Entrepreneur Expat

Living in Guadalajara Pros and Cons

• Justin Keltner

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Online Business Tips to Working and Traveling In Mexico: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9zGH0voCyOc&list=PLh3xKhkMgH_IA6s3KvB_g9Cc9Ze1eji8j&index=2


Moving to Mexico: 10 Reasons Why We Chose to Live in Guadalajara https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dK23vD8_xjc&list=PLh3xKhkMgH_LAY7UV78YMgms-f2e1UcwN&index=23


Tips for Moving Overseas: Top 5 Remote Work Skills That Make Money: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bFzjCrlNAL8&list=PLh3xKhkMgH_IA6s3KvB_g9Cc9Ze1eji8j



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Amanda Abella:

Guadalajara, Jalisco, Mexico is known as the Pearl of the West, and while Mexicans have always known that Guadalajara is an amazing city, and in fact there's a lot of tourism from other parts of Mexico in Guadalajara, foreigners are now starting to become very interested in Guadalajara. in Guadalajara. In this video, we're going to be talking about the pros and cons of living in Guadalajara as two American expats who chose the second largest city in Mexico as one of their home bases while they live abroad and travel.

Justin Keltner:

Welcome to Entrepreneur Expat. On this channel, we talk about all things moving and living overseas, building a remote income and business so that you can actually do so, and how to really live the lifestyle of your dreams and detach yourself from the country that you were born in and that maybe you've lived in all of your life. For some greener pastures. So if that's something you're interested in, make sure to subscribe to our channel and hit that notification bell so that you don't miss a single video. We're posting content multiple times

Amanda Abella:

week

Justin Keltner:

that I know you're going to love. And we would love to have you along this journey with us.

Amanda Abella:

Also make sure to download our moving to Mexico guide. If you are interested in Guadalajara or

Justin Keltner:

below this video,

Amanda Abella:

or really anywhere else in Mexico, because it gives you kind of like the. The baby steps to get started in moving from the United States. To Mexico. All right, so let's get into it. Let's start with the pros. Now, spoiler alert, the pros are going to far outweigh the

Justin Keltner:

That's why we're here.

Amanda Abella:

And also, uh, we are totally biased and that's why we chose to spend a lot of time in Guadalajara. However, there are a couple of cons and we'll get to those. So make sure to watch until the end, because for some of you, those couple of cons could be deal breakers. All right,

Justin Keltner:

so number one, and this is one of our favorite things here in Guadalajara, is the amazing weather. I come from California, which arguably has much better weather than where Amanda is from, which is Miami, and the weather here in Guadalajara is very similar to the weather in California without all the crazy taxes and wokeness and homeless people everywhere. Uh, it's like, like the California of Mexico in a lot of ways. It's not super hot and muggy like it is, uh, in a lot of places on the coastline here, both east and west, but especially east. And that resembles, uh, like the Caribbean and everything else, which is very similar to Miami. Intolerable summer. It's always super humid. Maybe there's a month or two in the winter where you can kind of like tolerate the weather and be outside. But otherwise, it's just unbearable. Guadalajara is not like that at all. There are people here, uh, running, doing exercise outside. Uh, hanging out at the parks, like really all year round, there's people walking their dogs all the time, taking leisurely strolls. The other thing that's really great about the weather, and we'll get into this a little bit more, uh, further on this video, but you can walk to everything because the weather is so nice. We'll talk about other benefits around, uh, how the city is structured and everything else very soon. But, you can walk around here and not have to worry about Being covered in sweat or having to put on like five layers of clothing Before you leave the house like maybe places in Eastern Europe or even in the Midwest or other

Amanda Abella:

even need a C most of the year. The only reason we have AC on in the office now is because we have studio lights.

Justin Keltner:

on us. Otherwise we wouldn't even of computers and

Amanda Abella:

computers and servers

Justin Keltner:

and all other stuff like that that generates heat. Um, and yeah, but when we're not filming, other than, other than for a couple months in the summer, if, if we don't have the lights and everything on, uh, we can pretty much just turn a fan on, open the windows and it's good. Like depending on the month of the year, it's in the 70s or 80s typically in a day. It does get a little warm in the summer, like it can be in the 90s, uh, in the summer. So you probably want to have the, uh, the AC on, it's been getting a little warmer. Uh, recently as well, but for the most part, the weather is very tolerable and actually quite nice. Um, the winter does not get super cold. Like right now, it's a little chilly. We're having to put on a

Amanda Abella:

little sweater when

Justin Keltner:

we leave the house in the mornings, um, to go somewhere. But,

Amanda Abella:

it's nothing

Justin Keltner:

crazy. Like, maybe it'll get into the 50s at night. 40s or 50s

Amanda Abella:

night,

Justin Keltner:

uh, in November, December, maybe January, but it's still in the 70s during the day most of the time, even in the fall and winter, which is nice.

