Living in a Third World Nation

A Hindrance or an Adventure?

When I made the decision to retire three years ago, my friends asked me “why go to Mexico?” They could not understand why I would retire “so young” or why I would want to live in a third world nation. Certainly the financial aspect had an impact on my decision. I could not have retired at age 52 and lived comfortably in the United States. But money was not the only factor. The reason for the timing of my decision was that I had always told myself (and others) that when I reached the point of not enjoying going to school every day and working with students, it would be time to retire. I wanted to leave education on “a high” rather than just reporting to school every day and putting in time. I never considered my profession a job, but rather an opportunity to help others achieve the best of their abilities. To stay around longer would not have been good for me, but more importantly it would not have been good for the students or my fellow teachers. Attitude is everything, and if the attitude is not a positive one, others feel it.

Since I felt the time was right, I had to decide where to go. It was not an easy decision, but my family was very supportive, especially my parents who relocated from Virginia to Missouri. They knew my decision would be easier if they lived closer to my sister and her family. And, my friend Dave came with me to help me start a new chapter in my life.

So, Mexico here we are beginning our fourth year in an area with hundreds of expatriates who are here for either the “good life” that they could not afford in the US or for the sense of adventure. While we live comfortably here with the basics of life (but not rich), we are here for the change of pace and the adventure of a different lifestyle than we had in the US. We do not fit in with the “high life” expats in their gated communities and country club activities. We are more comfortable with the common folks who enjoy finding local foods at Mexican prices rather than the fancy cuisine in fancy restaurants at inflated prices that have resulted from the influx of so many Americans and Canadians. Because of the growing number of gringos in Ajijic, we moved to Chapala where gringos are less numerous.

We hear people complain all the time about the inconveniences of living in a third world nation. I don’t understand why they don’t return to the US if they are so miserable. Well, actually I do understand but that will be for another day.

Things that happen here can be viewed as a hindrance or an adventure. Let me give you a few examples.
1. Last Saturday a water main broke two blocks from our house. Water flooded the
streets because the water department was closed for the weekend and there was no
one to turn off the water. The choice was to drive through the water not knowing
how deep it was or whatpothole you might disappear into or take another route.
Since we saw the horses could get through and knew how deep the water was and
where most of the potholes were, we drove through. Others complained about the
muddy water splashing their cars. We saw it as an adventure, not a hindrance. We
made it through to the other side.

2. The decision of where to eat out is often a difficult one for some. Those here
wanting to “be seen” go to the restaurants that cater to gringos, where they are
offered the menu in English,seated at a table covered with linen table cloths,
with linen napkins, and served on china, and use “real” silver……all at American
prices. Or, go to a sidewalk café where the menu is written in Spanish on a
poster board taped to the wall, sit on plastic chairs at plastic tables (with
Corona logo), with the food served on disposable plates and the plastic “silver”
is neatly wrapped in paper napkins….all at Mexican prices. Though I use to be
very particular about what I ate, I have become very adventuresome in where I eat
and what I eat. My Mexican friends tell me that lingua and cabeza are delicious,
but my Spanish is good enough that I know what they are and I am not yet that
adventuresome. But that time will come.

3. What do we do for entertainment? We follow the Mexicans. There are clubs here
that offer music from the bands that come down from Guadalajara, but they require
a cover charge thatcovers no more than entrance into the club. Instead we sit on
the malecon(boardwalk) and watch the kids fly their kites on the beach and
parents carrying their newborns in belly packs as they walk the malecon. While
watching the people and the fishermen coming in at night, we enjoy the mariachis
strolling the malecon and entertaining us with their music. The cost for this
entertainment is nada.If we want to splurge, the ice cream man will be by to sell
us ice cream from his push cart (for 12 pesos). Since we are usually the only
gringos on the malecon in the evening, the locals often stop by to practice their
English and we practice our Spanish with them. For some reason the always know we
are Americans. I guess we stand out in thecrowd, but we do not feel like
outsiders. Though a Mexican boy did want to take our picture one day, and he
politely asked if it was OK. So, I guess he wanted to show his friends what two
old gringos looked like. He took the picture, and thanked us in English.

4. What do we wear to the next event? Do we dress in our gringo finery so we can
show off our new designer clothes or should we wear jeans, t-shirt, and sandals
or jeans, collared-shirt, and “real” shoes? The choice is made simpler for us
since the only gringo fancy clothes we brought with us no longer fit.

Well, you can surmise that Dave and I try to live as much as possible like the locals. We shop where they shop, eat where they eat, and enjoy a very basic life-style. Gringos who come here with the idea of living a rich life in their segregated, gated communities can easily do that. But they see things through gringo eyes, and as a result see much of what exists here as hindrances rather than as adventures. And, as a result, they miss so much.

So when we wake up each morning, we are happy to find our electricity on, the cable working, and the internet up and running. But if it is not, “oh well,” that is part of living in the third world. is a reality of life, and that is probably the most difficult thing to adjust to here. In fact, as I write this the internet is down and I am going to have to copy and paste this on the blog when it comes back up. When I called telecable two hours ago, I was told it would be working again in ten minutes. The Mexicans are very nice people and always want to make you happy so they tell us what they think we want to hear. There is no need to get upset; it will be fixed when it is fixed. If all goes well, we will have internet manana.

Good news: the internet is back in operation....just 4 hours and 30 minutes after the woman at telecable told me it would be just 10 minutes.....this is truly a good day.