresh and sweet , never frozen-shrimp and crab meat one would demand on the Alabama Coast or anything like the shellfish one would find in France. But, my point is, for the most part, in Mexico you can live in the cool highlands and enjoy fresh seafood and, although you are used to hot and dry El Paso, you may find beach living in Mexico anywhere south of Ensenada a bit trying in the summertime with exceptional heat and humidity. Choose carefully if you move to the beach down here.


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## ElPaso2012 (Dec 16, 2012)

Hound Dog said:


> [_QUOTE=ElPaso2012;2053897]My own search for a destination is mainly climate driven. My first stop when I hear people on the forum talking about a place is to check out the climate chart on Wikipedia. *Anything with an average high much over 90 in any month of the year is pretty much out, with a couple of exceptions on the coast purely because the availability of fresh seafood in the markets would outweigh a few weeks of warmer than usual weather.[/*QUOTE]_
> 
> Well, now, ElPaso, allow me to help you over that "fresh seafood" hump. As an Alabama Gulf Coast /San Francisco boy used to wonderful seafood from the Gulf and Pacific respectively plus, what I really consider the best seafood I have ever tasted from France both from the Atlantic and Mediterranean, I have no bone to pick with anyone about Lake Chapala but, I must say, here we are in Ajijic, Jalisco, about at least three hours from any Pacific Coast and the seafoood in Guadalajara and environs is trucked in daily from the Pacific to the metro area from the Pacific to a place known as the Mercado Del Mar in Zapopan and that place has many storefronts selling the fish wholesale and retail to anyone passing by. A great and fun place for anyone who loves seafood. One of the big retail outlets in the Zapopan Mercado Del Mar has a branch just one block from my house on Lake Chapala so we buy the freshest seafood imaginable in great variety within a two minute drive with the exceptions that they do not have the fresh and sweet , never frozen-shrimp and crab meat one would demand on the Alabama Coast or anything like the shellfish one would find in France. But, my point is, for the most part, in Mexico you can live in the cool highlands and enjoy fresh seafood and, although you are used to hot and dry El Paso, you may find beach living in Mexico anywhere south of Ensenada a bit trying in the summertime with exceptional heat and humidity. Choose carefully if you move to the beach down here.


Yes, I am thinking the same regarding the highlands. I made the mistake of assuming that since Durango is only 100+ miles from Mazatlan that there would be regular daily commerce between the cities, thus fresh seafood --- a question no doubt I could have easily resolved here on the forum versus taking several days out of my life to actually travel there on Omnibus only to find out it's not true. Getting to Mazatlan is a 3.5 hour drive due to the winding two lane roads leading to it. So, no fresh seafood. I thought about going on to Mazatlan but didn't because I really don't want to live right on the coast. Now I am planning a trip to Xalapa, but I think I will make sure they have an arrangement similar to the one you enjoy in your location first. Got any other highland cities in mind that meet that requirement?


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## Anonimo (Apr 8, 2012)

Although we have combi van service in our rural community, its irregular and infrequent, so we rely on our WindStar van to take us to Pátzcuaro and to Morelia.

When we see our neighbors waiting for the combi, we usually offer them a ride.


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## Hound Dog (Jan 18, 2009)

[_QUOTE=ElPaso2012;2061129]Yes, I am thinking the same regarding the highlands. I made the mistake of assuming that since Durango is only 100+ miles from Mazatlan that there would be regular daily commerce between the cities, thus fresh seafood --- a question no doubt I could have easily resolved here on the forum versus taking several days out of my life to actually travel there on Omnibus only to find out it's not true. Getting to Mazatlan is a 3.5 hour drive due to the winding two lane roads leading to it. So, no fresh seafood. I thought about going on to Mazatlan but didn't because I really don't want to live right on the coast. Now I am planning a trip to Xalapa, but I think I will make sure they have an arrangement similar to the one you enjoy in your location first. Got any other highland cities in mind that meet that requirement?[/QUOTE]_

If I am not mistaken, they have just opened a new, modern autopista from Durango to Mazatlan to replace the old "Devil´s Spine" which I think is the road you just described and the new road has been praised for some spectacular engineering feats including a new bridge that has been described as an engineering marvel. The new time between Durango and Mazatlan is supposedly only two hours. However, the Mercado Del Mar in Zapopan, Jalisco is there because Guadalajara is a huge metropolitan area and fresh seafood is distributed throughout inland Jalisco from there whereas Durango is, comparatively, a smaller, isolated city so I would not expect any changes in the seafood market there for a while.

