In a nutshell. The Federal Republic of Mexico with its area of 760,373 square miles and its population pushing 30 millions is the third largest nation of North America (following Canada and the United States) but the second largest in population.

Considering the fact that she is an immediate neighbor of ours, it is astonishing how many misconceptions Americans who have never been to Mexico have acquired. Perhaps this is because the least colorful, the least desirable sections of this fascinating country are right on our border and directly across from Texas, New Mexico, Arizona and California. In fact, the traveler has to proceed several hundred miles into the interior before he finds what could be called the "real Mexico."

If I had to spend the rest of my life in any one country and couldn't choose my own, I think it would be Mexico that I selected. There is certainly no other country I have seen in the world that offers so much in the way of the enjoyable things of life. She has scenic beauty to rival anything in Switzerland; her climate tops by far that of Spain, Italy and Greece; her food rivals that of any European land save France, and any Oriental country save China; her historic monuments are surpassed only by Egypt; the variety of her countryside is rivaled nowhere from the deserts of the north, to the cool plateaus of her central sections, to the jungles of Yuca­tan. You can ski in summer, if you wish, or swelter in winter. Or you can abide in such high altitude towns as Cuernavaca or Guana­juato, where the tropical climate is cooled by the seven thousand feet that they are above sea level. Here you will be comfortable wearing your sport jacket in August, nor will you need more in January.

Only a few years ago Mexico was comparatively unknown to we Americans from the United States. The majority of us had a vague picture which involved Pancho Villa, played by Wallace Beery, dashing over the countryside, shooting and burning, and sneering at "the gringos." We thought of Mexico as backward, her people barefooted peons a hundred years behind the "civilized" nations of the world.

But then a change began to come over us. Our art students returning from Europe informed us that in Paris and Rome the most famous "American" artists were not from the United States, as far as opinion in Europe was concerned, but were Rivera, Orozco, Siqueiros and Tamayo, from Mexico. Occasional visitors south of the border returned with the information that Mexico city was one of the most cosmopolitan and beautiful large cities in the world.

And then, following the war, we began to hear in earnest of the cheap prices. Why, you could live in a fabulous beauty spot for less than a hundred a month!

So we began to visit this land to our south. First a trickle, then a stream of tourists, and then a fabulous rush which is still taking place. As in any land which enjoys (or suffers, according to how you look at it) a tourist boom, certain cities became centers of tourism and prices there zoomed. Such places as Acapulco, famed Pacific coast beach resort, quickly became almost as expensive as Florida or California. Cuernavaca, just south of Mexico City, be­came a city of retired wealthy folk, sky-high in price by Mexican standards. Mexico City itself began to feel the boom and American style apartments and houses upped in price.

But tourists have a tendency to get in a rut. Like ants, they fol­low blindly their leaders, speed madly along the same paths. The real Mexico, the Mexican Mexico, the beautiful Mexico, the economical Mexico, is still there—off the tourist routes. All of which we intend to prove in this chapter.

I can say without hesitation that there is no country in the world more suited for the average American to retire in than Mexico. If you have a small pension or income, you will find it as cheap as any place where you can enjoy gracious living. If you wish to take up part time work or start a little business deal of your own, here too Mexico offers as many opportunities as any. The country is booming.

There is another great advantage. Mexico is so available that you can experiment there. Whatever your present occupation, you can take off a little time, run down to Mexico and "case" the situation. Find the town you like. Find your own niche. Get your project under way—if it's a project that you have in mind.

ENTRY REQUIREMENTS. No passport is needed to enter Mexico, but you do need a tourist card which is issued at any Mexican consulate, or at any entry point at the border. All you need have is some proof of identity such as a birth certificate, a service discharge, or some such. This permit costs three dollars and is good for six months. At the end of that time you must make a trip to the border to have your permit renewed.

At the border your car will be listed on your tourist permit and if you are carrying a typewriter, portable radio, or such equip­ment it too will be listed. When you come back to the border either to leave the country or have your permit renewed, you must have all of these things with you or suffer a fine. In short, they don't want you to sell them in Mexico.

This type of entry suffices for the average person, however, if you wish to operate a business or to work, it becomes more com­plicated. See further along under the heading, Work Permission.

TRANSPORTATION. Getting to Mexico couldn't be more simple. You can drive your own car or take a bus, train, airplane or a ship. For that matter you can ride a bike or hitch-hike.

By car there are several points of entry including Brownsville, Laredo, McAllen and El Paso, Texas; Nogales, Arizona; and Mexicali, California. Of these we would recommend Laredo, if you are coming from the East; El Paso, as the central entry point; and Mexicali from the West Coast. I do not recommend entry from Brownsville, on the Gulf of Mexico. The last time I drove over the road between Brownsville and Ciudad Victoria, I all but ruined my car. Of course, that was several years ago, but nobody is in a particular hurry, in Mexico. Possibly the road has been repaired considerably, but I'd check first.

