Thank you, Davecat,  A Conservative in Cincinnati, for your interest in asking why I  live in Mexico ....

In 1996, I took a two year leave of absence from an excellent job to sail from Seattle to Mazatlan, on a 47 ft. yacht.  I had no sailing experience on the high seas, having only been out on day sails, aka "rail meat", as in, "You hoist the jib, I`ll mix the Margaritas!"  Always adventurous, I did not want to continue working only to look back in ten years and wonder what could have been if I had taken the voyage.  I have lived in Mexico for over 13 years and have never regretted my decision to stay. 

(After four years of living on the sailboat and many nightmarish experiences all in the harbor -- can you say surge and we were always tied to the dock --  I bought a small house in the central area and became a landlubber again.  Talk about bureaucracy!  Permits!  Fees!  Finding good workers who will show up and won`t rip you off!   A whole other blog!   During this time, I met my husband who was my neighbor -- Love Thy Neighbor! -- and who lived only steps away from my front door.  We sold our homes and moved to the mountains in 2006.)
 
One of the first things I did was to go to Spanish class five days a week for two hours a day.  Yes, I have always believed it is important to assimilate and learn the culture, wherever you may live!  With my secretarial background, my goal was to speak fluent Spanish with excellent grammar.  It still took me over a year to have the confidence to speak!  When I did make my feeble attempts, I found the people to be very kind, patient and to want to communicate.  I can hold my own now.

Living at the coast full time, I believed that a person could not spend every day beachcombing, sunbathing, eating peel-and-eat shrimp and slamming shots though it might be a tempting lifestyle.  I searched for a worthwhile activity, joined a local charity group and began teaching English to children living in a poor colonia/neighborhood.  It was a great outlet and a very rewarding experience for me.  My cousin came to visit and bought a huge cake to take to the class.  The children thought we were selling the cake.  (Many public school teachers sell candy and gum to the children to supplement their incomes!)  We told them it was a treat for them!  We cut the cake into very large pieces and handed them out.  Not one child took a bite of the cake!  We could not understand why they would not eat it.  Class dismissed!  Everyone took his cake and left.  We went out to the car and as we drove away, we could see them sharing their cake with others.  We both started to cry.  Over a piece of cake!  (I continue to teach English to the children at the primary school in the village across the highway from where we now live.)
 
There are so many wonderful facets to the Mexican culture.  Love of family comes first.  Mother`s Day is a more important holiday than Christmas (Navidad) and children are especially revered.  All life is sacred, abortion is practically non-existent and abhorrent here.  The elderly are embraced, respected and tenderly cared for until the end.  Everyone shares what they have.  The Mexican people are very resourceful.  Don`t have a baseball?  Wad up newspapers into a ball and bat it around.  Only one set of skates?  One child wears the left skate and the other wears the right.  Nothing goes to waste.  They continually repair items that many of us would have discarded ages ago.  Patience is their virtue.  They will wait in long lines for hours with no complaints.  On the road though, the famous Mexican Standoff is a common occurrence.  The food, the music, the unwaivering love of life, the live-and-let live mentality are all reasons I have come to love Mexico.

As expats, we are required to appear before La Migra (Immigration) every year to renew our permission to reside in Mexico and we must show proof of income.  We most definitely share the frustration with those north of the border regarding the issue of open borders and firmly believe there can be no special allowances made for those who cross the border illegally.  None!  Our yearly trek to La Migra is not without its own stress and we dutifully jump through the hoops.  Fear not, La Migra will track down anyone whose visa has expired or is non-existent, put him on the bus and dump him unceremoniously at the appropriate border, north or south.  Homeland Security and ICE could learn a lot from these guys.  Seriously!

Because we are retired, our money goes much farther and that is a definite plus.  Military hospitals and medical clinics are open to everyone and the care is excellent and affordable.  Most of the doctors speak English, as well.  We are very fortunate to rent a small house on a quiet estate in the country, about 10 minutes from town.  There are no landlines where we live so we have a cell.  We have a satellite for television and our internet service is provided by an antenna.  

The problems of day-to-day living here can cause a lot of frustration.  Litter and garbage along the roads and in town.  Graffiti on historic buildings.  The concept of time or the "mañana" mentality.  Political activism is forbidden to non-nationals under threat of immediate deportation.  Do not show up at the plaza with the multitudes to protest anything!   There is rampant nepotisim, play to pay and extortion, all done as normal business practices.  Many small businesses, such as restaurants and small shops, are "required" to pay a few pesos each week to "veladores", people who "watch" their establishments.  Petty theft is rampant.  If it is not locked up or nailed down, it will be gone in the blink of an eye.   To be fair, much of the street crime is of the same ilk that can be found in any city, anywhere.

The current drug wars at the borders and throughout Mexico is a battle being waged for its soul.  Billions of dollars are in play and the narco trafficantes are as generous as they are ruthless.  The cartels go into small villages and buy food, clothing, shoes for the children, and put in infrastructure, electricity and plumbing, so the people will look the other way.  Though the villagers know it is wrong, they are cowed into silence out of fear for their lives.  The most heinous of murders are committed on a daily basis against anyone who betrays them.  Grotesque messages are left along with the scattered corpses, often found near schools,  to frighten the people into silence.

El Presidente Felipe Calderon has been forthright and steadfast in taking the fight to the cartels.   Not long ago, a close associate to him was found to have been receiving  $100,000 US each month to report his whereabouts and activities to the cartels. The Mexican Army is deployed throughout the country.  Military roadblocks and checkpoints are abundant and thorough.  Most of the soldiers are barely out of their teens.  In November, near Acapulco, eight soldiers were kidnapped and later found decapitated. 

The trafficantes offer huge bribes for those in any authority to look the other way.  If the bribe is not accepted, the person will be killed.  Huge caches of weapons and drugs are seized on a daily basis only to be immediately replaced by the vast, world-wide network.  Last summer, a Chinese man in Mexico City, active in the very lucrative trade of cocaine and methamphetamine, was arrested and over $200 million US was found in a room in his house!  It is a hard slog to fight against so much money and corruption.  The temptation is great and if death is the alternative, a city policeman will accept anywhere from $100 US or more per month to ignore the crime only to feed and clothe his family, his salary being only $250 US a month. 

On and on it goes.  For expats, it is mostly a matter of not driving at night!  For the Mexican people, security and trust are always in question.  There have been countless protests by the people against the violence throughout Mexico.  So often, the blame is laid at the market for illegal drugs and ultimately, at the doorstep of the United States.  This scourge is worldwide.  The generous endowments the US has bestowed on Mexico to fight the cartels is but a drop in the bucket to the billions of dollars the drug trade has to counter.  There are no simple answers.  To legalize drugs, tax the revenues?  The harder course is to change the culture and to "Just Say No To Drugs!"