Amanda Abella:

The next reason why we love Guadalajara, and this is one of the pros, is really good food and drinks! all over Guadalajara. Granted, this is probably just Mexico in general, but Guadalajara does not disappoint in the gastronomy department. We've had everything, obviously Mexican food, we've had while we're here, we've had French food, we've had Italian food. Um, we've had fusions, we've had all kinds of stuff, the food does not disappoint. I'm pretty sure one of the reasons why the food in Guadalajara is so good, like for example if we just go to the carniceria, which is the butcher shop, which uh, Lorena, who helps us with the house, uh, every week, she'll cook for us and she'll go to the carniceria and everything is fresh. And I'm pretty convinced that one of the reasons why is because we're surrounded by agriculture land, so the food just doesn't have to be bad. travel is far.

Justin Keltner:

Versus the U. S.

Amanda Abella:

even

Justin Keltner:

you are around farmland and things like that, like in California, you're not that far from the farms where food is produced, but it seems like everything is kind of imported from somewhere else. Like, yeah, you can get mangoes any season of the year, but they had to be on, uh, planes and trains and whatever else, uh, for a long, long time to get to you. And so they're not necessarily going to be

Amanda Abella:

freshest,

Justin Keltner:

but the food here is very fresh, uh, you don't have to deal with a lot of the like pesticides and antibiotics and all that stuff that's, that's in that industrial food system in the U. S. and Canada. A lot of things are illegal in Mexico, uh, that, that they use all the time in foods in the U. S., which is crazy. Um, they, they tend to, I think, take better care of people in terms of not allowing certain things into the food supply that should be there. And so the food is a lot tastier, a lot healthier, a lot better for you.

Amanda Abella:

And if you want really good tequila, Jalisco, which is the state that Guadalajara is in, is actually the birthplace.

Justin Keltner:

of

Amanda Abella:

So you can go about an hour outside of the city to go to tequila, which brings us to our next point, which is Guadalajara is located in a place where you can very easily go to a lot of places nearby to travel to. Tequila is one of them. If you want to go to the tequila distilleries, um, and also check out Un Pueblo Magico, uh, Tlaquepaque, which is pretty much in Guadalajara metro area, is also another Pueblo Magico, which is, um, has a lot of, uh, artisanals. Uh, Tonala is also nearby, which is famous for its artisanals and also the furniture. You have Lake Chapala, in Chapala you have Ajijic, you have Chapala, you have San Juan Cozalá, which is where you have all the thermal spas from the thermal water that comes from the mountains. If you want to go to the beach, we're going to be in the beach in a few days. We're going to spend Thanksgiving weekend near Guayabitos, for example. That's just a couple hours. You want to go to Vallarta, it's like four hours. If you want to get real crazy and you want to get on a plane, Mexico City is only an hour and a half away on a plane

Justin Keltner:

I think it's even shorter.

Amanda Abella:

It's an hour and a half is what it said, gate to gate. So it's a very short

Justin Keltner:

flight.

Amanda Abella:

It's a super short flight, uh, to Mexico city or really anywhere within the country is a pretty short flight. So Guadalajara is kind of like a good hub. If you want to, it's the second

Justin Keltner:

biggest city in Mexico.

Amanda Abella:

it's

Justin Keltner:

the second biggest city in Mexico. It's

Amanda Abella:

a pretty good hub. If you want to travel within Mexico, uh, international Mexico city in Cancun, probably have better airports for international, but Guadalajara is not bad. And they are adding a lot more routes and things to other countries.

Justin Keltner:

straight from here. I think to either Madrid or Barcelona. They have non stop flights to Spain.

Amanda Abella:

Uh,

Justin Keltner:

they have non stop flights to Dallas, Miami, L. A., I think San Jose as well, and uh, Chicago, a bunch of other cities throughout the U. S., most of the major cities you can fly to

Amanda Abella:

stop

Justin Keltner:

from here, at least a couple days of the

Amanda Abella:

You can also go to most places in Latin America from here, so Or

Justin Keltner:

like uh, Panama City for example, you can fly non stop from Guadalajara, and then go from there to pretty much anywhere in South America, because Panama's also a really big hub.