As a rule, the roads are quite good. You need not expect dirt affairs on which you compete with burros. The main highways leading down from the border are on an average as good as we find in our own western states, sometimes better.

By bus, it will cost you a bit less than $50 between New York and Mexico City. From border towns such as Laredo or El Paso, you can get bus passage for about ten dollars to Mexico City. Remember, if you are on a shoestring budget, that there are dif­ferent class buses in this country. There are wonderful first class vehicles, the same as our best Greyhounds. At the other extreme are fourth class buses, primitive affairs held together with bailing wire and scotch tape—although somehow they get you there. Needless to say, these fourth class buses are a fraction the cost of the better ones.

The Aztec Eagle, running between Laredo and Mexico City is one of the best trains, bar none, on the North American continent. Coach fare is about ten dollars, possibly a dollar or so more these days. This train was made in Switzerland for the Mexican govern­ment, is built of aluminum, goes like the wind, and has every convenience including showers in the rest rooms.

Flying will cost you just about a hundred dollars from New York to Mexico City, obviously less from cities closer by. If you are go­ing to the Yucatan peninsula, from either Miami or New Orleans, fare is about $50. Yucatan is the most untouched part of Mexico and one of the most fabulous places in the world.

You can also take ship from just about any American port and land at Vera Cruz on the East coast, or Acapulco or one of the more northerly ports on the West coast. Check with any travel agency on this, there are too many possibilities to list here.

§

THE MEXICANS. Just as we Americans have had a misconcep­tion of Mexico, thinking it a land of desert, rather than of fabulous beauty, so we have had a poor picture of the Mexican people. Possibly this is because the Mexicans we have come in contact with most in our own country were the poorest elements to be found among them. Each year tens of thousands of Mexicans cross the border to work in our fields. Obviously these are no more the average Mexican that our migrant farm workers are the average American.

Mexicans, like ourselves, differ greatly. The educated Mexican of Mexico City is a cultured, progressive person and very possibly took his schooling in an American or European university, al­though many Mexican schools are excellent. The University of Mexico, just south of Mexico City, is the most outstanding in Latin America.

To the other extreme are the natives—you might almost say savages—who live in the jungles of the interior in Yucatan, Quin-tana Roo and Campeche. They exist much as did their ancestors before the coming of the Spaniards, even the bow and arrow being in daily use.

Between these two extremes is the average Mexican. Proud of his country and its revolutionary traditions, he is the most cour­teous person in the world. He is also generous, a great lover of his family, hard working (in spite of all of our "siesta" jokes to the contrary), loyal to his friends, and hospitable to strangers.

And above all, he is picturesque. There is nothing in Europe to equal the Mexican fiesta. The costume, the fireworks, the dancing and music in the streets. All over Mexico are dancing clubs, some­what similar to our "square dance societies" which keep alive the dances of the Aztecs, Mayans and other pre-conquest Mexican peoples.

To think of the Mexican as an ignorant, shifty-eyed, untrust­worthy "greaser" is as silly as to picture the average Russian as black bearded and with a bomb in each hand.

MONEY. One of the reasons why Mexico is so very cheap for Americans is the excellent exchange between peso and dollar. We receive 12.50 pesos for each dollar, and in many commodities you will find a peso will buy almost what a dollar will in our own country.

As the international finance expression goes, the peso is "peg­ged" to the dollar. The United States supports the peso, in other words, and on the money market in Switzerland and Tangier if the dollar goes up so does the peso and vice versa. There is no advantage then in attempting to buy pesos at cut rates on the money markets. Yet get as good an exchange in a Mexican bank as you will anywhere.

By the way, Mexican banks pay from 6% to 8% on savings accounts and Mexican bonds up to 10% interest. So, theoreti­cally, if you had twelve or fourteen thousand dollars in capital on hand, you could retire in Mexico and live off the interest. Trouble here is that in the last ten years Mexico has devaluated the peso more than once, and there is no particular reason to believe she won't do it again. It would be a mistake then to transform your dollars into pesos on a long term investment.

§

WORK PERMISSION. You are not allowed to take employment in Mexico without a work permit, nor are you allowed to start a business except under certain conditions. However, the conditions are not difficult to meet, or, in many cases are ignored.

If you plan to work or open a business in Mexico, you should plan on achieving inmigrado status which takes a period of five years in all, during which you have to spend at least nine months a year in Mexico. This has nothing to do with losing your American citizenship, it is just a matter of becoming a permanent resident of Mexico and achieving all rights of citizens of Mexico except the right to vote or participate in politics.

