Posts filed under 'Comparing Cultures'
Be sure to read Lawrence Downes’ piece in the travel section of the New York Times (from which comes the illustration above. My favorite paragraph:
But Manzanillo then was jungle outpost, a nowhere port town on a two-lane road from Guadalajara. It was a place where a gringo — even a famous novelist gringo accompanied by family and friends, an abundant supply of drugs and an International Harvester school bus covered in Day-Glo paint and blaring music from a sophisticated loudspeaker system — could reasonably expect to hide out for a while.
Interest in Manzanillo remains extremely high. People interested in homes in Mazatlan and Puerto Vallarta often mention Manzanillo also, along with better known Pacific Coast locations like Acapulco. But Downes’ access to novelist Robert Stone’s memories makes his article extra special and worth the 3 full pages.
“In the moments after dawn, before the sun had reached the peaks of the sierra, the slopes and valleys of the rain forest would explode in green light, erupting inside a silence that seemed barely to contain it. When the sun’s rays spilled over the ridge, they discovered dozens of silvery waterspouts and dissolved them into smokey rainbows. …
“All of us, stoned or otherwise, caught in the vortex of dawn, would freeze in our tracks and stand to, squinting in the pain of the light, sweating, grinning.
“We called that light Prime Green; it was primal, primary, primo.”
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March 22nd, 2008
The date December, 24 2007 (Gregorian), corresponds to the following Aztec date:
Because things are likely to get slow and holiday traffic - on the internet anyway - tends to dip, this post is not only a holiday greeting to you, but to the many superstar bloggers quoted below. All of them are part of the BlogRoll we unveiled a few weeks ago, but they’re also among the most prolific in the blogging business.
To start with, the one truly newsworthy entry from the past week came from the Panama Investor Blog, where they’ve announced that the 90 day visa for Americans is back on. That should put a stop to some of the confusion - at last - and perhaps to some of the moaning and groaning, at least for a little while.
The Tropical Adventures holiday party in La Flor, Costa Rica, made for some interesting writing on the Blog of the Tropical Adventures website. These folks seem to have to explain how their operation runs over and over to critics who believe that without a big benefactor backing them they are just a tourist business in the guise of a volunteer operation. That doesn’t seem to have dampened the spirits of the kids with whom they’ve been working.
The better than year-long saga of Adopting Kids in Costa Rica took another twist. Playa Pelada is one of the only places on the internet, that I know of anyway, where you can really follow the adoption process, in detail, week after week. That’s in addition to the insight into living and growing in Costa Rica that also makes up a big part of Playa Pelada fare.
On to Mexico. The Aztec Calendar illustration above came via The Mex Files, who directed us to this cool Aztec Calendar website. You can figure out how to write or say whatever day, month and year you want according to the calendar. And, no weekend project, this calendar is complete with artwork and a full list of the gods and deities who rule over the world of the Aztecs not even to mention a few decades of study and work that appear to have gone into it.
The folks at Yucatan Living provided another of their Juggernaut Entries with news from all over the Peninsula. Airline news includes a new route from Milan to Mérida, and a new low cost route between Cancun and Campeche. They point out that tourism numbers in Yucatan continue to climb and the number of Yucatecos in the US can be informally monitored by checking the US registrations at el Diario, the Mérida daily.
On the more domestic side of All Things Mexico, the Living in Mexico blog provided a great update on what’s coming up in their organic garden. And Home-Sweet-Mexico provided some 10 decorating tips for dealing with the ubiquitous and quirky short-cuts that Mexican Builders and Landlords often leave us to deal with.
If you want real holiday news though, try dragging an enormous commercial popcorn popper around to the Posada processions in your small Mexican pueblo. The folks at Viva Veracruz give that story and a lot more.
Thanks to everyone who has stopped by for a terrific year of blogging and traveling and dreaming and making things better for everyone.
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December 24th, 2007
The question is: Can a move to another country offer a cost of living so much lower than the cost of living here that leaving is a positive solution?
I believe the answer is yes. I also believe that thousands of older Americans will be crossing the border in the years to come.
This from Scott Burns, A radical retirement plan, published late last month in the Austin American Statesman, among other places. Burns’ breakdown of expected cost-of-living and income adjustments after retirement from an annual salary of $75,000 and lifetime savings around $100,000 is telling. And he does a useful analysis of the numbers that make the article well worth a look.
