When my dad was living in Mexico, he paid about $350 a month for a beautiful villa with a swimming pool. That was in the early 2010s, and he was up near Monterrey on a nice lake, but not in an area popular with tourists, or with anybody, really.

But then he didn't want a lot of neighbors. He made a few friends in a small nearby town, but his life was pretty much rural. It sounds like that's not what either of you really want.

Just thinking out loud about possibilities in Mexico.