Hi all, I am considering moving to Cancun/Playa del Carmen and would welcome some input and assistance from people living in the area. a) What are the best and worse things about living in Cancun/Playa del Carmen? b) What is the Playacar area like to live in (apart from expensive!) c) What are the levels of crime like in the area? d) Are the advertised house prices realistic or are they way too high and the vendors will take significant reductions? Thanks for all of your anticipated assistance. Kelfish
Best things: weather, Caribbean, friends, weather, cheap rum, cheap limes, cheap mangoes, friends, weather, weather, busy airport (so you can leave). Worst things: corruption, lack of public safety, organized crime, everyone wants to rip off the white guy/gal, crime, finding bags of heroin on the beach, crime, cops are useless, corruption, tough to make a living, corruption, impunity, corruption. Advertised housing prices will be higher than the average here. If they are advertising it then it's a high end property and they are trying to attract the gringos. There's lots of low end housing that doesn't get advertised, but then you might not want to live in it...
I think if you have a partner in a high risk job (as Rivergirl does) then yes you can, and probably sooner or later will, have problems with corruption or rather trying to avoid it. Personally though, in the 5 years I've been here I've never had any kind of corruption affect me or my family, and I dare say for most people it's the same. As for crime, the only personal experience we have is we were burgled once, we were also burgled back home in Nottingham too. The police weren't much use here, they were'nt much use there either. I find Cancun to be far safer in terms of random violence and anti social behaviour and a far nicer place to raise a child. Kids here still seem to have respect for their elders and for one another. It's kind of how I imagine the UK was a couple of generations ago. Police involvement other than the burglary - between us we've been stopped by traffic police 5 times in 5 years and not yet paid a bribe nor been charged with any offence. The things I miss from home are family, friends, food, TV, sport, newspapers, pubs, drinkable water. The benefits of being here, great weather, beautiful places to visit, bilingual education for our daughter, I can make more money here. But I have to admit that's where my own personal list ends. I dont know too much about living in Playa, I think it's fair to say it's quite different than living in Cancun. But yes, anything advertised online is being marketed to expats. I would definitely recommend renting for 6 months before buying anything if you're in it for the long haul. Find the areas you like, get to know people, who's reputable who's not, learn the prices so you can tell if something is over or under valued and most of all whether living in Mexico is going to be something you want to do long term. I've never found any bags of heroin on the beach, I guess I'll have to look harder!
Haha! I can tell you just where to look... Steve is right, give it 6 months to see if you like it before you make a strong commitment. One big difference between Playa and Cancun is beach access. Lots more lower-priced rentals in Playa have closer beach access than in Cancun, just because of the geography. But Cancun is bigger and has more rentals, more choices, more infrastructure, etc.
Got to agree with Steve - I feel safer here than back home much of the time. Although I don't really hang out in bad areas in the U.K or here. Playacar is very expensive. Have a look at this site - Bienes raíces México, casas en venta, inmobiliarias, renta departamentos — metroscubicos.com they have a wide range of properties.
We've stayed in Playacar a few times. Lots of places there for sale, and yes they are expensive, but look really nice, and its a great place. Walk to 5th avenue if you'd like. Great biking area, beach, etc.....
My year (so far) in Cancun- It will soon be a year that I've been living here and I can say, for the most part, my experience with it has been from OK, to good. (People's experience with Mexico varies, and one truly bad experience could change everything, as those who've experienced a major trauma, anywhere, can tell you.) I'm here, in part, because Cancun's better suited to my work than Playa would be: I need a big city to have a sufficient market for my services. For me, I've found most people treat me well, whether in public, or private; whether in businesses, or in government offices. There have been a few annoyances I've experienced, so far, which I reported on the threads, What gets your goat? and, Avoiding "Ripoffs" There appear to be gaps in the health care available, here, but I knew there would be, coming in, and I didn't want to live in Merida. Spanish has been a challenge. Anyone planning to come here intending to do anything more than relax should probably try to get a head start on learning Spanish: all of my most important interactions were conducted entirely in Spanish, including the ones relating to my work, and getting permission to work. Cancun is not a particularly cheap place to live if you try to live reasonably comfortably by U.S./Canadian standards (it can be, if you don't), but it's probably not more expensive than the U.S./Canada, either, with some things costing more, and some less. As we choose to live here, it's a little cheaper, for us, since we don't need a car, here. We go to the U.S., from time to time anyway and, when we do, we stock up on those things that are cheaper there for quality goods (clothing, shoes, and electronics/accessories, mainly), as many do. As far as personal safety goes, I've not had a single incident, yet, in which I felt physically threatened, though I'm often out in "bad" parts of town (Corales, and SM 92), taking cabs frequently and sometimes public buses, at night as well as during the day, in connection with my work. No one has harassed me on the streets- aside from those selling tours to tourists (and not one of them has refused to take "no" for an answer)- and one American guy who seems to get by here by "selling" his sad story to tourists, who turn money over to him, believing his story. He's probably bumped into me a total of six times, so far, twice on the same day on one occasion. He supposedly has been here for several years, perfecting and practicing variations on his story. My take on Playa- Playa is an interesting contrast. While having many of the attractions of Cancun, it's developed