Here is a wonderful email I received from Dave who is living in Mazatlan…

Hola Barbie,

I have been living in Mazatlan for about 8 months now and I am  living in Playa Sur in el centro. The city is very beautiful and has much to offer an American retiree.

The delicious fresh fruit and vegetables at very  inexpensive prices are a bonus. I often shop at Fruiteria Emma in the Juarez colonia for amazing prices.

Difficult for me are the lack of some common American foods (grits). As many different ways as they have here for elota (corn) they do not have grits. A giant Sams club and a new Costco across the street from Sams will have many gourmet products and some American foods.

I use satellite radio (Sirius) for stock market, news, sports and NPR. The signal is excellent here. They will merge with XM radio in the next few months for even more options. I brought with me nearly 300 DVDS of US movies as the Mexico DVDS are area 4 (not compatable with US area 1 DVD players).

The local newspaper “Noroeste” is excellent at 8 pesos a copy, but you need to be able to read Mexican. I say Mexican because it is not Spanish. It uses Aztec words like cacahuate (peanut) guajalote (turkey) elote (corn) ejote (green beans) Guadalupe (lupita) achote (savory sauce) guajillo, molcalete, etc. Also the level of slang words is huge and only the locals understand the slang.

Voy a casarme con Angelica en Noviembre en Club Nautica, cerca del Faro (Translated: I will be marrying Angelica in November at Club Nautica by the lighthouse).

Buena suerte amiga!

Sincerely,
Dave