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About a million Americans live in Mexico. Many are retirees looking for good weather and less expensive living. The State of Oaxaca is aiming to grab its share of American seniors. Shannon Young reports.

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KATY CLARK: American retirees have been moving to Mexico for decades. They still are despite all the bad news from Mexico lately. Many are drawn by simple economics. Retirement dollars just go further in Mexico than they do in the United States. But retiring to Mexico has its challenges, as reporter Shannon Young found out in Oaxaca.

SHANNON YOUNG: An estimated one million retired Americans live in Mexico, with many of them concentrated in and around Guadalajara and coastal resort towns. Ex-pats wanting to avoid US style developments opt to move to areas less populated by their compatriots. Mary Stecker of Chicago sums up what drew her and her husband Bill to Oaxaca.

MARY STECKER: The people, the culture, all the things that are involved there. It’s really the epicenter of Mexican handicrafts. And the food in Oaxaca is fabulous and the climate you cannot beat.

SHANNON YOUNG: Bill Stecker recalls what happened when he and Mary announced their decision to move south.

BILL STECKER: The reaction was from many of her family is ‘Where is it you’re going? And why? And how are you going to get health care?”

SHANNON YOUNG: Dr. Alberto Zamacona, a general practitioner many ex-pats turn to, says most medical procedures are available in Oaxaca, but some specialized tests can require travel to a large Mexican city or the US.

ALBERTO ZAMACONA: It depends on the patient. You know, can he afford to go back to the States? Does he have Medicare? Does he have secondary insurance? Or if he doesn’t, but usually these type of very sophisticated tests are not that necessary in the majority of patients.

SHANNON YOUNG: Many ex-pats live on Social Security. They can buy cheap insurance through Mexico’s public health care system, and pay out-of-pocket for visits to affordable private doctors. Again, Dr. Zamacona.

ALBERTO ZAMACONA: Many of the retirees here are not affluent. Many of them are, you know, just, they can make ends meet a little bit better in Oaxaca than they could in the States, so they have a better quality of life here.

SHANNON YOUNG: The Mexican Association of Retirement Communities estimates that as many as five million retired Americans could be living in Mexico 10 years from now. How the so-called Gray Tsunami will change relations with the local population remains to be seen. Canadian Alvin Starkman says language and adherence to cultural norms are crucial to acceptance.

ALVIN STARKMAN:  Ex-pats can get by without Spanish and hanging around with other ex-pats, but if you want to become integrated into the broader Oaxacan community, the broader Oaxacan community will accept you. It’s just a matter of trying to speak the language and being receptive to going to quince años, going to weddings, going to different fiestas.

SHANNON YOUNG: Although well established, the ex-pat population in Oaxaca City is small in comparison to towns that have become recognized enclaves for foreign retirees. This could explain why sentiments against foreigners are not evident on the surface in Oaxaca. But Teri Gunderson explains a subtle way newcomers can be made to feel unwelcome.

TERI GUNDERSON: Every once in a while I get a little frustrated that people will give you what we call the gringo price. And I’ve lived here long enough that I always ask the price and then I’ll ask the price of the place next door and I’m a little clearer. And that makes me angry that I get charged a gringo price. And I don’t mind a little gringo price, but I do mind when they’ve doubled it.

SHANNON YOUNG: When surveying ex-pats about the unexpected challenges of living in Mexico, bureaucracy always topped the list. The multiple steps and forms required to do everything from registering for a language class to renewing a visa can seem burdensome for those accustomed to the convenience of US consumer culture. For The World, I’m Shannon Young in Oaxaca City.

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