68-year-old retiree pays $460 a month to live by a lake in Mexico: ‘I found the peace and tranquility I was looking for’

68-year-old retiree pays 0 a month to live by a lake in Mexico: ‘I found the peace and tranquility I was looking for’


My mornings in the small village of San Antonio Tlayacapan, Mexico, are filled with birds. There’s the soft cooing of doves, the chirping of kiskadees, and the iconic shrieking of roosters, which begins not at sunrise (go figure) but hours before. 

It’s a far cry from Mazatlán, the city on Mexico’s Pacific coast where I spent 18 years before moving inland. While there’s so much I love about Mazatlán, the harsh reality is that the laid-back, mid-size beach town I’d moved to in 2006 is gone. 

Mazatlán has become a bustling resort city filled with tourists all year round. The once-quiet beaches are now lined with 20-story condo towers, and all the problems that tend to accompany rapid growth — like traffic, infrastructure issues, and noise — have become unfortunate facts of everyday life. 

Mazatlán changed so much that I didn’t want to live there anymore. It was time for me to leave.

My friends were shocked and, truth be told, so was I. There wasn’t anywhere else I’d thought about living — until I went to see a friend in Lake Chapala.

‘Everything I need is within reach’

Take a look inside my ‘casita’

Life by the lake: ‘Quite busy,’ with lots of fresh, local food

I may be semi-retired, but my days are quite busy. My freelance work seems to be either feast or famine, and I’m currently working on two new books about expat living as well as offering consultations to help people navigate their journeys abroad.

When I can escape from the computer, I gravitate toward quiet activities: sharing a meal with friends, walking along the lake, exploring the area.

Blaser loves visiting outdoor markets in the area. “It’s always a good time,” she says.

Mickey Todiwala

I like to cook and bake, and I can find many of the organic brands and products I prefer here, both imported and made locally. Asparagus, figs, and all sorts of berries — blueberries, strawberries, raspberries, blackberries — are inexpensive and plentiful. I can buy fresh milk from a dairy that’s five minutes from my house. Huevos del rancho (farm-fresh eggs) cost about 5 pesos, or roughly a quarter each.

I mostly eat a plant-based diet, but sometimes I buy chicken, cut to order, from a local farm.

There’s a Walmart and a Soriana grocery store nearby, but I prefer to shop at smaller local stores and at the many weekly outdoor markets. Prices are lower, produce is fresher, and it’s always a good time. 

‘I’m thankful,’ and still looking ahead

I’m still getting used to not having the ocean to jump into and clear my head. That may be what makes me move again, maybe to another Mexican beach town. 

My dream, though, is to live in Sicily or another spot in southern Italy part of the year, then a month or so with each of my kids and their families in the U.S., and the rest of the time in my “home base” in Mexico, wherever that ends up being.

Janet Blaser is a writer who has lived in Mexico since 2006. A former journalist in California, her work now focuses on expat living. Janet’s first book, “Why We Left: An Anthology of American Women Expats” is an Amazon bestseller. Follow Janet on Instagram and Facebook.

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