I moved here because it was my dream. Move to Mexico and live on the beach in a tiny fishing village...become part of the local community, buy milk from a cow and bread for the lady who walks down the road with a huge basket on her head. Fall asleep and wake up to the sound of the waves hitting the beach. Sounds pretty nice eh?
One piece of advice I would give (and this is only my opinion so means...hmmm...zero), is become fluent if you are moving to a place where only Spanish is spoken. Yes you can totally immerse and you will learn; but it's hard and it's lonely. It's humbling to a painful point as you find you control nothing, you decide nothing...meaning you always always have to ask for help. It is good for me that mmy husband speaks Spanish. But sometimes I almost wish we were struggling together. Sometimes I feel alone, even from him. And it's hard not to be resentful sometimes, too. And wow want to feel like a huge asshole? Resent the fact that your spouse can maneuver and you cannot. Yes I have been that petty and small. I am a people person. I am very outgoing, and friendly. I am also sarcastic as hell and think everything is funny- but here- nobody but me (yes and him) get my jokes. And yes my Spanish has improved greatly, but still to sit around in a group and chat with ease...not happenin' yet.
Another thing is living at the beach is no picnic.I guess I coulda figured that out in Calif, but I didn't. This is just too close...everything is grimy from the salt every day. And anything metal gets rusty, quick. Silverware, picture frames. We keep our dishes and pots and pans in drawers to keep them clean, and unrusty (is that a word). I probly wrote more than once about how grimy the windows are every day. The table, my elliptical. Yeah, next place at least 5 blocks from the beach.
We are in month 6, and I bet in month 12, I will see this differently. But for now- it's hard. Of course it has been a combination of tough things...we gave up and cancelled the phone. Now we have discovered skype to phone & it's only .02 per minute and that's not bad at all. So as long as the internet is up we can call- oh wait- I forgot to say this is only for international calls. We haven't figured out long distance, or local calling with skype to phone. So we can call the US but need our cell phones for inside Mexico. This is ok, we can drive to Copala (10-15 min) or Marquelia to get cell service to call Everardo's family in Morelia or other businesses in Mexico. But ha ha that would be silly for calls to our neighbors, like Chela, so if we want to talk to her or someone else here, we have to walk or dive to their house. Not a big deal of course, but for the last 2 weeks we were in the process of getting some papers signed by the comissario, and he's a drive not a walk. So we stop what we're doing 3 or 4 times a day to go see if he's home.
And the skype- I did say we need the internet for that right? Well the internet has been much better since we cancelled the phone; used to be when one worked the other didn't. Now we only have internet and like I said it works pretty good. But...I want it to work all the time. Not most of today, not too much yesterday and we'll see tomorrow, know what I mean? same with the electricity, which of course affects the internet.
But these are issues of living remotely. In the nearby larger towns there does not seem to be any issues with services. So this come down to figuring out what you want. I have seen so many posts on international forums, mostly I look at Mexico, where the advice is RENT first, make sure you like an area. A vacation is very different that long term.
That is very very good advice. Unfortunately I did not start reading those forums until after I bought a house in a remote area. Maybe if some of those things were different. If I was fluent, or services worked all the time. But the truth for me is that I find I need more. Remote means remote. I think I have read more than 100 paperbacks in a little less than 6 months. Maybe more. Well, and I am also in recovery and going to AA meetings has been a part of my social life for a few years now and I miss it. I attend online, and that's great, but it's not enough. There are meetings in Spanish, which again is ok, but they are at nite in another town and it's not always the best idea to be out on the roads outside your own town at nite.
So my "ok's" have piled up. I do not wish to live an "ok" life. I made this choice because I wanted to experience life in a new way. I am adventurous. I am lucky; I got to travel to some cool places I wouldprobly never get to visit for work, and a couple for vacation, but I have spent time in Bangkok, Japan, Hong Kong, China, Jordan, Egypt, Singapore, Africa, Russia, France, maybe a couple more, Africa, France and the Middle East were vacation, the others were work, with Thailand being the most time spent- usually a week at a time but almost every other month for a couple of years, and a few years before that job I did something similar in HK. I have seen alot of third world life. I know how lucky we are in the states. I see that over and over here in Mexico. It a very hard life in the rural areas.
