Mazatlán will be joining with 67 other cities around the country in a silent march this evening to show solidarity against rising crime levels.

Everyone will gather at 5 pm at the Fisherman's Monument to sing the national anthem. We will all be wearing white and carrying candles. The march will be silent, and will end at the Plazuela Republica.

It is the hope that this simultaneous march will send a message that the people of México are united in their desire for the end to violence and uncertainty.

If you're in Mazatlán or any of the other cities participating, we encourage you to participate. If your city doesn't have an organized walk, perhaps a candle in your front window at 6 pm Mexico City time would be a good alternative.

I've heard stories of a number of people who moved to Mexico and decided to move back to the US before their first year was up. Some are firsthand stories of people known to our friends and family. The stories were told to us in a loving but cautionary way by people who were worried the same thing would happen to us. They didn't want to see us disillusioned or hurt, either emotionally or financially.

We've been here almost a year now, and I can truly say that we are both very happy with our decision to move. We love the community, the house, the neighborhood, and the weather. I could go on and on - and I have, actually, as this blog is witness.

Without going into details, I have heard lately of a number of people who have moved back or are planning on moving back to the US. It's made me think about why we were successful and try to figure out what we might have done differently than they did.

• We had traveled in Mexico extensively
• My son and his wife live in Mexico and were a great source of information and ideas
• We made a really solid "must have" list for our new community
• We worked through our control issues with regard to litter, barking dogs, etc
• We have taken it slow, not joining every organization just to fill time
• We really like spending time with each other
• We are committed to learning the language
• We had thought about the challenges facing us ahead of time (vegetarian food/the language)
• We helped each other get through bad patches instead of escalating frustration

That's a few of the things I think we did right. Here are some observations about some things unsatisfied folks maybe could have done better:

• Think ahead about how you will deal with aggravations like barking dogs, litter and no-show repairmen. Have strategies ready. You need to be honest with yourself to do this.
• Settle in a home that fits your lifestyle. If you like to walk, make it easy on yourself, don't buy on the top of a hill.
• Surround yourself with people who bring out the good in you, and who make you feel positive.
• Think about whether your move is all about one thing (i.e. you can live here for less money)
• Think about whether you are you open minded? Accepting? Positive? Flexible?
• Think about whether you want to adapt to the culture. Will you be unhappy if you can't find a store open during siesta or your favorite food item?
• Do you like to settle disputes with a lawsuit? Probably Mexico isn't a good fit for you.
  

We're here for the long haul. Are you? Or no? I'd love to hear why.

I'm probably not the only blogger who keeps a pad on my desk where I jot down blog ideas. Sometimes the idea is complete in my mind and I just need to take a few pictures and sometimes I need to chew on it for a bit to decide how I want to present my ideas.

One idea that I've been chewing on for quite a while has to do with taking pictures.

Whenever I see a picture of a beautiful person in traditional costume or engaged in a religious rite or the riding a donkey like the boy in the picture above I often think about how they feel about having their picture taken. To all the "real" photographers out there - do you ask? If you do, does it spoil the moment? What about if you aren't fluent in Spanish?

The picture below is the original picture (with permission from Lee in Mazatlan) and I love seeing that her late husband was talking to the young boy on the donkey. Makes me feel a lot different than the first photo did.


Back at Christmas-time there was a small procession from one of the smaller churches to the cathedral. A priest, a couple of altar boys with banners and about a dozen parishoners were walking along a side street and we happened to see them while we were out walking the dogs. I actually felt like I shouldn't even look since it was a private thing for them.....and then I saw a tourist clicking his camera - and for some reason it made me mad.

When I was composing my post about our car wash friend Cuauhtémoc - I really wanted a picture of him not posing for a picture but I just couldn't bring myself to go into stealth mode. And of course once I asked him if I could take his picture he had to put down his rags and wave at me.

And then came my post on the visible underwear. I honestly saw so many women with horrible underwear that would have been fun to go along with that post, but I just couldn't grab the camera and click.

Today I read Jillian's post at Dropped In about the Handsome Senora - and at the end she says she is still too shy to ask to take her picture. I can totally understand. But Jillian painted a picture for me so I truly can see her in my mind.

I would love to hear how you feel about taking pictures, especially of people wearing traditional dress or participating in religious ceremonies.

There's been a lot of flap lately among the Latin American blogger community about comments. I don't want to rehash what's been said - but the more I thought about it the more I knew I needed to get something out.

The crux of the matter for me is that it's MY BLOG and I can set the rules. My blog is a fun place for me to talk about our experiences here in Mexico. I really enjoy it. I think other people appreciate the effort I put into it. I love it when people comment, too.

