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Our First Year in Bacalar – 2014

I love getting Christmas cards. I decorate with them around doorways and across the mantle. As sending cards becomes old school, I have saved them for reuse. Several friends have asked for our mailing address. If you’d like to see how long it takes for a Christmas card to get to Bacalar Mexico, you can mail us at:

Alex Fisher
Apostado #16
Bacalar, Quitana Roo 77930
Mexico

I will let you know when they arrive, probably by June.

It is hard to believe that this is our second Christmas in Mexico. The end of the year is always a time to look back and ahead. One way to measure the passing of time is with events. Here are some of the highlights of 2014 for Dos Tortas:

January - The birth of our granddaughter Sophia.

January was the birth of our granddaughter Sophia.

In April we closed on our property. Construction of our house will begin in the new year.

We got married in July in Petaluma CA after twenty years in love.

We have also grown in relationships, not only our own but new friends in Bacalar. Yesterday we spent the day with Gabriel and Monica, seasonal visitors from Mexico City. Sitting on their dock, talking and being in awe of the beauty of the laguna was one of those capstone days to our year.

Our blessings have been too numerous to count. The new year brings the promise of our new house, visits from friends and family, and joy in the life we have created.

We are sending our love to all of you. Feel free to contact us. We love getting comments on the blog, calls and emails. Happy holidays and happy New Year.
Dos Tortas

Tags: bacalar mexico, expatriates, retire mexico, Retire Yucatan, water lilies

Comments 12 Comments
Categories Expatriates, Retire Mexico, Uncategorized

Jardín (Garden) De Venus

7 Dec

This week Lisa and I are settling into our new place. Yesterday I took off for an afternoon kayak. The laguna was calm. The sky was blue. Big white clouds had gray under bellies with two rainbows splitting the sunshine from the impending shower. As soon as I hit the dock to tie up, the sky opened with big raindrops pummeling everything. So much beauty to be grateful for.

Sky after a brief shower.

As a blogger in paradise, I have been receiving inquiries as to places to stay in Bacalar. What a great excuse to explore some of the many hostels and hotelitos available. Visitors to Bacalar range from European back packers to weekenders from Mexico City.

Garden of Venus

The Garden of Venus is a delightful little get-away for the economically minded traveler. It is within walking distance of central Bacaler. Meet Olga, owner and operator extraordinaire.

Meet the Goddess herself – Olga.

Small rooms, a camper and tents are available for about $25us per night. There is a communal kitchen, bathroom and shower.

The kitchen is a place to make friends and tell travel stories.

The outdoor kitchen is a place to make friends and tell travel stories.

There are kayaks and boat tours and a lovely little beach for swimming.

Beach

You also can’t beat the ever changing view from the dock.

One of the many changing faces of the laguna.

Bacalar has new hotels popping up every day. What fun to explore and take my followers along for the ride. The Garden of Venus is a small word-of-mouth operation that can be found on Facebook.

Sunrise of the week.

Tags: bacalar mexico, Hostel, Laguna Bacalar, living in mexico, retire to mexico

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Categories Uncategorized

The Tortas Welcome Their First Texas Visitors

2 Nov

The week leading up to Day of the Dead has been busy. It is a fun time of year in Mexico and we got to share it with our first visitors from Austin, Pat and Don. Many people have said that they would visit us. Pat and Don have been the first to show up. I vanpooled to my job at the State Health Department with Pat for many years and we have kept in touch.

Art showing in Chetumal for Día de Los Muertos

We got to show off our town, visit the Pirate Fort, swim in Cenote Azul and shop in our lovely mercado.

Cenote Azul

The weather was perfect for a boat ride to float the channel and enjoy botanas, a glass of wine and snacks near Bird Island. Turn up the volume and enjoy the cacophony.

Thank you Gabriel and Monica.

We called ahead for a memorable sunset and Mother Nature did not disappoint. Our gift was the most spectacular sunset imaginable for our friends. We anchored for the birdsong, lightshow and good company, a perfect evening.

