We made it!!

Today, August 13th we have been living in Mazatlan for 1 year. We can't believe it has already been a year "Living Our Dream".

There have been many challenges living in Mexico that we didn't actually expect but we are working through them together. Our condo and view are fabulous but the traffic noise from the road below has been an issue, especially for me. I had envisioned a more peaceful setting noise wise but have to remember we are in Mexico now. There isn't much of Mexico that is like living in the states. The culture is far different and there are alot of inconveniences to accept. Greg has had an easier time accepting these differences. I am hoping, in time, I will be able to accept them as he has. It certainly has been an adventure moving to Mexico.

We both have really enjoyed visiting the small Mexican villages outside Maz and hope to do that more when we drive our car down next month. We also love the weather with an average temperature of 85 degrees but aren't enjoying the hot humid summer. Our trip up north next month should bring us a short reprieve from this weather. We are contemplating the possibility of buying property up north to escape to during the hot summer months in Maz, and will give it more thought during our visit. We are also looking forward to our road trip and visiting places, family and friends, as well as our first drive through Mexico. Please see our schedule in the next post.

Well wish us luck as we enter our 2nd year in Maz and continue adjusting to the Mexican culture. All in all, it's just great to be retired, relaxing and watching the beautiful sunsets with a cool drink every evening from our terrace.

Here is one of the recent sunsets here in Maz. Enjoy!

Schedule for our next trip up North

We have renewed our FM3 (Mexican visa) for another year. It only took us two trips to immigration to get this accomplished, so that was remarkable.

We have our trip planned for September. Remember, this is the trip when we drive our car back down to Mazatlan. Wish us luck! We are looking forward to seeing all of you and, of course, some cooler weather. See you all in just a few weeks.

Here is our schedule:

Wednesday, Aug 29 - Leave Maz for Portland
Thursday, Friday & Saturday - Stay with Greg's sister, Nona Mae
Sunday, Sept 4 - Drive to Tri Cities
Sunday, Monday and Tuesday stay with Jake & Jackie
Wednesday, Sept 5 - Drive to Yakima
Wednesday, Thursday and Friday - Stay with Mom & Al
Saturday, Sept 8 - Drive to Bellevue
Saturday, Sept 8 - Sunday, Sept 16 - stay at La Residence Suite Hotel in downtown Bellevue - Visit with kids
Monday, Sept 17 - Drive to Yakima
Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday - stay with Mom & Al
Thursday, Sept 20 - Drive to Boise and stay the night
Friday, Sept 21 - Arrive in Idaho Falls, stay with John & Martha
Saturday, Sept 22 - Drive to John & Martha's cabin and stay the night
Sunday, Sept 23 - Drive to Colorado to visit our friends, Dick & Jan
and make the trip south of the border.

It's Mango season!

We recently took a road trip with some friends through the town of Concordia where we found fruit stands along side the road selling mangos. They were incredibly cheap. A box of about 20 huge mangos for $20 pesos or $2 US. They were just delicious. Here is an interesting site with lots of information on mangos in Mexico. I learned how to cut a mango from this site. Very helpful. http://www.tyid.net/projects/mango/media/Foodservice_info.html

The pictures in this post are of the mango fruit stand and a river that the locals near Concordia enjoy this time of year to cool off in. You can also see from the picture of the donkey how green this area is. This is the rainy season and all the terrain is very lush and green now.

We drove on to the small ancient mining town of Copala. It is about an hour and 15 minutes from Mazatlan. We had lunch there and enjoyed the ambiance of a town where time seems to have stood still. Here is a little information we found on these two towns.

The Spanish discovered Copala in 1565 and worked its mines in their early days of conquest. Copala is an old mining town at an elevation over 2,000 feet. It meets most tourists' expectations of what a typical colonial Mexican village would look like. Concordia was founded in 1571 and is surrounded by orchards and coconut, mango, and banana plantations. It is a center for the cottage industries of ceramic tile, pottery, and hand-carved furniture. The town also has an interesting zocalo (main plaza), and its San Sebastian Baroque-style church, built in the 1640s, is the oldest of its kind in Sinaloa.