There are various requirements involved in becoming an in­migrado and some of these change from time to time. For the latest dope, write to Secretaria de Governacion, Mexico City; or Mexican Government Tourist Bureau, 8 West 51st Street, N.Y.C.; or to the Mexican Consulate, 745 Fifth Avenue, N.Y.C.

With inmigrado status you need no work permit. Without such status you can still work if you get a permit. Such permits are issued if the company that wants you can prove to the government that a Mexican can't handle the job. For instance, we had a friend in Acapulco who was an American cook. He got a wonderful job teaching the Mexican cooks in the swank Acapulo hotels and restaurants how to cook American dishes. No trouble getting a permit at all.

You can also make money in Mexico, if the money comes from without the country. That is, suppose you started a little ceramics business in the area around Lake Patzcuaro, from whence comes some of Mexico's best pottery. If all your ceramics were sent up to the United States and dollars came back, then the Mexican government certainly has no argument with you.

You can also open a business in Mexico if your investment exceeds $23,000. That may not sound like a lot of money to an American—many of us have that much tied up in our homes—but with $23,000 in Mexico you're in business. Even putting it into a savings account in a bank, you make $1,840 a year, which is suf­ficient for a couple to live on very nicely. But such firms as the Carta Blanca breweries, of Monterrey, largest brewery in Mexico and one of the largest in North America, customarily pay 12% to 14% dividends. Stock in such a concern would also be more of a hedge against inflation of the money since, if the government de­valuated the peso, stock prices would probably rise.

But on what you could do with a bit of capital in Mexico we will deal with under our "Case Histories."

PRICES. I'm going to start this off with a slap in the face.

I know a Canadian girl, her name is Donna May and she hails from Montreal, who hitchhiked down to Guadalajara, Mexico, and lived there for a full month on ten dollars. You heard me. I'm not saying she led a high old life, but her full month in Mexico cost her ten dollars.

This is how her expenses broke down. She and three other girls rented a very large sized room in a private home for four dollars a month, which is about average. They had a small kerosene stove on which they cooked stews and various Mexican dishes. At the end of the month, counting her one dollar rent, Donna had spent a total of ten dollars.

Now that's a pretty extreme case, but it gives you an idea. I know of many single people who have lived nicely with an apart­ment of their own, including modern bath and kitchen, for $45 and $50. And I myself, complete with wife and dog, have stayed in San Miguel de Allende for $100 a month during which time we kept a full time maid and drove a car. An income of $150 a month leads to two servants instead of one and a larger house with larger gardens. On $200 a month such towns as San Miguel de Allende and Ajijic can become virtual paradises. Let's break this down into definite prices. Some of these may be off the beam a bit since it has been three or four years since I resided in San Miguel, however, I still correspond with friends there and keep up on the tourist literature. Prices may have gone up somewhat, but, if so, there are other towns, less touched by Americans, where prices are even lower than in San Miguel de Allende.

Rents are the most basic thing. When we first arrived in San Miguel we took an apartment with Bill Englebrecht for two hun­dred pesos a month. Besides a tremendous view out over the town from our terrace, we had a living room, dining room, bedroom, modern kitchen with gas stove, and a modern bath. Everything worked perfectly—Bill Englebrecht being a German. We also had the use of a king-size refrigerator (sometimes a luxury in Latin America), very handy for chilling our beer and keeping our meat over-night. Two hundred pesos, at present exchange, comes to $16. The apartment was furnished, of course, and came complete with linens, kitchen equipment and even dishes. I estimate that you would pay between $75 and $100 for the same apartment in the average American city. Except for one thing, you would never have that view.

Food? Filet mignon at that time was about 32$ a pound, but we hear that now it is up to nearly 50$. Roasts and chops are about 27$ a pound these days, and other meats such as cabrite (kid) are correspondingly cheaper. French type rolls run about 10$ a dozen with other breadstuffs in proportion and milk is less than 10$ a quart. Coffee is comparatively cheap since the Mexico government puts a ceiling on it; about 40$ a pound although you can get cheaper blends. Chickens and turkeys are apt to be on the tough side, so the thing is to buy them alive and fatten them up for a week or two out in the garden or patio. I've bought medium sized turkeys for as little as 88$ apiece. It's in fruits and vegetables that you hit the jackpot. This is the tropics and all year round you get the tops in these foods. Avacados are a few pennies apiece, tree ripened oranges a penny apiece, pineapples a dime apiece, and payaya, bananas, grapefruit, strawberries a fraction of what we pay in the north.

