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Traveling Tortas

13 Dec

Crossing the border at Agua Prieta, across from Douglas, Arizona was the easiest crossing into Mexico from the U.S. we have made yet. The Tortas have been on an epic journey to California to attend the birth of our grandson and bringing Lisa’s mom Alice to live with us in Bacalar. The guards took one look at my white hair and packed truck and said, move along. Gracias a Dios. The ability to speak Spanish always helps. 

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Sunset south of Phoenix, AZ.

Immigration did not make us offload our truck which would have been a major inconvenience.

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Packed to overflowing with “just one more thing”

There have been long days driving and we are so ready to be home in Bacalar. The odometer noted  five thousand miles driven, a few days ago. We’ve been gone almost six weeks.

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Looking south near Bisbee AZ

The mountains of Chihuahua have been beautiful. We have seen lots of Mexican terrain, but none of the culture, museums or people. Lisa and her mom have head colds. We have been pedal to the metal, hotel to hotel and getting lost following outdated maps. We’ll be home to our little house on Laguna Bacalar in a few days. Until next week, stay warm. Peace from DOS TORTAS.

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Mass Shootings or Farmer’s Markets

6 Dec

Bloggers living in Mexico notice with increased interest when scarey stuff happens in the USA. By comparison, Mexico is looking good. 

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Myself, I try to avoid the news. It’s hard to do I admit. Whether online or on TV there’s such a pull to understand the non-understandable. I refuse to be afraid.

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So instead, I will present another aspect of California that hasn’t made the news lately. The Tortas visited two really nice farmer’s markets on our recent trip to California. I always head to the ethnic food vendors. Mediterranean was especially good at both Windsor and Bakersfield markets.

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Olives, dates, tabouli, hummus and pitta bread are all impossible to find in our little corner of Mexico.

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Of course, every Mexican village has the most wonderful mercado. They are filled with hundreds of items you don’t get in the US, fresh coconut water, tree ripened bananas, and plants and pottery that are really, really cheap.

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US-style farmer’s markets are catching on in Mexico where there are large foreign populations. I attended one in Merida and they were selling bread! Mmmmmm. Fortunately or unfortunately one will never appear in Bacalar. We live in a part of Mexico with a very small foreign community. Which is just the way we planned it.

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Green juice vendor in Bacalar.

So if you’re looking to move to Mexico, don’t come because you’re afraid of the US. You’ll bring your fear with you and be equally unhappy here. Just my opinion.

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One Handed Blogging

29 Nov

Holding our new grandson is the sweetest experience.  Our grandmotherly duty starts around 7:30 am with the handoff of Max, allowing the new parents some much needed sleep. 

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Grandma Lisa starting off her day.

Ask any retiree in Mexico what the hardest part about being away from the U.S. is and missing the grands is at the top of the list.

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The Texas grands Sophia and Hunter.

The Tortas will be braving the chill of Northern California for another week before heading south.

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The best places to take a nap, in Grandma’s arms.

The next best thing to being in two places at once is Skype or FaceTime. I remember being a kid and hearing that someday we’d be able to see who we were talking to on the phone. “Yeah right!” You don’t have to be living on beautiful Laguna Bacalar in southern Mexico to be watching your grandkids grow up electronically. What a miraculous time we live in.

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Eleven month old Sophia with Uncle Cullen.

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California Dreamin

22 Nov

After driving three thousand miles across Mexico and up the Baja to Northern California for the birth of our grandson, the Tortas say, “never again” that is of course until the return trip.

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First phase of our trip.

The ferry from Mazatlan to La Paz was not the seventeen hour trip advertised on the website. It was more like twenty-four hours. Geesh.

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Arriving in La Paz on the Sea of Cortez

The ferry ride was an adventure to say the least and the drive up the Baja was as breath taking as any I’ve seen, purple mountains, winding cavernous roads, forests of cactus, huge boulders and ocean vistas.

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Stopping for a little walk and to admire the view.

We arrived in Bakersfield to pack up Lisa’s mom (Everyday Courage). Our grandson, Maxwell Michael Toth was born November 19th, clocking in at 7 lb. 8 oz. and 24″. We are two happy grandmas.

