• 29Oct

  Figuring Out What’s Important

  decisionmaking No Comments

  Paul and I are adults, and know our likes and dislikes pretty well. So why is it so hard to establish what our requirements are for a new Mexican home?

  Here are the things that are non-negotiable:

  • It can’t be extremely hot and humid for long periods of time. But then again we don’t want it to get too cold in the winter, either!
  • It needs to be a place where there are good places to walk.
  • The city needs a zocalo or central gathering place that feels good.
  • It needs to be urban enough that there are multiples of things…such as coffee shops, restaurants, hotels, etc. We think probably over 30,000 people.
  • It needs to be a fairly simple trip from the West coast of the US.
  • It can’t be in a gringo-land community.

  Here are the things we’d like if possible:

  • A view, preferrably of the ocean.
  • An easy trip to Mexico City to visit Adam and Martha.
  • A few gringo amenities like an English-language library.

  Paul and I have traveled together to a number of possible new-home locations, and I have traveled around a fair bit with Adam in the years he lived there before Paul and I met. But we still don’t have a clear idea of where we will settle, except that it would be great to be able to live on the coast since that is pretty much out of our reach financially in the US.

  The feel of a place is extremely important, and that’s one reason we fell so hard for Zihuatanejo on our visit there earlier this month.

  We’ll figure it out as we go along, but it feels a bit strange to be working towards a goal that hasn’t taken shape fully yet.

  -Nancy

  
• 29Oct

  Research

  resources No Comments

  We have actually been talking about this Mexico move for 2 or 3 years now, so we have done a mountain of research in books, magazines, and mostly on the web.

  The best resources for giving an actual feel for moving, finding a place to live, and adapting to life in a new culture are blogs of people who have already done it. See the links section on our page for the blogs that we find most informative and entertaining. The list keeps growing as we find more. We hope our blog will provide the same as it grows.

  Frommer’s Mexico Guide 2005 has been a really useful book for general information about cities and towns in Mexico. And of course, everyone needs the People’s Guide to Mexico by Carl Franz, the original bible for Mexico dreamers.

  Our son and his wife live in Mexico City and are our best resource of all for information and ideas.

  Hasta Luego
  Paul

  
• 26Oct

  I’m Trying to Create a Plan

  packing the house No Comments

  Planning a move is never a simple thing once you’ve accumulated more belongings than you can put in the trunk of a car. Unfortunately, we have accumulated way more than that!

  Since my job now is to get us ready for our big move, the first thing I decided to do is to think about our Mexico plan. We intend to sell our house here and move down there for a six month trial – taking nothing with us but some clothes and the dogs. We’ll rent for six months, probably in a couple of different places. If we decide we want to make the committment, we will probably buy a house. But if we don’t decide to stay in Mexico, we will move back to the US…probably to a place with a little better climate than Washington State.

  First and foremost I need to work on my attachment to things. We want our belongings to fit into a 13′ x 10′ storage locker. And the things in the locker need to be the essentials – things that we really can’t imagine a life without – whether it is in Mexico or here.

  I have some wonderful things that belonged to my parents, but my kids would appreciate them as much as I have. I need to just let go.

  The things that are already at the top of the “keep” list are:

  • artwork
  • kitchen things like the Le Creuset, the espresso machine
  • our 6′ long cherry kitchen table
  • a couple of nice rugs

  But there are a number of items that I would hate to sell because I use them a lot and love them, like:

  • the nordic track
  • my very favorite gardening tools

  I also need to be concerned with making sure the things we keep are things that will be ok stored for an unknown amount of time.

  Yesterday I started cleaning out our basement exercise room. One side of the garage is now “garage sale” stuff, one side is for “dump” stuff. I’ve already mostly filled the recycle bin. There are a ton of old bank statements that I need to shred, and three boxes of kid memories, my old poetry, old letters, and writing and mementos of my mom and dad. All that will take a while to go through. The couch down there is good, just needs the pillow covers cleaned. I need to see if Phil wants the pinball machine, and put an ad on Craig’s List for the couch and other items. Once the room is cleaned out I’ll repaint it and get new carpet installed. It’s going to be like that for every room!

  There is a certain element of fun in going through things – but I have learned that too much stuff is a burden, too.

  -Nancy

  

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