Escaping Into a Life of Grace
[above: taken from north of Mazatlàn]
It’s been almost 10 years since I moved to Mexico, at first part-time for six months a year to presently almost full time. It’s been an amazing journey and I can’t think of any realistic option I would have traded the experience for. Nothing can compare to learning a language, making dear Mexican friends and living in the beautiful spaces I’ve enjoyed.
The stories of single people like me who end up moving to Mexico are different from those of couples. Our background stories usually involve heartbreak, rebellion, and/or catharsis as opposed to a more gentle gliding into a new culture with the support of a companion. But my guess would be that a majority, singles and couples, initially move because it makes good financial sense; a high quality life that costs less.
The U.S. Great Recession (which sounds astonishingly like ancient history) was a time of financial meltdown for me and almost all of my single friends, who can’t absorb the hits like a couple can. Like them, I watched my savings melt away as I looked for contract work and interviewed, interviewed, interviewed, post 50 years old.
I begin to feel desperate. It certainly made no sense to work that hard to go in the red every month. A few people suggested that I move to a smaller city with a lower cost of living than Denver, where I was hunkered down during much of the economic apocalypse. Supposedly there were cities in America where I could live in for under $35,000 a year according to online sources.
But were there really? Today, when I check published lists of Cities You Can Live in for $40,000 a Year against information on those cities annual income requirements, living on $40,000 is highly doubtful. The more accurate annual income requirement for a city of any size if you look at annual income requirements tends towards $60,000 a year. (I never considered any of these cities an option. I mention the discrepancy in case you are.)
Toward the end of the Great Recession, I was interviewed for an article in the L.A. Times regarding how I was making it in that economic climate. I told them I was doing quite well with the help of living six months a in Mexico, which reduced on my annual income needs. In my first six months in Mexico, I lived in a house where ocean waves literally pounded the walls of the house for $800 a month and experienced unforgettable moments learning about life in a foreign culture.
Comments to the L.A. Times article to my solution were as if I had suggested a teepee in North Dakota instead of a beachfront sabbatical. One comment was “Oh come on!”
Oh come on? More than a million and a half Americans and 500,000 Canadians live in Mexico full-time and are delighted to be out-of the-box that most people think they have to contain themselves in. I can’t estimate the number of people from the U.S. and Canada who live in Mexico part-time, anywhere from six to 10 months a year.
Full-time resident friends from Canada, a retired steelworker and nurse, live in a beautiful beachfront high rise. He told me with a face full on wonder how his old neighbors in Michigan, like the man who commented on the Times article, thought he and his wife were crazy (oh come on! They likely said). To move to a beach from a freezing steel town in Northern Michigan? - Insane!
My idea of Mexico emerged from hard-math calculations comparing the cost of living, quality of life, level of adventure and social promise of Mexico against what life would look in US at $35,000 a year, my budget at the time. I woke up one morning and the balance sheet presented itself in full with irrefutable logic. As I hear many expats put it, a no-brainer.
Flying solo in making the move, like most people I didn’t know how to begin. Moving to Denver alone and without contacts five years earlier had been hard enough (even with a decent grasp of English and familiarity with the currency). Adventurous as I am, I dreaded being dropped down, commando-style, alone, into yet another unfamiliar territory - and a foreign one.
Eventually I chose my Mexican city by where I had was able to make contacts. Some couples spend years traveling around Mexico trying to find a fit. Luckily, my choice turned out to be ideal even after those relationships had long faded out.
Oscar Wilde "Anything that is popular, is wrong."
Today I live very comfortably, with few sacrifices and plenty of perks (an ocean view, housekeeping, and luxuries I begun to question at home) on my income from Social Security and a pension (It helps that I’ve never been a fan of dining out). Living on my income allows my investment/retirement investments to continue to grow, unpillaged for the unforeseen future (After all, who knows how much a person will eventually need?) It’s a beautiful life.
Other than your housing in Mexico (the range of housing is broad), it’s actually difficult to spend a lot of money here. As an expat acquaintance remarked upon her return from an expensive trip to Switzerland, “I made my husband go [to Switzerland]. After all, what are we going to do with our money? We can’t spent it here!”
If I were living in the US, the pressure to go beyond my budget would be much greater. In the U.S, when my wealthier friends spend money, I want to too. (I notice the desire especially with technology, like the latest Apple Iphone they always wave in my face when I visit). Virulent consumerism is catching.
Are financial inducements enough? A friend of mine in California who rents part of his house on AirBnb told me, “at least I didn’t have to move to Mexico.” At first I was offended by the remark. But in my case it was true. I moved to Mexico to save money. But as any expat will tell you, it’s not why we stay. We stay because of what we find once here; a gentle culture, civility and courtesy lacking at home, and kindness that shows itself in the most casual of interactions.
Socially, it’s hard to convey is the leveling, egalitarian effect living in Mexico has on expats and foreign residents*. Contrary to what my friend in California believes, people with lots of money live in Mexico too. There’s less social division based on income strata. The pond is too small and our need for a social web too great. Class division plays poorly in Mexico. If you learn Spanish, social opportunities expand exponentially from there. Those relationships have been my greatest reward.
One expat shared over a pickle ball court that when he goes home, his adult children say he sounds like he just got back from summer camp. We who have made the move find ourselves laughing with our fellow crew members as if we’re all on a big caper. Maybe others are running away, like me, from one of America’s Cheapest Cities.
In doing so, I believe we have crossed over, through fear of the unknown, through common misconceptions about Mexico and through human susceptibility to do what other people do into a life of much more grace. In every meaningful conversation among us passes an unspoken, mutual acknowledgement of a fellow countryman who questioned conventional wisdom and the status quo and came out happy and free on the other side.
* The definition of an expat versus an immigrant is that an expat hasn’t made a permanent commitment to their new country. Most expats I know realize they may eventually have to go home for health reasons since Medicare doesn’t cover you in Mexico.
About the author:
Hola! I'm Kerry Baker, writer of this blog and several books, the first being "If Only I Had a Place" about renting luxuriously in Mexico, geared toward the aspiring expat. Renting longer-term in Mexico is different. Avoid the pitfalls and rip-offs and establish your new expat life in style! See reviews here.
My second book is “The Mexico Solution: Saving your money, sanity, and quality of life through part-time life in Mexico. This how to book will entertain you even as it provides a step by step action plan for your life in Mexico. Lastly, I published “The Lazy Expat: Healthy Recipes That Translate in Mexico”. In Mexico you must cook to maintain a healthy diet. Over 150 recipes and steps on preparing meals in a foreign culture.