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Grandma Lisa and a less than 24 hour old Max.

We’ll hang out here for awhile before heading south. The goal is to be home by Christmas. We miss our puppy who is growing like a weed, but there’s nothing like grandchildren.

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Everyday Courage

15 Nov

At seventy-two, leaving your home of fifty years to move to Mexico. Making the decision to grab the brass ring and being terrified. “What if….”

Courage, that’s my mother-in-law. Meet Alice, the newest Torta.

Exploring the pyramids of Palenque, January 2014.

Exploring the pyramids of Palenque, January 2014.

Alice visited Bacalar almost two years ago for a month and made the decision that yes, she would move to live with us in Mexico. None of us expected a two year wait for the green light.

Putting a life in storage.

Putting a life in storage.

We are here to pack her things, and hold her hand through a scary, emotional process.

A house full of

A house full of “collections”.

Alice is downsizing considerably. The rule is, if it fits in the truck you can take it. She has ten plastic bins. When they’re full, we’re done.
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Could YOU do it? I’m not sure I could. She can always move back of course. This next year will be a trial period for all of us. An exciting year for sure.

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Retiring in Mexico – Is It In Your Stars?

8 Nov

The Tortas are on an adventure. Please enjoy this popular post.

afish25's avatarthe adventures of dos tortas

There are many videos on the web celebrating and promoting retirement and tourism to Mexico. There are thirty-six Magical Cities of which Bacalar is one. Each individual Mexican state invites you to visit with stunning scenery, colorful fiestas and beautiful children (Quintana Roo). Even TV personality Anthony Bordain raves about Mexican cuisine and culture.

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Facebook has many pages, Expats Living in Mexico (4,700 followers), Traveling Around Yucatan, On the Road in Mexico, and many city-specific group pages, where you can ask questions and plan your getaway. There’s even an Adventures of Dos Tortas Facebook page! The 2010 Mexican census counted a million foreigners living here. If you hope someday to be one of them, Lisa and I have put together a few suggestions:

LEARN SPANISH
Even if you didn’t get those high school language credits in Spanish, and are of a certain age, (older than three), start…

View original post 324 more words

Benefits of Friendliness

1 Nov

Driving in Mexico, we think nothing of being pulled over by youngsters with machine guns. We smile and are relaxed, but then again, we are Dos Tortas.

The upper portion of our hutch. Skylights above add natural light.

The upper portion of our hutch. Skylights above add natural light.

Bacalar is thirty minutes north of the Belize/Mexico border. Because of illegal entry and the smuggling of goods, there is a checkpoint before entering Bacalar from the south. Vehicles are flagged for inspection according to a selection process that is not obvious to us. However, a large black pickup with Texas plates….

The window between our living room and bedroom. There will be a bifold door to provide privacy when desired.

The window between our living room and bedroom. There will be a bifold door to provide privacy when desired.

One week when we were making numerous trips up and down the highway, making purchases for the house and going to the bank, we were pulled over several days in a row by the policia estatal, state police.

Keeping the dogs from digging in the garden. Aren't I clever?

Keeping the dogs from digging in the garden. Aren’t I clever?

The usual questions, Where are you going? Where are you from? What is in the truck?

This time I told the officer that he knew us. I reached out to shake his hand and introduce ourselves. His face lit up with a big smile. He clearly enjoyed our response. Now every time we pass the check point we wave and guess what? They wave back. We haven’t been stopped again.

Day of the Dead. A chance to tell stories and fondly remember our ancestors.

Day of the Dead. A chance to tell stories and fondly remember our ancestors.

I’m sure others have horror stories about being stopped by the federales. Once in college I had a machine gun aimed at my face. Being Dos Tortas or two old women makes us pretty invisible. Not being afraid makes us respected.

DOS TORTAS

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Mexico Dodged A Bullet

25 Oct

I find it hard to believe the media. Was hurricane Patricia an anomaly or was it hype? Either way, I’m very happy that there wasn’t catastrophic damage and loss of life to the people of western Mexico. 

