Reflections

This post is a bit longer than some of the others, so please bear with us on this one. We thought it might be time to take a look back on our thoughts and expectations while nearing the end of our first year in the warm, and reflect on our experiences here. When we were grappling with the decision of retiring early and making this life changing move, I recall the never ending search on Google: should we retire to Mexico, Central America, South America, Australia, Europe, perhaps a tropical island somewhere in the Caribbean or in the South Pacific. It took some discussion to come up with a shortlist of 15 or 20 "real" potentials, and then a lot of work putting together that very detailed spread sheet to arrive at a handful of places to explore. There was no manual that came with our decision making process. There was no help on what would (or should) be deemed important other than our own common sense and gut feelings (and yes, many have changed), and by applying data for various line items that we found online. And that reminds me - it's time to update the spread sheet again.

We sometimes wished that we had someone to tell us what to expect, and then on the other hand we are glad we weren't told so we weren't dissuaded from the fun of finding out for ourselves. We thought it would be best if we kept our decision making process to ourselves so be wouldn't be influenced or swayed. Patty didn't know that we had decided to join her here in Puerto Vallarta. She found out just a couple of months before we arrived.

If people wish to follow in our footsteps or take a similar path, please know that there is going to be pressure and frustration that comes along for the ride. We are lucky that we have a loving caring relationship and understand each other well. That helped us to overcome some of the hurtles we ran into, so we could just laugh about them. We are also lucky that we want the same things in our retirement adventure. Even so, it can be difficult at first and it might test your relationship to all boundaries – it's imperative that you have lots of love for each other, and that you also like to be in each others' company.

As new tropical residents (aka stupid newbies), we sometimes dwell on some of the irritating aspects of living where others vacation, and having to deal with issues here. "Yeah right" I can hear our Canadian family and friends say while making a violin with their thumb and index finger. But it's one of those things you don't understand until you do it. It's not like a vacation. We have written some posts on some of them in this blog (heat, bugs, shopping, smells, etc). Certainly there are days when you question your very sanity.

But, I suppose some of our observations and experiences could be applied to any new place that we might choose. And yet, even when there are issues to be addressed we stop to remind ourselves where we are. The skies always seem to part at the right time and then the sunset on that gorgeous beach casts its magic spell on us once again.

We didn't move here to change who we are and rather changed our living environment to better suit our inner selves. Cyndi tells me she had dreamed of living in the sunshine under a palm tree since she was 5 years old. I think everyone of us might have had a similar dream but lacked the courage and motivation to act on it. I am very happy that Cyndi chose me as her life partner to explore parts of the world. It sure helps that we are free from the daily grind of work and have no children remaining at home with us to raise and nurture. It's "our time" and we are enjoying it, and it appears we might even have seen some unexpected changes in ourselves...

Meals are a combined effort with me cooking and Cyndi doing dishes and both of us roll up our sleeves to get the house work done every day to keep it tidy. A little relaxed approach to housekeeping is fine with me - Cyndi is slowly getting there... she still likes me to put the toaster away in the cupboard after each use. We have a maid come in twice a month to do some of the heavy mopping work. Having a maid in our home is new to both of us and Cyndi is still not really on board with that, but we might as well enjoy while we can. We are so tidy that our apartment is always ready to be seen by unexpected visitors or when our landlord contacts us with short notice for a "viewing" (for the next tenant when we leave in the fall). All we have to do is put away our laptops and walk out the door. It's really nice that we both enjoy living in a clean, tidy, albeit more relaxed home life.

Fish and shrimp tacos have a habit of dripping that juicy stuff all over your nice clean tank top – mine that is. So do chips and salsa. I really think it's odd that every time I have a hankering for spaghetti, I happen to be wearing a white shirt. Then there's that juicy squirty little lime wedge on the top of my Corona that always seems to leave a nice set of machine-gun-like dots on one or both of our tank tops at the same time (and some bits in the eyes too...). This of course then attracts the ever-present floating dust or sticky pollen to bring the dots to life.