Like the different fiestas I have been lucky enough to attend- including this weekend's fair. I think these are time for women to let their hair down, to have some fun- no wonder they dance all nite! And last nite I could still hear the music at 2am a I finally drifted off, probly went until dawn. But women here work hard...all day, Yes the men work too, but maybe not from sun up to way past sun down. I am not comparing men and women here, just commenting on the fact that most of the women in this part of Mexico at least, work their asses of from when they wake up until they go to sleep at nite. Taking care of everything, and never finishing. I am in awe of them.
That being said, this is not how I want to live. I can visit with my friends in their home; I chat with Chela while she works on something or other, at times she kicks back with me, but mostly work. She can't go shopping or swimming or out to lunch. She has kids, a home, a husband, a restaurant, all that she is doing something for all the time. You have to pump your water. Even if you have washing machine it can't be left alone, needs interaction, then of course the rinsing- don't get me started ha ha, the line, and I don't think things get ironed here, I don't know I'm probly wrong. Most people wash by hand, some in the stream, some in big sinks. Run up the street for tortillas or eggs for a customer, clean the fish hubby caught for tonite's dinner. I cannot accurately describe how hard it is here for women, my examples seem feeble, I didn't even mean to go off on this tangent ha ha. I was only talking about how I feel.
So I am excited about moving to Puerto Penasco. It has gone from an idea to a plan. Of course if I don't like the area we'll look in the nearby towns, but at least as big as PP. Around 50 thousand people a opposed to less than 1000 with half being kids ha ha. Services work. They have AA meetings, and they are in English and Spanish. Grocery stores, banks/atms/ gas, coffee shops. And still beach....just not too close ha ha. I've been on their forum and emailing with a couple of people, we might have even found the place to rent for a month for a very reasonable price. Then we can look around for something long term. I can continue to work on my Spanish but have English available to me when I need it. Ha ha this will make Poppi happy I'm sure cause he can not be everything to me- not good for him or me. So this is where I'm at today. The weekend was super fun, and it was a nice diversion and spent laughing eating and dancing. Now I just have to figure out how to do that every day....I think I have a paln.
One piece of advice I would give (and this is only my opinion so means...hmmm...zero), is become fluent if you are moving to a place where only Spanish is spoken. Yes you can totally immerse and you will learn; but it's hard and it's lonely. It's humbling to a painful point as you find you control nothing, you decide nothing...meaning you always always have to ask for help. It is good for me that mmy husband speaks Spanish. But sometimes I almost wish we were struggling together. Sometimes I feel alone, even from him. And it's hard not to be resentful sometimes, too. And wow want to feel like a huge asshole? Resent the fact that your spouse can maneuver and you cannot. Yes I have been that petty and small. I am a people person. I am very outgoing, and friendly. I am also sarcastic as hell and think everything is funny- but here- nobody but me (yes and him) get my jokes. And yes my Spanish has improved greatly, but still to sit around in a group and chat with ease...not happenin' yet.
Another thing is living at the beach is no picnic.I guess I coulda figured that out in Calif, but I didn't. This is just too close...everything is grimy from the salt every day. And anything metal gets rusty, quick. Silverware, picture frames. We keep our dishes and pots and pans in drawers to keep them clean, and unrusty (is that a word). I probly wrote more than once about how grimy the windows are every day. The table, my elliptical. Yeah, next place at least 5 blocks from the beach.
We are in month 6, and I bet in month 12, I will see this differently. But for now- it's hard. Of course it has been a combination of tough things...we gave up and cancelled the phone. Now we have discovered skype to phone & it's only .02 per minute and that's not bad at all. So as long as the internet is up we can call- oh wait- I forgot to say this is only for international calls. We haven't figured out long distance, or local calling with skype to phone. So we can call the US but need our cell phones for inside Mexico. This is ok, we can drive to Copala (10-15 min) or Marquelia to get cell service to call Everardo's family in Morelia or other businesses in Mexico. But ha ha that would be silly for calls to our neighbors, like Chela, so if we want to talk to her or someone else here, we have to walk or dive to their house. Not a big deal of course, but for the last 2 weeks we were in the process of getting some papers signed by the comissario, and he's a drive not a walk. So we stop what we're doing 3 or 4 times a day to go see if he's home.
