Quirky Ajijic – Week 2

We are truly enjoying our time in Ajijic. I did not realize how energy zapping all the heat we have been in was. Here I feel like a new woman – fresh air, warm sunshine, cool nights. Everywhere there are flowers in bloom, so as each day passes, our walks get more and more colourful.

There are A LOT of dogs here! Fewer dying, stray dogs than we have seen elsewhere, but everyone seems to have several and often they are off leash. This has made for numerous interesting encounters as you never know when the dogs are going to fight, play, sniff, or have a pissing match. There are many quirky things here that just make us smile. For instance, each day as we walk Annie, we pass house after house with pet dogs, and the cacophony begins as each and every dog we pass goes nuts barking. They strain to get their heads under the door, through the bars of the balcony, or...and this is just quirky... they bark down at us from the roof! Yes indeed, Ajijic is full of dogs on roofs! (sounds like a Dr. Seuss book!)

Most of the houses in Ajijic are surrounded by tall concrete walls, artistically painted and with lovely metal gates. Inside the tall walls are large courtyards and the houses. These tall walled fences make for some quirky tree sightings. It is not unusual to see that the wall has been built around the tree branches.

The walls are also home to a lot of street art, making the town seem happy and vibrant.

Ajijic is a very walkable town. The cobbled streets start at the base of the mountain, a thousand feet up and run down to the lake. They are very rough and very skinny.

Needless to say, parking is at a premium.

Ajijic Makes the Short List

I certainly see the attraction people have to Ajijic. Every day the beauty of the lush mountains amaze me. Today we took the dog for a walk up the mountain. It was a lovely, refreshing walk; so nice to be walking in cool, crisp air again.

We feel so energized to be out of the heat and humidity of the last 8 months. From the mountain pathway there were stunning views of the lake, and strangely, a shrine and three crosses – as in crucifixion crosses – stood alongside the path.

Each morning we spend 2-3 hours walking around the cobbled streets checking out shops. We usually stop midway to give Annie a rest and have a latte in the town square. About a dozen or so expats are there every morning, sharing gossip. In the afternoon, we walk for another hour looking at lovely homes on the mountainside.

Most are majestic, and way beyond our means, however, we found several absolutely lovely neighborhoods with homes for rent in the $750-$1000 /month range; several with lake views and pools.

In that regard, it is certainly the most affordable place we have looked at so far. Food in the restaurants is also very affordable as are groceries. Today I bought two big thick pork chops and a chunk of sharp cheddar cheese for $5 U.S. In Utila, the cheese alone would have cost me $7!

Real estate is moving quite well here, in all price ranges – a big difference from the over supply of homes in Utila. There are lovely 2-3 bedroom homes here with very nice architectural features, yards and pools in the $200,000 - $300,000 range.

During our walk today, we found the place where they have open mic on Wednesday evenings, so we are going to go next Wednesday. They have a very nice stage and sound system, so that will be a big improvement over the last place we played at where we had to sing without amplification. A little later we went to the neighbouring town to check out the pickle ball court - a lovely racquet club with 8 outdoor courts - all with amazing lake views. Alongside the road there we saw a mare and her newborn foal.

Our little brown charge here – Annie the standard poodle – is very well natured and lovable, but she is incredibly strong, and proving quite a challenge on dog walks. Today we were walking her on one of those extendable dog leashes, thinking it would give us a little more control over her. As we were walking through the town square, we stopped to buy some green beans off a street seller, and as Stephane, who was holding the leash, relaxed his grip while getting money out of the pack, a young boy on a very small bike went riding past, and Annie bolted out in front of her, pulling the leash out about 15 feet across the courtyard, the young boy was about to be decapitated by the leash, so Steph had to drop the leash, and now we had a boy with a leash around his neck, still riding forward, while Annie was chasing him, and Stephane chasing her! It was quite a spectacle, and we felt very relieved to finally get the boy untangled and back on his feet, unscathed. Later, Annie decided to wrap herself around the ankles of an older woman almost upending her. Needless to say, we will keep our energetic perro on a tighter leash, and do our best to teach her some better leash manners.

The roads in Ajijic are all cobbled, and while that makes the town look “charming” it is truly quite difficult to walk on. I am quite nervous one of us will end up with a broken ankle between dogging Annie and navigating road boulders! There are sidewalks, but like elsewhere in Mexico, they leave much to be desired. One cannot take their eyes off the ground without risking life and limb.

All in all, we are amply impressed with the Lake Chapala area, and would definitely consider returning here for a longer stay. The idea of a climate that is warm all year – but not blistery hot is quite appealing - I would definately say Ajijic has made the short list.