I am always doing my best to keep my forehead from getting too sweaty by using my handy dandy wipe rag that I carry everywhere. But sometimes one of my arms just raises itself up to wipe my forehead and then it reaches itself around behind my back and gets dried off on my shirt leaving an obvious wet smear. Amazing how that just happens all by itself. That's what I call involuntary dirt but Cyndi calls it boy dirt.

Adding to that, we regularly have smudges on our clothing from our dog walking events and sand on our legs from the surf washing up. At first, all of those little sand particles had to be carefully brushed off using a special wash cloth that Cyndi carried with her where ever we went. Then we realized that it was just too much to manage all the time and now we find we can saunter through the day with the hallmarks of our fun in plain sight. Sand mixed with beer, sweat, tacos and suntan lotion are a natural combination and are the result of a lovely afternoon by the shore. When the catches of the day arrive at the apartment, more dirt is just going to happen. Thank goodness for nice cool showers, washing machines and tile floors - our brooms get a daily workout and it’s just a part of life.

This is a picture of Pepe (Pep-pay) - he is a chihuahua mix of some sort - he's a cutie. He can't sit still. We never expected to do this but Cyndi and I volunteer as dog walkers for the Colina Spay and Neuter Clinic. These are rescue dogs (collarless, mistreated, beaten, broken, homeless, lost, puppies born under a car and left there, running alone on the beach or a busy road, starving, diseased, parasite ridden, etc.) from all sorts of places in the city. We have seen dogs like this running around when we are out and about. When they are caught (by others) they end up at the clinic for veterinary care, spay or neuter as the case may be, and are then adopted out to a good home - usually north of the Mexican border. We have set up times for when we get to walk them for a few hours and make sure we "expose" them to their unsuspecting new Mom or Dad. Sometimes we walk the same dogs for many weeks until we get a taker, and other times it takes only an hour. They wear a purple superman cape that says "adoptame" on it and we stop many tourists on the Malecon in the hope that they will adopt a dog. It's great fun. We have had much success. Fifteen of the dogs we walked have found new homes.

Then there was something we did for ourselves, through meeting some of the many varied and interesting people at our apartment complex. A few of them shared their love of painting with us. I won't repeat a previous post here (see Fun With Paints - Feb 2016) but, for both of us, the experience of trying something new was exhilarating. This activity became a very big part of our weekly routine with two classes per week and also painting at home. We did this up to the end of April - this was when most of the painting gang left PV to head back to the great white north again. After that we painted at home in our apartment as it started to get too hot to sit in the outdoor studio. The fun and camaraderie we had there was totally unexpected, and we are thankful for the new friendships that have been cemented. I am sure we will both continue pursuing and enjoying painting for the rest of our retirement days. I have started posting some of my works on a separate Facebook page at this link: https://www.facebook.com/Beachseeker/

It's a good thing we have taken the time to write down some of our experiences and thoughts on this blog site, as it has all become one big blur. Our sense of time has completely changed. The time of day, the time of week, and our sense of time passing in general, has all but been erased with our new routine here. Every day is a new day but they all seem about the same routine and we love it. We don't get to sleep until midnight most nights, or later, as we wait for the cooler evening temperatures to arrive. We have a paper calendar hanging on the wall that we consult for specific appointments to be reminded or for special dinners out with friends. The days just seem to zip by and we can't keep track without a calendar. Neither of us can believe that we have already been here for almost a year. Both of us have a difficult time when conversations include a response to a question about what day it is. We actually need to look at the bottom corner of our computer screen to see the date and look at a calendar to confirm the day of the week. I guess we are both living for today (smelling the roses so to speak) more than ever before, and it's awesome that we spend so much time together and hold hands where ever we go.

