Tuesday, August 30, 2011

Most asked question!

Repeatedly we’re asked.."so what do you do with your time now that you’re retired and living in Mexico?"

Our first answer is...time? Who cares!

But really, it’s no different down here than back in Hamilton, except for the weather of course.

If we HAVE to set an alarm for some appointment it’s just like back in Canada...you rollover, throw the alarm clock against the wall and curse.

Now, I’ve always been a 5am riser and miserable, no matter the day. Hub on the other hand is more of a 9ish sort of fellow, who actually sings when he gets up and LOUD! (And not necessarily with lyrics you would want your children to hear.)

These days I tend to be getting up ‘round 7ish, still earlier than the choirboy.

Breakfast is usually down at a favourite restaurant by the water. Yes we go out for breakfast most mornings or middays. I am a strong believer that there is no reason to heat up the house anytime of day by turning on the stove! Lunch, forget about it...and dinner is either restaurants, BBQ’s or leftovers.

Our days are filled with the same stuff we all did back in Canada....clean floors, do dishes, do laundry (and there’s alot since we end up changing like FOUR times a day with the heat), clean the bathrooms (oh, did I mention there are FOUR of them!!!) And for those of you that religiously clean your tools annually to keep them rust free and in good working order...down here you have to do it weekly! Rust happens in a blink of an eye!
Gardening is only in large containers in our yards! There’s no mowing the lawns or raking the grass. Instead we sweep and hose down the cement!! Hub believes that the containers are actually multiplying on their own. For some reason more of them seem to appear when he comes back from somewhere! haha

The car gets washed once a week from the guys downtown for less than FIVE bucks and that includes outside AND inside!

Garbage is picked up outside your door THREE times a week, every Monday, Wednesday and Friday and they take EVERYTHING!

Now Skype is a gawdsend for any traveller or expat. It’s a great way to keep in touch with family and friends, but beware...you will end up talking to them more than you ever did when you lived in the same city!

On any given day there’s a whole slew of stuff to do...from walking and bicycling, swimming and snorkelling, bird or surfer watching, sailing or island hopping, iguana sightings, picture taking and the ever popular SHOPPING (for some reason hub doesn’t seem to be too keen on this one.) And then the daily decision of where we should have our cocktails at home, on the roof or the courtyards or just go out?

So if we have to do the retirement stuff day in and day out, there’s really no better place to have to do it than Maz!

Ohhhh and as for the language thing.
Neither one of us had any Spanish when we moved down here last year. We didn’t see a problem. After all we’re both College graduates and worked for 30+ years with the public!!
Well to date, neither one of us is fluent in Spanish and sometimes our English isn’t so good either! We seem to be gaining some Spanish and actually loosing alot of English??!!

Just a few thoughts from 2 Canadians living and loving it in Mazatlan!
Linda and Hub