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We moved to Rosarito 4 years ago. We came close to buying a couple of times,but each time something made us uneasy and so we didn't do it. The past month has been interesting in Rosarito and left us questioning where we really want to live. (Long story for another thread, if anyone is interested)

We want to stay in Baja because we have family here, in Rosarito and La Paz. So, I'm looking for any BCS resources I can find online. For example, there are some Facebook resource groups for Baja California Norte. Anything like that for BCS? Any forums specifically for that area? I did find Baja Sur Craig's List. Anything else like that around?

Our 'must haves' - good high speed internet (I work virtually), view of the water (either side) and good medical care.

There's a Yahoo group for expats in La Paz:
lapazgringos : La Paz Gringos
A few of us on TalkBaja live in BCS, so you can also ask questions here.

Originally Posted by BajaGoodLife

We came close to buying a couple of times,but each time something made us uneasy and so we didn't do it. The past month has been interesting in Rosarito and left us questioning where we really want to live. (Long story for another thread, if anyone is interested)

you get spooked?

Originally Posted by BajaGoodLife

We moved to Rosarito 4 years ago. We came close to buying a couple of times,but each time something made us uneasy and so we didn't do it. The past month has been interesting in Rosarito and left us questioning where we really want to live. (Long story for another thread, if anyone is interested)

We want to stay in Baja because we have family here, in Rosarito and La Paz. So, I'm looking for any BCS resources I can find online. For example, there are some Facebook resource groups for Baja California Norte. Anything like that for BCS? Any forums specifically for that area? I did find Baja Sur Craig's List. Anything else like that around?

Our 'must haves' - good high speed internet (I work virtually), view of the water (either side) and good medical care.

I know what you mean as we went through a very similar experience. We had even purchased two side by side lots to build before we eventually made the decision to move further south. There are some forum members here from the Ensenada area, I can help you with info on the San Quintin area and like Kate says, there are active forum members here from the La Paz area.

If you are considering the Bahia Asuncion area, Shari is a terrific resource - here is a website she runs:

Bahia Asuncion

I for one would like to hear the story of what is behind your change in plans. It very well may help others - we get visited by a few thousand visitors per day who only lurk and some of them may appreciate your story...

The long story - yeah, like Whoosh said, "Spooked" is a good term.

A good friend of ours has what we thought was a secure house down by the beach in Rosarito. He had a home invasion. There were 4 guys and it seemed like one of them wouldn't have cared if he killed our friend. Another one of the guys stopped the mean guy.

They tore his house apart looking for money (he didn't have much in the house), took his laptops, ID, his car and a friend's truck that had been left there...secure, he thought.

OK, that could happen anywhere and the mistake our friend made was letting a stranger into his garage to look at a car he had for sale. He got jumped by 2 guys, who let the other two guys in.

Our friend doesn't speak a lot of Spanish and was feeling pretty alone, so we all went down to the police station. Right from the start, the police officer seemed to know a lot about our other friend's truck. Our friend started to describe it and he jumped in and asked if it had plate from such and such state (in Mexico). It did, and that was kind of unusual so we were sure they had found it. There were a couple more incidences like that and so we were sure they had it, otherwise how would they have that info? Two weeks later, no truck. We're certain the police have/had it.

OK, nobody lost their life and they are just things.But it's a little disconcerting to think that you have to protect yourself against the police.

Then we had a strange thing happen. Our son had his MX-plated car outside our garage. (He's got dual citizenship). A Coke truck came roaring down the street, ran a stop sign and hit his car door. Our son got out of the way just in time.

Lots more story of what happened, but in the end, one of the Coke guys came into our garage through the garage door and started taking pictures of our things. He wouldn't get out, I kind of manuevered him to the spot where I could hit the remote control on the garage door and it hit him on the head. FINALLY the police got involved. They wanted to arrest me. Meanwhile, they had just been sitting back while more and more Coke employees showed up and were threatening my son, and then me. My husband came out about then. He had had knee surgery 3 days before and was hobbling, but he just paid everybody off and they went away.

So long and short of it - Coca Cola truck hits a parked car, we are threatened, manager comes inside our house my son is threatened with arrest (because I wont' come out of the house so they could arrest me) and then my husband pays off Coca Cola and the cops.

