Part of the reason for moving to Mexico from the US in 2013 was to live a simple life and shrink our environmental footprint. I wanted to be completely off grid, but Lisa wanted electricity and wouldn’t hear of it. She rarely puts her foot down so we installed electricity.
However we do do our part in many other ways.
We compost. In the US 35 million tons of food waste ends up in landfills annually.
Our little compost pile doesn’t take up much space. It is situated directly outside the side door for easy access. We had to put a cover on it to keep a certain “always starving”pug out but what we didn’t expect was the lizards. Any sunny afternoon there are several sunbathers sitting on the lid. I think the gnats that are attracted to the food waste provide a yummy smorgasbord for our little friends. There’s at least one regular. We call her Lizzy.
When we have dinner leftovers, they go into dogfood. Absolutely nothing goes into the trash.
When the house was designed, we included a rain collection system. It made no sense to me to live in the tropics with a large roof and not collect rainwater. The softer water is better for the house and garden. We angled the roof slightly to collect runoff during the rainy season. We just had the pump rebuilt and it works like a champ.
We also are not consumers. We maybe have 2-3 pairs of shoes and a very simple wardrobe. After all, Mexico is the chancla capital of the world.
Last Fall we bought a new car. I really thought we could use public transportation and survive with one vehicle. As with most of the world it’s difficult to live without cars. We did however buy a hybrid. In Mexico in the seventies I travelled all over the country by bus and train. Boy have times changed.
There is little recycling in Bacalar. We all know that recycling is a ruse by the producers of plastic anyway. We shop locally for produce and eat little meat. We carry our cloth shopping bags and tell shop owners, “no queremos plástico” when they try to give us bags. We do the best we can to be aware.
Don’t get me wrong, I don’t believe my compost pile will save the planet. That’s the job of government and industry. I will however do my part.
DOS TORTAS
the adventures of dos tortas 
Nice! We try to do all of these kinds of things as well. We compost extensively, eat up all our leftovers (freeze excess for later), grow most of our veggies in a large garden, have only one car (small) and try to go out in it only once a week. We do recycle, even if it is a ruse, because we figure at least some of it does happen, but our actual trash is as minimal as possible. We bring our own bags to stores as well. No one person can do it all, but we can all do our part for our ailing planet.
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I really thought we would be able to grow food. The soil atrocious. We did have a recent bumper crop of jicama. I’ve never eaten it but it’s a Mexican staple. It’s really good. Peal and sprinkle with lemon and chili, another Mexican staple. 🤪🥵🤗
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Yes! My husband is the vegetable gardener and just tried jicama this past summer, as we loved it in Mexico. It did well, and we got some huge ones. We also had zero luck gardening in Mexico or Belize. Even if you buy soil, you still have the salty air and water to deal with if you live by the sea, as we did. So, I understand your issue with gardening there in Bacalar.
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I’m amazed how many jicama we got in this terrible soil. They were small and sweet.
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Glad to hear you’re doing your bit. We try too. We do recycle. Pretty much anything can be recycled here these days. Sadly, our garden’s too small for a compost heap so that gets collected by our local council and composted centrally.
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It’s amazing what can be done with a little effort.
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Hi Alex,
You have SO inspired me – thank you! And how is Alice doing? Please give her my love – and also to you and Lisa xo Lorrie (just home today from my bother in law’s funeral in Spokane – freezing rain and a treacherous day ☹ ) Send some warm balmy temperatures please !!
Hoping all is well – With love, Lorrie
Lorrie Jones
Simple Serenity
simpleserenity.comhttp://simpleserenity.com/
253.312.3117
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Lisa and I have Covid. Alice is good so far. Condolences.
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Oh no! take good care – and please give my love to lisa xoxo thank you for your kind word…
Lorrie Jones
Simple Serenity
simpleserenity.comhttp://simpleserenity.com/
253.312.3117
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I’m headed to Bahia Kino on Friday, on the coast in Sonora. Sonora banned plastic straws years ago so all the straws there are made of avocado seeds.
At home I rechecked plastic whenever possible. I carry my grocery bags always. I took them to Mexico, so I don’t have to use plastic there either. And I compost. It’s not hard to do.
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So true.
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