Living in Rosarito Beach, Baja Ca, Mex
Ive lived in Tijuana, Rosarito & now in the Ensenada area and I would definitely recommend Ensenada as it is farther away from the border so you have less "undesirable" people due to the distance. There are more deportees in TJ & Rosarito than the Ensenada area and the expats here seem to be more higher-income than in the other two areas. You might check the La Jolla/Punta Banda area as it is nicer than e city of Ensenada and much less noise and mostly Americans. You have to remember the closer to the border you are the more you have to deal with crime and illegal activity.
SOOOOOOOOOOOO much better.
Any tips on landing a position in work from home? Or is your company hiring?
I am a java developer and live in the Detroit area. I am planning to move to Mexico and will need to have an income coming in
Thank you,
Daniel
I lived in a gated community in a supposedly good area which was a joke as the gate was rarely manned.  I had enough encounters with rather undesirable persons to make me somewhat fearful. And for the record I have traveled on my own to six continents in all kinds of cities, I am a careful traveler but not unusually fearful. I have had several friends leave Rosarito. One was fairly established, now living in Mexico City, a tv journalist.Â
Please do NOT include Playas in your Tijuana commentary. PLAYAS is a great place to live. I am 84, on my own, limited Spanish, came to Baja in 2006 with no problems. I do not go out at night. I do not travel into those bad areas of Tijuana but I do go to Zone Rio with no worries.
If I did not feel safe, I would not choose to live in Playas.
Ive been to the "Zona" many times. Big deal. It reminds me of a typical mall in the states.Â
You may have travelled around the world, to tourist traps and "gone native" for pics to show friends back home. But whenever you see a real "foreigner" you run and hide, shivering in paranoia.Â
Please enjoy your safe, secure, gated, lilly white existence in the 3rd world. Have fun shopping in those Americanized malls, my dear.
The age of my friends run the gamut from young adults to my own age group. I fail to see that has anything to do with whether or not Playas is a safe place to live.
Everyone has the right to be wrong, even you, and based on my experiences I still maintain that Playas is a great place to live.......and not in an expat setting. Having someone pull a knife and threaten me was enough to convince me I did not want to live in Rosarito.  My friend who moved to Mexico city after several years in Rosarito is a TV journalist. He chose to relocate to Mexico City because of the crime rate in Rosarito.Â
Have a great life. I will not consider any further comments on your commentary. It is not worth my time.
Can we please calm down here?Â
Thank you
Priscilla
Food prices are about the same. Baja in general tends to be more expensive for food as a lot of stuff is shipped from mainland Mexico.
@maryellen1952,
To whom are your posts intended to ?Â
Cheers,
Bhavna
would live a very simple, almost monastic life. A major factor is of course cost of
living. Can you give a ballpark on rent and food, utilities etc.
Thanks, Bob
I don't know what one means by "artsy" but I would not classify Rosarito or TJ as "artsy"; both places are full of expats and the farther south you go the age increases so many places such as Rosarito there are lots of age 65 plus Americans.
I would start reading the Spanish online news to get a good idea of how "safe" you would consider it esp. in TJ & Rosarito who continue to have spikes in crime due to cartels fighting over drug routes. Everyday I read any of the Baja Spanish news there are always murders in both places and many times several killings within an 8 hour period. So the best thing you can do is read a lot of news online (don't limit to English as most don't report any bad news) and become aware of what is going on.
Crime report for Rosarito for first seven months of 2015. That makes it the most deadly city in North America.
I have been considering relocating to Baja from Canada. Single male 56. I am wondering if you have made the move yet, are you still looking for a room-mate, etc. I am a kind, quiet, easy person to get along with, and it would be nice to know someone there, share a place with, etc. - either rent, or purchase.
Looking forwards to hearing from you,
Tony
Hello,
I have been considering relocating to Baja from Canada. Single male 56. I am wondering if you have made the move yet, are you still looking for a room-mate, etc. I am a kind, quiet, easy person to get along with, and it would be nice to know someone there, share a place with, etc. - either rent, or purchase.