Servants? A maid will cost about eight dollars a month. A bit more for a trained cook; a bit less for an untrained girl. A gardener will go about fifty cents a day and if you have extensive gardens about your home or in the patio, a common practice is to share a gardener with one or more other families. Two days at your house, four elsewhere. This sounds cold blooded, but most Americans don't feed their servants the same food they eat themselves. Beans, rice and tortillas are their usual staff of life. And they are usually surprised if you give them a day off each week—they work seven days for Mexican families and 12 to 14 hours a day. Frankly, I could never bring myself to this sort of treatment: our girls worked eight hours and six days a week and ate whatever they wanted.

Entertainment? Mexico is one of the few countries left of which I know where it is possible to entertain on a budget. Bacardi rum costs about 60^ a liter when you buy it in four or five liter garafons. Tequilla is considerably cheaper but gin and brandy are about the same as rum, perhaps a little more. Even Coca Colas are less expensive than in the States, going for ?>Yi$ a bottle. Beer is where you hit the beverage jackpot. Mexican beer is as good as any in the world. Carta Blanca and Bohemian rival anything in Germany, Holland or Denmark and are far better than American brews. Price? The premium beers sell for 8^ a bottle in a bar. Buying Victoria, or Monterrey beer, which are not so highly advertised, can bring this down ever further. For your party, Mariachi bands will play dance music and sing haunting Mexican songs for a couple of dollars for the whole evening.

Gasoline, car repairs, and so forth? Gas is cheaper than in the States and of comparable quality. Mexican mechanics are excellent and prices astonishingly low. Parts are expensive and if you have trouble in some small towns, sometimes you have to wait until your part can arrive from the nearest larger city. However, having to improvise has made this a science in Mexico. Often the Mexican mechanic will make the part for you, right on the spot.

Clothing, shoes? A dress made to order of handloomed material will run possibly three dollars. A reboza, the ever present shawl of the Mexican woman, which might cost ten dollars and up in the States, sells for $2. Women's casual shoes and slippers are priced from .40 up. Most Americans have their shoes made to order. Possibly the best buy I have ever had in shoes was made in San Miguel de Allende. I bought a pair of huaraches in the market for 12 pesos (96$) which were soled with tire rubber. They lasted me for three years and I wore them almost daily. I grew so fond of these heavy sandals that when they finally wore out I tried to have them duplicated. Ten dollars was the cheapest estimate I could get in Florida.

But I don't want to give the impression that all Americans who retire in Mexico live for a hundred dollars a month. Obviously not. At one time, when I was feeling more than usually flush, I rented a house in San Miguel de Allende which was built on three levels up against a hillside. The first level was devoted to a living room of monstrous size and which included a fountain and fish pool with water trickling down over natural rocks that has once been part of the hillside. When we gave our housewarming party we put seventy-five persons four servants and a mariachi band into this room and weren't particularly cramped. A picturesque stairway took us up to the next level which included two bedrooms, two baths and a study. The next level had a dining room, kitchen, laundry, sun deck and a porch. All the house was well furnished, and in the living room in particular, decorated with Mexican santos paintings and other art objects, some of them from former Indian temples, some from Spanish Colonial times. Outside there was over an acre of land with flowers, including orchids, and fruit trees, We employed to keep this place going, two full time girls, a part time gardener, and paid a portion of the gateman's pay—iron gates protected the whole development which contained half a dozen houses of approximately equal size to our own. And, oh yes, there had been a swimming pool, but the former tenants had two small children and were afraid they might fall in so the landlord oblig­ingly had the pool filled in.

What did we pay for this establishment? Thirty-six dollars a month.

I don't want to give you the wrong idea, however, San Miguel de Allende is one of the cheaper cities. Acapulco, Cuernavaca, Monterrey and Mexico City are considerably higher. You must get off the beaten track to find these ultra-bargains.

PARTICULARLY RECOMMENDED LOCALITIES. Mexico has so much to offer in desirable climate, scenic beauty, cities and towns, that it is largely a matter of your own taste.

If only a city can please you, then realize that Mexico City is one of the most beautiful in the world, often compared to Paris, and has a population of approximately three million which makes it one of the largest in the Western Hemisphere. The cheapest really large city of which I know, Mexico City still has all of the advantages of the metropolis. Theatres, museums, restaurants, modern shops, night clubs, libraries, schools. Its climate is superb seeing that it is in the tropics but nestled 7,500 feet in the mountains.

Or you have the smaller towns, also in the mountains, or the wonderful fishing towns along both coasts, such as Manzanillo which has many similarities to Acapulco, further south, but is comparatively untouched by Americans or other foreigners. Prices are lower than average, fishing is wonderful, and the seafood including lobsters, crabs, and turtles is simply out of this world.

If you're artistically inclined, and particularly like to associate with your fellow Americans, the Lake Chapala area might be for you. Very cheap, very artistic, several little towns to choose from, the most popular of which is Ajijic.