I don´t know about other highland areas with nice climates where one could get fresh seafood in abundance other than the Lake Chapala/Guadalajara area right off hand. I would think that would be possible in Veracruz State in places such as Xalapa and environs. Certainly Mexico City and perhaps Puebla City. Cuernavaca must have good, fresh seafood. I am not that familiar with Northern Mexico so won´t try to guess about that part of the country. We have found fabulous seafood on the Chiapas and Oaxaca coasts but whether or not that fresh seafood distribution chain extends inland to such places as Oaxaca City in the Oaxaca Highlands I can´t say. I wouldn´t go to where we live in the Chiapas Highlands for fresh seafood although you can find it there but of uncertain quality.

I say go to the Mexican Highlands and pig out on seafood and cerveza. Do your research and have fun at the same time.


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## ElPaso2012 (Dec 16, 2012)

Hound Dog said:


> I say go to the Mexican Highlands and pig out on seafood and cerveza. Do your research and have fun at the same time.


That's definitely the plan in the near future. Thanks for the info.


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## mes1952 (Dec 11, 2012)

There are many places you could survive without a car esp. if in a metropolitan area but I would NOT want to live anywhere in Baja Norte/Tijuana/Rosarito/etc. without wheels. I found people who don't have a vehicle here tend to live secluded lives therefore don't miss a car and know very little about the region as they don't venture out of their comfort zones. I've met people who have lived here in Baja Norte for years and know virtually nothing about the area due to this.


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## buzzbar (Feb 9, 2013)

mes1952, I'm surprised to read your thoughts. Although only an occasional visitor to Tijuana, and an even less occasional visitor to Rosarito, I've very much enjoyed the public transportation system there. I don't know how large your definition of 'region' is, but my thoughts are the opposite of yours. 

Many ex-pats I know of use their car almost solely for a weekly trip to Walmart, a trip that is insulating and entirely in their comfort zone. But those that venture out regularly on the buses share their journey with others and have a far greater up close and personal view of a region. 

Like all public transportation, you learn about your immediate area, then gradually widen your horizon until you’re travelling far and wide, all the while in the company of locals. I’ve known many car drivers, on the other hand, whose fear of being caught in a strange area with a flat tire or a break down prevents them from exploring anywhere outside their immediate, safe area.


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## spindoctor1954 (Oct 15, 2013)

I believe having a car is one of the necessity in the sense that if there is emergency situation that you need to buy some medicine in the chemist or even buy groceries so it is very convinient and accessible nowadays most especially if your leaving far from the city but if your house is near the public transportation well I think it can save you some petrol which is a good idea as well.


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## Hound Dog (Jan 18, 2009)