Suppose you can find a place where the cost of living is about 75 percent of the cost in the United States — some beach town north of Puerto Vallarta or south of Manzanillo. What happens to your standard of living when you move to Mexico? It rises to the equivalent of about $42,400 in the U.S.
You’re probably not alone in being aware that you may be headed for a big crash in income and meeting cost-of-living expenses at retirement.
Funny thing is, Burns’ explanation of looking for a cheaper place to live ends up sounding not very radical at all, unless perhaps you really have never been out of the US. We talk to a lot of people who plan to retire primarily on a Social Security income with hopefully a bit more coming in from some other source. And there really are places, in Mexico, Costa Rica, Panama and the DR, that we can show you that will cost a fraction in day to day expenses for what you might pay to live out your years in the US.
I wrote just the other day about Americans finding better deals south of the border, in Mexico and elsewhere that from the radical Wall Street Journal. And the list of articles that I don’t write about, or barely write about just keeps getting longer.
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December 21st, 2007
Don’t miss this article in yesterday’s Jerusalem Post. Carrying through with millennia-old traditions in the shadows of a dominant culture is what perhaps has held the Jewish people together, at least for the last 2 millennia. But like everything else in Mexico, the Jewish culture takes some different and surprising turns.
The Jewish community of San Miguel de Allende is almost as unusual as the city itself, which has been designated a UNESCO World Heritage site because of its distinctive beauty and history as a cradle of Mexican independence. Virtually all of its members are North American retirees: San Miguel de Allende is consistently ranked by American publications as one of the top retirement cities outside the United States, for its affordable quality of life and pleasant year-round climate. Thus, it is a community of senior citizens not unlike many in south Florida, except that hardly anyone was born in the country in which they now live. With but a few exceptions, no Jews lived in San Miguel de Allende before the last 30 years or so; nor has there ever been any more than the handful of Jewish children that are there today.
As a misplaced New Yorker, I’ve found a good deal of comfort in discovering things Jewish in quite a few places in Central Mexico, and sometimes in relatively far-flung places. In some of those places, it seems that Jewish life might be a thing of the past. So another re-emergence is always. For a more complete online history, see Shep Lenchek’s series of articles at Mexico Connect.
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November 16th, 2007
A bit more than a week ago, I did in fact promise to address the Manu Cron article from the Escape Artist website that so many readers seem to want to talk about. And I will heartily agree that anyone considering moving to any of the countries listed above should read it also.
Absolutely anyone who has written anything from a quick email to the outline of an advertisement in a commercial environment understands that our field is plagued by hyperbole. Composing no-nonsense prose that doesn’t give in to the “hype” is not always an easy undertaking. And so I welcome the many comments we’ve received and encourage everyone to let us know what you think of the Cron article or of this post.
That said, the pearl-clutching, fainting-on-the-couch routine that Cron puts us through is a bit over the top. If one needs a reminder that the world is not perfect, one need only venture past one’s front door - no matter where one currently resides.
There is probably not a lot that is factually incorrect in Cron’s article. Crime is probably under-reported in Central America. If one wants balanced figures one really needs to check Victimization Surveys which report both perceptions and actual incidents of crime, and there is no doubt that perception of crime is way higher south of the border. Most Mexicans are worried about crime if you ask them, and most Americans living in Mexico will tell you that they are careful, but no, it is not so much worse than at home.
I also recommend that anyone really interested in pursuing the topic read first the UN study, Crime and Development in Central America (PDF) which is the most comprehensive study on crime in the region and which should change your point of view on causality. It is not that poor people become criminals, but that crime makes people poorer. Sad reading, but the authors spend a good deal of the paper discussing the impact of crime perception. The figure above comes from the report and shows pretty quickly what problem confronts all the countries in the region.
The data in the report shows that the total number of people prosecuted (per each 100,000 inhabitants) is quite high in some countries: 5,109 in the US, 2,399 in Costa Rica and close to a thousand in Mexico. That might be an indication of both crime occurrence and prosecutorial effectiveness. In any case, all the countries in the region face serious challenges in regard to crime, from the US to Panama, and below; and those challenges are clearly interdependent among those same countries.
After reading the report, spend a few days crunching the heavy numbers at NationMaster, from which the map at the top of this post originates. The map shows that more crimes occur in the US without accounting for population size than anywhere else. But there are dozens more maps to show just about as many angles to crime as there are crimes, although for some countries data is nearly always missing, for example in Panama.