Breathtaking beauty for our guests.

Pat and Don boarded a bus for the Cancun airport on Tuesday to continue the second leg of their trip, visiting Oaxaca. Oaxaca is known for its Day of the Dead celebration. I hope the rest of their trip was as enjoyable for them as their visit to Bacalar was for us.

Tags: bacalar mexico, Cenote Azul, Day of the Dead, Día de Los Muertos, southern Mexico

Comments 4 Comments
Categories Adventure, Expatriates, Retire Mexico, Travel

Think Global Shop Local

5 Oct

In the mid-1970’s when I lived and traveled in Mexico; there were no grocery stores. Large open-air mercados showed up predictably, one or two days a week and were the norm. We took our woven bags and baskets to bring home purchases. Bulk items such as frijoles were wrapped in newspaper. Plastic bags were non-existent.

Saturday Farmer’s Market in Chetumal

Coconuts in season. Open with a machete.

Then there were little corner stores where one could exchange an empty bottle and buy a coke. There were a few non-perishables sold and kerosene for the hot water heater.

Today there are large grocery stores much as we have in the States. Some are familiar such as Walmart and Sam’s Club. Others are Mexican – Chedraui and Soriana.

The little corner stores are still the backbone of Mexico. When I first arrived a year ago, I saw abarrotes and didn’t know what it meant. Pulling out my handy pocket dictionery, I found “groceries”.

A busy little store.

There are also mini-supers, tiendas and bodegas. Some are small enough to be operated out of a living room. The role that they play for low income people is invaluable. Where else can you buy one aspirin or one roll of toilet paper? Occasionaly there are eggs on the counter or tortillas warm in an insulated container. Mostly the tiendas are full of chips, candy, soda, alcohol and other processed foods.

Like the U.S., Mexico has its problems with obesity and diabetes, and the shelves of five liter bottles of coke abound.

This store expanded to include fruit, clothes and plants.

Every block has its little store. They function as a social center where gossip is exchanged and neighborhood news reported. The other day we bought thirty sheets of copy paper and ten paper clips. Bacalar is truly a world apart, even for Mexico.

Sunrise of the Week.

Tags: bacalar mexico, expat living in Mexico, grocery stores, Maria's Taco Xpress, mexico

Comments 7 Comments
Categories Expatriates, Retire Mexico

Never Ever Pray For Patience

28 Sep

Last night there was a scorpion in our bed. Not sure how it got there, but its beso stung for about ten minutes and then I was back to sleep. Never a dull moment.

One of Mexico’s most famous couples, Freda Kalo & Diego Rivera

The process of retiring, moving, and building a house in Mexico is not for the faint-hearted. It is an endless learning opportunity. The lessons we continue to learn are the result of expectations and privilege as persons born and raised in the United States. Straddling two cultures and two languages is a daily tightrope. Some days it’s endlessly fun and fascinating, other days, not so much.

The daily and sometimes hourly challenge is to remind ourselves NOT to blame our difficulties on Mexico. We chose to come here. I don’t think that reading a dozen e-books on how to build a house in Mexico would have helped. Laws change with each turnover in government and our experience in Bacalar will be very different from the next person’s.

At the same time, we are determined to hang in here and see it through. It is so beautiful. It’s a peaceful happy life, even with the occasional scorpion.

Tags: bacalar mexico, Diego Rivera, Freda Kalo, mexico, retire mexico

Comments 9 Comments
Categories Expatriates, Retire Mexico

You Can Never Have Too Much Inspiration

7 Sep

After the bulb went off over my head about two years ago and I began researching places to retire, I wasn’t 100% sold on México. Lisa and I had made travel an important part of our life. Every trip, Thailand, Turkey, Belize, even the lesbian capital of the world, Provincetown, MA evoked the question, “could we live here?” I guess it was clear that Texas wasn’t our final destination.