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Thanks to our friends Karen and Skip of Tulum for this perspective of our distance from the storm. Mexico is three times bigger than Texas.

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I lived in Okinawa, Japan for two years and experienced two typhoons. A tornado once touched down across the street from our house outside of Austin, Texas. We were unscathed through it all. My first experience with a category five hurricane was Katrina. I was working for the Texas Department of State Health Services at the time. I volunteered to help and was assigned to work in the command center. What an eye-opening experience! Between hurricanes, tsunamis and earthquakes, the world has learned the hard way about preparedness.

Before

Before

After - The kitchen shelves were installed this week. I'm still in awe.

After – The kitchen shelves were installed this week. I’m still in awe.

Living so close to the coast, we have different preparedness needs than many. Our main concern is wind. To that end we will install hurricane shutters on the Laguna side. The house is a concrete bunker and there is a drainage system both inside and out.

A fountain and pond on the north side of the house.

A fountain and pond on the north side of the house.

Texas has a great preparedness website if you need help. Any emergency plan is better than none. One thing we will be sure to have is a can of gas. Stations ran out of fuel as people headed inland to avoid Patricia. My daughter who lives on the U.S west coast fault line has a kit for her dog as well. As new dog owners, this is new territory for us. What’s your plan? DOS TORTAS

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Rainy Day Sunday on Laguna Bacalar

18 Oct

It seems Mother Nature decided to make up for this year’s lack of a rainy season on Laguna Bacalar, all in one week.The birds love it and lord knows we need the rain. The sky is grumbling and showing no signs of letting up. Gotta love it.

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Our ramp turned water slide.

It’s been a good opportunity to see how all the landscaping in our new house manages runoff. But mostly it’s been a forced stay-at-home opportunity to relax. We’ll have to do some tweaking on the landscaping, but all in all, it looks pretty good. The big challenges living here are wind and rain. It comes with the territory in this most southern part of North America.

The carpintero came yesterday to install an interior door. His progress is slow since most of his work is done outside. The door is stunning, so we don’t mind waiting. This week we will have kitchen shelves installed. ¡Gracias a dios!

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Jose Lewis master carpenter.

We also managed to get some artwork on the walls. Lisa and I bought a lovely wooden wall sculpture in Valladolid on our Tour de Yucatan this past June (2015). The colors match perfectly don’t you think?

Our Lady of Guadalupe, sacred Catholic icon.

Our Lady of Guadalupe, sacred Catholic icon.

I was raised Catholic and The Virgin of Guadalupe has always been the female expression of God to me. It actually seems like our house was built just for her.

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View including the porch.

Another piece that we bought on the Yucatan trip was a mother and child mestiza woman. She sits in our little rainy-day bamboo garden.

The bamboo explodes with growth in the rain.

The bamboo explodes with growth in the rain.

While we are enjoying the cool weather and adjusting to life in the jungle, we continue to heal, Lisa from back surgery and me from chikengunya (see We Plan God Laughs) All is well, just very wet.
DOS TORTAS

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The Day After Christmas

11 Oct

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I call it the day after Christmas syndrome because when I was a kid, Christmas was the biggest deal in my life. My dad would wait until we kids were asleep and work all night to create a huge “wow”. We tip toed down the stairs at five a.m. to a sparkling tree where none had been the night before. Bicycles had been assembled, trains circled the tree, roller skates, and sleds. Of course it wasn’t all at the same Christmas, but it feels that way in my childhood memories.

Early picture looking up from the lower stairs to the Laguna. Before.

Before.

After.

After.

Christmas changed over time. As I became older and more jaded, the day after a much anticipated event was always a let down. My expectations were bigger than the thing itself. The “stuff” I acquired  became my happiness along with the adrenaline that came with it; happiness with a bow and sprinkles.

Before

Before

After

After

This week could have been one of the largest “Day After Christmas” events in our lives. More than two years in the making, we moved into our dream home AND we got electricity! We could easily see how much work there is left to do. Instead there’s been nothing but gratitude, gratitude, gratitude. No Day After Christmas disappointment here. Just peace and joy in success. We were happy all along.

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