Ajijic on Lake Chapala - a Pretty Good Gig

Ajijic is a lovely mountain town in the state of Jalisco – just about 45 minutes from Guadalajara. There are easy flights from most places to the airport in Guadalajara, so like Puerta Vallarta, it is quick and easy to get to. The attraction here is the climate – perpetual spring like weather. Never too hot, never too cold. I think Stephane and I would find it a bit too cold in the winter, as it can go down to 10 degrees Celcius at night, but I must admit, sleeping at night is pretty nice here. No air conditioning needed. It has been going down to 17 at night, so we sleep with the doors and windows open (they are screened) and we even have blankets on our bed and can snuggle without Stephane getting too hot. In the morning I have to wear jeans and a hoodie, but by noon it is warm - highs of 25 Celcius.

The town itself is charming – there’s that word again…but it really is. Colourful buildings, neat shops, town square surrounded by cafes, cobbled streets, and a lovely malecon along the lake.

The area is mountainous, but lush, and there is a great variety of stores and restaurants.

I found a super delicatessen today and bought some nice cheeses and meats and a bottle of red wine for supper tonight. It is my birthday today, so I get to eat whatever I want – so charcuterie it is!

The home we are house sitting here is absolutely lovely. It sits on the side of the mountain, one block from the main street where there are shops and restaurants - and even a wine and cheese store, and it has lovely gardens and outdoor areas.

Our “casita” is a beautiful house in and of itself. No roughing it here. There is a maid and a gardener and a pool guy, so our sole job is to love and care for Annie, a delightful 1 year old standard poodle.

She is adorable, and we love her already. Our other job is to feed the hundreds of hummingbirds that hover around the four feeders like swarms of bees. Each day we are to make five litres of sugar water for them and keep the feeders full. Watching them is our biggest source of entertainment. They are amazing.Tomorrow we will move from the guest quarters into the big house for a month.

Last Day of Island Paradise (Day 53)

Tonight will be our last night here at Big Rock Cabana on the island of Utila. Our Island Paradise experiment was very worthwhile. 50+ days to compare the dream to reality, and there were a great many surprises. I won’t reiterate all the things we have experienced and learned, but encourage you to read all the posts; Suffice it to say that we do not regret our time here, and we look forward to returning, if possible, for a much longer time.

Tomorrow a boat will pick us up at 6am and take us to town where we will take a tuk tuk to the small municipal airport for our short trip on a little plane to San Pedro Sula. From there we will fly via United Airlines to Houston, and then to Guadalajara where we will take a taxi to Ajijic on Lake Chapala. It will be a long day, and I will be going back to writing only once a week blog posts, so you may not hear from me for a few days. I do hope these past 52 days have been fun to read about, and I hope those of you who only recently began following will continue to do so as we will weekly update you on the ongoing adventures of our two star retirement. Remember, life is short, take out the pink towels. Choose the life you want and live it!

Island Paradise Day 52 - by Stephane

Eight months into retirement and I have enjoyed every minute of it and have not missed my job one bit. I do however, get a little home sick from time to time and miss our friends and family. Funny thing is, I am not 100% sure what home is anymore. I sometimes think of Los Arroyos Verdes in Bucerias and the World Vacation Club in Conchas Chinas as "home." I think it is the familiarity, as we have been there several times, and there is comfort in knowing some of the people there. The fact that we have had friends and family come to visit us in certain places has also helped make our stays feel a little more like home. Also, there is a certain vibe to some places that is hard to define, that makes a place feel homey, enjoyable, and comfortable to me.

We have been pretty lucky since we left in October as we have had great weather everywhere we have been. The weather on the west coast of Mexico has been the best in my opinion, as it is very dependable in the winter months, not too hot and humid, very sunny, but with comfortable nights. I have also enjoyed the style of travel we have been doing, scouting out places, traveling on nice buses and smaller planes. I appreciate very much that Corrie has found awesome accommodations for us at good prices - except for one place. I have always known myself to be a city slicker and have never been much for roughing it or camping, and that place just confirmed that. I am not ashamed to say that I have a certain level of comfort that I am just not willing to live without for very long. I can probably rough it for a day or two, but that is it! So, Staying somewhere for at least a couple of months is a good way to get a better feel for a place, on the other hand, if you don't like it, it kind of sucks. Having done both long and short stays, I think that if you have never been to an area, it is better not pre-pay a longer stay, but rather give yourself the flexibility to get out of it if you don't like it.

Of all the places we have stayed, I love living on the water front best. I am not sure why I love it so much as I was born and raised in the city, not really close to the water. Regardless, I love staring at the water, the sound of the waves, walking on the beach, swimming, floating, and going out on boats. I have especially enjoyed the proximity to the reef and seeing all the marine life here at Jack Neal beach while snorkeling. I also love pelicans. I know, they are not the prettiest of birds, but I enjoy watching them fly in formation. I love to see them dive to catch fish. The fact that they are goofy looking adds to their charm for me. Apparently, in Costa Rica where they do not have military, they call pelicans the Costa Rican air force.

There are disadvantages to living in an ocean front property, but, falling asleep and waking up to the sound of the waves and drinking my morning coffee on a water front deck, especially right on the crystal clear ocean puts a smile on my face and peace in my heart.