If you prefer not to go too far from the States, but are still inclined to the "away from it all" dream, you might consider Alamos, a former silver center with mansions and palaces galore from the days when Mexican silver supplied the world. For a time almost a ghost city, Alamos is making a comeback through Ameri­cans who have drifted down. It's located only a couple of hundred miles or so south of Nogales, Arizona.

But my personal favorities are San Miguel de Allende, where I lived off and on for eighteen months, and Merida, Yucatan, for me one of the most charming cities in the world and one of the more remote.

San Miguel, which I've already described to some extent above, is an old Spanish Colonial town and so attractive that the Mexican government has made it a national monument. The streets are cobbled, no signs, neon or otherwise, are allowed and no changes can be made in a building without government permission. No new houses can go up until approved as not conflicting with the town architecture.

Some years ago an art school was begun in San Miguel and for a time was extremely successful. However a scandal arose and the school lapsed to be followed not long afterward by the present Instituto Allende which teaches just about every art and handicraft ever thought of and at cut rate prices. There are a good many artists of all types in San Miguel besides those at the school. In fact, it is estimated that approximately 300 Americans either practicing the arts or interested in them are present at San Miguel at any one time.

The presence of so many Americans has led to the establishment of an English book store, the presence of American canned foods and American drugs, and to the coming of English speaking doc­tors and dentists. American movies can be seen at the local theatres.

Although 7,000 feet high in the mountains of Guanajuato, you have year around swimming since there is a hot springs a short ways out of town. There are two pools, one extremely hot, one pleasantly warm.

Mexico City is approximately two hundred miles to the south over good roads. In fact, some of the local bullfight fans drive down in the morning every Sunday and then, after the fight, drive back home that night.

But as pleasant as I found San Miguel de Allende and as much as I loved living there, I believe that if I were to return to Mexico I would wish to live this time in Merida, or Progresso, in Yucatan.

Although Merida, Yucatan's capital, is one of Mexico's larger cities with its population of more than 160,000 it is practically unknown to the average Mexican—not to speak of the average tourist. This is because although Yucatan is a Mexican state, it is cut off from the balance of the country by all but inpenetrable jungle. It is possible to get to Merida by land by using a com­bination of train and road, but it is a difficult expedition taking the better part of a week. Instead, for years the usual method of reach­ing Merida was by boat from Vera Cruz to Progresso and thence by road to Merida. Now, the airlines use Merida as a stopping point winging their way south, and this is the most popular tourist method of arriving in the country.

Cut off like this Merida gets few tourists and as a consequence has built up a culture of its own in many ways dissimilar to the Mexican way of life further north. Then too, the Mayan Indians are considerably different in appearance than those nearer Mexico City.

Prices are so nearly the same as elsewhere in Mexico that I shall not comment upon them, but I must point out that here fishing and hunting are supreme. The jungles are so thick that it would be impossible to hunt them out and consequently game is available at all times. Venison is on the menu every meal of the day, in every restaurant, and the Mayans have developed some venison dishes I've never seen elsewhere.

Food in general is all but free, so lavishly does the tropical climate supply it. And as generous as is the land, so is the sea. Sea food such as is to be found in the markets of Merida is unrivaled elsewhere in quantity and in quality.

For the student, the fabulous ruins left by the Mayan civiliza­tions are everywhere and awesome in their beauty. Some archi­tects are of the opinion that the House of the Governors, in Uxmal, is as beautiful a building as man ever erected, not excepting even the Parthenon of Athens.

I might mention that since Yucatan is so seldom visited by foreigners, Americans or otherwise, the people are even more hospitable than usual. An American in Merida, or Progresso, think­ing in terms of a permanent or semi-permanent stay, and looking about for a business opportunity or an easy going job, should have few difficulties in supplying his wants. He would find fewer Ameri­cans about, with whom to associate, than he would in Ajijic or San Miguel de Allende, but, on the other hand he would find fewer competitors in his attempts to make a good living the easy way. In fact, he might very well start up one or more of the projects that are already in full swing in these more northern towns.

CASE HISTORY No. 1. Bob Thayer, whose address is simply, Ajijic, Lake Chapala, Jal., Mexico, has an absolute "natural" when it comes to excellent income with little expenditure of time or effort. Possibly you have seen his ads which he runs in the Ameri­can magazines. These will differ slightly according to the magazine but here is a typical one:

