There are some "fraccionamientos" (small housing developments) in the Chapala and Ajijic area with problems with water supply, especially the gated communities. Gated communities have their own water wells, but they ration the supply so residents receive water every other day or supply stops when they have to repair the pump and equipment.
However, in the village of Ajijic, there is no shortage of water. The lake supplies water to the village as well as some pumps, wells, and three-meter deep "pozos" (“pits” in Spanish), which are in different locations, for example, in La Floresta, which is adjacent to Ajijic.
Some houses would have a "tinaco" (water tank) for back-up in case of emergencies. Normally, the water supply in a house is controlled by a pressure system. There is a cistern with a quiet submersible pump, but if a household does not receive water for three days, this cistern will become empty. With a tinaco, you could have back-up water supply of up to 1,200 liters (over 300 gallons). The tinaco is located on the roof because it works by gravity pressure.
The pressure tank normally is in the equipment room in the garage. The pressure tank maintains consistent pressure in all the pipes in the house, which is measured in PSI (pounds per square inch); with a minimum setting of 40 PSI and maximum setting of 55 PSI. The whole system keeps pressure within this range. The pump in the house pushes water from the cistern through the pressure system, and water is then sent to the water lines.
Other people, instead of having a tinaco, would pay for a water truck to deliver water when the cistern runs out of supply.
(Jet Metier of Best Places in the World to Retire standing in front of what was previously well and now a planter, Ajijic, Mexico, pictured.)
The short stay visa, which is the visa that is typically granted to tourists, allows you to stay in Portugal for a maximum consecutive period of 90 days. Therefore, in case you wish to prolong your stay you will need to apply for a longer stay visa.
We have our Social Security and other retirement money deposited in an international investment banking corporation. I won't mention which one, but it's world wide, established, reliable, well funded and safe. We have credit cards that were issued from the institution that are usable at any ATM world wide, and the company remits fees from those transactions back to us, so we never have to pay anything to access our cash. We have no bank account (yet) in Medellin, nor do we...