Ah, yes; I remember the pleasures of walking and taking public transport to and from work very well from the 1980s. I ordinarily walked from my home in San Francisco´s North Beach neighborhood through the back alleys of Chinatown to the BART (subway) station in San Francisco´s Financial District and then walked from the BART station at 13th Street in Downtown Oakland to my office there some six blocks distant and that is how I learned about the giant rats who were frightened out of their wits by cleaning crews scrubbing down the kitchens in San Francisco´s Chinatown restaurant back alleys that were largely not used by pedestrians but were on my ordinary walking route from my home to the nearest BART station and would scurry about those alleys even in daylight fearing for their lives after having engorged themselves in those Chinatown restaurants on leftover food the tourists had failed to consume in those utterly filthy Chinese restaurants and then there was the walk from the Oakland BART station to my Downtown Oakland bank office through unsettled, deserted and crime-ridden streets and I really liked that part of the journey because the administrators in the San Francisco Financial District headquarters of my bank were reluctant to come to Downtown Oakland which had, and I understand, has still today, a bad reputation for street crime so, when my boss from San Francisco would, because of periodic corporate responsibilities, schedule a trip to Oakland and call me to discuss it and inquire as to the safety of such a venture on the BART, I would tell him, "Don´t worry Tom, just keep a $20 Dollar bill in your back pocket with part of it, denomination showing, sticking out of the pocket top to be easily snatched, and they won´t hurt you because they really have no interest in you at all, simply your money so make it easy to acquire peacefully without confrontation." 

I had my little bailiwick over there in Oakland and rarely received visits from the home office 20 minutes across the bay.

Romantic public transportation sometimes leaves something to be desired but you all just keep building that dream. Been there done that every day for many years. By the way, Downtown Oakland was not really that dangerous normally but its reputation preceded itself and the place became my little feifdom without much interference from corporate headquarters. That´s what I like about earth. Everything is both good and bad.

By the way; public transportation sucks and is relatively expensive in Chapala and Ajijic if it is your sole mode of transportation but in poverty stricken San Cristóbal de Las casas, Chiapas, it is excellent and inexpensive. Choose wisely but with care.


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## JoanneR2 (Apr 18, 2012)

Hound Dog said:


> Ah, yes; I remember the pleasures of walking and taking public transport to and from work very well from the 1980s. I ordinarily walked from my home in San Francisco´s North Beach neighborhood through the back alleys of Chinatown to the BART (subway) station in San Francisco´s Financial District and then walked from the BART station at 13th Street in Downtown Oakland to my office there some six blocks distant and that is how I learned about the giant rats who were frightened out of their wits by cleaning crews scrubbing down the kitchens in San Francisco´s Chinatown restaurant back alleys that were largely not used by pedestrians but were on my ordinary walking route from my home to the nearest BART station and would scurry about those alleys even in daylight fearing for their lives after having engorged themselves in those Chinatown restaurants on leftover food the tourists had failed to consume in those utterly filthy Chinese restaurants and then there was the walk from the Oakland BART station to my Downtown Oakland bank office through unsettled, deserted and crime-ridden streets and I really liked that part of the journey because the administrators in the San Francisco Financial District headquarters of my bank were reluctant to come to Downtown Oakland which had, and I understand, has still today, a bad reputation for street crime so, when my boss from San Francisco would, because of periodic corporate responsibilities, schedule a trip to Oakland and call me to discuss it and inquire as to the safety of such a venture on the BART, I would tell him, "Don´t worry Tom, just keep a $20 Dollar bill in your back pocket with part of it, denomination showing, sticking out of the pocket top to be easily snatched, and they won´t hurt you because they really have no interest in you at all, simply your money so make it easy to acquire peacefully without confrontation." I had my little bailiwick over there in Oakland and rarely received visits from the home office 20 minutes across the bay. Romantic public transportation sometimes leaves something to be desired but you all just keep building that dream. Been there done that every day for many years. By the way, Downtown Oakland was not really that dangerous normally but its reputation preceded itself and the place became my little feifdom without much interference from corporate headquarters. That´s what I like about earth. Everything is both good and bad. By the way; public transportation sucks and is relatively expensive in Chapala and Ajijic if it is your sole mode of transportation but in poverty stricken San Cristóbal de Las casas, Chiapas, it is excellent and inexpensive. Choose wisely but with care.