Amanda Abella:

So next is, you mentioned this, the walkable neighborhood. So let's talk about that. So everything is

Justin Keltner:

super walkable here. Uh, this is like a night and day difference from the U. S. where you have to get in a car no matter where you go. We have a car here, and other than like little trips that we go to out of town, we barely use it. stabilizer in the car right now because we use it so infrequently. Maybe once every few weeks, we'll go on a little trip and that'll work. necessitate a car sometimes if you want to go somewhere a little farther with the the fur babies, right? We will take our dog somewhere We'll hop in the car for that because it's a little trickier with ubers and things like that that might not necessarily allow pets But we can also walk her to the vet when we need to it's only About five blocks away we can walk to the barbershops and nail salons and grocery stores and coffee shops and restaurants and

Amanda Abella:

Uh, pastry shops,

Justin Keltner:

and doctors dentists like pharmacies everything is

Amanda Abella:

everything.

Justin Keltner:

In our neighborhood within about a 10 minute walk you can get to any of those things which is really amazing

Amanda Abella:

Uh,

Justin Keltner:

And that's something that's a lot more common in Latin America and Europe and in the West. It's just not You As common and when you're walking around you tend to burn a lot of calories, you're, you're, you're losing weight versus having to go in and get into your car and not move your body at all. So great for health for sure and great for convenience and also you get to meet your neighbors more and actually say hi to people and it's not just like everybody's living in the suburbs and you drive and you park in your garage and you don't ever say hi to anyone or see anyone. You're constantly. Um, out, you're seeing people, it's a much, much kind of more close knit community kind

Amanda Abella:

vibe,

Justin Keltner:

even though we're in a city with several million people.

Amanda Abella:

Yeah, which is interesting because, you know, in the, um, in Europe, like you mentioned, they have the walkable cities. In Latin America, they have the walkable cities. There's un centro. There's some sort of like city center everywhere. Or even in Los Pueblos Magicos, there's some sort of center. Where everybody goes together and in the United States and Canada It's like you need a car to do anything unless you're in certain cities like maybe New York DC Uh, stuff like that, but gen I'm like, who's gonna take the subway in New York right now? With everything that's going on over there, so or D. C., or Philly, or any of these places. But, generally speaking, in the United States, you need a car for everything. And in Canada as well, is mostly what we hear unless you're like in the Vancouver's and the Toronto's. And having the ability to not need to drive

Justin Keltner:

improves your

Amanda Abella:

vastly improves your quality of life.

Justin Keltner:

the pros. Bigly.

Amanda Abella:

Definitely one of the pros of Guadalajara.

Justin Keltner:

Another thing that we really love about Guadalajara is that the cost of living is so affordable here. We pay around 900 USD a month for a house. And that's, we have a master bedroom, each of us has our own office, we've got a Sort of garage studio exercise type of thing downstairs. We have a guest room upstairs. We have a front patio. We have a back patio. We have a rooftop terrace that has a jacuzzi on it now. Um, room to put our solar panels, like room for all of our servers and our computers and everything else that we. That we need here, uh, like there's a ton of space and it's very, very affordable. The same kind of place in, let's say, LA right now would probably be at least three or four thousand dollars. Or more for this kind of space, so to be able to

Amanda Abella:

25 of

Justin Keltner:

that is pretty nice. Food is also very inexpensive. Sure, there's been inflation in Mexico, just like everywhere else in the world, and prices have been going up. But to be able to go out and have let's say a few tacos for five or six dollars Uh, even to have dinner in a nice restaurant with with a glass of wine or something for maybe 10 or 15 dollars per person Depending on where you go is really not bad at all Considering that same thing would be five to ten times as much in the u. s

Amanda Abella:

And finally, one of the pros to Guadalajara, which is something Guadalajara is known for is there's lots

Justin Keltner:

of art

Amanda Abella:

and culture in Guadalajara. There's theaters, there's art museums. There's always something going on. We were in El Centro the other day, running errands, and we didn't know this was going to happen. It was a surprise, but there ends up being like a whole light show. On the cathedral in the city center. There's always something happening, always something going on. I think there was a famous book fair going on as well. They have the Fiesta de Octubre, which is a bunch of concerts. I mean, there's constantly something going on here with either art, music, literature, and Guadalajara is known for that. So if you're into that, then Guadalajara is a good city for you.

Justin Keltner:

Yeah, and the architecture and everything is is like real historic artifacts here Not like in the states where you just kind of see the same old stuff over and over with the modern Style here. You've got a lot of different styles, uh from ancient

Amanda Abella:

all

Justin Keltner:

the way to modern and everything in between And there's just so many historic places like we did another video recently You Uh, where we will take you through El Centro, which is downtown, and you can see all the cathedrals and the colonial architecture and everything else, which is just really, really amazing. Like, we're in awe every time we go down there and check it out. Um, especially when we can kind of relax and we're not just filming and doing photo shoots and things like that, like the last

Amanda Abella:

weeks.

