You are not in Kansas anymore

Night of the Kings Isla Mujeres M Watt photo

The great thing about being an ex-pat, living in another country, is the adventure.  

Different food, different language, and different customs – and it sure the hell isn’t exactly like “home.”  But that’s what makes the experience so enjoyable.

We grimace when we hear ex-pats criticize their new country, and I don’t just mean folks that have recently moved here to Isla, I mean any ex-pat in any country.  Unless you hold a valid passport for your new country you are not a citizen, you are a guest: plain and simple.  You are allowed to be in that country at the pleasure of the government.  Enjoy the experience for what it is!

Here’s some of the fun differences you will find in Mexico:

Did you know that gift giving at Christmas is not a widespread tradition in Mexico?

Lawrie with Jordan Kowalchuk, 2000 in Canada

The traditional day for gift giving is January 6^th the Night of the Kings, when the three wise men purportedly arrived in Bethlehem with gifts for the baby Jesus.  

Gift giving at Christmas only gained in popularity with the advent of television marketing and the influx of American and Canadian visitors.  Beleaguered parents must now purchase gifts for both Christmas and the Night of the Kings.  It’s a financial challenge for the parents, but a great score for the kids!

Did you know that the Cinco de Mayo celebrations are generally ignored in Mexico?

The Cinco de Mayo, 5^th of May, has been celebrated in California since 1863 when Mexican miners, who were working in northern California, learned that 4000 Mexican troops had defeated 8000 invading French troops at Puebla Mexico.  The French had conquered the important port of Veracruz in 1861 on the east coast and had then moved overland to invade Mexico City.  They were finally stopped and defeated by the Mexican troops at Puebla.  

At the time the Battle of Puebla took place in 1863 the United States was occupied with their Civil War.  France has hoped to establish a presence in Mexico so that they could support the Confederate Army in their battle with the U.S. Union forces.  The Mexican, working in California, were so overjoyed at the news of their country’s successful defeat of the French forces, they fired off rifle shots and sang patriotic songs.  By the 1930’s, in the United States, Cinco de Mayo was seen as a celebration of the Mexican culture.  The holiday didn’t come into US national prominence until the 1980’s when beer company marketers, primarily Corona, capitalized on the celebration and it grew in popularity in areas like Los Angeles, Houston, Chicago, and San Jose.

Did you know that Halloween and The Day of the Dead are not the same?

Lynda & Lawrie

Halloween is believed to have originated in Ireland as a pagan celebration in appreciation of the afterlife, of survival, of continuing to be alive while others have died.  It is the day when the door to the afterlife is open.  Halloween has since evolved into a festival of funny costumes, parties, and trick-or-treating.

The Day of the Dead, Día de los Muertos, originated in Mexico around 3500 years ago.  It is a celebration in remembrance of friends and family who have passed on.  Celebrated over three days it is an important family event.  October 31^st the angelitos, spirits of dead children, are invited back to visit their families.  November 1^st is for the adult spirits, and November 2^nd is All Souls Day when families visit the cemeteries to decorate the graves of their relatives.  

Trick-or-treating is not part of the Day of the Dead celebrations.  But kids are always happy to embrace a new idea, especially one that includes candy.

 

Flowers for Day of the Dead

Did you know that Mexico is part of North America? 

It’s strange how most ex-pats or tourists think just of Canada and the USA when referring to North America.  Mexico is part of North America.  Central America starts at the southern border of Mexico and includes Belize, Costa Rica, El Salvador, Guatemala, Honduras, Nicaragua, and Panama.   And South America, well it is that really, really big continent south of Central America.  

The oldest permanent European settlements in North America are thought to be Mexico City settled by Spanish in the 1520’s, Port Royal in Nova Scotia Canada settled by French in 1605, and Jamestown Virginia USA settled by English in 1607.  That makes Mexican traditions about a hundred years older than Canadian or American traditions. 

Cooking with Abuelita Angelita, FaceBook photo

So now you know a bit more about Mexico, and hopefully our internet research is reasonably correct.  

Celebrate the differences and embrace your new adventure whole-heartedly.  Learn a bit about local customs, try different foods, attempt to learn the language even if you stumble and make a mess of the words.  

Try these fun adventures:

Spanish + English classes and Boot Camps in Isla Mujeres, taught by Christy Dix. 

Or learn Mexican cooking with Christy’s mother-in-law, Abuelita Angelita.   Both ladies can be found on Facebook.

 

Spanish Boot Camp with Christy Dix - FB photo

Live, laugh and enjoy!  Life is too damn short to be grumpy about little annoyances!

Hasta Luego

Lynda & Lawrie

Should have learned Spanish!

