Don't worry be happy...
When you retire to live in a place where most other people go to vacation you find that you go through a transition phase. You realize that you can't live in full time vacation mode like friends and family think you are. When you are in vacation mode and, like us, you are someone who loves to explore, an all-inclusive resort is definitely out of the question as you feel you must spend every precious vacation moment on the go. Gotta hit the beaches, bars, restaurants and day-trip locations and try to cram as much as you can into those few “out of office” days. Then those glorious days meld together and before you know it, you are back at your desk looking at your pictures wishing you were still there, and planning your next vacation.
Not so in retirement. The hurry-hurry work-hard process taken from work life and applied to your vacation is in direct conflict with retirement. It took us a long while to “realize” that we are retired (see previous post) and it's time to change our approach to our lives. As I write this, I am convincing myself that it’s actually good to do nothing, and then pause to rest. Then we ponder how we might do other things like volunteering our time more than we already are.
Learning to SKYPE long distance with our families and friends has been a wonderful way to keep in touch from time to time and we appreciate having that available to us when we need it. Taking up a new painting hobby has been a huge enjoyment for both of us, and we thank our new snowbird friends that we met in the daily swimming pool sessions at Loma del Mar for that! Volunteering at the Colina spay and neuter clinic to walk dogs and to help with their monthly surgeries has been very satisfying emotionally. We get our “doggies fix” and feel good about helping a great cause right here in PV. Learning to shop and cook with different ingredients has been interesting and sometimes we stumble on a fabulous new recipe. We spend time reading fiction and keep up on news via the internet and Facebook. Writing this string of blogs has certainly kept us busy too. We are able to get some English TV channels and watch some of our favorite shows when we can. TV news broadcasts available here in English are mostly biased toward US propaganda and we find that boring and “small minded”. We miss our Canadian TV shows and news casts but can't get them here.
The bottom line in retirement activity is to learn to relax while keeping your body and mind active. Cyndi and I are usually very good at finding and creating our own entertainment and we also like to follow others who might suggest an unlikely adventure. But, moving full time to a snowbird destination means most of those other folks eventually leave (reluctantly so..) and then we look to each other and our few resident friends for fun. And some of them come and go from time to time too, so it's a good thing Patty and Jonathan are here all the time!
One of the most important things to think of as you go into retirement is that your retirement partner will be your best friend in paradise, someone who has your back through thick and thin, and I feel very lucky in that regard. It would be very difficult to find a new retirement best friend to confide secrets and personal musings. Here in Mexico, most local people won't understand your sense of humor or understand your life experiences. You will make new friends but the community is very small. Everyone knows everyone else and probably know a lot of gossip too – that type of news travels fast. Having your most-trusted with you at all times in a new country and different culture is essential.
Discovering things about your retirement partner can be enlightening. Even if you have spent a lifetime together and you know each other inside out, you will likely uncover things about him/her that you didn't know while you both worked. Being together 24/7 can be challenging unless you are with the perfect partner. Hopefully, each of you will put 100% effort into the daily household chores, planning daily activities, cooking and grocery shopping. This truly makes life in paradise a pleasant reality. We are very lucky to have found this, as we do everything together.
Striking a balance between your real needs and your vacation-mode behavior is a bit tricky. On vacation, you allow yourself to carefully count the days of over-the-top pampered spending and indulging. However, living in a vacation paradise on a retirement budget requires careful thought and planning. It's also good to keep in mind that leaving too much for the next generation might not be as necessary as one might think. Retirement income is limited to small pensions and social security and therefore a stick-to-it budget is mandatory. Both of us have the good sense not to impulse buy and, in this initial part of our adventure, we know that buying “things” means we have to pack and move them into our already stuffed suitcases. So, at the moment, we just leave those things alone.
Retired or not, drinking is a normal daily pastime in vacation land and, just like everyone else, we enjoy a few cool ones once in a while on a beautiful beach. We have tried our best efforts to stick to a “five o-clock somewhere” approach to refreshments. Ok, ok, I admit I have had a couple of beers for lunch at the beach when we head there once in while, but typically Cyndi is the one that keeps the helm straight. Amazing. She is somehow succeeding at not drinking before the appointed hour even though in this vacation town people drink at all hours. As an example, we go for our walk to the grocery store at 9:30 in the morning and the tequila guys – dispersed every few stores apart - are yelling at us to come for a few shots. Bar owners on all streets have staff call out their specials for cervezas ($5 for six cervezas in an ice bucket) or their all day 2 X 1 margarita specials, or all day happy hour. Cyndi calls them the annoying “yellers” and we try to avoid them if we can.
Most outings with friends, or by ourselves, result in sipping on cervezas, vino blanco, or fancy umbrella related concoctions of some sort. Having a local hangout nearby - can you say Langostinos – is essential for passing the time with friends and enjoying camaraderie. Here, it seems there is no worry associated with “what will the neighbors think?” In the words of Bobby McFerrin: Don't worry, be happy. :-)