Retirees aren’t the only ones who have found a home away from home on the shores of Lake Chapala.
An influx of young families from the United States have caught on to the lure of living in the area. Four of these families share their reasons for making the move south.
Large retirement population doesn’t phase single mom with 7-year-old daughter.
Beverly Buchanan is a 42-year-old single mom from Alabama, but she hasn’t lived there for 20 years. Instead, she and her daughter, Bella, have been traveling the world. Beverly was working as a geologist in Panama before Bella was born. She flew to Tennessee to give birth before returning to Panama with her newborn, where she taught yoga and opened a school. After traveling for a year, they moved last August to lakeside where she got a job teaching English online.
Says Beverly: “Panama was hot most of the time and I had trouble accessing healthy food. I found myself in survival mode and knew that after living there for four years I needed a change.”
After visiting a friend who was doing a house trade at lakeside, she noted the pleasant weather, friendly people and variety of healthy food options. She also saw how relatively inexpensive the area was compared to the cost of traveling all the time.
The large population of retirees didn’t seem to phase her. “I appreciate that many of the retirees volunteer for events that Bella is involved in, such as the free art classes at Lake Chapala Society.”
Beverly found the ideal school for Bella. Located in west Ajijic, My Land is a Waldorf-style school run by Mexicans. As a first grader, Bella attends class five hours a day, five days a week, and appears to be thriving.
“The school is complete with chickens, composting and healthy meals,” says Beverly. “The owners use zero plastic; even the paint brushes have natural bristles.”
Bella enjoys collecting the eggs and baking bread and tortillas with the other 14 kids. Since the bilingual school is 50 percent English/Spanish, Bella is learning two languages and is now bilingual.
“A big reason I chose to move to lakeside was the cost of living,” says Beverly. “I gave up my geology career so that I could spend more time with Bella. Working a 9 to 5 job with a week’s vacation doesn’t cut it for me. Since I teach online, I can live anywhere. I’m making U.S. dollars while living abroad, where my money goes further. At lakeside, I can afford a babysitter and a house cleaner, which I couldn’t do in the States. Plus, the quality of life here is so much better.”
Oregonians homeschool their children and raise horses at their lakeside home.
Ieesha and Federico Del Toro are from southern Oregon. Federico was born in Guadalajara and lived in the United States for seven years. When the two met, Ieesha had been living on the same property for almost 20 years and couldn’t imagine living anywhere else – especially out of the country. But Federico had been talking about moving the family to Mexico.
“Rylan, our oldest child, is five years old,” says Ieesha. “After our daughter, Morgan, was born, I didn’t go back to work because she was born with Down’s Syndrome and needed open heart surgery at two and a half months. Living in Mexico, I can parent Morgan the way I want to, without the restrictions that come with living in the U.S.”
Two and a half years ago, Federico drove to Mexico with a truck and trailer, while Ieesha flew down with the kids. They lived in Manzanillo for two months, which they found to be too hot, dusty and dirty. Then they discovered lakeside.
Says Ieesha: “I met a world traveler/mom through her online blog, and we developed a friendship. She and her family lived at lakeside for some time and when I told her we were moving there, she asked me to bring her some things from the States. We met, sat on the malecon and chatted for half the day. I knew that lakeside would be a good fit for our family.”
Ieesha notices how more young families are relocating to the area. “We’ve been meeting families with young children at our church. Some of us moms even started a playgroup.”
Federico works as realtor while Ieesha homeschools her kids, earns some cash selling essential oils and tends to their three horses. When they recently visited the United States for three months, they were shocked at how expensive everything was.
“The cost of living here works with our budget,” says Ieesha. “What we can’t find at lakeside we can find in Guadalajara. I located a tack store that has everything I need for my horses. I tell people who are coming here that they’ll find what they need if they’re willing to look.”
Lakeside’s beauty is reminiscent of family’s vacations at Lake Placid, New York.
Chris and Anne Marie Duquin and their three kids hail from Buffalo, New York. When they did an online search for the best place to raise a family outside the United States, lakeside popped up.
“We have a home in Orlando,” says Chris, “and flights from Orlando to Guadalajara were cheap, so we took one.” Having arrived last December, their impression was nothing short of amazing.
Says Anne Marie: “With lakeside’s beautiful flowers, towering mountains and lake, we felt like we were back at Lake Placid. The friendliness of lakeside also impressed us. People looked you in the eye greeted you. For us, that was very welcoming.”
Before moving to the area, Anne Marie and Chris researched the area’s schools.
“During our visit, we met with the principal of Terranova Institute and were impressed with this bilingual school.”
“Our main reason for moving to Mexico was so the five of us could bond as a family,” says Chris. In Buffalo, our kids were involved in too many activities and we weren’t seeing one another. Between swim team, dance class and Cub Scouts, we felt that they were getting burned out.”
Wanting to embrace the peaceful way of living at lakeside, they drove from Buffalo last winter in a 10-foot trailer, getting rid of over half their household – 12 years worth of stuff — and found a house to rent in Ajijic’s La Floresta neighborhood.
“At first, we received resistance from our family,” says Anne Marie. “They were concerned about our safety. Recently, Chris’s parents visited and fell in love with the place. For them, lakeside felt peaceful and safe and they saw how our kids are so happy.”
The couple receives a “volunteer stipend” from teaching English part time at Terranova. Although this was not in their plans, the school needed teachers and Anne Marie had worked in the United States as a business/college prep high school teacher.
“The expat kids enjoy seeing us in the classroom,” says Chris. “Working at the school has helped all of us with the transition.
“Our kids are happy with simple things, like legos, sports, and playing with those little fire sticks and eggs filled with confetti. They wouldn’t have had this back in Buffalo. When its snowing for ten months, they can’t do all the outdoor things that they can do here.”
Less structure and more freedom appeals to this family of four.
Timothy and Laney Foxsmith and their two boys are from Arlington, Texas. Before moving to lakeside last July, they got rid of most of their stuff, arriving with four bulging backpacks. “Seeing that I teach Spanish,” says Timothy, “I’ve been wanting our sons to learn Spanish. Since Laney is deaf, we were using English and sign language at home, so our kids weren’t getting much exposure to Spanish. I’ve always dreamed of living in Mexico and we figured it would be easier for the boys to acquire Spanish if we lived there.”
After getting permission from his employer, the University of Texas at Arlington, he got a one-year contract to teach Spanish online from Mexico. Meanwhile, the boys are attending Terranova and are loving it.
“Laney was nervous about moving to Mexico,” says Timothy. “Being deaf, she wanted to know that she’d have access to an English library. We stayed in Guanajuato last summer and explored different areas from there. I wanted to live in Guanajuato but when we visited Ajijic, the school and community felt like a better fit. All the things we worried about never came to pass.”
Laney enjoys walking in the village, getting her coffee and eating the local food.
“We don’t have a car but get around by bus and walking. I think there’s more of a sense of freedom here than in the States,” said Laney.
“Moving to a retirement community wasn’t an issue for us,” adds Timothy. “My mom was a nurse in a nursing home, so I was used to being around elders. Here, the kids have acquired ‘faux’ grandparents.
“Our boys have no lack of playmates and we appreciate less structure and more freedom and playtime in the schools. Students play tag in the morning, then the bell rings and they head to their classrooms.”
Since their sons are getting a daily dose of art in school, they’ve cut down on using electronics. Colin’s art teacher invited him to her home studio in Chapala and the two of them painted for two hours. According to Timothy, that simply wouldn’t happen in the States.