on a rather different model. Here we had government planning and international hotel chain investing and building in the Zona Hotelera. There, in Playa, it's been more about the entrepreneur. It seems to have grown up in a more natural way, with lots of small investors, mainly from Europe, opening businesses with their few hundred thousand euros, instead of the mega resorts millions. While there are some of the later, much of Playa consists of charming takeoffs on European ideas of what a city street in the commercial district should look like. As for Cancun, centro, the bulk of the city is built on the usual Mexican city model, and that's where most of the working Mexicans live. For small restaurants and bars per kilometer, Playa's got it beat: even Yaxchilan, in Cancun, doesn't equal it; and, with the recent beach restoration project completed, beaches that were just a few meters wide, two months ago, are now 60 meters and more, in places. In general- Cancun has met our expectations, so far. There's too much missing from this environment for me to be completely satisfied with it, but what is here keeps us here (for now). There may be other cities in Mexico that would be more satisfying to live in, but they wouldn't have the combination of clear air, sea and sand, and mostly warm to hot weather that we like. For more, see- http://www.cancuncare.com/forum/living-cancun-riviera-maya/13536-why-do-you-live-cancun.html http://www.cancuncare.com/forum/living-cancun-riviera-maya/14911-why-do-you-live-playa.html http://www.cancuncare.com/forum/living-cancun-riviera-maya/14776-what-gets-your-goat.html http://www.cancuncare.com/forum/living-cancun-riviera-maya/13982-avoiding-ripoffs.html
I live about 15km south of PdC in a mostly gringo RV community (though my neighbor is from Durango and is Mexican). the best is without doubt the weather. But I guess I like warm. Today it was 97F (heat index) and tomorrow it will be 90F (without heat index) and I have to tell you, today was just PERFECT. I guess I like it hot. The 2nd is the water. The kids and I snorkel every day in the summer (too cold in the winter). Next is the acceptance thoughout the culture that the family is most important. It is really nice to have that as the majority instead of a small minority. It *feels* safer here. I know that in town I am NEVER worried about a drive-by and I don't normally feel like eyes are on me casing me for a robbery. I lived in a large urban area in the US and absolutely NEVER felts safe - we had our neighborhood on lockdown and daily had police helicoptors flying over searching. I let the kids free here and don't worry too much, though there was that one pedophile who murdered his wife... If you live like a Mexican you can live pretty cheaply. If you live like a Brit or an American or a Canadian (or a whatever) you'll find it just as (if not more so) expensive than your home country. Oh, I forgot the worst. Corruption (only from transitos), threat of corruption looming, no recycling (well we do recycle but honestly, I think it all goes to landfill), *stuff* you can't get here, getting kids books is uber expensive, drugs. We have pictures in the local dive shop of packages found by divers. I have personally witnessed (tried SO HARD NOT TO) a pickup on the deserted beach to the north. Reading V's note, I forgot, Spanish can be difficult if you don't know it. I've been pretty fluent since the late 80's (lived in SAmerica) so it really isn't a big deal for me. Not really even an issue and honestly I love speaking Spanish. I especially love when I meet an Argentine or Uruguayan because that is my original accent and once I start talking with htem my accent and modismos come back and I'm calling waiters "mozo" and pan dulce "fracturas" and just loving the beautiful Argentine accent. sigh.
I forgot to address it directly, but I've had countless meetings with government officials in which I was requesting something from them, permissions, work, etc. At no time has there been even a hint of corruption in any of my dealings with them, and I've gotten everything I asked for (though, in the case of a particular type of work I was looking for, it took six months). It's in the environment: some activities might put you more in touch with it, but you can live your life without having to deal with it by refusing to participate, at all. It's impatience, wanting to bend the rules, etc., that leads people into this zone more often than not. Some just can't help themselves, and gray the line between them and the government. I was with a friend at immigration a few weeks ago and he was so pleased with the service he got there that he spontaneously pulled out a 100 pesos note to hand the man who'd been helping him: I stopped him, asking him to consider the awkward spot he was putting the government employee in with this gesture. He desisted. People's experience with Mexico will vary, just as their experience with anything else.
We just marked two years full time in PDC Centro (after 7 years part time) and with adjustments, Skype, and semi-annual flights to JFK for books (I might have to get a Kindle) and Dr Bronner's Peppermint Soap, we have made this our home. We don't have a car, so we miss out on all that transit corruption, and the few times we rent and have been stopped, we just stonewall the guy and don't pay a peso. We love the weather, and in the summer, 90degrees 90%humidity is just like NYC so no fear and a little a/c. I keep hearing and reading about crime all over Mexico, but we rarely encounter even a suspicious-looking person. To me, the worst thing is the noise of buses, cars and motorcycles, which seems endless sometimes. And it can be hard to make a good friend, people are either transient or working 60 hours a week. Some months we live on practically nothing, others we go crazy at Costco. I was never in a WalMart, Sam's or Costco in my life until I moved here. Frankly, I would not want to live here and work, for the amount of effort it seems to take, I'd rather make NY money for my time. But as a retiree, this beats Florida any day. We eat better, we're healthier, we walk everywhere, have met so many people from all over, and it still mystifies me that my family thinks we are nuts...they would prefer to think of us in Fort Lauderdale (go figure). We had lots of experience here before we moved permanently. I would try it before committing, especially if you have to make a living here. It might not be for everyone, but we have definitely made the right choice, at least for now.
