Colombia

Last year when I was in Zihuatenejo, I had a young couple from Columbia stay with me for a week. They were upper middle class Colombians – he was a psychologist, and she a plastic surgeon. They were in Mexico for the first time, and I found talking with them absolutely fascinating.

They expressed some trepidation about coming to Mexico. They saw it as a somewhat backward country and potentially unsafe, and certainly a place where they might pick up some bad bugs. I am not sure what my vision of Columbia was – or even if I had one – but I was surprised to hear that they thought of Mexico as unsafe. Ever heard of Pablo Escobar?

Escobar was the Colombian drug lord that kept the nation of Columbia at war: Cartel wars, wars between the cartels and the government, wars between the communist guerillas and the Americans. These drug wars virtually paralyzed the country - or so I thought. I was young enough in the 80’s that I did not pay a whole lot of attention to what was going on in Columbia – but I remember enough that I had a lasting impression of Columbia as entirely unsophisticated and very unsafe.

Interestingly, when I asked my house guest what it was like for him as a child during that time, he replied, “Probably a lot like what it is like for Europeans right now, with all the terrorism threats they face.”

That reply really startled me, but as he expounded, I realized that much like here in Mexico, if you are not directly involved with the cartels, or if you didn’t live in Medellin in Comuna 13, it really did not affect you other than the natural response we all feel seeing a suicide bombing on TV. We know it is real, and that people have died, but we are too far removed from the reality for it to have a huge impact on our lives. So it was with my Colombian friends growing up during those drug war years.
Anyway, as they described Columbia to me, I realized how very uneducated I was on South America in general. I did not know how modern and advanced Columbia was, I knew nothing of its incredible and unique geography, flora and fauna, and of its diverse peoples. More importantly, I did not know that the drug wars are long since over and that the country is now a thriving tourism hub – that has taken its violent history and turned it into opportunity.

Now there are tours of Pablo Escobar’s many mansions, tours of the old slums – which are now hubs of unbelievable street art.

Medellin and Cali – two of the cities most affected by the wars, are now thriving, beautiful, economic hubs with stunning architecture, amazing churches – so much history. Like many colonial cities here in Mexico, the Spanish who conquered these countries really knew how to build magnificent buildings and lovely parks.

So, have you guessed yet where we are going very soon? Indeed, Columbia is on the list. We leave Puerto Vallarta on Mar 01 to spent 6 weeks in the Playa del Carmen area on the east coast of Mexico, and then we are headed to Honduras – to Utila – for at least a few months. Utila is situated on the world’s second largest barrier reef. Then – when we can snorkel no more – we are off to Columbia!

I have spent a lot of time researching and organizing an amazing month long journey that will begin in Cartagena.

Cartagena is also on the Caribbean coast. We will be staying in Old Town, founded in the 16th century, with squares, cobblestone streets and colorful colonial buildings. From there we will go on to Santa Marta and the Tayrona National Park, known for its palm-shaded coves, coastal lagoons, rainforest and rich biodiversity.

From there we fly to Medellin to see its famous street art, cable car public transit system, Pablo's old stomping ground Comuna 13, and Mayorista Mercado.

Then on to La Macerena and the famed Cano Cristales with its fuscia coloured rivers.

If I can tear myself away from the vibrant colours of the Cano Cristales, we will then go to Armenia - the world famous coffee region for an in-depth discovery of Colombian coffee farming- and a quick visit to see my friends.

The world from afar can seem like a dangerous scary place. But the closer you get, the more you begin to appreciate each and every place for its beauty, its unique people, and its history.

Deliberate Drooping

This morning as I was analyzing my pickle ball game over a latte – recognizing the subtle improvements I have made over the past 6 weeks - I thought about other subtle improvements in our lives now that we are retired. These improvements may not be obvious to anyone else, but they are worth noting.

The most noticeable difference in our retired lives is how our spending has become more intentional. I don’t mean we are spending more – we certainly are not – what I mean is that when we spend, it is intentional. Now you might think – isn’t all spending intentional? I would say no. In our old lives – we were part of the lucky people, the top 2 % of income earners – we did not think much about what we spent. If we wanted something, we bought it. We were not shop-a-holics by any stretch of the imagination, and I still have clothes from the 1980's, but we were blessed beyond measure, and enjoyed the fruits of our labours without much thought to cost. And sometimes our spending was even less deliberate - sometimes we spent simply because we were bored:

“What do you want to do today, Steph?”
“I don’t know…how about we go to Canadian Tire?”

And off we would go, inevitably coming home with yet another lame gadget we really did not need.

Here in Bucerias when we go to the store it is such a journey that it is definitely deliberate. A long 40 minute walk to the town, then up and down the hot cobblestone streets to find the right tienda, then another long hot walk home. You gotta really WANT something to go through that. More than that though, we now think about every single purchase, because we are technically homeless – moving on to another part of Mexico on March 01 - and we cannot take "things" with us.

