# 90 days in Mexico: lessons learned living in a small town



## derek.larson (Jul 6, 2015)

All is well in my new hometown in Jalpan de Serra. I wouldn't mind cooler weather, but am overall pleased with the decision to live in this part of Mexico. Here are few lessons learned I would like to share with the forum:

*Car permit.* Pre-move, I thought I would be required to drive to the US border every 180 days to renew the permit. I discovered, as a temporary resident, I can do so at the regional Aduana in Queretaro. 

*Telmex.* Dial-up internet is the name of the game in Jalpan. There is no local Telmex office, but two technicians who work in the region. We were put on a "wait list" since the internet is oversaturated in the area, or so they say. We still have no internet at home, although our neighbor allows us to use their connection for the time-being.

*Furniture.* For several weeks we lived on plastic lawn chairs, until we found a great carpenter in Rioverde, SLP, about an hour and a half to the north. For those of you in the SLP area, here's a link. We should have most of our furniture within the next two weeks.

*Schools and other educational opportunities.* Prior to moving here, my wife insisted that the girls attend private schools. We are pleased that the public schools here are up to par. Every three weeks, or so, we assist making lunch for the class with 2-3 other parents. Our 3 year old will start the first grade of "kinder" in August, while the 5 year old, who was in pre-K before the move, is currently in the third grade of "kinder" and will attend "primaria" in the fall. Additionally, there are several free programs in town for children. The 5 year old takes an hour long dance class Monday-Friday, and an art class on Wednesday & Thursday. The younger child will follow suit when she turns 4.

*Cellular provider.* I decided to go with Movistar, since there's a 50 peso per month promotion with unlimited calling/texting to the US/Canada. I don't use data, nor do I want to have internet everywhere I go, so this works out. Outside of towns, I rarely have service. 

*Utilities.* We paid 500 pesos, for a years worth of water, which was cheaper than paying for it monthly. The electric bill, on the other hand, is quite a bit higher than our neighbors and others seem to have (about 800 pesos every two months for us; most pay 200-300 pesos). After turning on/off all the switches in the fuse box, and checking the reaction of the meter outside, there's obviously a problem with the lighting. Our landlord is going to send an electrician to our home to investigate what's wrong (we use energy efficient light bulbs).

*Safety.* I haven't witnessed any crime in the area, and keep tabs on all of the news media in the region. I read articles about someone getting shot every now and then, but usually in one of the surrounding communities. I hike and run in the mountains on a daily basis, so I like to have good situational awareness. We traveled to Torreon for a week during the Semana Santa, and was awoken by quite a few rounds of automatic gunfire on one occasion.

The question: Can someone provide me with a Mexican auto insurance company that has a policy that can be used in the US (for a few days)?


----------



## chuck846 (Jan 15, 2016)

We have AXA auto insurance - which we purchased via our HSBC Premier account (Mexico) which gives us a 10% discount (I believe). AXA had a rider for US Travel included in the policy - without our asking. AXA is now our third auto ins. company in Mexico. We have gone from ANA to GNP to AXA. Every change (with similar or better coverage) - the policy costs less.


----------



## chuck846 (Jan 15, 2016)

And regarding your electric - CFE will come to you house and give you a free energy assessment. We had them come out when we were about to go into DAC. We ended up putting in PV panels - but they also pointed out that our 'old' meters (with the dials) were under-reporting our usage by 15-20%. Is your meter analog or digital ? Shortly after we installed our panels - along with the bidirectional meter - CFE swept through the neighborhood and replaced those old meters. That was an immediate 15-20% increase in the electric bill for our neighbors.


----------



## derek.larson (Jul 6, 2015)

Chuck, thanks for the useful information. I think my neighbor has AXA auto insurance, and will see who is point of contact is, if there's such a thing locally. The meter is not digital, and I'll seek an assessment if the electrician finds no fault and/or our landlord is slow to fix the problem.


----------



## maesonna (Jun 10, 2008)

That sounds fantastic about your participation in the school lunch program. Doing things with fellow parents is great way to make friends and integrate into local life.


----------



## tcreek (Sep 13, 2010)

You may want to consider TelCel for Data using internet. I was out in the middle of nowhere desert, but was still getting an LTE connection.

Just get a smart phone and use it as a hot spot and you have internet. The rates for data is not really that bad.


And hopeful my paying for the best available package here will help you get more internet there sooner.


----------



## tcreek (Sep 13, 2010)

chuck846 said:


> And regarding your electric - CFE will come to you house and give you a free energy assessment. We had them come out when we were about to go into DAC. We ended up putting in PV panels - but they also pointed out that our 'old' meters (with the dials) were under-reporting our usage by 15-20%. Is your meter analog or digital ? Shortly after we installed our panels - along with the bidirectional meter - CFE swept through the neighborhood and replaced those old meters. That was an immediate 15-20% increase in the electric bill for our neighbors.



Yeah I think I will stick with the old dial meters. Though I think mine is over reporting.

But a lot of times where is a outages, the people with digital meter are still without power for a while after it is restored.


----------



## derek.larson (Jul 6, 2015)

tcreek said:


> You may want to consider TelCel for Data using internet. I was out in the middle of nowhere desert, but was still getting an LTE connection.
> 
> Just get a smart phone and use it as a hot spot and you have internet. The rates for data is not really that bad.
> 
> ...


I looked into that, but we use Netflix on a daily basis, and that would suck up all of the data.


----------



## chuck846 (Jan 15, 2016)

derek.larson said:


> I looked into that, but we use Netflix on a daily basis, and that would suck up all of the data.


Sorry to be the bearer of bad news but your netflix (US anyway) will not work any longer in Mexico. Even through a VPN - oh you might be able to hook up with some small VPN-like provider and it may work today - but it is just a matter of time until they will exclude even those IP addresses. We have replaced netflix with "CBS all-access" which for us is fine.

We have Telmex DSL. Speedtest.net says we have 4.21 down and 6.02 up. We have no trouble streaming movie/tv content.


----------



## derek.larson (Jul 6, 2015)

I have noticed that we have a lot more Spanish movies on Netflix, with Spanish subtitles and Spanish-speaking movies with no English subtitles, but I suppose that'll help me progress with the language. We use it mostly for the kids.

Eventually, we'll have the Telmex situation resolved. "Mañana" usually means next week, sometimes longer. We've come to expect that.


----------



## chuck846 (Jan 15, 2016)

derek.larson said:


> I have noticed that we have a lot more Spanish movies on Netflix, with Spanish subtitles and Spanish-speaking movies with no English subtitles, but I suppose that'll help me progress with the language. We use it mostly for the kids.
> 
> Eventually, we'll have the Telmex situation resolved. "Mañana" usually means next week, sometimes longer. We've come to expect that.


Seems like you have it under control - buena suerte.


----------