And for filling in some of those blanks, we can, indeed thank Cron. I would just take all the hysterical warnings with a grain of salt. Some people are going to be interested in these places and some people will turn and go at the first indication of danger. We always recommend renting first, for up to a year if necessary, and keep the bulk of your money at home in the bank. But my number one recommendation:
Get involved with an online community. There are many in every location we recommend, and ask questions. I’ve listed the groups I am a member of in the past. And I’ll be updating that list as part of the new blog-roll I am working on now. Crime is a very serious part of the discussion on nearly all of them and if it’s not, there is no doubt your question will not only be answered but you’ll spark a full healthy discussion, too.
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November 6th, 2007
Readers seem anxious to point me to this new Manu Cron Article in the Escape Artist, perhaps knowing that I linked to Cron’s last article. I can’t say I have given the new article a close read, though I promise to this weekend. I hope some other readers, and especially Panama residents, retirees and hopefuls will too and let me know what you think.
I have been dwelling on the subject of Panama’s less-savory side recently because Client Services forwarded me a very intelligent email that they received on the just the same subject. Maybe it is time we revise everything we’ve been thinking and saying…
We love Panama, but this bubble may be about to burst; given the exaggerated “hype” about the features and benefits that attract North Americans to Panama. We WANT Panama to succeed and continue it’s progress toward becoming a haven for “Boomer” retirees (or anyone else), but fear that growth is threatened by unscrupulous promoters, greedy builders, and a government that tolerates BOTH, far too much! […]
If you tell the truth about what they will find here, Panama (and Mexico, for that matter) STILL has a solid case for relocation from N. America, Europe and beyond. BUT, if promoters continue to exaggerate the claims of
- how much English is spoken here
- the quality of the beaches and buildings
- the cost-of-living differences
- and the readiness of Panama to build infrastructure to support an incredibly fast rise in population…
about 97 of every 100 people who get off the plane for an exploratory visit will not only never return, they will “enthusiastically” criticize the “Panamanian phenomenon.” (We are observing the increasing number of “returnees” who are doing just that. And THAT spells “crash” for the building boom here.
IF promoters “tell the truth:”
- You DO need to learn Spanish to function well here
- the Pacific Beaches are NOT pristine, you must go to the islands on the west coast or the Caribbean for good snorkeling
- the “cost-of-living” differential disappears IF you live and shop in Punta Pacifica, and life outside the city is for the adventurous and independent [there are lots of us],
- and Panama’s utility and transportation infrastructure are stretched to their limits…
BUT there are plans and CONTRACTS in place to address those issues… THEN those with a brain and realistic expectations WILL come, stay, invest, and contribute. We think THAT is Panama’s [Latin America’s] best strategy for continued growth and long-term prosperity. THEN of every 100 who visit (with realistic expectations), you can expect a much higher percentage to STAY!
Panama (Central America) has a solid case for relocation/investment WITHOUT the hype - climate, great people, pace-of-life, and a reasonable cost-of-living differential - to attract boomers and investors globally. You don’t NEED the hype!
Again, there will be more on this topic next week. I would love to hear from more readers and expats and people in Panama. Lengthy comments will be re-posted, or if you want to send me an email I will be happy to consider posting it here. -editor[@]livtopia.com
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October 26th, 2007
While the New York Times covers the difficulty of getting back into the states, (get your passport!) the LA Times is going the completely different direction. Easily my favorite part of Saturday’s LA Times special “Your Money” section on Retirement in Latin America, is the slide show & audio interview with Grant Spalding, (click the image above), on his late decision to leave Mexico and head back to the states. The photography is excellent, but the quality of voice and sentiment for Mérida is what is really striking. Funny, Spalding ends up saying exactly the opposite of what I am always telling people, namely, move to Latin America, but I think if you listen to it you will see exactly what I think makes the piece so worth it. He insists several times that in fact Mérida is a better place than it was 20 years ago.
Still, I spent part of this morning, again, talking to some one about the difficulties that foreigners are having finding agents willing to talk to them in Mérida. For that, I still think a Livtopia Rep is the way to go.
This one section of the LA Times has something for just about anyone interested in the region. This piece on the ins and outs of Escazu, in Costa Rica, is also telling.
About 20,000 Americans, Canadians and Europeans have legal, long-term residency, according to government figures. Thousands more are believed to live here on tourist visas that can be renewed every 90 days by leaving the country for 72 hours. It’s a practice that the government doesn’t condone, but it cracks down on it only occasionally.