Justin Keltner:

but just to go out and have a nice, uh, dinner for example, up at the, the Doubletree, which doesn't sound like much, but actually it's, it's a very nice upscale restaurant in the Doubletree. And you've got a view of the entire downtown and cathedral and everything else. It's the best view of the cathedral. So we get to see lots of cool art and culture and really neat buildings and architecture and everything else.

Amanda Abella:

Yeah, it's really cool So now let's get into the cons. This is this is a very short list But they could be deal breakers for a couple of you. So in fairness, let's talk about the cons I would say number one is the traffic the traffic's horrendous It's not as bad as Mexico City Even if you're

Justin Keltner:

Even if you're Ubering around, like you still have to wait in traffic and like breathe in Uh, the smog, and it's not like horrible, horrible, it's not like LA maybe, but it's still pretty bad, it's very congested, uh, what might take you 15, 16 minutes to get from one part of the city kind of to the other end, uh, in, without traffic, like on a Sunday, uh, might take you 30 or 40 minutes or more, like it took us almost 45 minutes to get to downtown from where we live, uh, the other day when we had to, uh, Had a shoot scheduled in downtown. We're going to do photos with all the, all the buildings and museums and things like that. And, uh, yeah, it took us almost 45 minutes to get there.

Amanda Abella:

Yeah, it was also Buen Fin. Yeah, that's true. Buen Fin's like their version of Black Friday, which is you don't get as good deals. It's like 10 to 20 percent off in Buen Fin. So, so traffic. Traffic would definitely be a downside. Uh, especially during rush hour. I mean, it's it's just horrendous. Now the good news is that the city is very pretty, so at least if you're going to be stuck in traffic, at least you're looking at nice shit, right? Exactly. All right, next pro, I mean, sorry, next con is, uh, rainy season. Rainy season is a problem

Justin Keltner:

Guadalajara, let's talk about that. Yeah, when it rains here, like it really pours. So this isn't just, hey, you know, you got a little bit of rain. Maybe like you do in Miami for, uh, or, or Medellin or other places that are kind

Amanda Abella:

or

Justin Keltner:

or subtropical. And you've got a downpour for 15 20 minutes and then it stops. Here, when it rains, uh, usually it happens in the afternoons.

Amanda Abella:

It's typically,

Justin Keltner:

uh, I think it just ended, right? So it's until about

Amanda Abella:

October or so,

Justin Keltner:

right? Like September, October. I think it

Amanda Abella:

started around June, July.

Justin Keltner:

Yeah, so July, July, August, September, maybe a little bit in October. Okay. Um, so it's about two or three months every year, and, uh, it's like torrential downpour. Like to the point where the streets will turn into rivers, and you do not want to be driving on any of those streets. There's sinkholes that are discovered there sometimes because of all the water, uh, uh, It's very dangerous. Trees are moving. Like it's like, like flooding levels. Um,

Amanda Abella:

it's funny

Justin Keltner:

we moved into a pretty old house. We, we got this place about almost two years ago now, I guess, right? A

Amanda Abella:

and a half. A year and a half ago. Yeah.

Justin Keltner:

And when we first moved in within a month, I mean, we had to do a bunch of other work on the place, like rewire some electrical things. But one of the other things is as soon as it started raining, it just flooded in the house because of the,

Amanda Abella:

the

Justin Keltner:

rain with wind. And, uh, a lot of the places here, especially older houses, are not super well sealed. So there was no, like, weatherstripping under the door, it was all, like, really old, it was the windows that have all those, like, different panels where you push the lever to open. Pull them kind of up or down. And so it would just be like counters flooded floors, flooded, um, like slip and slide everywhere. So fortunately, uh, it didn't cost us too much money to put some weather stripping and the landlord actually did change one of the windows in the kitchen so that her counter, new countertops would not be ruined. Um, so that helped out a lot, but just beware that it is some very serious rain. So especially if you're planning on driving around here a lot, um, Uh, or if you, maybe you're going to a co working, or you want to get an office, or you're planning on moving from place to place, uh, especially during the rainy season, it's probably best to stay where you're at when it starts to rain instead of trying to risk getting on the road in your own car or Uber because it gets very dangerous. When it rains, um, especially at night, it's dark, you don't know what street you can drive on, which one you can't, because there's so much water. Um, it's, it's, it gets pretty, pretty nasty. Again, you can usually say, okay, great, you know, it's about to start to rain, and try to accommodate accordingly, um, but sometimes you're just kind of caught in the flooding. Man. And just