RETIRE IN MEXICO ON $150 A MONTH

or less in a resort area, 365 days of sun a year; dry temperature. 68-80 degrees. Or maintain lux. villa; servants; ALL expenses $200-250 a mo. Am.-Eng. colony on lake 60 mi. long. 30 min. to city of 1/2 million, medical center. Schools, arts, sports. Few hours by air. Train, bus; PAVED roads all the way. Full time servants, maids, cooks, $7 to $15 a mo., filet mignon .45 lb., coffee .40, gas .17 gal. Gin, rum, brandy, .75-.90 fth. whiskey $2.50 qt. Houses $10 mo. up. No fog, smog, confusion, jitters. Serene living among world's most considerate people. For EXACTLY how Americans are living on $50-$90-$150-$250 a mo. Airmail $2.00 for COMPLETE current information, photos, prices, roads, hotels, hunting, fishing, vacationing and living conditions from A. viewpoint. (Pers. Chk. OK) to Bob Thayer, Ajijic, Lake Chapala, Jal. Mexico. (Allow 2 weeks for delivery—Money back Guarantee.)

There is no gyp about this. Bob's information is accurate and complete. For the $2 sent him he delivers.

And makes a beautiful profit!

I would estimate, knowing Mexican printing costs, that the material Bob sends out costs him possibly .12 per mailing. His postage and his advertising increases this, of course. The advertis­ing, the "promotion" in other words, is the big expense. But, adding all of his costs together, I would be surprised if Bob doesn't net $1.50 on each response he gets.

Nobody is being cheated. Bob Thayer collected his material thoroughly and well. He had it printed up, and now is marketing a commodity that people really want. There are some 40,000 Americans already living in retirement in Mexico, and there are hundreds of thousands who are thinking about retiring there, or dreaming about it. These are all customers, or potential customers of Bob's.

Could you do this?

There is not a reason in the world why not. And not only in Mexico, but in just about any other "bargain paradise" in the world where Americans might be interested in retiring.

Of course, it would be ridiculous to duplicate Bob Thayer's work in the vicinity of Lake Chapala—he's already covered that area. But just about any other American retirement spot would be practical. Yucatan would be a natural. So should San Miguel de Allende. So should Southern Spain, Greece, Austria, Morocco, Tahiti, Guatemala, Costa Rica, the Azores Islands, the Canary Islands, Madeira, Corsica, Elba, the French Riviera, Sardinia, Sicily, Haiti, the Virgin Islands, the Fiji Islands, Ireland, Tasmania, the Vale of Kashmir. Every bargain paradise in the world is a natural for this type of mail order sale.

CASE HISTORY No. 2. One of our favorite people in Mexico is old Bill Englebrecht. On two occasions I've rented an apartment in his large house and I've never been happier with a landlord than with old Bill.

His story is on the fabulous side. In the German army during the first World War, Bill was wounded on the Russian front and sent back to Germany for specialized schooling since his physical condition ruled the infantry out. He was trained as a spy and later landed in Canada from a submarine. He made his way down into the United States and was put to work sabotaging our war plants.

And they caught him.

Happily for Bill, the war ended just before he was scheduled to be shot and he was eventually pardoned. He made his way to Mexico during the revolutions and went through a series of in­adequate jobs, mostly as a tailor in Mexico City.

Finally Bill had accumulated a very small amount of money and decided to "retire." He came to San Miguel de Allende and bought a wreck of a house—a semi-ruin. He fixed it up so that he and his new Mexican wife could live in it and then, slowly began to build it larger. Today Bill has a house that comfortably shelters he and his family below and has a large terrace on the second floor from which issues off six small but very efficient apartments.

When I was there last these apartments rented for 200 pesos each and were always full. In fact, there was always a waiting list. San Miguel has grown since then and I have a sneaking suspicion that Bill's rents have gone up, but then it was a matter of $16 a month, per apartment, or a total of $96 net income.

This may sound like a small income property to an American living in the States but on it Bill drives a car, is educating his two daughters, keeps a cook, a general maid and a handy-man to take care of maintenance. And above all, Bill enjoys life. The people he allows to rent his apartments are young, enthusiastic and often one type or another of artist. There are few weeks that go by with­out two or three parties out on the community terrace. Entertain­ment being as cheap as it is, there will be a mariachi band of three or four pieces, dancing, rum cokes in profusion and food galore. It's always fun at Bill Englebrecht's.

Could you do this? You certainly could if you had a few thousand dollars in capital and wanted to settle down in Mexico. Labor is unbelievably cheap; even top masons, bricklayers, plumbers and electricians get only $1.50 a day. Either buying an older house or building one from scratch can be done for com­parative peanuts.

However, you must remember that as a foreigner you cannot own property unless you are an immigrado. There are a few ways of beating this. If you have a child born in Mexico, he has dual citizenship and can have property in his name. Or you can buy a place and have it put in the name of a Mexican friend. Best of all, however, is to become a student. As a student you are able to buy property if you live nine months of the year in Mexico. Fine. You can become a student at the Institute* Allende for ten dollars a month studying any of a multitude of subjects from the Spanish language to oil paintings. For further details on this write Stirling Dickinson, Instituto Allende, San Miguel de Allende, Guanajuato, Mexico.