And the skype- I did say we need the internet for that right? Well the internet has been much better since we cancelled the phone; used to be when one worked the other didn't. Now we only have internet and like I said it works pretty good. But...I want it to work all the time. Not most of today, not too much yesterday and we'll see tomorrow, know what I mean? same with the electricity, which of course affects the internet.
But these are issues of living remotely. In the nearby larger towns there does not seem to be any issues with services. So this come down to figuring out what you want. I have seen so many posts on international forums, mostly I look at Mexico, where the advice is RENT first, make sure you like an area. A vacation is very different that long term.
That is very very good advice. Unfortunately I did not start reading those forums until after I bought a house in a remote area. Maybe if some of those things were different. If I was fluent, or services worked all the time. But the truth for me is that I find I need more. Remote means remote. I think I have read more than 100 paperbacks in a little less than 6 months. Maybe more. Well, and I am also in recovery and going to AA meetings has been a part of my social life for a few years now and I miss it. I attend online, and that's great, but it's not enough. There are meetings in Spanish, which again is ok, but they are at nite in another town and it's not always the best idea to be out on the roads outside your own town at nite.
So my "ok's" have piled up. I do not wish to live an "ok" life. I made this choice because I wanted to experience life in a new way. I am adventurous. I am lucky; I got to travel to some cool places I wouldprobly never get to visit for work, and a couple for vacation, but I have spent time in Bangkok, Japan, Hong Kong, China, Jordan, Egypt, Singapore, Africa, Russia, France, maybe a couple more, Africa, France and the Middle East were vacation, the others were work, with Thailand being the most time spent- usually a week at a time but almost every other month for a couple of years, and a few years before that job I did something similar in HK. I have seen alot of third world life. I know how lucky we are in the states. I see that over and over here in Mexico. It a very hard life in the rural areas.
Like the different fiestas I have been lucky enough to attend- including this weekend's fair. I think these are time for women to let their hair down, to have some fun- no wonder they dance all nite! And last nite I could still hear the music at 2am a I finally drifted off, probly went until dawn. But women here work hard...all day, Yes the men work too, but maybe not from sun up to way past sun down. I am not comparing men and women here, just commenting on the fact that most of the women in this part of Mexico at least, work their asses of from when they wake up until they go to sleep at nite. Taking care of everything, and never finishing. I am in awe of them.
That being said, this is not how I want to live. I can visit with my friends in their home; I chat with Chela while she works on something or other, at times she kicks back with me, but mostly work. She can't go shopping or swimming or out to lunch. She has kids, a home, a husband, a restaurant, all that she is doing something for all the time. You have to pump your water. Even if you have washing machine it can't be left alone, needs interaction, then of course the rinsing- don't get me started ha ha, the line, and I don't think things get ironed here, I don't know I'm probly wrong. Most people wash by hand, some in the stream, some in big sinks. Run up the street for tortillas or eggs for a customer, clean the fish hubby caught for tonite's dinner. I cannot accurately describe how hard it is here for women, my examples seem feeble, I didn't even mean to go off on this tangent ha ha. I was only talking about how I feel.
So I am excited about moving to Puerto Penasco. It has gone from an idea to a plan. Of course if I don't like the area we'll look in the nearby towns, but at least as big as PP. Around 50 thousand people a opposed to less than 1000 with half being kids ha ha. Services work. They have AA meetings, and they are in English and Spanish. Grocery stores, banks/atms/ gas, coffee shops. And still beach....just not too close ha ha. I've been on their forum and emailing with a couple of people, we might have even found the place to rent for a month for a very reasonable price. Then we can look around for something long term. I can continue to work on my Spanish but have English available to me when I need it. Ha ha this will make Poppi happy I'm sure cause he can not be everything to me- not good for him or me. So this is where I'm at today. The weekend was super fun, and it was a nice diversion and spent laughing eating and dancing. Now I just have to figure out how to do that every day....I think I have a paln.
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