BUT....I want it to stay fun. I don't want to put a bunch of rules on how I blog. Regular readers will note that sometimes I write three or four posts a week and sometimes more than a week will go by. It just depends on what I am thinking about, how busy I am, etc.

I don't want it to be like WORK. I want it to be FUN. Sometimes it's all I can do to write a post, and I have no more time to give to it. That means comments may go unanswered sometimes. I have a "email us" link at the right so you can email me if you need a response. And actually, questions that really require a response should be sent in an email anyway. In my book comments are just that - comments.

So, please help me keep on having fun.

PS - The lizard above - I found him in our office yesterday and think he had been there a while because he was really lethargic. We released him in the backyard, sprinkled him with the hose, and an hour later he was gone. He was about 8 inches long.

México's war on drugs is in the news today - top of the fold in the New York Times.

Mazatlán is in Sinaloa State, the home of the Sinaloa Cartel. Culiacán seems to be a center of violence as pressure by the police has incited the cartel to retaliate. Every day we read the newspaper and the drug deaths reported are an almost daily occurrence. Culiacán is about 90 miles from Mázatlan.

During Semana Santa we did see more large black Hummers and Suburbans with tinted windows. These are driven by drug cartel people and their families. As a counterpoint you also see the Federal Police and the Army also driving around. We are lucky here in that the drug people who come here are vacationing and so the tendency to violence is less.

México's President Calderon is saying that he won't back down. The US Congress has scaled back President Bush's drug plan. The US demand for drugs is what drives the cartels here in México, so it only seems logical to me that the US should participate fully in helping get the trade under control.

I wanted to bring the NY Times article to your attention - our heads are not in the sand here in México but here in Mazatlán the violence feels pretty removed.

I have mentioned here before that I have been scanning all my photos so that I don't have to carry the originals to Mexico with us. This has become a seemingly endless task, but one that has been a lot of fun, too. I'm looking forward to the ease of browsing through them - just telling the computer to run slide shows while I sit and watch.

A couple of pictures made me think about farewells, and how hard it is to contemplate being separated from family.

The first is my grandfather (on the far left) and (I believe) his brothers in a farewell photograph as they separated at the onset of the Armenian holocaust. Look at the dramatic way they grasp each others hands!

The second is my grandmother (top left) in the same circumstance with her family. Each of them is holding a folded handkerchief that signifies their sadness at being separated and that they will always remember each other. The folds in the image are because she carried this picture in her wallet nearly her entire life.

I know it will be hard sometimes to be separated from my sisters and my kids. (and other family, too)Thankfully technology today makes it easy for us to keep in touch almost as if we were down the street. But that almost is still there, and I can't change that fact.

What I am trying to say here is that I understand a bit of what my grandparents were feeling. I will miss my family and will do my best to be a good parent, sister, and grandmother in spite of the distance between us.

In my wildest dreams I would have never believed our last month here would be such a roller coaster ride....

Last Tuesday we got word that our house deal had failed. Down to the depths of despair!

Then we gave ourselves a talking to, realized we were still heading to Mazatlan even if the house wasn't sold. We made arrangements for a caretaker and someone to do yard maintenance, and then we were back on top of the world.

We had a few days of tension when our former buyers were being hard to pin down as to if or when they would come and pick up all the items that they'd bought from us. It's a lot of stuff, too - the washer and dryer, picnic table, hammock & stand, plants, an armoire, two sets of outdoor furniture, the gas grill and a lot of yard maintenance equipment. Back to the depths again!

Then they called and said they'd made arrangements for a truck and would be here today to pick it up. YAY.

But we are back on top again. Our house went back on the MLS on Thursday. Friday it was viewed by some people who had wanted to see it right after we had put together our previous deal and had been waiting to see if it closed or not. An offer came in Saturday, we countered, and they accepted our counter on the same day! Back to the top again!

The deal should close on October tenth. Our realtor says that there's no reason we need to fly back for closing - that it can all be done by sending documents back and forth by courier.

We are going to show the new people the property corners before we leave - and that is this coming Thursday. We'll spend the last night here at a pet friendly motel, and leave the Northwest feeling excited and happy.

Sheesh!

for our new life, that is. We know that in Mexico we will need to "roll with it" and our practice starts now.

That's because the people who were going to buy our house backed out at the last minute. We were actually up in Seattle at the consulate getting our FM3's when our realtor called and told us not to go to the escrow company the following day to sign papers. Talk about the highs and the lows - getting our visas versus our house deal starting to fall apart.

There was some chance it could be resuscitated but it didn't happen. We go in to the escrow company to pick up our check today, which thankfully is large enough to provide decent consolation.

Our realtor is confident that it will sell quickly since it is such a unique property, and it is already back on the market. Unfortunately without any furniture it won't look as good! We have hired a caretaker to come over once a week and check on things and are in the process of hiring a landscaper for the final mowings of the year and some leaf collection if it goes that far.

