On our way to GTO

[DeLora]

Good Morning Friends!
We have finally sold our house in Austin and are on our way to GTO. I have a few questions some of you might have info on, if you would.

*Wondering what you did about your mail. Did you use a forwarding service? Do you use a friends address? Do you have your mail going to GTO?

*How did you get your stuff down there? We are definitely getting rid of 95% of our stuff but are wanting to bring some things (possible work related)

*We have a place to stay when we get there. I am wanting to bring my invalid mother. She cannot stay at the the apt we are renting. Do any of you have any suggestions or ideas about where she could stay in Guanajuato? We have a line on a couple of care-givers once we get her there.
She can stay where she is and we can bring her down at a later date.


*What about getting tv service? I have read about different IP services y'all are using just looking for an update on what is current info on that.

*Banking...what do y'all do? We withdrew money from the ATM's last time we were down there but is there an easier less expensive way to get money?

THANK YOU so much for your experience and sharing it. I am a yoga therapist and my partner is an acupuncturist. We would love to meet you and offer our healing arts after we get settled in. Cat specializes in pain relief. I specialize in pre/postnatal issues and the pelvic floor, as well as functional yoga for everyday issues.

Thank you again friends,
DeLora Frederickson C-IAYT, EPCRT500

[roberb7]

Lots of questions here, so I'll break them down into smaller pieces

*Wondering what you did about your mail. Did you use a forwarding service? Do you use a friends address? Do you have your mail going to GTO?

GTO doesn't have a mail forwarding service, and you might consider starting one. There are two of them in San Miguel de Allende. Several people here use Solutions.

The quality of mail delivery here seems to vary according to the postman for your neighbourhood. My mail from Canada and the US gets here, but it takes a while.

[roberb7]

*How did you get your stuff down there? We are definitely getting rid of 95% of our stuff but are wanting to bring some things (possible work related)

What I did was haul my stuff in a rental truck to Laredo, then turned it over to Ragar & Co., and they handled warehousing (see below), customs clearance, and hauling the stuff to GTO.

One important "gotcha"; neither you nor anyone else can import your stuff into Mexico until you have your residente temporal or residente permanente. This will probably have to be done in León or San Miguel de Allende, and the document they gave you at the Mexican consulate isn't good enough. This wasn't a huge problem; Ragar & Co. just held onto the stuff for me, and I scanned and emailed the temporal to them when I got it.

Also, you must supply Mexican customs an itemized list of all the stuff.

[roberb7]

*What about getting tv service? I have read about different IP services y'all are using just looking for an update on what is current info on that.

I was a cable-cutter two or three years before I moved here, and continued to use the same techniques (VPN, USTVNow, etc.) after the move.

The last time I changed houses, I switched from Telmex (where you get a land line whether you want it or not) to Megacable (where you get basic cable whether you want it or not). I recently asked Megacable to increase my bandwidth from 10 mb/sec to 20 mb/sec, and I'll let you know how that goes.

I know a couple that watch a lot more TV than I do, and they have a Shaw satellite dish that works well for them.

[roberb7]

*Banking...what do y'all do? We withdrew money from the ATM's last time we were down there but is there an easier less expensive way to get money?

There's a number of ways to skin this cat. I know of people who have accounts with Charles Schwab or Capital One, both of which rebate ATM fees, and they swear by them, especially Charles Schwab.

Since you're in Texas, you might want to pay a visit to your local BBVA Compass branch, and ask them what they can do for you.

Getting a Mexican bank account is a good idea for several reasons. It's a bit of trouble, but this isn't something you're going to be doing every six months. Once you have one, you can transfer money into it using TransferWise.

Part of the Mexican bank equation is getting a Mexican Visa or MasterCard. This is also a lot of trouble, but also worthwhile; there are certain transactions for which a non-Mexican credit card (or a Mexican debit card) won't work. Interest rates on Mexican-bank credit cards would embarrass "Fat Tony" Salerno or Angelo "Gyp" DeCarlo, but the ones that are less bad come from Scotiabank and HSBC. CIBanco and Caja Popular don't offer credit cards.

[DeLora]

Thank you so helpful! We will look into some of the suggestions you made.

[DonJuane]

Don't know how to quote here, but better I say, I am too lazy to look it up ....

" I am wanting to bring my invalid mother."

I hope she is in better shape than me. Guanajuato is basically a "hell/hill" of lot of mountainside surroundings peering down at a tiny what one might call "valley" of a very tiny patch of flat land. For most of the city you are talking stiff climbs that have been making my doctor-certified "healthy body" ache like hell every night, at least for the first 3 months I arrive here after having toured some other part of the country or the US for a few weeks or more. Add to that the fact that the only places accessible via lift-car, ambulance, or regular auto are around the panoramica and you have a situation where this is for the most part is no place for someone who can't get around very well. She would have to be carried into any of the homes in the vicinity in a stretcher up and down the callejones anytime she wanted to enter or leave her residence unless you find a place for her outside the historical center of the city.

After having traversed most of Mexico, I actually can't imagine a worse place for a disabled person than here. I do see the occasional elderly person hobbling up and down the stairs but it can take them the entire day just to come up from the downtown and most of the time you see someone on each side of them helping them up or down the callejones.

Regarding getting your stuff here, there are some brokers that can be hired to get yourself here in a trailer. They generally don't ask for your status, just a little supplement that helps them get across the border with no questions. Once it's here, it's here.

Otherwise, it's a pretty wild leap of faith to move anywhere in Mexico without at least scoping it out and renting for a while without your entire family and worldlies. People much wiser than me always question such a move.

[DonJuane]

P.S. In order to work in Mexico, that is to collect money for services you can provide, there is a great deal of red tape one has to deal with, including having filed for Permanent Residency. You can find some of the more legal oriented questions answered at http://www.soniadiaz.mx/