One of the things I wanted to do in retirement was to stay at one of those expensive over water bungalows in Tahiti or somewhere, but hey, who needs to spend $1000 per night to stay in an over water bungalow in Tahiti when for two months we have had a covered deck on the Caribbean Sea with two hammocks and a rocking chair!

As for things I had planned to do in retirement, well, I seem to be even lazier than I thought. I feel no need to do anything productive yet. I have not spent as much time as I thought playing music, and learning Spanish is way harder than I thought it would be. I mostly hang out with my best friend and wife Corrie, doing whatever we are doing at the moment and that suites me fine. I have always loved just hanging out with her. We often have long conversations about our plans for the future, changing our plans often and then re-planning again (hey, why not, we have lots of time!)

We sometimes get on each other’s nerves, being together 24 hours a day can sometimes create some tension, but we have lived that way for a long time and are used to it, and we are lucky that we like each other’s company so much. I retired from a job that required a lot of business travel and that used to put a strain on our relationship, so I am so glad to be done with that. It makes our life together much better.

I would say that once in a while I do worry about money. We are after all on a two star retirement plan. But Corrie promptly puts everything in perspective and reminds me that we have a lot more money than most people when they retire. In fact, I sometimes catch myself thinking that this life is not "real life," and one day I will have to wake up from this wonderful dream and go back to some sort of daily stressful grind. But then I realize that "real" life is not an objective concept, and that my life can be whatever I want it to be, and I can decide to live a full and happy life. I don't have to give in to the unreal aspiration of the "perfect” life. My life right now is as real as it gets and it is pretty damn wonderful!

I do think that having some kind of purpose or deeper meaning in life, or even short productive things to do is probably important: whether it is some type of work or volunteering or more substantial hobbies. I do have music, but I probably will need to find other meaningful things at some point. But in the famous words of BONO: "I still haven't found what I'm looking for," and for now, that's ok.

Island Paradise Day 51

Today Stephane and I went beach combing. We realized that we are leaving in two days and had not really spent any time looking down. We are always so mesmerized by the water, that we had neglected to see the myriad of shells, coral, seeds, glass, and other things (beside plastic) that line the shores.

I found some cool seeds called “hamburger seeds.” They float over from the mainland, and would make amazing bracelets as they have the look and feel of beautiful round balls of wood. We also discovered a whole colony of snails living on the underside of some lava rock. Some of them were of serious supper size! Tonight I did some research on if they are edible. Apparently, any sea snail that is edible is called a whelk. And there are various different whelks that live in the waters of the Caribbean. Conch, is the largest, and used to be a main food source here, but because of over fishing, you do not see a lot of them.

When I first came to the Bay Islands years ago, one of my favorite memories was of the amazing conch I had in the restaurants. Conche ceviche in particular was amazing. Now, I have not seen any conch on menus. Other edible whelks include smaller snails, like some of the ones we found today. The problem is there are 80,000 species of gastropods, and only a couple dozen are edible, so I think I will not try to guess which ones.

Stephane and I also did some snorkeling today, and although the visibility was not great, the water was calm and we saw an eagle ray. Probably the last one we will see for a long time, so we were grateful for the encounter. They really are very majestic, only this one seemed to be missing his tail. We also saw a big Permit fish about two feet long.

After snorkeling I took over to Susan some sweet potato sprouts I started for her. I think they will grow here, and will provide her with much needed fresh greens – maybe even year round. She showed me her Moringa trees. One of them has grown about 30 feet in two years. It produces many seed pods. I told her I paid $30 for 10 seeds a few years ago, so she is sitting on a gold mine…if only there was mail service out of Utila. Moringa is a super food, and worthy of trying to grow. Apparently I have one that has grown successfully in my absence. On a whim I stuck a seed in one of my plant pots before I left in October, and last I heard it was about 7 feet tall! I hope it survives until I get home.

Island Paradis Day 50

I just found out that my insurance company will not cover the water problem in my house back home. It is a long story, and I am still so mad I don’t want to tell the story because I will just get all pissed off again and have trouble sleeping. Suffice it to say that I will now have to either curtail my travels and go home and renovate the basement suite, or continue my travels and only have the upper unit rented, therefore reducing my income by $1000/month, and hope to God nothing else happens while I am away. Also, the neighbour called the property manager to complain about the fact that the Cedar trees lining our property are not being watered, and they don't want them to die - because let's face it dead Cedars are butt ugly...I don't blame them. I don't want them to die either. I thought the property management company dealt with this stuff? That's why I hired them for Pete's sake! Well, apparently they did not know we had an automatic watering system, so have been letting our grass die and trees wither in the heat. Sigh.

I guess I have learned a good lesson: don’t rent out a house you have not lived in. Had we lived in the house for a while first, we would have discovered all of these problems and been able to fix them before leaving. But, the timing was such that we took possession of the house two weeks before leaving on our trip. Originally we had planned on returning home on April 21, so none of this would have been a problem, but we were having such fun we decided to extend out travels and take advantage of the two year healthcare coverage the BC government allows once every five years. So the plan changed, we hired a property manager, and we decided to be homeless until April 2020.

