how do i safely get personal mail sent to me, from Canada to Chapala, same for parcels

Hi all i am planning on moving to Chapala on a very modest pension , hope to find cheap rent close to plaza in Chapala , preferably furnished, move planned for late sept or oct. 2015 , i dont have a cell phone is it cheaper for me to buy&use a canadian cell phone& monthly fees or wait til i get to Chapala?

Pay as you go (amigo) cell phones are inexpensive here and the cost to use them is waaaay less than Canadian cell phones.
And the best part is that you can use Mexican cell phones in Canada and the US, but the reverse is not necessarily true.
PM me if you wish any more info.

I have had good results using the Mexican postal service (Correos de Mexico). It's a lot slower than what we expats may be used to...but it works. It takes 1-2 weeks to get a letter delivered to the U.S. and 3-4 weeks to get a letter delivered to my house in Chapala. Friends tell me that renting a post office box speeds things up on this end. However, I use Fedex for anything important. Fedex is expensive but fast and reliable. In addition, there are a number of local mailing services available where you can rent a box and have packages delivered.

Just wondering if anyone has actually gotten a post office box set up before moving to Lakeside and how you went about doing so? What is the cost to have a P.O. box and one that delivers packages?  I would like to do this before I move down in June if at all possible.

We have lived here in Jocotepec for 12 years now and have used the Mexican postal system all that time. We have our mail picked up in Canada, then every 15 days sent to our box no. here. Mail will take anywhere from 15 to 30 days and we have never lost any mail. To set up a mail box just go to the post office and apply. Bring your passport, proof of residence (ph billl or CFE bill), pay 300 pesos, and thats it. Hope this helps.

Before I moved about 10 years ago from Canada to Ajijic, I arranged with Canada Post to hold all my mail and after we'd been here a couple of weeks to forward it to me here in Ajijic for six months. This gave me lots of time to notify all and sundry to send my mail to my new box number here. I notified banks, etc. not to send anything until after I moved down here and gave myself a two week window. It all worked just fine. I don't believe you could set up a post office box from Canada because you have to take your original passport, copy of agreement to purchase our house here, together with our FM2 (then) (of course, copies of all of the docs were required).

you have to do this doc stough every year for renewal so as you can see,ya need ta be here. if you have a box,you pick up yer packages at the po.