Let me tell you…if you want to shake up your life and learn to live intentionally, and spend intentionally, pack up your “stuff” (or better yet, sell it) and hit the road. It not only teaches you that you really do not need all that stuff we spend our lives collecting, but it teaches you restraint: how to pause before buying and say, “Do I really NEED this?”

The next subtle life change I have noticed is that I am slowly learning to be OK with my aging body. It is easier here because we are surrounded by people older than ourselves. As very young retirees, we are the “kids” around here. People say, “Ah you two kids are so cute.” I see all around me old saggy bodies, and beautiful spirits. Frankly, I am in awe of how active all these older people are. They play pickle ball (and kick our ass most of the time), they golf 4 or 5 times a week, they hike, they walk, they ride bikes, they swim and aqua- size. The fact that their skin is wrinkled, or their boobs droop really does not matter. So as I begin to droop, I am encouraged to embrace it and aspire to be as active and "beautiful" as they are.

Another positive and subtle change in how we live is we are never in a hurry. EVER. Life just happens slower here. When you are retired, there is no real reason to be in a hurry, and when you retire in Mexico or the developing south, it is impossible to be in a hurry. Life here teaches you that the world does not end if something does not happen right away. When you are retired you have ALL DAY. All week. All month. In Mexico there is a saying..."mañana"...tomorrow. Always tomorrow. ¿Cuál es la prisa?

Yesterday, we walked 30 minutes to catch a bus, and then took an hour long bus ride to Home Depot. We had nothing to buy. We bought nothing. We just wanted to walk around and see what kind of stuff they sell here. We spent 30 minutes there, and then spent an hour and a half coming home. Very inefficient.

I am learning to embrace inefficiency. I really do have all day – what is the hurry?

Fear of Friends

Since I have been sick for the past week, I thought it might be apropos to write about tropical diseases – or at least those you may be unlucky enough to encounter while travelling in Mexico or Central America.

Most of the bad bugs you want to avoid down here fall into two categories: Food/water borne and Mosquito borne.

Hepatitis A and B and Typhoid fever are all spread through contaminated food or water. Generally, they are more common in poor areas with bad sanitation and limited education regarding food left out in the heat; the importance of hand washing; and keeping flies off food and ingredients. It does, however, happen in populated and popular areas tourist – especially in the “off season” when temperatures are hot and humid, and restaurants are less busy, therefore food tends to sit around longer.

These illnesses can be life threatening. In fact, if left untreated, 20% of people with Typhoid fever will die. Fortunately you can be vaccinated; unfortunately the vaccinations are not 100% effective. When I had Typhoid fever last year, the Specialist that treated me said there is a 40% spike every year in these illnesses in Sept through November. The best way to avoid these is to wash fruits and vegetables very well before eating (using purified or treated water), and during the humid season, stay away from street vendors and open air restaurants, or if you just cannot stay away, always ask for your food to be prepared “extra hot.” (Temperature hot – not extra peppers.)

Since most tourist come south in the dry winter season, the risk is far lower for these illnesses being contracted, but for those of you considering living in the tropics full time, it is important to be aware of the conditions that contribute to the contraction of these diseases.

There is also a moderate risk, at any time of the year, of insect borne illnesses like Dengue fever, Chikungunya, and Zika. All three viruses cause flu-like symptoms of aches, fever, and joint pain – and there are no vaccinations for these. The only prophylactic measures you can take are wearing insect repellent with DEET and avoid being outdoors. Avoiding the outdoors kind of defeats the purpose of being here, in my opinion, so I choose not to do this, and I cannot stand the smell of insect repellent, so I try to avoid being out around sunrise and sunset unless well covered, as this is when most of the nasty little critters are out and about. I also purchased a couple of those wearable insect repellent machines you clip on…they have a little mini fan that blows a scent that mosquitoes hate. They work very well, and instead of wearing it, I just place one on the table when we sit outside to eat.

Fortunately we have been lucky to avoid any of these illnesses (so far), although one of our neighbours was just diagnosed with Dengue…so there are obviously mosquitoes around here carrying the virus – so I shall be ever more diligent in the coming months.

Meanwhile, I have been laid low by a pesky virus brought to me courtesy of a friend from Canada. Perhaps I should fear the mosquitoes less and the visitors more?

Life’s Simple Pleasures

One of the best things about my current life is having the time to enjoy simple pleasures like the sound of crickets at night and the chirp of birds in the morning (OK, the riotous song of dozens of roosters), and the way the late afternoon sun shines underneath the canopy of leaves of the big tree at the end of the block.