One of things that worried us most about moving to Mexico was having to learn to speak Spanish. What if we got sick and had to explain something to doctors, or what about communication with the police if we needed them, or what about eating in restaurants or going grocery shopping...? It was a high concern item for us and almost caused us to go elsewhere. We tried to take some Spanish lessons before we left Canada but the couple of hours per week just wouldn't stick with us. The language issue was one that caused us much anxiety, and yet we took the plunge. As it turns out, Mexicans are very gracious and patient with their understanding when we try to interact and communicate (and on the lighter side they probably call us "tontos gringos" - silly gringos - after we move along). Most Mexicans in Puerto Vallarta know some English and many speak it very well - that was certainly a relief when we went in get things like new phones, see a doctor, pick up specific vitamins, or order pizza the way we like it. There is the odd time when we ask for something in our Spanglish and the person we are addressing looks at us like we have ten heads (a Cyndi term...), and they call someone else in who speaks English to help us out. We are trying to learn a little at a time...I am very glad and thankful that a lot of Mexican folks have learned to speak English. Many people will stop what they are doing and help teach us new words when we stumble along, and even make a bit of a game about it. One of our waiters at Langostinos called us his best pupils when we ordered "dedos de pescados" (fish fingers) one day - he was downright giddy with glee and was so surprised that he started jumping up and down giving us high fives! We had learned it from another stopping point and repeated it over and over until it just rolled off our tongues. It has taken a year but we have learned many phases and greetings that help us to get by when we shop or eat out. I must admit it is much less stressful than when we first arrived.

It is sometimes quite warm here and we need to be careful that we don't overheat on some days. Humidity has quite an impact on Puerto Vallarta temperatures as some days they can reach a "feels like" temperature of mid to high 40's C. Heatstroke can occur if your body temperature rises to 104 F (40 C) or higher. It pays to keep cool...

As we all know, there is a special feeling that comes with sitting at the edge of the beach in a comfy lounge watching the sunset while sipping on a few cool ones. The obligatory delicious snacks that accompany the cocktails are also very enjoyable and seem to put that extra smile on your face. When we were previously here in vacation mode, all of the sunsets had to be watched, soundly toasted and clapped for. Every night. All of them were gorgeous, and we were all about making sure we contributed something extra to the cheering section. Then you step on the bathroom scale (aka the floor whore - a Patty term...) and realize there are even more extras to all of this. It was another change we had to make to try to get ourselves away from the beach every once in a while before both of us had to replace our substantial wardrobe of tank tops. We had to come to grips with the fact that we are no longer “on vacation”. As I understand it, normal people don't down several pina coladas, margaritas and/or cervezas every day of the week. I have heard from a few suspect sources that the recommended limit to that type of activity is five or six days a week, max.

It took a bit of research to discover that living in a hot climate slowly makes changes to your body's biological metabolism. I started taking notice of this (it was really more of a wtf moment...) after being here for 10 months or so when the summer temperatures and humidity levels started to rise in our apartment. Apparently, as a survival trigger, living in a cold climate requires your body to produce more heat, and this then requires an increase in the ability to produce more stomach acid and digestive enzymes, so you can consume and digest more food. This then equals extra heat for shoveling snow and building igloos. Who knew that this internal mechanism reverses in a tropical climate? Not me. Your body naturally detects that it does not need heat to survive and slows the production of stomach enzymes in your system...at least that is what I read somewhere.

But, I also soon found out that this makes it more difficult to eat and digest steaks, burgers, pizzas, pastas, dairy products and other great stuff we used to eat in the northern diet, causing a lot of groaning and moaning from your mid section while it tries to keep up. As your body works to breakdown a meal, it begins to heat up, and just like any machine, the harder it works, the hotter it gets. Eating a lot of anything can cause this but a diet high in protein is particularly susceptible to turning you into a furnace. Protein has more than twice the thermic effect of fat or carbohydrates - no wonder I get sweaty eating steaks, burgers and meat lovers pizza.

Northern habits are difficult to break. Especially when folks from the north arrive to visit, with their metabolisms fully functioning, and their food choices like yours used to be. When you find yourself joining in to eat this great stuff you will experience a hot, heavy, bloated sensation - at least I do - and it's everything to with your enzymes being out of whack. It is very annoying to wake up several times during the night sweating and wonder what the heck is going on... and then discovering that my body has been an excellent textbook example of a changed digestive system. We have learned much here! You eventually find that you are not as hungry in the heat, and that you don't eat as much as you used to at mealtime.