Anyway, since we have already paid for September and October in Puerto Vallarta, and we have the Bucerias place on hold for November forward, we have decided to go ahead and fix the upstairs bathroom and put new tenants in there for September, but we will leave the basement empty and renovate it when we get home in either May 2019 or April 2020 - depending on if we can find something to rent long term in Utila.

Personally I am getting anxious to just go home and get started on the major renovation. At least then if we pick up our travels afterwards we will have a house that is all fixed up and I can organize things better before we take off. Of course, with the luck we have had, we might spend $100,000 renovating only to have some tenant trash the place like they did last fall. Grrrrrrrrrr. Not sure what to do so our plans are now in flux. I may even have to go home this week and leave Steph to go house sit in Lake Chapala alone. I have to talk to the potential contractor tomorrow, and will decide then what makes the most sense.

Meanwhile back in Paradise, we got a good giggle today when Upco, the Utilan power company, sent out the following notice on Facebook: “Lights will be off Tradewind till 2 pm in a few minutes , so we can clean the lines form the salt built up!” Besides the really bad grammar, the missing words, and the misspelled words, what I thought funny was that a) they send their notices by Facebook, and b) they had to scrape salt off the lines!

This is the reality on Utila. Facebook is the mail and the phone here. Cell service really sucks and there is no mail service, so people and companies communicate by Facebook. The longer I am here the more I see the corrosive power of sea salt. It will literally destroy things almost as fast as you can replace them. Check out this tap in a washroom I recently used at a restaurant:

When we come out of the water from snorkeling or swimming, if we forget to shower, we are literally covered in tiny white salt crystals. My hair is so salted that it may never be the same…Steph says he likes the dreadlock look, but I think it is getting a little unruly...

Now I know what all you people back in Oliver are thinking...that my hair ALWAYS looks like that! But besides long and scraggly, it's texture is no longer, well, hair like. Speaking of hair, Stephane's hair is finally long enough to put the top half in a little ponytail. So now he looks like a hipster. He won't let me take his picture: I think he is still getting use to the idea of a ponytail. Maybe by the time we get home in August he will have a tatoo too!

I digress - back to the salt thing.Check out the top of our dryer:

Corrosion is the trade off if you want to live on the ocean front. New appliances every few years will certainly increase one's cost of living, that is for sure. On the other hand, think of all the money we have saved on haircuts!

Island Paradise Day 49

We are counting down the days to when we leave and we are already strategizing on how and when to come back here. Today was a beautiful sunny day and the water, although rough, was lovely and lively.

We took a long walk down to the end of the south shore to visit Troy, a new friend of ours. Troy and Trish moved here from Florida. They rent a beautiful little house on the ocean, and have really enjoyed the year they have been here. They sold everything back home and shipped all their belongings (at a cost of $8000) to Utila. They rented in two other places before finding the little gem they are in and I am somewhat jealous.

Don’t get me wrong, we are looking forward to checking out Lake Chapala (they have a year round pickleball club with six courts!) and of course we are excited about going home to see family and friends. We are even really looking forward to spending the rainy months of September and October in Puerto Vallarta because there are almost daily thunderstorms and I love a good storm! We have rented a place on the ocean just south of town so we will have magnificent views of the bay and can watch the storms from the balcony.

As I write this Hurricane Bud is racing towards the area, (Puerto Vallarta that is) dumping copious amounts of rain on the west coast. It won't hit PV but will swing past on its way north to Cabo. I think I have mentioned before that Utila is in a bit of a hurricane shadow, so it only gets a hurricane once every 25 years on average. Mitch was a doozy, no doubt about it, killing over 11,000 Hondurans, mostly on the mainland, but it really is an unusual occurrence. I was actually hoping to see some good tropical storms while we have been here in Utila, but they always seem to bypass us here, with the rain and lightning happening in Roatan or on the mainland.

Stephane and I were in Cabo San Lucas one winter a few years ago and met a couple who had built a home there. They had spent 15 years building it – coming down every winter to do what they could, and a year after they finished it they lost their entire home during the bad hurricane that hit there a few years ago. It is a sad story, but that is the reality of buying in an area that gets hurricanes. On that note, I have been researching areas of the world with the least chance of natural disasters, and after a few small countries in the Middle East, Granada – in the Caribbean - is one of the safest places on earth. Who knew?! Canada, on the other hand, is way down on the list as it is at high risk for Earthquake, Flood, Tornadoes, Hurricanes, River Flood, Landslides, and even Tsunami. Today I found a great website for comparing natural hazard risks in various places. Check it out here.

There really are so many things to consider when trying finding a place to retire: Natural hazards, Weather, Crime, Cost of Living, Culture, Language, Community, Health Care, and don't forget Geopolitical and Environmental factors. Far too many people make rash and spontaneous decisions they later regret by not properly analyzing all of these things. On the other hand, one can find themselves in “Paralysis by Analysis” as we often do.

