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| Horse in the Water |
How could I have not posted for so long? After all my plans for the blog to be a diary of my life in Mexico - where I would share insights about daily life in Ajijic and paint descriptive word pictures to convey the feel of the place, with anecdotes about interesting events and experiences with a few epiphanies thrown in! All my pleasant fantasies about spending hours writing, while drinking coffee in the morning on the balcony, with the sun just coming up and the peaceful streets down below (except maybe for a horse or two clopping by on the cobblestones). And, after all that - I haven't written a word - in 3 months! Have thought about it, but I am so busy living - no time to write!
The thing is, I am having so much fun! Loving retirement! Loving Ajijic! The best time of my life-a kind of personal renaissance, a second spring, a completely new chapter, and, trite as it sounds, I am actually, redefining myself! Hyperbole? Yes, of course, a little (after all hyperbole is my best strength!) but mostly true!
I never expected to enjoy my life here so much! Just hoped it would be an affordable place to park ourselves for however long, with no commitment (other than the year and a half left until I can receive Medicare and my pensions).
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| Three Coots |
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| Birds on Posts |
Maybe I've been hypnotized by the sunshine every day and the lake almost outside our door, with the malecon, stretching for half a mile next to the water, and the music in the park, and all the birds, and the palm trees towering over the tile roofs of the town, and the huge hills against the horizon, a background to every scene, and the pink of the sunrise and bluest blue of the sky at midday, and the orange-red sunsets slowly turning to purple. So much beauty. It does something to a person's soul (or to some very fundamental part, anyway).
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| Bird of Many Colors |
Or maybe it's the many, many restaurants with great food that costs only a fraction of the price paid in the US - where we sit outside or under a roof with no walls, in the shade or in the sunshine.
Besides all that, my passion for making art has recently been reignited! I had lost my enthusiasm for digital money collages a year or so ago; have been searching for a creative path ever since, that would provide the same sense of joy and satisfaction. Am so thrilled to be experiencing that pleasure again! Am photographing the beauty all around me and turning what I see into digital art landscapes! I have posted some of them here (and posted some of these on Facebook not long ago). They are also on my website: www.margeryellsworth.com.
Besides that, we have made friends - almost painlessly! People come to our house, and we spend time at people's houses, and we eat out with them and chat about everything - health, the latest terrible thing done by Trump and his minions, life, the wonderfulness of retirement (that's me talking!), art, trips we plan to take together, etc. We went to brunch with friends this Sunday (and every Sunday), made Thanksgiving dinner with stuffing and a lot of side dishes for 16 people, including friends - and niece Rachel who flew down to help us celebrate!
Also, we are sponsoring a student here! We are paying his tuition at the nearby technical college, and paying some of his living costs - spending slightly less than $500 per year. We are thrilled to be doing this! So little money to make such a huge difference in a person's life! We are planning to begin sponsoring another student in the near future.
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| Egret Looking Across the Lake |
Have joined the photography club, with Eric, and the Ajijic Society of the Arts, and am doing Zumba on the malecon next to the lake with a group 3 mornings a week; and participated in a birdwatching expedition with the local birders group recently, and on a hike up the side of a steep, high hill with the local hiking group. Also, will be in a 4 person art show at a local gallery in March and looks as though I'll be in more shows too, in the spring.
Another big change -- Every day I walk. No need to drive to restaurants or to most other places; we live close to almost everything. And, of course, every day is sunny and warm, which makes walking a lot more fun than under the flat white sky, like a cataract, with the wind and the darkness at 4:00 in the afternoon and the blowing leaves and the drizzle of Western Washington. We have a car, though only one now, but it stays home a lot more than we do!
And, besides all that, we are spending a lot less money and having a lot more fun! Our incomes have shrunk hugely now that I am no longer working - but we are living very comfortably - going out MUCH more often than when I brought in a paycheck and going to events and on tours around the area and on trips to Costco in Guadalajara. We are going on a trip to Puerto Vallarta, also, before Christmas.
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| Wet Dog With a Stick in its Mouth |
Another reason for my (and Eric's too!) increased happiness is that we've figured out ways to take care of many of the details of living which are harder in a new country with a different language, culture, expectations and ways of doing things. We now have an English speaking propane gas delivery service, a regular water delivery (for the bottles of water used for drinking); we know where to go to pay our bills; and we know who to talk to when we have questions about service; we know of a butcher selling US style cuts of meat (sometimes we make arrachera but sometimes we just want pot roast!), a dog training school for Otto (they pick Otto up every morning and bring him back at 4:30 or so every weekday); a TV streaming service for shows in English, an audiologist (who is also an MD!) who is fluent in English and very competent and nice; a place to have my pictures printed; a fairly painless way to have US products delivered in Ajijic; a computer repair shop run by an expat; a very nice store selling second-hand clothes (nice but not as wonderful as Value Village!); an organic market; a good, local vegetable market; and, probably most important, even though no hablo espanol muy bien, I am able to communicate well enough to resolve most issues that we encounter.
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| Boating on Lake Chapala |
Don't misunderstand. Life isn't perfect. Otto still barks way too much (even after 3 weeks at Ajijic Dog School!), I am recovering from bronchitis (a milder case than in the past but I thought I wouldn't get it at all when we moved here), firecrackers go off at all hours and loud music can be heard late into the night; I don't speak Spanish as well as I would like, and still struggle to understand and be understood; I have gained back most of the weight I lost before we moved to Mexico (very hard to maintain a healthy diet with all the wonderful, inexpensive restaurants and markets and roadside stands everywhere); and there is much poverty and dogs with their ribs showing (we give money to people who ask and donate money to help where we can).
But, the thing is, even with the frustrations and difficulties that we experience and observe, Mexico is becoming home. Maybe not forever, but for now. What was exotic and strange when we arrived has now become normal; the background to our lives. we have become comfortable here.
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| Path at Night |
Now that I have blogged again, who knows? Maybe I really will post regularly - updates on how we're doing, daily activities, interesting news and upcoming events and plans! Lots is happening! Looking forward to reporting on it more frequently!
Thanks for reading!
Marge
