Do I need to own a car in Mexico?

In my opinion, you don’t need to own a car in Mexico. I live in Ajijic, which is a very popular place for expats to live.  I know people need to have cars for the convenience. I, on the other hand, go out shopping and walk up the hill to come back home, carrying bags of groceries. I can do it at 66 years old. When I first got here with the weight problem, I couldn’t do that. I tried to get myself into shape here.

 

It would be convenient to...

In my opinion, you don’t need to own a car in Mexico. I live in Ajijic, which is a very popular place for expats to live.  I know people need to have cars for the convenience. I, on the other hand, go out shopping and walk up the hill to come back home, carrying bags of groceries. I can do it at 66 years old. When I first got here with the weight problem, I couldn’t do that. I tried to get myself into shape here.

 

It would be convenient to have your own vehicle but I can go down the hill and make it to the main road, which isn’t far. There are local buses that are constantly roaming and the fare’s very cheap. They’re really not comfortable for the expats. They are for locals and they are shorter people.  There are taxis. There are bigger buses that go to Guadalajara. The transportation system in Ajijic is pretty good.

 

If you want to go to the resort areas or anywhere else in Mexico, there are nice buses that have bathrooms, air-conditioning and TV for movies. I went on a couple of trips on those kinds of buses. The Mexican government issues a bus card if you are over a certain age that entities you to bus fares at half price.  For example, a $100 USD round trip would be from Ajijic to Brownsville, Texas. With my discount, I paid $50 USD. It took a few hours to get there. 

 

 

An advantage of not having a car is you walk a lot. I lost 80 pounds here in Ajijic, which was very good for me. For health reasons, they say walking is better than running which is good for me because my running days are over. You also get to save money by not having a car. I’ve never had a car in the five years I’ve been living in Ajijic.  

 

(Pedestrians cross Juárez Avenue in central Guadalajara, Mexico , pictured.)