Again, the little bit of photography in the piece above is terrific, and it’s sadly rare coverage for what is an incredible country, landscape and people. Just about every angle I try to cover is covered in the LA Times section. The Judy King Audio and Slide interview is also quite telling. Her advice, do it for the adventure, not because it’s cheap. “Mexico is not for everyone.” And the photos, this time of the Chapala area do not lead one to believe that the area is watered down and saturated with gringo influence. It’s still very much a Mexican place, and thus, something to be enjoyed.
I’ll also recommend these two advice lists: “10 major tips from people in the know” and “Things to know before you move.” Among the most savory bits of advice from the first list:
9. Relax, and quit whining.
If you do relocate, you’ll be much happier focusing on what you like about your new community rather than obsessing about what’s wrong. Latin America’s languid pace can be exasperating when you’re in a hurry, but the whole point of retirement is to get off the clock.
October 21st, 2007
I actually read this story first a few days ago on the Consumerist, on Taco Bell’s second attempt to cut it in the Mexican food marketplace. The first was 15 years ago. I guess I was waiting for the dry take from someone like SolOH at Root Coffee. SoloOH blog covers a lot of really good recipes and ideas on cooking from all over the world. As to Taco Bell, there is a whole tear of comments on the Consumerist post that range from the biting to the outrageous and some quite funny. But SolOH’s take is actually rather encouraging (emphasis mine):
Yes, Taco Bell tacos are nothing like Mexican tacos, so they’ll be called tacostadas. As in folded tostadas. Creative. I’m sure they’ll be mildly successful considering it’s American food and different. They’ll be adding a few new items to the menu such as ice cream and french fries.
October 17th, 2007
We’ve been confronted with another collection of mainstream summer news articles tunneling into our prime audience. Among them an article just last week in the Washington Post on Retirees Looking Abroad, and this article, reprinted in June, from Kiplinger’s Retirement Planning 2007 .
The Kiplinger’s piece reports:
The Migration Policy Institute, a District think tank, said in a report last year that the number of U.S. citizens receiving the kind of Panamanian visas most often used by retirees more than tripled between 2003 and 2005. The number issued in the first quarter of 2006 almost equals those given in all of 2003, said the report, which cited Panamanian statistics.
That’s interesting news. Though taking it further, it would be, I think, irresponsible to just ignore this piece from Manu Cron posted in the Escape Artist a few weeks ago.(Panama Investor Blog thought so too). It’s gotten not quite the internet attention it deserves.
While the article is a bit too hard on Panama and especially Panama City, and it starts out with what I think are totally exaggerated warnings about Mexico (extremely insecure?) and Costa Rica (crime prone and chronically affected by inflation?), Cron’s piece does offer what are some of the most insightful phrases on what to prepare yourself for. Regardless of whether your considering Panama, Costa Rica or Mexico, I think the article is worth a read for some unvarnished truths. None of them would make me turn-tail, nor do I think they should cause anyone else to.
Metro areas are extremely noisy. Traffic horns, loud music and all kind of high-decibels pitches pollute the city. Infrastructure, although unquestionably better than its neighbors, does not match American standards by far. Once you leave the buffering well-protected premises of your condo, the real Panama comes up to chase you. Peddlers and beggars knocking on your car windows are vivid reminders that, skyscrapers and shopping malls apart, Panama is still one third world country.
Therefore, if you have your mind set on Panama, make several trips to get acquainted. Life is much bigger than biased promotions. Expatriation is not worthy if later found that it was a mistake. To perform a reality check, lease a furnished apartment ($700-$2500 monthly). You will need two personal references and a local bank account, but if able to pay for six months in advance, then things can be smoother.
That’s a bit stern. My most recent trip to Texas reminded me that the difference between “One Third World Country” and “One First World Country” is that in the Third World Country, people are much more likely to lean out of the car window and throw a few coins. And I seriously doubt that those few coins re-inforce either economy’s overall problems.
Some of Cron’s article circles around the collapse of the US housing market and it repercussions around the world, including in Panama. But I think the most interesting take is along the lines of the cultural disjuncture that Cron describes.
In my own experience, North American cities, think Saint Louis or Miami, are just as frightening places as anything you will find in the Metropolises of Latin America. We don’t read or write a lot about them, but some people do. Certainly we don’t hide from the descriptions when the descriptions are eloquent, as I think much of Cron’s article is. It’s useful too.