CASE HISTORY No. 5. Which brings to mind Stirling Dickinson himself. He came to San Miguel some years ago before the town became famed as an art colony, and, having a very small income, bought himself the ruins of an old mill on the stream that wanders down from the hills.

Spending money very slowly, over the years Stirling has built himself what in my estimation is one of the most attractive houses in Mexico. Possibly estate would be the better term, since the place rambles out over several acres. There are literally scores of gardens, and Stirling has even a special orchid hot house containing hundreds of these exotic flowers. The ruins of the mill look more like those of a European castle and Stirling has so fitted them that speakers from his hi-fi set are here and there, and a concert can be enjoyed anywhere on the place. The school periodically holds parties at the Dickinson home and a hundred or more guests are easily swallowed up at a time, wandering through the endless gardens, enjoying the fabulous things he has done with his time and vivid imagination.

But you must keep in mind that Stirling started with a very small monthly income. Consequently, when the opportunity arose to work out at the new Institute* Allende he welcomed it. Now his job as director there pays him sufficiently to enjoy his home to the limit while working a minimum time at a position he finds desirable since it deals in the arts which are close to the heart of Stirling Dickinson.

CASE HISTORY No. 4. I ran into this case history back before I had even considered the compiling of a book of this type so I failed to note down as much information as I should have liked. However, it's an excellent example and I'll pass it on.

His name was Herman Smith, or Smythe, or something like that, and he drove a jeep delivery truck. He drove it all about Mexico and here, there and the other place he picked up silver jewelry, handwoven textiles, beaten copper pots, trays, pans, pottery, huaraches (sandals), rebozas (shawls), antiques, Indian relics from Aztec times both fake and real, and handicrafts of all des­criptions.

He would bargain hard for these, usually buying them in large quantities and thus getting a discount. He wasn't out for the usual tourist souvenir sort of gimmicks but real art work, real handi­crafts, outstanding antiques. He bought no junk.

When he'd acquired a load he took it back to the United States and resold it largely in the border states such as Texas, New Mexico, Arizona and California. If I remember correctly, he some­times took a load up to New York but as a rule he figured that the time and distance involved didn't usually cover the somewhat better prices he got there.

He had one special angle too that netted him, so he told me, an extra two or three thousand dollars a year. Herman was a gun crank, specializing in Colt revolvers. Some of the earlier Colts are so prized by collectors that they will pay hundreds and sometimes even thousands of dollars for certain models. At any rate, Herman in his travels to some of the more remote places in Mexico always had his eye peeled for old Colts. Since there were many thousands of these sold in Mexico in the old days and particularly during the revolutionary periods, they are still to be found in every hamlet, every town, every village, no matter how poor or out of the way. He'd buy broken old Colts, for a few pesos (the owners must have thought him mad to buy such worthless junk) take them back to the States, have them repaired and cleaned up, and resell them for hundreds of times what he'd paid.

I have no further information on Herman Smith and his easy going way of making a good living. Actually, I think his home was in Texas and that he kept his family there, spending only four or five months each year in Mexico. The problems involved in getting an importer's license to bring his things into the States, and possibly an exporter's license to take them out of Mexico, I am not familiar with. However, if Herman did it, obviously it can be done by anyone else.

You'd need enough capital to buy such licenses and to finance your trip through Mexico, not to speak of several hundred dollars with which to pick up your handicrafts, art objects and such. You'd also need outlets for your things and obviously it would be desirable to arrange for these before you undertook even the first expedition. You'd also need some background information on just what to buy, otherwise you might wind up with a truck load of unsaleable junk, rather than the objects that the art shops, department stores, and tourist souvenir shops would really want.

CASE HISTORY No. 5. When I began working on this book, I realized that I hadn't been in Mexico for a time and that to bring myself up to date I'd better write one of my "retired" friends down there for some fresh examples. The following case histories came from him and although some of them aren't as complete in detail as we might wish, the basic ideas are there. He writes:

"I know of several interesting cases of retirement at an early age, if that is what you can call it. In fact, I found some who beat the 21 year deadline that you set.

"For example, in Tampico a young boy who had accompanied his father on the Tarpon Tournaments held in March and April remained when he was only twenty to start a business of his own, a retirement business, it turns out. He bought for less than $500 two old boats and two used outboard motors. He bought fishing equipment and some guns. He started organizing fishing and hunt­ing parties in that area. He charges $15 minimum and $5 per head if the party is over three. He hires Spanish Guides who speak passable English to take the parties to hunting and fishing grounds and direct them to the "hot" spots. He pays each guide only 5 pesos (.40) a day but the guide usually comes up with about 20 pesos worth of fish and a tip amounting to from 5 to 10 pesos. The gas and equipment costs, etc. do not run more than $2 to $4 per party. He clears more than $10 per party and he has up to five or six parties out on some days. He spends about two hours daily organizing, etc. He has little signs in the tourist hotels and motels in Tampico and a phone number to call. It works out well for him, earning him in excess of $10,000 a year with a very minimum of work. He is now 29 years old and still in Tampico plying his trade.