It pleases me to watch the two baby chichalacas – who are now so used to us they walk right up to us and have to be shooed (is that really a word) off the pickle ball court. And I love to smell the lilies full blossomed in my living room (I use these to mask the smell of mildew which is pervasive in the tropics).

Best of all though - Avocado Toast! But not just any avocado toast.

This morning’s avocado toast began several days ago while riding a rickety old bike down a back country road. There we passed a small shack with clothes hanging on the line and small children playing in the yard. Loud music was playing and as we passed, I caught glimpse of a large handmade basket filled with large avocados. Not the wrinkly small dark green kind, but the large smooth skinned variety. Screeeeeeeeeeech goes my bike. “Hola!” I shout out. “Feliz Anos Nuevo” I said to the small children standing there barefooted at the gate wondering who the heck I was and what I wanted (not too many gringos heading down their dirt road I suspect). “Quiero comprar tus aguacates” (I want to buy your avocados), I said. The children ran into the house and shortly after a man came out. “Cuánto cuesta, senor?” “10 Pesos” he says. 10 pesos! These avocados were the size of small watermelons!

One avocado this size would feed me for a week, and he wanted only 10 pesos. I took two, and he went on to explain they would be ready in a few days.

When we got home I wrapped them carefully in a towel, and each day since I have unwrapped them carefully, and gently pushed on the skin. This morning they were ready! THE PERFECT DONENESS.

The next step in the perfect avocado toast is the bread. Now if you know me, you would know I always bake my own bread. Well, doing that down here is an exercise in futility – or perhaps even – stupidity. You see when I first got here I spent days trying to find wheat flour. Lots of corn flour, and Mexico’s version of Bisquick and pancake mix, but no flour. I was confounded. Then I realized that I did not find it because I was looking for a large bag...no such thing here. Wheat flour here is sold in the smallest little bag that holds exactly 3 cups - not even enough for a complete recipe. No problem, I can adapt.

It then took me two weeks to find some yeast. I eventually did find some yeast and it was in a HUGE bag. Go figure. At home we have large bags of flour and teeny tiny bags of yeast – the opposite of here. Anyway, after baking bread and filling my already hot house with more hot air, I was beginning to wonder at the reasonableness of the venture. But what really convinced me to stop baking bread was going to the local Chadraui grocery store. There at the back was the most amazing display of fresh baked goods including small loaves of many different kinds of bread, buns, donuts, muffins, croissants – you name it. So for today’s toast, a lovely small loaf of artisan bread (which cost about .50 cents), lightly toasted in the gas oven, and topped with perfectly thin slices of nutty yellow avocado topped with a little cilantro and rock salt, and of course, a perfectly poached egg.

Ahhhh, the small pleasures in life.

Mary Jane

If you have been watching the stock market lately, or if you tend to follow business or financial news, you will know that the various marijuana stocks have been going crazy lately – gaining as much as 20% a day in value! Now I am not one to “play” the markets, though I do try to take an active interest in my investments, but even I found it hard not to get caught up in the hype. I tend to choose what I think are good, long term stocks that will outperform market funds and I buy to hold for the long term. I own stocks like Google, Apple, Dollarama, Amazon, and as of last week - Aurora Cannabis (ACB).

Now before you get all moral on me – hear me out. I never smoked marijuana (OK maybe once in college) and I actually chose this stock after doing a lot of research. It was, I will admit, the recent rally though that got me off the fence and made me purchase. And am I ever glad I did. It has gone up 50% in the last week. Ups and downs of the stock aside, I was researching cannabis because after a few bad years with my autoimmune arthritis, I was looking for an alternative to the array of drugs the rheumatologist had me on. They seemed to be causing more problems than they were helping, and I was desperately looking for some alternatives that were less hard on my body.

What I have learned from reading literally dozens of medical research papers is what has convinced me that marijuana is an amazing plant with an incredible amount of medicinal properties that science is only now beginning to research and understand and that the potential has genuine far reaching consequences for the medical community, government policy, and of particular interest to me, those people over 50 who, by the way, are the fastest growing demographic of new marijuana users.

So if you are like me, and never used recreational drugs, here are a few basics: Marijuana (or cannabis) is a plant that has many different substances called cannabinoids. The human body produces cannabinoids on its own and has receptors for cannabinoids. One type of receptors (CB1) are found throughout our body (but mostly in the brain) and they attach to THC – the cannabinoid that makes you feel “high.” THC does a whole lot more than make you feel euphoric though. Think of that as a “side effect”. (Beats the hell out of some other drugs' side effects). THC can affect coordination and movement, pain, emotions and mood, thinking, appetite, and memories, among others and it is used medicinally to help people with cancer, Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder, MS and many other diseases.

Our body also has CB2 receptors which are more common in the immune system. CBD, the non-psychoactive cannabinoid in marijuana, has both pain relief and anti-inflammatory properties, so has proven incredibly useful in treating many autoimmune diseases that cause both: diseases like Rheumatoid Arthritis and Crohn’s Disease.