Baños?   Gracias!   Buenos días!   Cerveza - por favor! 
We all know those words.


North of Puerto Vallarta before the influx of tourists

Back in 1966 when my husband Lawrie first visited Mexico with a travel agent friend that was pretty much the extent of his Spanish vocabulary.  

Their trip started with Mexico City, then Acapulco, and finally they did the adventurous drive over the mountains to the fishing village of Puerto Vallarta.   Three years later he was on the first jet – with the same friend plus six other travel agents – that did a trial landing in Puerto Vallarta.  The Captain announced over the plane's p.a. system that if the plane wouldn’t fit on the runway they probably would have enough fuel to return to their departure location!  This group of travel agents was on a scouting mission in Puerto Vallarta for future tourist locations when there was only three small local hotels in the downtown area, and nothing but white sandy beaches on either side of the village.

Puerto Vallarta 1980's

My first visit was in 1982 with Lawrie, and two family members.  We had a package deal for the flight and one night in a two-star place north of the hotel zone in Puerto Vallarta.  

About two in the morning there was a god-awful bang and a flash of light.  I thought a revolution had started and tried to dive under the bed.  Oops.  The bed base was made of concrete, no room underneath for a frightened Gringa.  No more sleep for me that night.  

Early in the morning we heard several men laughing outside the hotel.  We looked to see what the source of amusement was and discovered a Mexican utility worker perched on the top of the power pole in front of our hotel room holding a cartoon-style board-stiff dead cat upright by its tail.  Apparently the unlucky cat was the cause of the loud bang.  It had electrocuted itself by touching the power transformer.  The remainder of the trip was very enjoyable and not nearly as heart-stopping as our first night.  We discovered the wonderful Fiesta Americana chain down the road from our two-star place and promptly moved into a two-level townhouse on the property.  Five swimming pools, several restaurants and bars.  Heaven!

Time-Share Hustle in Puerto Vallarta

Over the next twenty-something years we frequently returned to Puerto Vallarta staying in various hotels, condos, and apartments.  By 2002 we were tired of the Puerto Vallarta time-share-salesmen-hustle and decided to try the less populated Barra de Navidad area for two weeks. We flew into Manzillo and took a very long taxi ride to a small one-star hotel in a bay north of Melaque.  The mosquitoes soon drove us out of that hotel and into the town of Barra de Navidad.   

Lawrie's Birthday Treat

Here we stayed in a slightly better place with a great view of the 5-diamond Grande Bay Hotel & Resort perched on an island in the bay.  Lawrie suggested that we take the small water taxi over to the island to check out the hotel, and maybe have a drink in the bar.  You would think that after being with him for twenty-three years, at that point, I would have been able to predict what was going to happen next.  Well it was March, and after all it was his birthday the very next day, and a 5-Diamond hotel really was more his style.  So, yes we moved over the next morning to the Grande Bay Hotel.  Fabulous place!  

About then other family members had purchased property and built homes on Isla Mujeres near Cancun.  We decided that we should spend a week or two in the area to see why they were raving about the Caribbean side of Mexico.   The first place we stayed was at delightful rental cottage on the west side of the island.  This was our first time on the Caribbean Sea.  Wow!  The colours were exquisite.  That clinched it – we were not going to return to the Pacific side of Mexico anytime soon.  A few more trips to Isla to show our Canadian friends the island, and we were completely hooked.  So, when we heard that the ocean-front property, located just two lots north of his sister's house, was for sale we promptly contacted the sellers.



September 2007 - Patricio gives us our house keys.

We started dealing on the property in June of 2006 and by January 2007 had a deal where we could now build our house.  By September 2007 our fabulous local contractor Patricio Yam Dzul had the house completed, under budget and on time! We spent our first delightful winter here on Isla Mujeres from December 2007 to March 2008, arriving back in Canada on March 10^th 2008 to a blinding snow storm. That's it!  We were done with winter. We wanted heat!  We wanted palm trees!  We wanted flowers all year!  

In October 2008 we left Canada with all of our worldly possessions stuffed into the Nissan Altima and headed south to Mexico.  (I confess, not all of our worldly possessions were in the car.  We left 54 photo albums and Lawrie's custom-made Tuxedo stashed with family.)  We love it here.  We love the climate, the scenery, the people, the food.  The only challenge we face is the lack of Spanish.  It's a bit frustrating at times to struggle with casual conversations with our local friends.    

Living in Paradise!

So, back to the first sentence …… we should have learned Spanish about 30 years ago when our brains were much younger and we were much smarter. 


Hasta Luego
Lynda, Lawrie and Sparky

~

Murder and mayhem in paradise.

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