As Investor Blog points out there are places like Boquete and Chiriqui in Panama, Lake Chapala and San Miguel in Mexico. They aren’t dangerous or insecure, and offer everything you could want at incredible savings over similar properties in the US or Canada.
September 20th, 2007
Quite a fascinating article in USAToday a few days ago, that is well worth a read. All the research we are doing for the Concierge is culminating in some great new services for seniors, including a listing section for nursing care facilities in Mexico. These are not going to get smaller or less important over the next few years.
Hawley’s USA Today article starts with the dreamier side of things,
For $1,300 a month — a quarter of what an average nursing home costs in Oregon — Douglas gets a studio apartment, three meals a day, laundry and cleaning service, and 24-hour care from an attentive staff, many of whom speak English. She wakes up every morning next to a glimmering mountain lake, and the average annual high temperature is a toasty 79 degrees.
“It is paradise,” says Douglas, 74. “If you need help living or coping, this is the place to be. I don’t know that there is such a thing back (in the USA), and certainly not for this amount of money.”
But it’s not easy running a long term care or assisted living facility in Mexico or anywhere else. You’ll want to do your research, and for that, we’ve had the people at Livtopia’s Concierge talking to as many people as they can. According to the USA Today, these are how some of the numbers look.
Number of for-profit nursing homes:
• USA: 9,900
• Mexico: 288
Cost of a home health care aide: (per hour)
• USA: $19
• Mexico: $9
Cost of a homemaker-companion: (per hour)
• USA: $17
• Mexico: $2-$5
We’ll announce here just as soon as we get our completed listed of companies and facilities in order.
August 17th, 2007
Who’s moving to Mexico? We’ve been asking that ourselves!! We’re seeing a lot of people who simply can’t afford to buy houses in California. And then we’re thinking, these people aren’t anywhere near retirement age. But then again, check out this funny post from Financial Security Quest:
I’m not planning to spend the next 70 years wearing a wife beater and watching Matlock (which is what, I’m lead to believe, retirement mostly entails). My goal is basically to escape wage slavery (I’m a capitalist who believes in wage slavery - go figure!) and to be able to live life on my own terms without having to feel dependent on anyone else for the necessities of life (or for a large enough pay-check to purchase the necessities of life). I hate to feel beholden to anyone (I’d make an awful trophy wife) and most 9-5 jobs and contract work makes me feel exactly this way (”if I upset this person they may fire me and make my life unpleasant”).
Ha ha. The rest of the post goes on to illustrate and elucidate some “maybe plans.” The post is illustrative of the sort of conflicts that make anything but Wage Slavery seem just wildly outrageous. I hope he makes it.
We really are seeing an increase in people buying their first homes, vacation homes, because they can’t afford or don’t want to purchase in the United States. Real estate taxes and, well, other factors have made life there a bit unbearable. Live in Mexico for one year and then watch the Chirpy new CBS Evening News on the America Network. Things become clear very quickly.
July 17th, 2007
This is one of those blog posts that is getting scrutiny all around the internet this week. And with good reason. Gregory McNamee put together a nice post of fact-checking tips for those of us who are always searching for information, generally, around the internet. I thought I would take a stab at applying these to our own subject matter, Latin American travel and relocation, as much for the fun of reading McNamee’s post more closely, as for seeing how we stand up.
1. Trust not the first answer the search engine turns up. In the spirit of the tyranny of the majority, it will usually be wrong or, if not outright wrong, not the answer you really need. This is hard to argue with. Livtopia get’s inquiries from people just for the sake of arguing a point. We’re right now placing comments capability on ALL of the written information pages of our websites to better rely on the fact checking capabilities of our readers.
2. Interrogate your sources as Detective Sergeant Joe Fridaywould interrogate a hippie. What qualifies one source to claim superiority over another? Same as above, right? We’re looking for the interrogation, and in most cases, we’re not offering superiority in truth with facts, but superiority with numbers of people on the ground.
3. Facts are stupid things, as Ronald Reagan said, until we give them meaning. I think in the case of travel and relocation to Latin America, our problem is more that there are too many stupid things; facts, statutes, rules, regulations. Part of what we try to do is break them down into pieces, in English, and make facing them easier, making understanding everything simpler.