"In Lake Chapala I know an American whose only claim to fame is his ability to speak Spanish. He would rent for $10 to $12 a small Mexican home, fix it up, rent it out for $50 for one month or about $450 for one year. He would also act as go-between for house buyers and while the poor Mexicano was hollering 'best price is $3,000,' he was telling the buyers '$5,000 is the best the feller will do.' To make it brief, he is already rich at an age of less than 35 years.

"A girl in Ajijic sells Mexican handicrafts, ceramics, hand-woven textiles, copperwork, and that sort of thing to tourists, from right on her patio. She has the Mexicans bring the things and doesn't even pay them until she has sold the items. She charges ridiculously high prices to the tourists, pays ridiculously low ones to the poor Mexicans. Needless to say, she too is cleaning up.

"In Victoria I met a fellow who, with a Mexican partner, buys and sells. He puts up American money as collateral with a Mexican bank, borrows on it 100% (but so that he can always get the same amount of dollars back for the same number of pesos) takes the money and speculates in undeveloped farm properties, orange groves, etc. The inflation factor alone assures him a profit aside from his astute business dealings in buying and selling, and he can always get his dollars back for the same number of pesos he borrowed. He gets a low interest rate, only 8 % (which is very low in Mexico). He deals with only half his money, keeping the rest in the U.S. He makes over $5,000 a year clear with $10,000 of operating capital, that is, after interest, etc.

"Hope you can use some of these for your book. Actually there are many many more. I would estimate that there must be at least ten thousand Americans in this country making an easy and good living and doing precious little in the way of expending effort.

Cordially, (signed) Harry"

CASE HISTORY No. 6. This young lady whom I shall call "Trixie" is active in the Lake Chapala, Guadalajara area. She is retired on Lake Chapala along with her middle-aged parents. As of now she is only 23. When I met her she was about the snootiest young thing around, yet SHE HAD IT MADE!

She went to an Art Colony in San Miguel de Allende. She tried peddling some of her art to tourist shops and had her father and mother sell some back home. Back home was Philadelphia, Pa. Her artwork sold only so so, then only to close family friends. On one occasion her parents sent her some color snapshots of themselves in the beautiful Pocono mountains of Eastern Pennsylvania. As a surprise she painted one of the scenes for Mom and mailed it off to her. When Mom received it she was so proud she showed it to anyone and everyone. It was so impressive some of the friends wanted a painting of some of their favorite color scenes too. Of course our sweet young thing obliged—at a price! She began getting quite a few orders from her Mom. In fact, she had so many in one mail that she had some of her fellow students help her out. And she was making some money. This sort of painting was selling better than her regular stuff. She got an idea to promote this kind of painting and proceeded to offer it to several Tourist shops. She took some samples of "before" and "after" color chromes and paintings down and arranged neat little displays. Tourists who wanted these paintings could order them, pay for them, have the finished painting mailed to them at home in the States. If they didn't have the scene they wanted painted with them they were furnished with a little brochure imprinted with the address of the shop they had visited. They could mail in their favorite color chrome along with a $25.00 remittance. The shop kept 30%, forwarded orders to Trixie along with her share. She had the scenes painted and mailed them to her customers. Things got busy and Trixie hired her fellow students to help out—at $5 per scene painted. $5 is a fortune in Mexico so she had many obliging helpers.

By and by she put little ads in selected U.S. publications offering to "paint your favorite scene from your color chrome." This went over big and soon she had a booming business. $25.00 checks and money orders were pouring in from all over the U.S. and even from some foreign countries. She branched out a little more in the Tourist shops. By the time she was twenty she painted "only when she felt like it." She invited Pop and Mom down for a pro­longed stay. It was an amazed Pop and Mom that met their daugh­ter in San Miguel, well along the world in wealth. She was living like Pop and Mom had never dreamed of living back in Phila­delphia. When I last heard of Trixie she and her parents had moved to Lake Chapala. She was still plying her trade among the tourists and with occasional ads in selected U.S. publications.

ARE YOU CAPABLE OF DOING THIS? If you have the least inclination to art I have no doubt that you can. In Trixie's case her success was not necessarily based on her ability as an artist but her enterprising ability in marketing the artistic talents of others. It is my opinion that this particular field is practically untouched.

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