Mentor For Hire Services Eases Your Move To Mexico

Sometimes I marvel at how my wife and I arrived in Guanajuato, Mexico, with so little Spanish and with so few cultural skills. Somehow we managed to survive some pretty severe bumps in the expatriation road. It was in our ninth month of living here when we decided we were sufficiently equipped to handle venturing away from the warm and secure nest that we rented from an American expatriate who had excellent bilingual skills. We believed we were ready to live in "real Mexico" and to cut the ties from this informal but very secure situation. We had a good guy who helped us out, a lot, when the frequent confusion of trying to adapt to a new culture overwhelmed us. We were not ready and could have used someone as a mentor to continue to guide us through our language fumbles and our attempts to develop bicultural fluency.

I don't think I can begin to explain all the various things that can go wrong when you get it into your head to live in another country, especially Mexico. And, wrong they do go. These days, so many Americans and Canadians seem to be attracted to the Prime Living Locations in Mexico where well-developed Gringo infrastructures already exist. Some of these cities are Lake Chapala, Ajijic, Puerto Vallarta, and San Miguel de Allende. However, the prices in these cities are now so high that many of those retiring Americans who once could move into these areas are finding it difficult. Therefore, they are resorting to new expat frontiers like Guanajuato.

My wife and I had no clue when we moved here that so many have been silently moving into the Marfil area of Guanajuato and buying up property. Nor did we know how many well-laid plans were in effect to buy up housing in the city with the intent of renovating the properties and turning a profit by opening Bed and Breakfasts or reselling the newly remodeled house at a hefty profit. It's happening. People are flooding into Guanajuato.

But, OMG, the things that can go wrong without facility in the language and culture! Misunderstandings are guaranteed. Hurt feelings are a sure thing. The Gringo thinks he is prepared and oh, how he is not!

Even if you are just planning on living here to try it out, maybe rent a lovely little villa or casita, stuff goes wrong and hits the fan.

A city in Mexico where no Gringolandia has existed is not going to have that well-honed Gringo infrastructure the other cities have. How the Gringo is treated in a city accustomed to a large Gringolandia and how they are treated in a city like Guanajuato, that has a small but developing Gringolandia, will be as different as night and day.

The first most obvious thing is English is NOT going to be widely spoken. This has been a bane for not only potential Gringo expats but for Gringo tourists as well. To avoid a meltdown requiring a ton or two of Prozac to calm you, get it into your head that where there are few to no Gringolandians running around the place, there is not going to be a plethora of bilingual or bicultural Mexicans to help you. It will pretty much be "Se Habla español" only.

Are you planning a trip to Mexico as a sort of reconnaissance mission to an area of Mexico that you think might be fun to be one of the first to "Go where few Gringos have gone before?" How will you master making reservations in a hotel, hostel, Bed and Breakfast when the person on the other end of the phone has no idea what you are babbling in English? Couldn't someone paving the way for you, mastering the headaches before your arrival, be the ticket?

If you want to see the need for this, just take a gander at the many online travel forums and see what they are writing on the Guanajuato pages. One of the biggest complaints is that American tourists think they have made reservations set in stone and when they arrive here, no one has heard this poor American was coming. If, perchance, the reservation was waiting for them, the American all too often finds none of the extras they asked for.

This nightmare you read on the travel forums is multiplied to the power of infinity and beyond when the Gringos wants do more than just plan a trip to Mexico.

If the Gringo wants to study in Mexico, what happens when the school that promised to pick you up at the airport doesn't show? And, if by some miracle you manage to make it from the airport to the prearranged homestay with a Mexican family, what if the Mexican family whose address you were given as your accommodation has no idea what you are talking about because you only speak English and the family only speaks Spanish? What if the house at the address you were given is vacant?

What about retiring to Mexico? Do you want to rent or buy first? Do you want to build from scratch? Do you want proper documentation to get into the country? What about all the permisos you are required to have to remodel or build a house in Mexico? Want to invest in rental property? The problems associated with this venture are infamously legion and, should I say it, legendary!

Even if all you want is to rent a scrawny little casita, the potential for your naiveté getting you ripped off is magnified.

We have this pal who came to Mexico with virtually no linguistic skills. He rented a house from a Mexican woman who convinced him that if he paid a six-month lump sum for his rental, she would cut him a deal for a discount. He paid and she flew the coop with his money. A few weeks later, the real landlord showed up wanting his rent. The lady had scammed him. She wasn't even the landlord of the property.

And all my friend wanted to do was rent a place in Guanajuato. Imagine what waits for you if you want to buy property, try to secure your own permisos, handle your own visas, and so on.

Having someone who is bilingual, bicultural, and whom you pay to represent you in your expat adventure is not only needed but the time is ripe for such services. I predict this sort of "mentoring for hire" service will have a huge surge in the days to come when our fellow monolingual Americans, realizing they can't afford retirement in America, will be knocking on the door of Mexico.