One thing I have run into a few times since our travels began is people who are selling their homes to return to Canada or the U.S. because their parents are in their last years and they need to be close to home for that. Others miss spending time with their children and grandchildren. These are pretty important factors, because at the end of the day, what is more important than family? On that note I am looking forward to seeing mine very soon!

Island Paradise Day 48

Two months on Island Paradise
I must say it is pretty nice
We love the reef
Tis beyond belief
Snorkeling is our new vice.

You thought I was kidding about writing a limerick didn't you?

Island Paradise Day 47

When Steph and I decided to spend two months here in Utila, we thought there would be a lot of time where we would have nothing to do, and I was looking forward to working on my book every day. I started writing a book in 2007, and originally it was going to be about my first trip around the world with son number one. I worked on it for three years, but after getting a lot of feedback from other writers, I decided to switch it up significantly. By then I had taken my second trip around the world with son number two in 2010, so it was reworked again so I could incorporate that trip’s adventures. Then I decided that the book might as well be about all three trips around the world, the third of which I completed with son number three in 2014. Since then I have been working on it off and on (not often enough) and was much determined to make this the year I complete my final rewrite. After that I only need to find someone willing to do an edit, and then I can think about publishing it.

Well, we have one week to go before we leave here, and I only started on it this week. It has been so cloudy and windy that there really isn’t much else to do. I am hoping that next month while we are in Lake Chapala I might be able to get a lot of work on it completed. I did not realize how much time writing a daily blog would take, and once we leave here I will revert to a weekly blog posts, freeing up some time.

I certainly underestimated how windy it would be living on a beach – especially during the strong eastern trade winds season. That is not actually a bad thing here – as it really helps with the heat and humidity, however, the strong wind means big waves, and big waves mean limited swimming and snorkeling. It does not seem to impact people diving, as they are below the water’s surface. However, when it is cloudy the visibility in the water is greatly reduced. We are actually very lucky that we had so many days where the water was as still as a lake allowing for a lot of fantastic snorkeling.

Tomorrow we are heading into town for the chili cook off. It is funny that this event came along just days after I wrote that I missed my family and our cook offs. My family is very competitive. We do not shuck corn: we see who can shuck the most cobs in the least amount of time. (Does one shuck corn or only oysters??) My kids do not tell me how good the meal was: they rank it for taste profile and artistic impression. I am not sure whose fault this competitive business is (I blame my maternal grandmother), but it keeps life interesting, and we have a heck of a lot of fun.

Competition is essential, in my view. Without it we would not have a fair economy or sports. And let’s face it, politics would be boring. Where would the town of Oliver be without the Mountainview Drive Croquet Match or the Annual Adolph Snail Derby? By the way, friends back in Oliver, I DO expect the derby to go on this summer in August when I am there. I have been practicing some new techniques with the local land crabs, and intend to royally kick some snail butt when I get home.

Island ParadiseDay 46

I was reading a couple of articles today, one of which gave an overview of research that showed men who retire early live longer. The results were attributed to the person having more time to sleep, more time to exercise, more time to eat healthy, and more time to actually go to the Doctor when something comes up. It also notes that less stress, usually caused by work, contributes to many health conditions. In our case, I would say all of those things are true. Healthy eating is so easy where fruits and vegetables are abundant and cheap, and it is certainly motivating to exercise every day when you get to snorkel your way around the second largest barrier reef in the world. Going to the Doctor, including a specialist, is easy and immediate. No waiting for months on end.

For Stephane and me, we also have more time to make music – something we have not really taken advantage of, but should. According to a new book by Daniel H. Pink, "Exercise is one of the few activities in life that is indisputably good for us," and “singing might be the new exercise," that is, when it is done with someone else. "Choral singing calms the heart and boosts endorphin levels. It improves lung function. It increases pain thresholds and reduces the need for pain medication," Pink says. Well that is good news for us, and explains why I feel better connected to Stephane when we sing regularly. Tonight we performed for a group of expats at a local bar in Utila town. We did not have a sound system, so projecting over the din of voices was difficult at times, but all in all our music was well received and it felt good to be performing again.

Another thing that is supposed to extend your life, and contribute to a better retirement, is to stay cognitively engaged and challenged. I am not a fan of crosswords or Sudoku, which are both supposed to be beneficial, however, I love learning. Life-long learning for me is a commitment to myself. We are never too old to learn, and no amount of education is ever wasted. I went back to school at age 42 and got a Master’s degree in Professional Communication with a specialization in International and Intercultural Communication.

