Thinking of moving to GTO in December, expat family from Atlanta

[DonJuane]

And a few notes on settling in. One may not ever totally "settle in" in Mexico. For example a latch broke on a closet door recently and finding a new one has turned into a 3 year project. While in the US you watch your once fruitful world of "unlimited items for sale" diminish as Wall Street and the demand for profits cull out every "odd thing" that your big box hardware stores used to sell in the past but no longer do so, to the point they currently have only the most hot selling items - well in Mexico the problem is worse and your choices end up being what Wall Street approves and add to that the real restrictor, what Mexico allows retailers to import from the US. Mexico's Home Depot is a slap in the face the first time you walk in because they have maybe 30 percent of the specialty or odd items you find in the US. So you are left with the benefit or oddity, depending on how you look at it of finding a source of hardware that is not backed by a team of venture capitalists whose investors are not demanding that each store produce dividends high enough to keep their dow scores up. This translates to every time you need something more unique than a saw or hammer, you basically have to visit every hardware store in town until you find one with the item tucked under a counter somewhere and someone on that day who's been working there long enough to know where it is.

Vegetables are another thing. If you are used to shopping at Walmart for vegetables you will find the Walmart's here (or Walmarts in disguise cleverly named Bodega Aurrera) have vegetables but you are likely to find fresher and better looking ones by dumpster diving. That's because people who live here know not to shop for vegetables at Walmart, or the big commercial grocery stores actually if you are talking about any day but delivery day and that unless you are a Gringo, you know to go to the local fruit stand to buy your vegetables and not the big-box store. Now if you like the standard fare here then this is great. But if you are looking for odd fresh spices or unique fruits or veggies then you are back emulating your battles with Wall Street - you may spend days or have to delay a special meal because you can't find something and you may have to walk all over town to find it. Or if you are lucky, you can just bite the bullet and walk halfway across town to the Hidalgo Mkt.

So you soon find in Mexico that shopping turns into a full time job and actually occupies most of your daylight hours. And if you live up the hill in any of GTO's non-taxi or non-auto accessible drop off points it' s going to be even worse because here you'll also be adding your body's hourly complaints dictating the route you will take and suggesting that you delay your shopping until the next day. In your new home your familiarity with different ways to make eggs will expand to new levels or your stock of sardines or tuna fish will grow just so you don't have to go the the store today. Or maybe you'll just drive a nail into the wall, bend it over and twist it to keep the cabinet door closed while you wait for a sunny or warmer day or for the rainy season to end to go shopping for that hardware thingy you've decided you don't really need.