It's good that we have our friend Patty here. She is the real constant in our lives and we are very grateful to Patty for her uncanny wisdom to move to Puerto Vallarta in the first place. When we visited with her during our several vacations to PV, she was quietly and carefully showing us the way. There was definitely some influence and encouragement from her that helped to cement our decision to start our adventure here. When we arrived to live here, she also helped to steer us to the right places for eating and shopping, learning a few Spanish words, and shared her extensive experience regarding daily life here. It's great to have a friend like Patty - everyone should be so lucky.

It's a strange feeling... our families seem to be in some remote far-off place from the past. When we contact them to have our much loved SKYPE sessions, adjustments are needed to get them into our day, and theirs. We even need to remind ourselves every day, for a few days before hand, that we have that SKYPE appointment - we would hate to miss it in the blur of the days as they go by. With time zone differences, the windows of opportunity are reduced but it's always an event for us to see them. Cyndi also makes sure her Mom is updated regularly by email as she is always thinking of us.

We miss our family and our friends in Canada and we hope some of them will find time to visit us. Our pensions definitely limit our ability to travel, and we know it's also costly for them to make the trip. There are days when we REALLY miss our families, especially when birthdays and Christmas / Easter happen. We try to make the most of what we have here. And, of course we have each other to lean on, along with our new friends that we have made. Meeting and making new friends can sometimes be exhilarating, and yet a bit exhausting at the same time, as you always want to present yourself in the best way. Thankfully our new friends have made that easy.

Our sacrifices in leaving Canada are obvious and many, but they had to be made, reluctantly, as a side effect of our decision to go. However, there is a blessing in disguise included with all of this as, before we left Canada, I was on the verge of running head first into a heart attack from work related stress, and physical degeneration from sitting at a desk all day. I believe our move has actually saved my life. So does my doctor. We walk everywhere we go and exercise in the pool every day. This has strengthened my back and my knees. Two lower back surgeries and three knee surgeries in Canada left them weak, and sitting at a desk all day when I was working didn't help anything.

At first, I was worried that the change in life style might be too much of a strain on my bad knee and this was partly confirmed when we first got here. Our initial walks had to be short until my knee could keep up. Cyndi also had her own past knee surgeries to contend with and that limited her activity too. There are hills and stairs everywhere here. We walk up the sidewalk of our 5 story high hill to our apartment at least once a day. Sometimes three or four times a day. Then there are the 32 stairs we need to climb from the main gate level to our apartment level. Carrying groceries up is a lot of fun.

All of this to say that I am now feeling more healthy than ever. I have been able to reduce my previous load of medications to almost nothing. I have my core strength back again along with increased physical strength in my arms and legs. Cyndi does her strength exercises on a floor mat, she watches her calorie intake and documents them on-line, and is trimming her cute little self so much that she bought three bikinis! Reducing the frequency of trips to "enjoy" the beach has also helped - we have both lost weight and feel great. Life is good.

We sit and talk about all of this from time to time, just to revisit our past decisions and our future plans. We have no regrets, other than the distances to our families. And yes, this place is different than what we were used to in Canada, and the next place in our adventure will be too. Yes, there are growing pains and things to discover or get used to. It is a different life living here but we do enjoy it. We know it was the right decision to make (no snow!...yaaaay!), and yet when we tell people that we sold our home, vehicles, furniture, everything in kitchen, tools, hobby stuff including a stack of guitars, amps and enough band equipment to fill a music store, they are in awe. We sometimes do a double-take ourselves, through the eyes of others, and we have to agree it was a big decision to make, and big steps to take to make it all happen.

So, to summarize our observations and reflections of our first long term visit to Puerto Vallarta, apparently our move has transformed us into easy going people who are dirty, have no sense of time, love spending time with dogs, are somewhat smelly from sweat and exercise, and need to get a handle on our eating and drinking habits.

.....Well, sort of but not really, but we sure like our new life where it's warm and sunny, and we both like our “new” healthier selves now that we have figured out some of this stuff. We take the time to slow down, exercise, eat right and enjoy our lives with each other. Cheers! .......To another great day!