4. When evaluating the statements of others who mean for you to take them as facts, look for the passive voice. When someone says, “Mistakes were made,” set your antennae on the most sensitive tuning. See yesterday’s post. Nancy from Countdown to Mexico stepped in as the corrective antidote to our own ridiculous oversight.
5. As a corollary, beware the anonymous. That’s a good point. I am working on a meet the staff page, most of the people I am talking to everyday are natives of the countries where they’re working. Others are expats from the US or Canada with years of experience, but we will fill you in on all of that with the new page. We’re hoping to make the rest of the new pages more accessible such that readers are authors too.
6. Rigorously practice the principle of symmetrical skepticism. Assume goodwill, but also assume that everything people tell you is wrong until you have looked it up for yourself, no matter how much you may agree with your source of information politically, religiously, culturally, or otherwise. and rather brilliant I thought: You have to form the habit of not wanting to have been right for very long. The number of times we have relearned this point is just, well, staggering. We gear a lot of Livtopia’s business toward getting people here, to Mexico, to Costa Rica. And then what? Some rule has changed and we have to roll with it. The consequences are never staggering they just SOUND staggering.
7. If you’re excited by a piece of news or a press release or somesuch novelty, wait a few days before you commit yourself to it. Mistakes are made. Corrections are issued. True enough. We get excited. I am not sure everyone else does. We are getting ready to announce our plan to offer packaged healthcare services to seniors of whatever background all over Mexico and Latin America. The wording continues to change, the marketing is in flux. Check with our Concierge for more information.
8. Have a little fun while you’re doing all this poking around and investigating and challenging. There are so many ways I see this happening all the time. Especially when people move south of the border or to the Dominican Republic. or they are just starting to consider it, and suddenly they start relearning “the History of the Americas.” There are few better places to do it.
9. Be not dogmatic. As the Firesign Theatre rightfully instructed, Everything you know is wrong. Facts are stupid things, but they can entrap the most careful of us. And we are never so certain of ourselves as when we’re incorrect. In my own list, this would be number one. Everything I am doing with my companeros at Livtopia is about “Better Living,” not about being right. Being wrong is among the most perfectly blissful things that can happen because suddenly, you are one step closer to being right.
10. The Buddhist teacher Thich Nhat Hanh suggests that we all tape this little note to our telephones: “Are you sure?” The message is meant to serve as a reminder to help stem wrongheaded talk, idle gossip, and pointless argument. Perhaps one of the reasons so many of us are interested in leaving el AngloMundo is for just this sort of excitement. The Latin World is, for us, so full of uncertainty, so full of questions and so often we find ourselves in a position of passive receptivity. We’re here to learn, to keep asking questions. These are not our countries, but they are part of our world now, and being sure of that is something we have to work at a little bit everyday.
July 13th, 2007
Janet is a new poster in our NewsGroup, Live Better Mexico. I think her post below gives lots of details about her biography so I will let that speak for itself. I asked her if I could re-post the below here because it speaks volumes not only about the people you’ll meet in Mexico, but also about why they come and what they find when they get here. Interested in the conversation? Why not sign-up yourself. There’s always something new going on there.
Life is interesting and at times I guess I have taken a few chances that most people wouldn’t do. Moving to Mexico is one of them and the fact that I had never been to Mexico with the exception of an occasional trip to the tourist towns. I read the infamous AARP article a few years back on this area but I was so far from considering retirement that I just kept it on the back burner of my brain as something interesting.
Two years ago a friend of 30 years married a man that read that same article and they came down here to check out the possibilities of moving to Mexico. I stayed in constant contact with them by email as they looked from the west coast to the Chapala area. My only advice to my friend was “Just don’t do anything impulsively”, but they came home with a contract for a house to be built.
I continued to stay interested in the area for almost a year while their house was being built and read everything I could about it on the web. I learned quite a bit from www.chapala.com with a web board much like this one. Quite a bit of local chatter. I kept looking at houses on the web in this subdivision and locally. A house came on the market in the same subdivision that my friend moved into and she emailed me pictures inside and out and we made an offer by phone that night, contingent on an inspection of the structure. The first time we came down here was when we closed on the house. After that we went home and prepared to move by putting the house on the market and started getting rid of things. We closed on the house in January and set our sights for the move as August 1st. We actually got moved on the 18th so we were pretty close to our schedule. What I like most about the area is hard to list according to priority but all bunched together it’s:
- the people,
- the weather,
- the location,
- the relaxed stress free feeling,
- the creature comforts I’m used to
- the cost of living
and I think I could go on but most importantly I have not regretted a single day that we made this move.
