I wasn't planning to move to Mexico. It never occurred
to me, working away at my swell job in Washington,
DC, living in the lovely house
where we raised our children - for thirty years. At age 59 I was
restless, sure, but in a formless kind of way, as in, "I wonder what's
next?"
There was one thing though. I'd been thinking for a
while about the fact that I had lived my entire life in Washington - a great city, but still, my
whole life! I had an amazing career, including eight fabulous years in
the Clinton White House, but that was over now, and work was just, well,
work. I thought it might be fun to live outside the US, at least
for a while, but where? And, when? Was I going to wait until I was
so old I wouldn't be able to enjoy it? That seemed like a mistake, but I
had no idea what to do about it.
My boyfriend and I discussed a number of places - Panama?
Too far away. Italy?
Gorgeous, but too far and too expensive. Costa Rica? A little too
primitive, and... too far away. We wanted a place from which we could
reach the US
easily. Maybe the choice of Mexico is obvious here - if you're
from the West Coast. But it wasn't on our radar.
Then one Sunday a couple of years ago we saw a CBS program
about Rosarito Beach, Baja California, Mexico.
Video of wide, sandy beaches and blue, blue waves flashed by.
"Hey! Come look at this!" I said to the BF. "Isn't
that the same ocean that millionaires live by in Santa Monica? And they're saying it's
really affordable in Mexico."
We watched them interview a lot of Americans who seemed to be deliriously happy
to be living on those beaches. And the clincher? All of this was
just 45 minutes south of downtown San
Diego! We looked at each other. I said,
"I'll call tomorrow," and did. I called the realtor featured in
the video and then I bought two plane tickets. Two weeks later we were in
Baja, just south of Rosarito Beach, hooked up with an American realtor who knew
the market, knew the area and was happy to show us, not push us, into available
properties in our price range - and we could see immediately that our price
range was going to buy us a whole lot more house than it would in the States.
We looked at several properties that were nice, but
resistable, and then came to a little villa in the Calafia Condos development.
It had a large patio overlooking that blue, blue ocean, with room to
garden. I stood on the patio, looked around, and said, "This is
it. I'm moving here." BF was appropriately horrified.
"Have you lost your mind? You're gonna quit your job, sell your
house and move to a place where you don't know a soul? You don't even
know if I'll go with you!" "Well, I love you, and I really hope
you come with me, but I just know I've got to do this. And if we don't
like it, or if we need to work, we'll be just 30 minutes from the US border - it's not as if we'd be moving to China!"
So, we went home, BF slowly came around, I put my house on
the market, quit my job, and started to pack. That was August of
2005. It took longer than I expected to settle everything in Washington, so we
arrived in April, 2006. We almost gutted the little house to make it
perfect for us. We found artists and craftsmen in every field -
woodworkers, stone layers, tile guys, painters, gardeners. And Mexican
labor is much less costly than American, so our dollars went a lot
farther. My house is the house I wanted all my life - and right outside
the patio is the Pacific. There's nothing like that back in Washington -
and you'd have to be a multimillionaire to have a property like this in the US. Think
Malibu, and
$5million...
Good neighbors and a happy community are just as important
as the location of a house, and we have them both. Lovely people, mostly
from San Diego, a few from Los Angeles or Arizona, live in the CalafiaTowers
and other communities like Las Gaviotas and Club Marena. Some of our
friends live in town in Mexican neighborhoods. We joined the Baja
Writers' Workshop, and made more friends with interests like ours. It's a
very social place - people stop by to visit, we often have dinner parties or
join our friends at their houses. We have lawyers, corporate designers, authors,
airline pilots, teachers, doctors and university professors to socialize
with. If we wanted to act, or direct, there's an active theater group in
town. People play bridge, knit for charity, golf, surf (bring your
wetsuit - the Pacific is chilly!), volunteer at the Red Cross (Cruz
Roja). You name the interest and there's likely already a group doing
that, or people who'd be happy to join you in starting one. If you prefer
to just read a book by the edge of the ocean, in the cool breeze, that's fine
too - Mexico
invented the laid back lifestyle.
Living in Baja content is written by Melinda Bates, a native of Washington, DC
and former Special Assistant to the President (Clinton), and Director, White
House Visitors Office, 1993 - 2001.
Views: 514
Be first to comment this article
Write Comment
Please keep the topic of messages relevant to the subject of the article.
Personal verbal attacks will be deleted.
Please don't use comments to plug your web site. Such material will be removed.
Just ensure to *Refresh* your browser for a new security code to be displayed prior to clicking on the 'Send' button.
Keep in mind that the above process only applies if you simply entered the wrong security code.
Tel US: (619) 365.4300 | From the US dial direct: 011 52.661.613.2438 | 011 52.661.613.2527
Fax from the US : (619)923.2542 | Fax from Mexico: +01152(661)613.2449
For more information, please send us an E-mail through our Information Request Form.
Be first to comment this article