The Coca Cola trucks had a field day this past weekend, just driving back and forth outside our house. I think it was meant to be intimidating, but it did seem kind of silly. I never expected a Coke gang to actually be Coca Cola. :-)

We're not afraid, so much as annoyed. I remember a post that Ron had about needing to have a community around you because you couldn't count on the police. We knew our neighbors and a lot of them were outside when this was going on.

To bring this thread back to the original subject :-) :

We've been looking at La Paz because we do have some extended family members there. We've also heard that they have really good medical care in La Paz. Our plan is still to build a home in the Baja. But we definitely want to rent first.

I suspect our son would move his family to La Paz if we move, so it would be a bunch of coming down.

Love to get any thoughts about La Paz. What are your favorite areas of town? We don't want to live right on the water, but would like a view. We also like a bit of land for garden space and dogs. My husband's #1 question is about electricity. Does the cost make A/C prohibitive? We have to have reliable high speed Internet, phones and power.

"Reliable" applied to anything in Baja is a relative thing.

LOL Teniente! But, you can always dream.

I'm sure that LongLegsInLaPaz will check in here, she and a couple of other TalkBaja members have lived in La Paz for quite a while (which is stunning considering their youthfullness) and have a great deal of personal experience they will share with you.

In the meantime, take a look for LongLeg's post in the Construction thread histories. This is also a good way to get a sense of the climates in different areas, construction hassles, etc.

Another area to check out deals with medical care. LongLegs has some very informative and La Paz-based posts there as well.

We are heading down there next week for some face to face meetings regarding possibly expanding our business into the area, and will be able to (possibly) make some useful contributions upon our return.

I love that your son and his family may move with you!! One of our concerns is being so far from family, but......I know that if we stayed put in order to be close to kids and grandkids, that within a few years they will have scattered to the corners of the country..

As the others said, ASK Questions.
Or search for stuff posted by "LongLegsInLaPaz" she has been full of info for me.

I/we live in La Paz (my wife is Canadian/Mexican originally from Mexico City).

We have been here for about 1/12 Years (got it right this time BajaGringo )

The rent while you check things out is a good thing.
There is what I concider alot of options as far as property goes. from Costa Mucho to Costa Menos.

I have noticed and I am sure the other Pazenios will agree La Paz is growing, not sure if that is a good thing or bad thing but in the past few years there has been alot of commercial growth in the area.

Hmmmmm....Islander, how do you know what stage of youthfulness I'm presently enjoying?? Who squealed?

BajaGoodLife, I believe that electric rate schedules are the same or very close to the same in Norte & Sur. Summer subsidies/discounts may be applied during different periods of time based on temperature by area. IMO, electricity can be affordable if you are fairly conservative in your overall usage.

For the La Paz area:

Cooler Months
December – April is billed @ lower Basic/Intermediate/Excessive kWh increment levels & higher rate schedules

Hotter Months
May – October is billed @ higher Basic/Intermediate/Excessive kWh increment levels & lower rate schedules

For a more detailed explanation, I'm going to cheat & type less by referring you to:
http://www.mexconnect.com/forums/Gen...ined._P162699/

My Nov/Dec 2012 bill was $638.39 pesos for 577 kWh. On the flip side of the coin, I do know people who consistently pay $20,000 - $30,000 pesos every 2 months! I also have Mexican friends who have a fit if their bill is over $300 pesos for 2 months!

As far as areas, do you want to live in town or a ways outside of town? La Paz has several different options, based on your personal lifestyle choices & what you an afford to pay for your choices. With most in-town properties, you'll find smaller lot sizes. How close do you want to be to various amenities? IMO, it's primarily a matter of personal choice and or need.

Since you have family living in the area, have you talked with them about the various options for various areas? They may have a better feel for your life style. For more specific information, you're going to have to give us more specifics to work with so we can tailor the information we provide to better fit your needs.

CDN_JOHNNY.....longlegsinlapaz has been full of WHAT?

Originally Posted by longlegsinlapaz

Hmmmmm....Islander, how do you know what stage of youthfulness I'm presently enjoying?? Who squealed?

LL, maybe someone send him a picture?

