Ajijic, Mexico $4,000 for 1 Month
- V.Gray
- Sep 3, 2022
- 5 min read
When Greece would not extend our tourist VISAs and we could not get any help from the Consult General back in Canada, we had to come up with a plan on what to do next. It would be March 13 our VISA's expire, which for us was a bit early to head home. We looked into what countries were accepting tourists, how much flights and accommodations would be, then how much flights home to Canada would be. We reached out to Paul and Rhonda (our friends we travelling Vietnam with), they had left Canada in November 2021 for Mexico.
After talking with Paul and Rhonda we figured out how much it was going to cost us to get to Guadalajara, Mexico and stay there for a month. Changing our flights was a bit of pain, Egypt Air would only allow a date change but we had to keep the intianal flight and of course this was going to come at a fee. We would have to fly from Athens, Greece to Toronto, Canada then book another flight from Toronto to Guadalajara, Mexico.
In total we were going to be around 40 hours of travel time, go throw multiple time zones, we would hit 3 continent's and 5 countries during that time.
Our total cost for flight changes, additional flights and baggage in total was $1,320.90 CAD.
We started our journey heading to Guadalajara, Mexico the land were the tequila flows, tacos are plentiful and the sun shine warms your soul. Landing in Guadalajara we then took a 45 minute drive (this was at 1 am, during the day its closer to hour and a bit traffic depending) to Ajijic. A beautiful charming little town in the mountains close to Chapala. Ajijic is on Lake Chapala the biggest fresh water lake in Mexico, also the most polluted. You can swim in it if you choose, we did not and we did not see many locals swimming either.
Photo Credit: V.Gray
We stayed at our first AirBnB for 8 days, it was quiet and charming. You enter off the mainroad into a well lite hallway leading you into a court yard surrounded by yellow buildings.
One of my favourite things about Mexico is how brightly coloured everything is painted and beautiful art work people paint on the walls. This Air BnB has 4 rooms and 1 under renovations. We were on the second floor over looking the court yard with a great view of the mountains.
The room itself is very basic with a fridge, microwave, coffee maker and toaster it was a great starting point for our days and the breeze flowed nicely through the room making it easy to work in the afternoon and sleep at night. A lot of places in Ajijic do not have A/C because they climate is so mild it is not needed.
Photo Credit:V.Gray
The cost for this AirBnB for 1.5 weeks was $385.48 CAD, this included someone picking us up at the airport.
As we spent more in Ajijic we feel in love with the simplity, rustic and easy way of life. Nothing is a rush, it happens when it happens, people ride their horses to work and around the town daily (you will actually find small farms in the town), rustic feel of the coble stoned roads and builds are something you read about in books.
Our second spot in Ajijic was Mel's Casa Social, which is a bar and restuarant but they have 3 rooms they rent for bed and breakfast.
This is where Paul and Rhonda had been satying for a few months already and liked it, since we were spending most of our time togther anyways and Mel's had a pool we moved here as well. The family that owns the establishment is very nice and knowledgable on the area. Our room itself was basic, mini fridge, kettle and a fan. We had access the kitchen, pool area and could order from the restaurant if we choose to. The breakfast was set up family style dinning every morning and suppose to be from 9 am until 10 am however it normally started at 8:30 am and was packed up by 9:30 am. Photo Credit: V.Gray
It is a very quirky little spot and we did enjoy our time there.
The cost for Mels BnB was $445 CAD for our 3 weeks stay.
Throughout other trips I have been a lot more aware of our spending and stayed on top of our cash flow. However by the time we got to Mexico we were both so happy to be out of Greece and away from airports I just wrote down our general numbers and did not track how we spent our money.
I can tell you if you want to spend more money go to the western restuarants and bars, you can spend anywhere from 500 pesos ($32 CAD) a person per meal easily.
If you enjoy local food, as much as we do we could hit a taco stand for 13 pesos ($0.85 CAD) a taco and have dinner for a 120 pesos ($7.60 CAD) or share a meal (the portions in Mexico are massive) for 200 pesos ($12 CAD). Either way we could eat for two people under $25 CAD a day.
Photo Credit: V.Gray
We also food beverages to be cheap and some vendord had 2 for 1 deal starting at 200 pesos ($12 CAD) for 1 Liter beverages. We did take advantage of that a couple of times. We also went horse back riding through the mountains and town of Chapal which was 500 pesos ($32 CAD) per couple with a 100 peso tip. Which you rode for over 2 hours everytime, stop for cevasas (beer) and they tacked up your horses for you. We did find because of the elevation in Ajijic that we were drinking a lot more water inbetween drinks so our hangovers weren't as bad as they could have been.
We had a total of $2,000 CAD cash that we changed into pesos for this part of trip.
Photo Credit: Rhonda M.C.
We look back on this years trip from Greece to Mexico and the part that we talk about the most our time in Ajijic. I couldn't tell you if it was the change in climate from over cast dreey weather to the sunshine and heat, the trouble we got into with our friends and together or if it was just the atmosphere and feeling of relaxation that finally took over us. However we both enjoyed ourselves and do discuss going back to this region in Mexico.
Cheers!
**Please note that all opinions and views expressed in this post are my own, from my own experiences. If you would like to see more pictures follow me on Instagram vikki.gray **
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