I too spent many years walking to and from work. A more relaxed journey than yours by the sounds of it. More likely to encounter sheep than rats. My memories are more of being blocked by walls of snow, helpfully constructed by local teenagers across the exit to the park, and getting very wet during the notorious English summers. Here in DF I also walk or catch the metrobus for the journey to and from work and, of course, regularly get wet in summer. It beats fighting with the traffic and, at least on the way home, is faster than driving. We keep a car for my husband's journey to work and for shopping but don't really use it at the weekend. There are real benefits to be gained from walking here as opposed to my home town too. No hills for a start and the chance to get a freshly squeezed orange juice and my shoes cleaned on the way in... However, negotiating the pavements (sidewalks) here is always a challenge and I am constantly amazed by the way young women can teeter down the street in vertiginous heels without breaking their ankles. Mind you, since I arrived there have been 4 sprained ankles and a broken foot amongst my team so maybe they aren't as proficient as I think they are.


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## citlali (Mar 4, 2013)

I am in Chiapas and I can tell you that I could live without a car in San Cristobal although having one is a nice thing to have when you want to take excursions. 
Yesterday I had to meet people in Chiapa de Corzo and Tuxtla and I would never live there without a car, good transportation or not. The heat just kills me and the last thing I want to do is stand in the heat waiting for a bus or a combo and having someone taking my life in their hands as we are hurling through streets.. There is more than just public transportation, the weather for me has a lot to do with it as well. Public transportationis a pain when it is pouring and a really awful in the heat.


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## spindoctor1954 (Oct 15, 2013)

I totally agree with you if the heat is excruciating I would definitely prefer to have a car since the convenience, accessibility and comfort is very important. I also experience that waiting for the bus in the public transportation waiting shed and it is killing me. It would be fine if the weather is right but heat and humid can be very hard.


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## buzzbar (Feb 9, 2013)

Yes I agree that waiting for a bus in the heat or rain isn't fun. No-one wants to make things harder for themselves, but this is Mexico we’re talking about. I’m sure the board posters came to this country for a wide variety of reasons, but a desire to move to a golden land of convenience and comfort is probably not one of them.


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## Isla Verde (Oct 19, 2011)

buzzbar said:


> Yes I agree that waiting for a bus in the heat or rain isn't fun. No-one wants to make things harder for themselves, but this is Mexico we’re talking about. I’m sure the board posters came to this country for a wide variety of reasons, but a desire to move to a golden land of convenience and comfort is probably not one of them.


Al contrario, amigo! I find the almost-always pleasant weather in the capital of the country quite comfortable!


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## citlali (Mar 4, 2013)

I did not come here to live a life that would be worst than in the US. I do not have a need to slum it, live a simpler life is ok but I am not about to stay in the sun or pouring rain just to prove I can do it. Did that years ago, worked hard to better my life and I have no intention to go back if I can help it. 
In my retirement I help artisans to better their lifes and I have to travel to isolated places , walk long ways in the country to get to the people I need to see and frankly when the weather is fine I enjoy it but when the roads wash out or you end up on the side of the road in the sun in a hot area and the collectivo breaks down, I quickly revert to wanting a car. 
I also can cover a whole lot more people if I have a car so I feel no guilt living like a rich person and have a car to get to remote places.
If you have a little routine and can chose to go wherever when you want to collectivos are ok but when you have appointments and you have to go no matter what the weather is like you quicly revert to wanting a car.
This week I have been travelling non stop in the highlands and Tierra Caliente by collectivo and I saw a couple of young tourist and lots of poor people but no one in their right mind who have a car and chose to take the collectivo.
When I stay in town I take public transportation and it works fine as long as you do not have to carry anything big, when having to work and make appointment I take a car if I have one.
This last week and this week I am without a car and I suffered enough yesterday in the Tierrra caliente to last for a while...
Wether you need or want a car is all up to you and your lifestyle so it is hard for another person to answer that question.


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## buzzbar (Feb 9, 2013)

Thanks citlali...all sounds very logical and practical.


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## ElPaso2012 (Dec 16, 2012)

A lot of good thoughts here. Thanks to all of you.


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## spindoctor1954 (Oct 15, 2013)

You're most welcome. I believe Mexico is a great place to lived in.


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