Amanda Abella:

put. Just

Justin Keltner:

where you are. Fortunately, we work from home,

Amanda Abella:

don't really

Justin Keltner:

so we don't really have the need to be. To many places. And most of the places we go are within about a 10 or 15 minute walk. But just be careful. Um, and if you really, really hate rain, maybe it's not your city. I don't think it's a huge deal, especially if you if you live somewhere where you can walk to pretty much everything because then worst case scenario, uh, in that case, maybe you've got an umbrella with you. Uh, and you've got some rain boots and a raincoat.

Amanda Abella:

Yeah, and then you're just at the coffee shop where you know everybody anyway, and everybody's just socializing at that point because everybody's caught in the rain. Yeah, but try

Justin Keltner:

not to be on the streets when it rains

Amanda Abella:

Uh, and then the last con, you brought this up a little bit. I would say one good thing about rainy season is that it counteracts this particular con, which is the last couple years in May and April, it has been ungodly hot. in Guadalajara, uh, so everybody is buying up the mini splits and then it's, um, putting an overload on the electrical system because everyone's popping in air conditioners and they're not used to that in Guadalajara. This isn't like Merida where everybody has mini splits. And you all have very high electricity bills cause it's so hot. It's not like that here. So the last couple of years, it's been ungodly hot in April and May and everybody's been buying the mini splits and then it puts too much, uh, tension. And

Justin Keltner:

so yeah, I mean to add to that is the the uh, the infrastructure here is actually pretty good But in terms of electricity in in the hot season and sometimes in the rainy season depending on the neighborhood you're in Uh, we're in Chapalita, which is a little bit of an older neighborhood, uh,

Amanda Abella:

it

Justin Keltner:

have a lot of the newer infrastructure and they tend not to do a whole lot of like proactive maintenance on the electrical systems. So we do have occasionally power,

Amanda Abella:

uh, occasional power outages

Justin Keltner:

where the electricity might go out. Sometimes it's only, Five or 10 minutes, like a brownout. Um, but other times we might be without electricity all night and, uh, half a day until it finally gets fixed. That hasn't happened more than about five or six times a year. But if you do work from home, you want to make sure that you've got a power backup. And, uh, if you want to be clever, like we did and engineer your whole solar system, we've got another video on that. But if you are renting maybe a house, um, you can get some solar panels to both the lights on and the internet and everything on when it is, uh, when there's power outages or if you've got enough panels or enough space for them you can even connect your mini splits to that so that not only are you not paying a ton of money in electricity for the AC when you do need it in the summer, uh, but you're also able to have those ACs on at least during peak heat even if the power is out like it occasionally does have it. Yeah

Amanda Abella:

it only lasts a couple months. And then when rainy season starts, the temperature vastly drops. during rainy season, which I guess is the only good thing about rainy season in Guadalajara, is that it, uh, it cools the temperature down and it signifies this ungodly heat is over. And also keep in mind, it's ungodly heat two months out of the year, not all year round, like the coasts in Mexico. But, you know, that could still be a deal breaker for some of you, which is why we brought it up. All right, that's our pros and cons list. Uh, as you, let's, like we said, pros vastly outweigh the cons. Guadalajara is a vibe, y'all.

Justin Keltner:

It's a really cool city. We really like it here

Amanda Abella:

Yeah, it's a total vibe, and it's very surprising. Again, Mexicans know this about Guadalajara, but now more foreigners are starting to realize what a vibe Guadalajara actually is. We're really enjoying it as our home base. for now. Um, and we'll see where we end up afterward. But for now, Guadalajara is it, at least while we're spending a lot of time in Mexico. All right, guys, we hope you guys enjoyed this video. Make sure to give it a thumbs up if you liked it. Helps us with the algorithm guides.

Justin Keltner:

And grab that moving to Mexico guide if you're interested in moving to Mexico. And if you'd like to talk with us directly about how to build your own remote income so that you can move to Mexico, or if you've already got that and you need some help with relocation, finding a place, we'd Uh, figuring out the visas, figuring out what the best city is for you. We have boots on the ground. We're here in Mexico. We can help you with that entire process through our concierge services. So make sure to book a time below on our calendar and you can learn.

Amanda Abella:

You'll also see our email below in case you want to email us directly. All right, guys. Thank you so much for giving us your time today. We got to go teach a class. And we will catch you guys on the next

Justin Keltner:

one. Bye for now.