What are the best and worst things about living and retiring in Los Cabos - La Paz, Mexico?

The best thing about living in the La Paz is that we are on the Sea of Cortez. Jacques Cousteau (French naval officer, scientist, and researcher) called the Sea of Cortez, “The Aquarium of the World” because of the sea life and natural life there.

 

We have an island called Espiritu Santo that the David and Lucile Packard Foundation, the Walton Family Foundation, and some Mexicans bought and gave to the country.  It will never be developed...

The best thing about living in the La Paz is that we are on the Sea of Cortez. Jacques Cousteau (French naval officer, scientist, and researcher) called the Sea of Cortez, “The Aquarium of the World” because of the sea life and natural life there.

 

We have an island called Espiritu Santo that the David and Lucile Packard Foundation, the Walton Family Foundation, and some Mexicans bought and gave to the country.  It will never be developed so the natural beauty in La Paz is the ultimate. That is the attraction. Some of the best sports fishing anywhere in the world are just close by.

 

Los Cabos is starting to get a bit crowded and a bit expensive. Jessica Simpson was found there recently in her new sexy bikini to show how her body came back after the birth of her child. The rich and famous go there and they keep putting up one hotel that is more expensive than the other. A friend of mine, who is chairman of the Texas Association of Realtors was here for 2 days and told me, “John, Los Cabos is the Aspen of Mexico.”

 

Los Cabos has grown a bit fast and it still attracts a lot of people. There is tremendous air service. On the contrary, we need more international flights in La Paz, where I live. The Mexican Institute of Statistics and Geography came out with a site in our state of Baja California Sur that said that 45% of the people living here have come from another state or another country.  

 

(Cover of the 1951 book, Sea of Cortez: A Leisurely Journal of Travel and Research by John Steinbeck and marine biologist Ed Ricketts, pictured.)

The best things about living in Baja Sur in the La Paz – Cabo area and the little villages in the area is how peaceful it is, how friendly the people are, how good the quality of the vegetables and food is, the fresh fish, and the nice meat products.  There are local farmers and organic farms slowly growing so you can get all these products.  It’s easy to see a doctor. Many doctors speak English or make sure that somebody there knows how to. I wouldn’t be...

The best things about living in Baja Sur in the La Paz – Cabo area and the little villages in the area is how peaceful it is, how friendly the people are, how good the quality of the vegetables and food is, the fresh fish, and the nice meat products.  There are local farmers and organic farms slowly growing so you can get all these products.  It’s easy to see a doctor. Many doctors speak English or make sure that somebody there knows how to. I wouldn’t be very scared to live here because of a healthcare issue.

 

The bad thing is that of course the language barrier can be a little traumatic for some. Another less than good thing is probably adjusting to the bureaucracy; that’s a hard one. Driving is kind of hard if you’re not used to the kind of driving people do here; all the four way stops with lights, etc. and stuff. The paperwork will probably be your worst nightmare.

 

Not being able to speak Spanish is a bigger issue in the little villages and even in La Paz than it is in Cabo, where most people speak English.  In La Paz, it’s less common for people to speak English but the people in hotels and restaurants and in certain offices do speak English. They don’t speak English in governmental offices. 

 

For me, the best thing about living here in our little town of El Sargento, about 40 minutes south of La Paz, is the beach, how nice it is to walk around and be carefree, and just it’s such a small town that you know everyone.   You see the kids growing and you know their grandmas.  You know everyone; their flaws and their beauties.

 

La Ventana beach house, La Ventnana Bay, Mexico, pictured.)

The best things about living and retiring in Los Cabos – La Paz and especially where we are, at La Ventana, about 40 minutes south of La Paz, is that the weather is very nice 10 months of the year.  The other two months, we can have humidity and be threatened by hurricanes.  We start to get our rains in the end of August and they usually coincide with the hurricanes. And once the rains come you get humidity and that changes everything. Plus, the water in the sea warms...

The best things about living and retiring in Los Cabos – La Paz and especially where we are, at La Ventana, about 40 minutes south of La Paz, is that the weather is very nice 10 months of the year.  The other two months, we can have humidity and be threatened by hurricanes.  We start to get our rains in the end of August and they usually coincide with the hurricanes. And once the rains come you get humidity and that changes everything. Plus, the water in the sea warms up. Right now, as we’re doing this even in late June, the water is still fairly fresh and you feel the breeze right now coming in. It keeps the temperature down. But when the water warms up and you get the rain and humidity, the bugs come out.  This is an issue in September and first two or three weeks of October.  August is not too bad. It doesn’t get much hotter than in mid-June but the water starts to warm up a little bit more. But we usually don’t get any rain until end of August, or the end of September. 

 

 

Other than that, the climate is pretty nice 10 months a year. No rain. It’s a little bit windy in winter, so for people who aren’t into wind sports maybe they don’t like it so much and it can be a little bit cool in January and February. But people who are into wind sports are exercising, biking, and so on. The weather’s pretty nice all winter.

 

Also, it’s very affordable to live here in La Ventana, as far as food and even gasoline or your basic cost, electricity, all of those things.

 

Another great thing about living here is that the people are just the best. They’re so warm. Sometimes you don’t feel it because they’re shy with gringos and they don’t speak English much but once you break through that, you will see how warm and helpful they are.

 

Also related to this, there is very little crime in the La Ventana area. I just don’t know about Cabo or La Paz, but here in La Ventana, there’s very little crime and very few related problems.  As an example, and particularly in my projects, which are a little more isolated because of how I structured it to be in a residential area and we don’t really run a walk in bar and restaurant, we lock the gate but we don’t have any keys for the rooms.  Guests leave their iPhones, laptops, etc., in the restaurants and in the rooms and we’ve never had anything stolen in the entire 15 years we’ve been here.

 

As far as the bad things, from my perspective, doing business here can be frustrating, with all the red tape.   They really got a handle on the corruption which is nice because when you grow up in North America you’re just not used to that system even though in Latin countries it’s pretty standard.  From a personal perspective, I don’t pay anybody off because I just feel like once you go down that road, it’s never ending. 

 

As opposed to doing business here, if you’re just in retirement here you don’t have to interact too much with the government. The banking has gotten a lot better. Phone services are now a lot better. The Internet’s gotten a lot better.  Everything has improved. It was not that long ago when we started here there was no power, no roads, no phone, and no Internet, so it’s come a long way. The Internet is still not lightning fast but it sure has come a long way from fax speed we had when I started here.  

 

(Mountain bike riding, La Ventana Bay, Baja California Sur, Mexico, pictured.)