Immediately after I graduated (and after my four month trip around the world), I started looking for work. When I did not find work right away, I got kind of depressed and started feeling like all that hard work was wasted. Then a girlfriend told me something that changed my attitude about formal education. She said, “Education is never a waste. Going to school has taught you to think critically, and that will serve you throughout your life.” I eventually did get a job, working as Senior Strategic Communication Advisor for the Chief of Maritime Staff (head of the Canadian Navy), and feel proud of my contributions, serving on the Navy’s Strategic Advisory Committee which was tasked with laying out a naval strategy through the year 2020. Who would have thought that communication was an important element of national defence? As it turned out, government bureaucracy was just a little too slow for me, so while my professional contributions were limited, my education has served me well in all aspects of my life, and I look forward to some more formal education when I am done my travels.

In the meantime, I will continue to sing with my best friend, eat lots of veggies, and hopefully I will live long enough to finish that bucket list.

Island Paradise Day 45

I was going to write a poem tonight...I was thinking a limerick...BUT, instead I am off to bed early after an exhausting day in La Ceiba. My tooth is fine - no infection, but she said I must continue to only eat on one side for the next 10 days. I think my face is already crooked.

The ferry ride home was eventful as the waves were high and even on the second floor I was getting soaked by sea spray. I could barely keep my seat as the ferry rocked back and forth. Tonight the wind is the strongest it has been since we arrived, and I will be surprised if a tree does not topple tonight. I sure hope it is not the tree over my bedroom...

Stephane and I are performing at the Mango Inn Bar and Grill tomorrow night. We have missed performing a lot since we left Oliver, so it will be nice. We have been practicing all week, but we both feel a bit of a cold coming on, so I will cross my fingers, take the vitamin C Susan gave me, and go to bed now.

Island Paradise Day 44

One thing we are really learning about a two star retirement is that we cannot have everything we want. I am OK with that, because a two star retirement gives me more of what I want sooner than would a five star retirement. I kind of look at it in the same way as CPP payments. You can take your pension at 60 (instead of 65) but you get less. I read that statistically, you have a better chance of collecting more money if you take less early than wait the extra five years for a bigger amount. Well, so it is with our retirement plan. We get to retire early, but we have a little less to spend. It is worth it to me because, let’s face it folks, any one of us in our fifties could be dead in 10 years, so I just don’t want to miss out on all the fun!

They say that if you can make it to age 65, then chances are you will live to an average lifespan, so it makes sense to me to take these 10 years and do all I can on the bucket list rather than chance working day in and day out only to drop dead two weeks after I retire...I know that may sound cynical, but I guess I am a tad jaded by the early death of both of my parents.

Actually, there are very few things on my bucket list that I have not already done, but there are still a few places I want to go, a book to publish, and another degree to get. Yikes, I better get busy!
Steph only has a few things on his whole list – and one of them has been fulfilled these past two months. He wanted to live on a beach in the Caribbean. All in all I would say it has been a great experience, and we both look forward to his other “must do’s”…Island hopping on a small boat (in Greece, Croatia, or Panama), and a two week cruise on the Aranui, a supply/cruise ship that travels to the Marquesas Islands.

Anyway, choosing to retire early is about ensuring we have time to see and do the things we want to do before we die, and while we still have good legs for walking. When I am older and less able physically, that will be my time for more schooling, book writing, cuddling grandbabies, and knitting. (OK maybe not knitting). I have never been much of an artsy craftsy person, though I certainly appreciate those who have the talent. Heck, maybe I will add 'learn to knit' to my bucket list!

Early retirement has required some compromises and tradeoffs. For example, in order to be able to travel a lot we have to sacrifice seeing our friends more often. We like our friends and socializing is very important to us. On the other hand, we have realized that we are capable of making new friends along the way. Another trade off has been the housing situation. In order to retire early we had to be mortgage free so that while traveling we can have rental income. That means we have to have a house with a basement suite. Truly, we would rather not have people living below us – but working 10 more years is worse, so it is a fair trade off. If we go home and stay home, where day to day living is more expensive, we have to trade cheap fruits and vegetables and $2 Filet Mignon for more time with family and friends. Another trade off. If we live in Mexico, we can afford all the luxuries we want – but have to accept crime as a fact of life. If we live in Utila, we can listen to the ocean waves every second of every day, and eat out whenever we want, but we would miss the cool nights and convenience of a car. Trade offs.

For us, the decision to retire in our early fifties was not easy. But not once (yet) have we regretted it. We accept that we cannot have it all, but I am pretty sure we have it pretty good. We are having the time of our lives, doing the very things that many people only dream about. There have been ups and downs, but the adventure has just only begun. We are a full 7 months into a two year travel itinerary which includes stops in Colombia, Ecuador, Panama, Greece, South Africa, and who knows – maybe even Newfoundland! (That is an inside joke. I want to go there, and Steph refuses because he says it is too cold. But after all this hot sweaty weather in Utila I am thinking he might be feeling like Newfoundland would be a nice change.)

The other thing we have come to accept is that we change our minds a lot. (I like to believe we are just being flexible.) For example, we were supposed to be going to Panama and Colombia next, but then a House Sitting opportunity arose and we decided to take it, so instead, for now, we are going to Lake Chapala, Mexico. Flexibility is important because if you can take advantage of seat sales, or other opportunities, you can keep costs down, and more importantly, spontaneity opens the door to experiences you could never have dreamed up on your own.