Looking forwards to hearing from you,
Tony
maryellen1952 wrote:If one has any doubt that Rosarito is any safer than Tijuana you might read this. Unfortunately since most expats doesn't speak or read Spanish they have very limited info about what is really going on where they live. Most of the English rarely addresses the issue of crime. This has been translated from Spanish. A good site to read for news which includes both good and bad is the Baja y Mas Facebook page.
Crime report for Rosarito for first seven months of 2015. That makes it the most deadly city in North America.
Why would you put a link to a well know Baja/Mexico hate site infested with trolls and their sock puppets?
Hank
maryellen1952 wrote:The same news is all over the Mexican newspapers but if you don't read Spanish you won't know. Perhaps you're one of those expats who doesn't like to read bad news and would rather keep your head in the sand. As the saying goes "ignorance is bliss".
As if you know about Baja exclusively only after a few years. Maybe you should get a clue and not me. By the way this statement of your´s is typical troll bait. I´m done:
 I keep my US HMO and when I need something more than just "routine" treatment I cross the border to Scripps. Interestingly enough, I once called the Rosarito 911 equivalent 4 years ago. The ambulance  came with an English speaking MD. Cost for the ambulance was $7. My 'emergency" was treated at home. I did not need to go to a cliinc or hospital. No charge for the MD/s services.
With the right kind of visa you can get national insurance. I have never
tried to do this but I have friends that use it and like it.
Once when I felt quite ill (seriously so) I crossed with a friend who was driving enroute to Scrippsm going through the regular crossing lanes at 8 pm. (no sentri) When we got to the USA customs booth, the agent could immediately see that I was in great distress and offered to call 911 for me. I knew WHY I was in distress as,
I had had this kind of episode a few times before in my life and knew the drill. I knew that we could continue on to Scripps without endangering my life. I also knew that I was looking at a hospital stay of several days which would be covered by my HMO.
I understand there is also a lane for medical emergencies which I was unaware of at that time. I just mention this to show how helpful the customs agent was.
A Mexican NGO (non-governmental organization) called the Consejo Ciudadano para la Seguridad Pública y Justicia Penal, A.C. (Citizen Council for Public Security and Penal Justice) did a study on crime, and determined that Rosarito is the 5th most violent municipio (county) in all of Mexico.
- mexidata.info/id4079.htm
If that does not convince you, take a look at the Mexican government figures for Rosarito:
We are visiting Rosarito very soon to prepare to relo.
There was a tip here about Rosarito Rentals. Thanks. Can you tell us more about Southern Rosarito? We are looking for a nice affordable 2/1 or 2/2 with ocean views but not to far from where people congregate, so we can meet new friends!
We are building our MX budget and eating out aside, and using farmers markets local grocery (and occasional runs to Costco) is $500 a month a reasonable number for 2? It may seem obvious but is MX Costco cheaper than US version?
Any tips about work visas or health insurance for gringos? Thanks so much.
Crime is something we don't obsess on, but safety tips, including neighborhoods to choose ( not all US folks is fine) is appreciated. Finally are there free or inexpensive Spanish intensives so we can ramp up our Spanish fast? I can read a bit, have vocabulary but need Spanish 1 to get going. Thanks everyone.
sporty2001 wrote:I have been to Rosarito beach many times but that was 20 years ago. I love it there and am thinking of moving there. Just a few questions. Can I trust the banking system? What about using a cell phone? Who do I contact to help me find a 1 bedroom apartment I heard some apts have no fridge stove etc? I have a truck what about insurance repairs shops and driving there? Im going to come down in October and check it out. How is the lobster at puerto Nuevo still great?
Every cell company in Mexico offers calls and text to the US at local rates.
There are plans starting at 100 pesos a month that give you unlimited calls and text plus a small number of MB of data. 100 pesos is about $5.50USD/mo. All you need to do is buy that companies chip and install it in your unblocked phone. If it's still blocked, getting it unblocked should cost less than 250 pesos.
With the company I use, Movistar, the chip was free with the first month's plan.
Thanks
So far everything I've seen online seems to be the same listings, and the same prices, just listed under different agents. Am I missing something in my search? Are there local agencies maybe that are not online?
Thanks in advance!
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