Why Mexico?
The reason many Americans and Canadians choose Mexico as a place to live, or just to spend the winter, is because they can drive to Mexico in a car. A bigger reason is that Mexico is a bargain compared to the USA and Canada. But there are also a large number of Europeans in Mexico. Mexico is rich with history, steeped in culture, having perhaps a more pronounced culture than any other nation in Latin America with the exception of Brazil and Argentina. Mexico has great food, great architecture, and an excellent climate.
Mexico is modern, with better highways than many parts of Latin America and an infrastructure that allows foreigners to connect via telephone and Internet to the rest of the world. This level of infrastructure isn't available in Nicaragua, or in Guatemala. This is a very important determining factor for the person who doesn't want to be inconvenienced by inconveniences.
Mexico is also a healthier place to live because of the food. Fresh fruit and vegetables are always in season and taste so much better in Mexico. In fact, unlike North American produce that is picked green and allowed to ripen in transit, Mexican produce is picked at its peak and sold in the market the very next day. And little or no preservatives are used in processed food, which means you’re ingesting fewer chemicals.
You will find that life is so much more enjoyable because you finally have time to pursue your hobbies and develop your talents. People who move to, or spend time in, Mexico finally have time to prepare the recipes they’ve been saving from gourmet magazines, put the box of photographs into albums, or garden to their hearts’ content in this land where flowers grow all year long. Others develop new interests and discover latent talents when they take a ceramics or watercolor class. There are also innumerable opportunities for volunteer work.
For people who love to socialize, there’s probably no better place in the world to make friends. People who are retired, or those just vacationing during the winter, have more time to party!
There’s less stress here, too. If you can adjust to the manana attitude and remember that manana doesn’t necessarily mean tomorrow, it just means not today, you will realize that everything will eventually get done that needs doing, and with far less frustration. Rather than worrying, go to the plaza, sit on a bench, and watch village life pass before your eyes. You will see a family out for a stroll, a little boy riding on his father’s shoulders while Mom buys her daughter a balloon. You’ll notice the teenage girls going one direction in the plaza, while the boys pass the other way, all of them casting furtive glances at the ones they like, and you’ll see old friends who will sit down with you for a chat, because they’re in the plaza doing the same thing you’re doing—enjoying life!
I’m not implying that Mexico is Shangri-La, but I think it’s closer to paradise than any place you can find in the United States or Canada. Here in this land of majestic mountains and rolling countryside, you will find a gentle people willing to welcome you into their hearts. You will have more time to explore other interests and develop your talents because you have more freedom, better health, less stress, and someone else to take care of mundane chores. The low cost of living allows you to splurge on luxuries that would be prohibitive anywhere else, and to take advantage of living in a world-class resort like Huatulco.