The important thing for me is to remind myself that there is nothing on this earth I posses that I can take with me when I die. It is experiences and relationships that make us rich. My mother died when she was only sixty-six. For the better part of the last decade before she passed, every time I would go visit her, she would talk about what she was going to do when her husband Paul died. "When Paul dies," she would say, "I am going to bring out the nice pink towels you bought me. I don't dare do it now or he will come in from gardening and wreck them with his dirty hands." Two years after my mom died, so did her husband Paul. When my siblings and I went to clean out their house, I did the bathroom. There, folded neatly in the closet, were mom's pretty pink towels, never used.

Life is short. Bring out the pink towels now. Don't put off the things you dream of doing. Just do them!

Island Paradise Day 43

This morning was a cooking day. I am preparing 5 litres of chili for the Chili Cook Off at Bando Beach on Sunday. Should be fun. If I have big cooking things to do like today, I try to do it in the morning because otherwise the heat from the stove makes the house unbearable. The kitchen is a long skinny galley, and quite apart from the living room where the air conditioner is, and if I run the ceiling fan, it blows out the gas stove burners. I am endlessly jealous of my neigbour's kitchen set up: she has solar power so she does all her cooking in the daytime when she can run appliances - and air conditioners - on the sun. No big power bills. Lucky her. Fortunately today was another windy day, so that helped keep the heat in the house at bay.

We were happy to see the sun today because it has been quite cloudy in the past week, and the water is always so much prettier when the sun shines. And since we are running out of days here (only 11 sleeps left), we decided to go snorkel. We purchased full face masks for this trip, and they are really great. They fit snugly over your face, and you do not have to have anything in your mouth. You just breath normally. When you get hit by a wave the water does not get into your breathing tube. Even so, snorkeling in big waves turned out to be not such a good idea. The swells in the water were quite big, and though it was fun for about a half hour, as we literally bobbed up and down in the waves like bouys, eventually I started to feel nauseous, and by the time I got back to the dock I had full blown seasickness. I never puked, but remained nauseous and headachy for quite some time.

So, since I was stuck on the couch for part of the day, I decided it was a good time to clean up my blog a bit. I have tried a number of themes, colours, styles, etc., but decided on something fairly easy to read, and not too busy. I like the look of it, but as I am writing, I have been unable to upload any photos...not sure what the problem is. So, if you don't like the format, just wait a day, it could look different tomorrow.

Island Paradise Day 42

Well today was one of those days: full of the unexpected. First, and most entertaining was while we were waiting for the Neptune’s ferry to take us across the lagoon, we were amazed to see five guys trying to load a golf cart onto a panga. It was hilarious. A panga is a small, flat bottomed boat - usually used for carrying people, or for fishing. Not so much for transporting other large vehicles...I was certain we would witness the boat, the cart, and all five guys going to go into the water.

It was quite a sight and they succeeded in providing equal entertainment at the other end when they unloaded the golf cart. Only in the developing world. I once saw someone in Vietnam carrying a refrigerator on a scooter.

When we arrived at Neptune's we were told to stop leaving "our dog" there when we go to town (aye yaya) and then when we got home we found a large tree had come down in our yard, landing on the corner of the small laundry bodega. I told you it has been very windy here, and apparently this almond tree had had quite enough! (So have I frankly).

Then we got the call all landlords dread...you know the one where they tell you there has been a water pipe break and your house is water logged? On the upside, most of the damage was to the basement suite kitchen, which we had intended on renovating this year when we get home, so now it will be done before we get home and paid for by the insurance company. After talking to the disaster project manager (yes, the property manager had to call in the "disaster clean up" crew), we need a new ceiling, new walls, and new kitchen cabinets downstairs. Funny, those are all the things we were going to replace anyway. The upstairs bathroom also has to be redone – except they won't cover the new shower because it was the old shower that caused the problem. That would be the shower we paid someone to redo just before we left in October. Sigh, again.

Meanwhile, here in paradise, my face is on fire - I think my jaw bone is infected - can bones get infected?? Anyway, all was well with my little periodontal surgery, I have had no pain or problems in a week, until last night, when I started experiencing pain, and seem to have small bumps and ulcers appearing all over my gums...if I didn't know better, I'd think it was mange...

Island Paradise Day 41

Yesterday morning, to drag me out of my funk, Susan came over and insisted we go for a long walk down the back road . It is finally all dried out now, and navigable by foot and ATV. The walk was beautiful - lined with tropical hibiscus, mango trees, coconut palms, and mangroves. Susan brought along a book about all the indigenous plants that grow along the seashore in the Caribbean. I read the whole book and was delighted to find out that there are literally dozens of edible things I walk past every day. Who needs fresh herbs when you can eat the grass!