While I have some mood swings with the ups and downs of this new reality, we are still excited about heading out of here next week. We leave next Thursday, and I think I will probably be screaming with joy for 100 miles or more!

I think we must have needed a lesson that things don't always go the way you expect them to. We are resilient and positive - and nothing is going to diminish our enthusiasm and excitement for the adventure ahead.

Our big news is that the Buyers have removed their inspection condition - we have to do a few things but we have agreement and there are no further conditions or contingencies. So, the house is sold!

Now I can really get going packing things up. This will be fun!

The deal has to close on or before September 1, so we know we will be in Mazatlan sometime around the middle of September. The hottest month of the year....which is kind of crazy but that's the kind of nuts we are.

Time is just flying by!

We are in our last month before we list the house and lots of projects are being completed. It feels so good!

We have been working outside quite a bit and the property is looking great. I'm glad we had the tree trimmers leave us a huge pile of wood chips when they were here last winter, as we have been putting them on all the beds. I have been transplanting and dividing lots of plants so it should look beautiful once they get established.

I love to garden, and I'm excited about learning how to garden in a warmer climate. It will be nice once we get our place to know what kind of garden we'll have - will it be only in pots on a patio or will there be some real dirt to dig in?

The laundry room now has its cabinets and counters installed, and I plan on painting the room tomorrow. The seat in the kitchen is reinstalled and I need to paint and fix that up, too. I need to find an uphosterer or make cushions for the seat there and also in our bedroom. There are a couple of other rooms to paint also so I should stay busy for the next month.

There are boxes everywhere....one for each family member - I keep adding items to them as I come across things as I'm sorting and clearing out.

All my worries about whether we could get everything done seem to be groundless...and that makes me very happy!

Just before we left for vacation in February one of my teeth started bothering me. I went to my dentist and discovered that I had an infection going in a tooth that had previously had a root canal. He gave me antibiotics, and the infection cleared up and wasn't an issue while we were gone.

When I got back I visited an endodontist to see what could be done with the root canal tooth. Sometimes they can do some mildly awful procedure and it will be all right. Unfortunately, my tooth turned out to be cracked.

It needs to come out and have either a bridge or an implant. Dang.

So, I went back to my regular dentist yesterday for his diagnosis and to discuss my options. (Here's where it starts to relate to Mexico, everyone.)

If I choose to do the bridge (which means crowns for the adjacent teeth and the fake tooth in the middle) here are my dentist's prices:

Here's what the prices are in Mazatlan at Mexican Dental Vacation:

I actually have a dentist recommendation in Mazatlan who I am going to call on Monday, so I don't think I'll use Mazatlan Dental Vacation. I just used their prices for a demonstration. I plan on making an appointment for when we are in town in May, and hopefully have this work done by my new Mazatlan dentist and save myself some big money.

Just for fun, my US dentist also gave me prices for:

From the Mazatlan Dental Vacation price list:

I know, these prices are horrifying - no matter where I get the work done. But the difference is really amazing to me.

The prospect of dental work is never a positive one, but at least with my Mazatlan plan I won't have AS MUCH pain when I pay for it.

A few days ago Nancy wrote a post about reasons to move to Mexico, and I agree with them based on what we have observed on our trips down, and what we have read in our research. I would add climate to her list, and in fact this is one of my top reasons.

However, I have some concerns about things that may not be so great about living there for me:

1. Mexico is a very catholic country, I have read that over 90% of Mexicans identify themselves as catholics. I am not a fan of organized religion in general, and the catholic church in particular. I won't say more as I risk sliding into a rant on this topic.

2. Mexico is a conservative country, and I have generally liberal social and political views.

3. I am fairly heavily tattooed. These are works that were carefully planned and executed over many hours by serious artists, and I am proud of them. While they can be covered when I wear long pants and shirts, I won't dress like that very much in Mexico, so they will be visible. I wonder how that will go over down there. I have not seen many tattoo shops in Mexico, nor many people who are inked except tourists.

4. I like quiet, and that is in short supply in cities and towns in Mexico. Will this be a minor annoyance or a major headache?

I am not trying to be negative, just realistic. No situation is perfect, and I am 100% committed to doing this despite my concerns. I am interested in what our readers have to say about these things.

Hasta Luego,
Paul

I have a dirty little secret. I still crave cigarettes. I have been a non-smoker more than a smoker for the last twenty-five years or so, but I know I am still under their spell.

Every time we we go to either Las Vegas or Mexico I struggle with the demon. Sometimes I do fine (like our last trip) and sometimes I buy a pack and make myself sick.

I worry that once we move there for good I will have trouble overcoming the urge.

-Nancy