AJIJIC

Ready to hear another happy retirement story?

Joe and Shelley recently moved from Seattle, Washington, U.S.A., to Ajijic, in the state of Jalisco, Mexico.

One interesting thing about the many email I receive from people already living in Mexico is their seeming lack of worry about their safety – just because they are in Mexico.  Most expats have found that living quietly in Mexico, the same as living in the States, and taking necessary and wise precautions, helps to keep them safe – where ever they are.  I’m sure everyone of them are just as cautious as they always were in the States, or any other place they’ve visited or traveled.  I know Dick and I are.  We get info (research, research, research), we plan, then, we enjoy…Just the same as Joe and Shelley are doing:

“Barbie, My wife and I came down to Ajijic (Lake Chapala area) in early May of this year (2010). I’m 67 and my wife is 52. We decided to come to Mexico because I wanted my wife to “retire” along with me, and it would have been too expensive to do that in Seattle. My retirement income is quite generous, around $3500.00 a month, so we didn’t have a lot of concerns about being able to afford living here.

“Our primary motivation for the move was to free ourselves of having to work, in order to do the things we really want to do. We are not interested in lying around, soaking up the sun and drinking margaritas, although we can do this if we want to, and we do enjoy a drink now and then. We wanted to be released from the self imposed prison of our chosen professions so we could do all the things we would really like to do without worrying about the treadmill of going to work, paying too much for living expenses, and commuting to our jobs. Simply driving to work and back was taking, my wife, Shelley 15 to 18 hours a week.

“We are now becoming well connected to the community in Ajijic, and are busy doing the things we have always wanted to do. Shelley works 4 hours a week volunteering at the dog shelter in town. She loves animals and probably should have been a vet all these years, instead of running a welfare office.

“To address her need to get her hands in the dirt, she, and I, are volunteering at a small farm nearby that is working to educate the community, by example to change to organic farming methods, in order to increase their income and develop a sustainable ecosystem in our area.

“I belong to a writing group, and we meet every 2 weeks to share our writing projects and offer feedback to others in the group. Many of the group members are already published writers, and are willing to offer practical advice on how to get our work out there.

“My interest in ethnic cooking is being met by shopping at open markets to find, hard to get, items that I can use in my recipes. I can then expose my friends and neighbors to food pleasures that they have never tried before. We are now free to add to or limit our activities to whatever level and direction that we choose. That is what I call freedom.

“The point to all this is that we are now free to pursue all the things that we have dreamed about doing in our spare time for decades. And, as we settle in further, these interests will expand to areas that we haven’t even thought of yet.

“Now, all this freedom doesn’t come without a price. We have had to leave behind many long and wonderful relationships, and we miss our friends and family dearly. However, we have a computer, and e-mail is a simple and wonderful tool for keeping friendships alive and growing. We now have 5 groups of family and friends who are scheduled to come down and visit us in our new world in the next 5 months. Not only can we help to keep their travel costs to a minimum, by welcoming them into our home and lives while they are here, we will also be able to tempt them into following our lead and, someday, joining us in paradise.  Joe”

To read more about Ajijic, just look over to your right, and starting up at the very top, and then scrolling down, you will see five groups of listings:

• “Recent Videos”,
• “Recent Posts”,
• “Recent Comments”,
• “Things I Write About”, and at the bottom,
• “More Articles”.

Go back up to “Things I Write About” – that’s a really long list, and, towards the top, alphabetically, you will find “Ajijic” is the 2nd under that listing.

Just click that, and start reading.

You will probably see many other items and areas you will want to read about – it’s all there for you, 24 hours a day – anytime you want it.  Enjoy, Barb.

Ajijic article by Barbie.