I am not sure what it is about foraging, but it excites me. I love to go in search of wild food, and was just so happy to see how many things here can be eaten. Of course, as I have learned in the past, just because something can be eaten, does not mean it should be – like poop eating land crabs, or like tropical almonds. They are everywhere here. You could literally pick up buckets of them every day off the beach. I tried to open some up though, and it was quite a task. The nut inside was so attached to the meat around it that it was impossible to excavate…literally, it needed excavating: I pried and pulled and hammered and by the time I was done there was a pulpy mess on my counter and not much else.

Sea grapes on the other hand, are not only edible, they are apparently quite delicious and - get this - can be made into wine. There is even a type of grass (grain) that grows wild that can be used to make flour. It has more protein than regular wheat and can be watered with seawater! Now if that is not a marketable cash crop for the developing world I don’t know what is! I can see it now…Corrie’s Seawater Bakery and Estate Winery…I mean, do we really need more beach bars??

Anyway, I also took some time to start training Tigra. She is doing really well with “Sit” but we are having some difficulty with “stay.”

She just wants to follow us everywhere. Yesterday after our walk Steph and I went swimming and Tigra came in with us and literally swam for 20 minutes in circles around us. It was so sweet. She refused to leave our side – even in six feet of water. I feel very sorry for her, as she is always just squirrely with itch from the mange, and as much as we want to show her love and affection, she is just, well, too mangy. Mange can be contagious to humans, so I will only touch her lightly on the head, and then always sanitize my hands afterwards.

Tigra is a good life lesson. She is ugly and mangy and comes across as nasty often growling and biting - just like people who have been hurt and mistreated - they can get pretty snarly too. But show a little love and tenderness, expect the best from people, and they will rise to the occasion. We are all broken - and it is amazing how far a little pat on the head will go.

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Island Paradise Day 40

I am usually very sanguine, but today I am feeling a little melancholy. The wind has been blowing for three days now, and while that is not uncommon for this time of year, and it brings a lovely respite from the heat and humidity, it means we cannot snorkel. And without snorkeling and swimming, there is not a whole lot to do here.

I miss gardening. My neighbor Susan has a lovely tropical garden here, full of various fruits and flowers. She says in the rainy season, all she has to do is prune branches off and stick them in the ground and they root into a new tree. I find myself telling stories of my garden back home, and then I remember that we sold that house, and I no longer have a garden. It makes me feel a little sad.

The house we bought just before we left is a diamond in the rough and I am looking forward to renovating it. I always feel best when I am productive, and while I am so enamored – smitten even – with Utila - unless you are a home owner with a house and garden to keep you busy, there is really not much to do. Besides, staying here just may not be an option as it looks like there is nothing available for us to rent long term, and I do not think I am ready to buy or build without first renting here for a year. Also, at this point in our “two star retirement, “ being 10 years away from collecting pension and old age security, we want to continue to make some money, and starting a business here is just not possible. They have passed some weird law here in Utila stating that you cannot own a business until you have resided here five years.

I am an entrepreneur – I need a business. Business is what I do. Renovating houses back home is great because it allows me to be “retired” until I am bored and then I can flip a house – work hard for a few months – and then sell it and go travel again. If I buy here, I will use up my renovating fund. It is true we can live on the rent money we have coming in from our properties, but that would keep us on a pretty limited budget, and without the extra money the house flipping provides I would have to seriously curtail my travel habit not to mention my quality wine habit...not sure I want to do that.

Travel is nice – but it is true that at some point one feels the need for “home.” Family, friends, gardens and even routine (something I generally do not long for) start sounding good after awhile. I know I can develop that no matter where we are, but I am just not convinced this is the place. As dreamy as it is, there are a few things nagging at my soul…

Everyone smokes here. Everywhere we go you cannot get away from the smoke. And because the majority of people smoke, there seems to be no cognizance towards the discomfort it might be causing the non smokers. After a get together with friends I wake up the next day feeling like I have smoked a pack of cigarettes: our clothes and hair smell, and my lungs hurt. It is truly ikky. We have met two couples on the south shore that do not smoke, and that is a relief to be sure, but if one wants to be involved in the broader community here – you must accept the smoke.

I also feel like drinking could become a problem here. People do it a lot – it is one of the “activities,” and while drinking wine with dinner has always been a part of our family culture, and I enjoy inviting people over for novelty margaritas at “happy hour,” the heat here contributes to a pretty steady stream of beer drinking too. I am not sure that is healthy for us, and it makes me uncomfortable.

I miss my boys and family "cook offs." I miss having a kitchen where I can bake bread and make yogurt. I miss going outside to pick a handful of fresh herbs. I miss being able to produce truly fantastic meals and I miss a large dining room where I can invite all my family and friends over to eat them. I miss my chickens and fresh eggs. I miss lattes every morning. Back home when we sleep, we are generally entwined because I get cold and seek out Stephane’s warm embrace. Here it is just too hot – we never snuggle anymore.