We’re still in our 50’s, (late 50’s) and my husband is not yet retired. He telecommutes to Michigan each day and is planning on working one more year. I asked him to work for 2 years after the move to replenish what we spent buying the house and now he almost has one year under his belt.
We live in a gated community but it’s not as much for protection and security but more because we don’t speak any Spanish. It would be a bit harder living in the village in a home without the built-in community. We have a fair share of single women living in this subdivision and they all feel very safe secure and happy. A new visitor (single woman) just bought a house here a couple of days ago and attended one of our parties at the club house last night and she said it was the most fun she’d had in the last 20 years. Here we have so many friends that I’m amazed that I can remember everyones’ names. You can get by with little or no Spanish because the local people know enough English to make it do-able although learning Spanish is always a plus.
-Janet
July 2nd, 2007
Reading Modern Mechanix reprints from the Modern Mechanix Blog has become a minor obsession for good or bad. Normally I take it as a total break from all things Latin America. But it is good also to see that at times even Modern Mechanix records the long history of interaction between the two countries. I see these statues all over Mexico, maybe not quite as dramatic as depicted here, but they are as much a part of the landscape as the mountains they adorn.
Maybe it’s that they tended to be shrouded in a bit of history that is better left unspoken. Part of the reason I like the Modern Mechanix Blog so much is that it is constantly ebbing at a part of mid-century America that is rapidly slipping away. Mexico’s Greatest Generation may be long dead, but somehow, I think it is less dead.
Here is a description of the statue at right from a guidebook to the area that was made available by the people at Villa Patzcuaro Hotel and RV Park.
One of the main attractions of the region is to go by boat to this isle, the largest and most important in the lake. Here can be admired and purchased a great variety of handicrafts, exquisite typical dishes can be savored in the numerous restaurants tended by the island’s inhabitants, and it is possible to walk to the summit of the island to the enormous statue of Morelos which can be seen from very far away. The interior of this huge statue is ornamented with more than 50 detailed murals describing the Mexican revolution. If one climbs to the upper part of the statue, one can enjoy yet another impressive, beautiful panoramic vista.
When I first read it I felt certain it was a reprint from some tourist guide published at the turn of the 20th Century, or at least the 1930s. In fact, it is copyright dated 1992. Patzcuaro in Brief by Arturo Pimental Ramos.
I wonder somehow if the Spanish language, even as here in translation, doesn’t retain history, or some sense of history a little bit better than does English. I’ve started to write often enough about how North Americans come to Latin America and re-discover a passion for history that’s become exceedingly difficult North of the Border, what with Tom Brokaw, et al throwing in their sense of things. For what it’s worth, the long shadow of Morelos may be serving to protect liberty, even within that same obscurity.
June 12th, 2007
1). All of Latin America is simply cheaper than the US or Canada. Latin America offers better prices on housing, clothing, food, everyday expenses. Only on gasoline and electronics is it about the same or slightly more costly.
2).Latin America is America. You’ll be surprised at the similarities, especially if you’ve traveled a bit to some far off places. Europeans and Asians leave other Americans, well, a bit stunned. Latin America is just like what you remember the US and Canada used to be like.
3).Latin America is always just 5 or 6 hours away. It’s not a ten or 12 hour flight. For most of you up there, it’s like 2 or 3 hours on a plane.
4).Latin Americans, the people, are not all out to rip you off. They are, for the most part, normal and want to live within a system of law and ethics that protects not only you but them, too. One of the reasons that writers who spend a lot of time spilling our guts over Latin America get frustrated is that we keep having to spell this out.
5).I surprised my self. After six months eating Mexican food, I savored McDonald’s like it was a gourmet meal. You’ll be surprised too, how little of that stuff you want, and how much easier and more accessible is truly good stuff.
6).People aren’t angry here. Maybe there is a hot-spot out there, but I haven’t found it. When you’re not angry, you get access to whole different sides of yourself, life opens up. Sure, you can feel pity. But you’ll also feel happiness and a sense of exploring and opening up new channels.
7).If none of that convinces you to check it out, you should rest assured that dozens, hundreds, thousands of others just like you have. And they are still around checking things out. We can put you in touch with them through our newsgroup, or we can locate a community that is just perfect for the kind of people and personalities that you want to meet.
June 8th, 2007
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