(picture: "Marley" had nothing on our 9 month old Junior. A mix of menace and amazement. Wicked smart and does things our other dogs have never done- like just swim around and hang out on the pool edge.)Yeah, I know. It's been almost a year since I posted. I really admire my blogger-friends who get to it every single day or at least twice a week even. I am pathetic when it comes to this. Truly. But I hate paying for something I don't use anymore. Don't we all. So I'm going to give it a shot again.
It's not going to be all fun and cheery- not that life anywhere these days is. I think I am safer here being focused on my surroundings from a security perspective than being complacent about my safety stateside. You have to keep your head up here. Throw in the bad economy and lack of tourists here and some people get desperate and property crimes are way up. Baja is almost twice as expensive than mainland Mexico- everything costs more. That's only fine when you are making more to offset it. No one is making it here right now and funny thing- it is much safer than two years ago. Much. It's really too bad for the people- but the people don't expect much from their government and Mexico doesn't disappoint.
You take a CT Yankee and stick him into third-world Mexico retirement and there's bound to be some value-based conflicts. Ya think? But life in Mexico is never about what happens to you outside of the home. No one talks about their jobs or even what they do down here. It's just not important. Families are very private down here. We lived here six years and never saw one neighbor until the 7.2 earthquake on easter shook and everyone went outside. Even still we didn't talk with them- just a wave. So life here is about what happens with your family and friends behind your locked doors and gates. The other stuff doesn't really matter much.
Like most Latin American countries, people keep their houses very plain on the outside with little hint of what lifestyle lays beyond the door. I remember walking around Amsterdam and everyone has their window curtains open so people on the street down below can enjoy the decorations. That's considered window-shopping down here. We don't even have any first floor windows- once you put bars on them you feel like the one in jail. No thanks. We made it a walled compound so we could relax inside- the labs, the birds, the nieces and nephews swimming with the labs in the pool. Our house is a lot like an Italian house on Weekends- everyone comes over for food and the beach- OK it's for the food. The beach is clean, safe and free, food down here is cheap enough and it's great to see my family relax and enjoy a day with us here. Alonzo has 13 brothers and sisters so there's no shortage of relatives who drop by and that's why the two of us built such a big house. I was raised in a small family and the huge family thing is great. We've been together 15 years and it's been great watching all the kids grow up and start their own families. Most of men in Alonzo's family work for the railroad in Torreon Mexico with the help of a family member in the head office. The ladies def do more of the travelling and visiting. Hopping on a bus to visit a relative here (18 hours) is no big deal to them at all and they do it all the time- loaded with kids clothing to exchange.
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