Actually CFE winter rates and quotas are in effect November through April. In summer the quota is higher to allow some use of AC, but "some" does not equal anywhere near 24/7!! We're on Tarifa 1D. My Nov/Dec bill was 345 pesos for 364 kWh. My Sept/Oct bill (humid months with highest usage for me) was 522 pesos for 654 kWh without AC. The difference in summer usage is owing to five large ceiling fans, the pool pump, opening the fridge every 30 seconds for ice and drinks, and use of more water which means pumping it to the roof tank more often.

Generally speaking, a few miles outside of town you can probably get a larger lot with a nicer view. But you have to weigh that against amenities (e.g. paved roads, city water and sewer vs trucked water and septic), and transportation. In some areas, you won't even find a tienda or tortilla shop within walking distance. If your son has children, he'll also have to consider schools. Some outlying areas are on public bus routes, others not.

Since you plan to build a home, you can design it to a certain extent for economical use of power, for example by providing shade overhangs on the sunny side and placing windows to allow maximum summer breeze (usually south and west). Filtered window glass helps. Don't skimp on roof insulation because the sun is brutally hot. Some people also add insulation to the side of the house that gets the afternoon sun. Plan your garden and landscaping with limited water use in mind: cactus, maybe a few palms and fruit trees. Don't try to plant grass or other lush "northern" vegetation, because La Paz is essentially in the middle of the desert.

Originally Posted by longlegsinlapaz

My Nov/Dec 2012 bill was $638.39 pesos for 577 kWh.

577kWh for 60 days? Do you burn candles at night???



We consume more juice living off-grid here in San Quintin. 12-14 kWh/day on average...

Ahh Legs, I knew I was going to get in trouble!

After painting you as "long time La Paz resident" I thought that I should temper that a bit, just to make sure it was clear that you weren't THAT much of a long time resident.

Um, because you were so young and stuff.

Not old. Just crazy experienced.

OK, I'm putting my shovel down, this holes deep enough

edinnopolo, I better not find out that you've been making a profit selling those pics you took online!

Kate, You're right! I stand corrected.....29 days of my Oct 2 - Dec 3 bill were summer schedule & 33 days normal schedule.

BG, I only resort to candles during the infrequent times when I've experienced outages lasting over an hour during the evening hours! I used to use an antique oil lantern.....until the old glass chimney exploded one night! It was hell trying to find & clean up all the fine glass in dim lantern light while barefoot & trying to keep Maggie, Jenny & Bing from walking through it! The last couple of longer evening outages found me out in the garage in my car reading by the map lights!

I'm like mole.....I can make my way around here in the dark! Seriously, I do make a conscious effort to conserve & only have 1 light on in whatever room I'm in & I don't turn on my outside lights unless I'm expecting someone in the evening. If my neighbors were watching, they could track my progress through my casa, since I turn a light on as I enter a room & off as I leave it. Thankfully, Maggie, Jenny & Bing are all too short to reach the light switches!

I think it's a combination of mindset, lifestyle & monthly income.....you paid for your electricity "up front" in the cost of your solar set-up, so you know you won't be getting a humongous bill if you decide to light your place up like the Vegas strip. Unless one of your solar components dies, you don't need to worry about any large "Holy Sh_t" bills for the foreseeable future. There are twice the amount of people living in your place as there are in mine. I haven't resorted to Abe Lincoln's habit of studying by firelight....yet! My daily kWh usage averages 9-10.

Islander, <Was this the emoticon you were looking for? Let's just say I'm old enough to be collecting SS, but I've yet to resort to a rocking chair on the front porch! Did you just call me crazy? No worries!

Our CFE bill averages around 20 kwh per day. We have tried to get it down but I have a daughter who leaves the lights turned on in every room where she travels. I'd love to keep my bill below 1000 pesos but it just doesn't seem possible.

our bi-monthly CFE bill is rarely below 7000. YIKES!!

Thanks for the invitation to ask questions. :-)

What part(s) of La Paz area to live in would you avoid? And which part(s) are your favorite?

In Rosarito, we were happier in a regular Mexican neighborhood. Ideal would be a place with room for our dogs and a pool. (Am I dreaming here?) Internet is important because we work online. Love to have a view. Don't want to live at the beach (everything rusts and it's always a party)

We'd like to rent before we build.

We'll be coming down soon to just look around. Where do you suggest?

Thanks again!