After years on high doses of anti-inflammatories and Disease Modifying Drugs like Sulfasalazine, Methotrexate, and Hydroxychloroquine, not to mention prednisone, I was not only having to deal with the disease, but with the side effects of all the meds that were shredding my guts to bits. Like many others, I became desperate for an alternative. Fortunately I have an open minded Doctor, who after discussing the research with her, was willing to let me try medicinal cannabis.

Within 3 days of taking 10 drops of CBD oil twice a day, my tendonitis was gone for the first time in months. I have had no joint pain in months, and no side effects. It has helped my tendonitis, enthesitis and arthritis, I am sleeping better than I have in decades, and my gut issues are completely gone. I wondered if perhaps there was a placebo effect going on, but soon learned that was not the case. You see, although cannabis is legal in Canada with a prescription, and it is legal in Mexico with a prescription, it is ILLEGAL to take it out of the country. So after months of being symptom free, I left for Mexico on Oct 28th without my CBD oil. By Nov 1 my tendonitis was back, by the end of that week I had gut issues, and I was back to waking up and going to the bathroom three times a night.

CBD works. The researchers suggest that not only has it been incredibly effective at treating ulcerative colitis, Crohn’s and Irritable Bowel, CBD is showing promise as an effective treatment for heart disease! Legal access to cannabinoids has been a life safer for me and literally thousands and thousands of people who suffer from chronic illness, including children with severe forms of epilepsy.

By December, desperate for some relief, I turned to the Puerto Vallarta Expat Facebook group and asked if anyone knew of a Doctor here I could get a CBD prescription from. Within minutes dozens of retirees had hooked me up with various places I could purchase it - both legally and illegally. When I contacted one place in Lake Chapala, the owner of the store, who also has inflammatory arthritis, sent me the CBD oil immediately, saying, "send me the money when you get a chance." Then, later that day, after lamenting the return of my tendonitis to the owner here at Los Arroyos Verdes, she said, "I will give you some!" Within minutes she had run home, returned, and handed me a Tupperware container full of a big old marijuana bloom (Bud? Flower?...I really am not sure of the lingo) floating in some alcohol tincture. “Rub this on your shoulders” she says, “I had 13 broken bones in my legs and this is the only thing that helped with the pain.” Not too surprising to me, it did help, immediately. And now that I have some oil, I am back to sleeping and best of all, my shoulders are functioning and it has enabled me to become quite the pickle ball player (If I do say so myself)!

It is no wonder cannabis stock is going through the ceiling.

Sex in the Tropics

Sex is alive and well in the tropics. In Mexico the birthrate is down from 19.02 births per 100,000 to 16.09 in 2017. That is probably a good thing, since the population here had been exploding exponentially since the sixties; however, compared to Canada’s birthrate, let’s just say they make a lot of babies here. Being predominantly Catholic here means Mexican families are expected to have as many children as God grants. Everywhere you go there are babies, small children, and young families. It is actually nice to see. Mexican culture is very family oriented, family being something that is held in high regard. But this is boring…let’s get back to sex.

Say the word lubricant to any Boomer woman and we all know what it is, where it is, why it is God’s gift to women, and well, you get my point. Bring up lubricant in Mexico and you are more likely to be directed to the nearest gas station. Forget KY ladies, Mexico’s brands of lubricants include Shell and Pennzoil.

If you are lucky (and brave) you will find it behind the counter at most pharmacies. At first I wondered why on earth they kept it behind the counter. It is just mean! Imagine me at the counter trying to explain to the pharmacist in bad Spanish what I need. Worse yet…using my hands to overcome the language barrier…believe me, it isn’t pretty. Well after I got through that particularly humiliating experience, the pharmacist hands me a tube of lubricant so small I giggled thinking to myself, well that just won’t do ! Worse yet, the .000005 ml tube was eight dollars! No wonder they keep it behind the counter! This stuff is liquid gold! I suspect it is traded on the black market down here by upper middle class retirees. Clearly this is not a normal every day commodity and has nothing to do with making babies.

So the other day I am by the pool discussing this conspiracy to get back at baby boomers for whatever it is we have done wrong to screw the “screwed generation” when the woman I am talking to me says, “I think Mexicans use coconut oil – that’s cheap!” (NOT a good idea by the way…for a dozens reasons which you should Google).

Nope, there are only two alternatives: No Sex (not an option for me) or humiliate yourself before family and friends who are coming to Mexico to visit you, and ask them to bring you the real thing from Canada when they come down. The difficult question then becomes do you ask them to bring what you really need – thus hinting at how often you have sex, or just say “bring me a three month supply” and see what they show up with – thus hinting at how often THEY have sex? I vote for the latter.