Saying adiós to family before leaving Austin.

During the research period, a movie came out, with Judi Dench, Maggie Smith, and Dev Patel called, The Best Exotic Marigold Hotel (for the elderly and beautiful). It isn’t often that a movie has almost all it’s main characters in their sixties and seventies. It also made me laugh out loud.

A group of aging Brits moves to India to seek an affordable retirement. They discover, that the hotel they are moving into has been photo shopped on the internet by its young and optimistic owner, played by Dev Patel (Slum Dog Millionaire). His enthusiasm for the future invokes trust (also the fact that they all bought one-way tickets); drama and mayhem ensues.

The south end of Laguna Bacalar.

Besides the joy I experienced watching these characters make choices that transform their lives, there are wonderful inspirational dichos, sayings, that are really the take-away message.

The measure of success is how we cope with disappointment. Disappointment is all about living in the past and wishing things had been different. It took me a long time to figure out that it’s a distraction which keeps me from learning and making different choices now.

There’s always a storm somewhere.

The person who risks nothing, does nothing, has nothing. I have learned along the way the pitfalls of choosing a life based on safety. It is costly and tastes like cardboard. I love to read inspirational stories of people who step out and grow wings.

Harvesting from our property

All we know about the future is that it will be different. But perhaps what we fear is that it will be the same. So we must celebrate the changes. I can never be reminded too often to celebrate the change in this aging body. I am more relaxed and peaceful and that’s big for me. I still exercise but it’s by choice and because it makes me healthier and happier.

Lisa, her mom and me visiting the pyramids of Palenque.

I am a big believer in filling my life with inspiration. At the same time, I strive to find inspiration in all things. If you haven’t seen The Amazing Marigold Hotel, add it to your list of things that inspire, no matter how old you are.

And my favorite quote…Everything will be all right in the end and if it’s not, then trust me, it’s not yet the end.

Tags: bacalar mexico, Best Exotic Marigold Hotel, Inspiration, retire mexico, southern yucatan

Comments 14 Comments
Categories Adventure, Expatriates, Retire Mexico, Uncategorized

It’s Kind Of Like Camping Only Better – My Dad Would Have Been So Proud

17 Aug

Five children, a dog, occasionally my grandmother and a cousin or two joined our childhood camping vacations. It was partly economical but also for the love of being outdoors. My father grew up as a Boy Scout and loved all things merit badge. I learned to build and cook on a campfire, make a sling for a broken arm and identify constellations. His rule was to leave the campsite cleaner than you found it. My father’s admonitions live in my heart to this day.

Being my father’s daughter has served me well for living in Bacalar in the southern Yucatan. It’s a lot like camping, only better. The windows to our home are persianas which do not seal out the world.

Our alarm clock.

We hear birds squawking, dogs barking, the roosters greeting the sunrise and an occasional goat braying. It’s not all at the same time, usually.

We choose not to use air conditioning even in the heat and humidity of the summer. We cope as do most people here by keeping activity to a minimum during the heat of the day, jumping in the lake in the afternoon and if necessary, taking a shower before bed. The night seems to cool down just enough and we are up with the sunrise.

With the windows always open, you can feel the shift in the wind which indicates a possible shower rolling in.

My dad would have loved Bacalar. This past week was twenty-eight years since his death. I still see his gait in my son, and his stewardship of the earth in myself and my children. I hope my children and grandchildren will someday share stories of their crazy grandmothers who lived in the jungle in Mexico with their windows open.

Tags: Adventure in Mexico, Amazing sunrise, bacalar mexico, expat living in Mexico

Comments 8 Comments
Categories Uncategorized

Healing a Not Broken Leg – Isn’t Life Amazing?

25 May

Memorial Day weekend 2013, our daughter was getting married. Life was busy with selling our home, getting rid of most of our possessions and winding down our jobs. We went from crazy busy to retirement life in the jungle of southern Yucatan.

Life here is not for everyone. We did not want a large English speaking community with all the amenities of the US. Our nearest city and the capital of the state of Quintana Roo (Row) is about a 40 minute drive. Chetumal (pop 260,000) sits on the boarder with Belize and the Bay of Chetumal. It is not a tourist destination in spite of efforts to make it so.

Museum of Mayan Culture

Chetumal is where we go for medical care. Friday was three weeks since my fateful bike accident and time to return to the traumatologist. Don’t let appearances fool. While the buildings look right out of the 1950’s, the care is top notch.

Clinica Independencia

My experience thus far with medical care has been that it’s low tech but very hands on. Doctors take time. It’s not that high tech isn’t available, MRIs, etc are reserved for more serious situations. Dr Diez-Torres removed my cast, gently manipulated my knee, assessing pain and range of motion. He explained using a model what was going on. Our conversation was in both English and Spanish. We looked at the X-rays again and agreed that my leg probably wasn’t broken. He told me to return to normal activity as I was able and use light weights to do leg extensions to build muscle strength. I felt like I was talking to an equal.

My knee continues to heal. I look forward to swimming and no pain. While life in this corner of the globe is not for everyone, the lack of stress and beauty that abounds makes it perfect for us.

Tags: bacalar mexico, Chetumal mexico, expat living in Mexico, Life in the Yucatan, move to Mexico, retire mexico, US Expats in Mexico

Comments 2 Comments
Categories Adventure, Expatriates, Retire Mexico, Travel, Uncategorized

Today’s Spanish Lesson ¿Dónde está el baño?

18 May

When out and about in the US, one rarely thinks twice about bathrooms, unless you’re at an outdoor venue and forced to use a port-o-potty.

In Japan I once stumbled into a unisex bathroom which was a surprise to say the least.

Japanese Unisex bathrooms contain stalls and urinals.

In the airport bathroom in Istabul there was a sign asking people to please not wash their feet in the sink. International bathrooms are full of cultural experiences.

Istanbul, Turkey

You can’t miss this sign at a roadside Mexican restaurant.

Pull over I gotta go.

Living in Mexico in the 70’s gives me a point of reference for baños. It was so much worse then. Public restrooms were hard to come by and toilet paper, as we know it, was not common (newspaper, comic books). A lesson my grandmother taught me, and every woman in Mexico knows, never leave the house without tissues.

In Bacalar.

Today, there are clean functional toilets (most of the time) in Pemex stations where you stop for gas. The trouble is, they charge $3-5 pesos, $.25-.40 per use. It is a clear discrimination against women, since men have no trouble peeing on their tires. I’m not sure what’s up with the whole peeing on the tires thing, but you see it everywhere, pull over and pee on your tires!

Then one day I came across this –

They can’t refuse you service.

Handing a few coins to the bathroom attendant in the bus station, restaurant, government building, grocery store or hotel is the norm. I figure that I can afford it and it’s a way to circulate money to people who’s income it is. It’s the same for the people that pump your gas, sack your groceries or help you park your car (whether you need it or not).

So when looking for the baño in México, remember to bring your tissue and always have a pocket of change, or you too could find yourself peeing on your tires.

A Favorite Laguna Bacalar Picture

Tags: bacalar mexico, expat living in Mexico, retire to mexico, southern yucatan, travel Mexico, US Expats in Mexico

Comments 14 Comments
Categories Adventure, Expatriates, Retire Mexico, Travel

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the adventures of dos tortas

Our First Year in Bacalar – 2014

Jardín (Garden) De Venus

The Tortas Welcome Their First Texas Visitors

Think Global Shop Local

Never Ever Pray For Patience

You Can Never Have Too Much Inspiration

It’s Kind Of Like Camping Only Better – My Dad Would Have Been So Proud

Healing a Not Broken Leg – Isn’t Life Amazing?

Today’s Spanish Lesson ¿Dónde está el baño?

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