Simple Life

I'm sitting at the coffee shop around the corner from the kids' place and enjoying the morning. I can't really say that it's quiet because there is a steady stream of traffic on the cobbled road that is right next to my sidewalk table, but there is a certain serenity in the morning noise.
I've noticed a young woman that passes by me each morning as she makes her way back from the small neighborhood store. She has a bag with several eggs (no carton) and whatever vegetables she needs for the day. Apparently it is a part of her morning ritual to walk to the store and buy whatever they will eat for that particular day.

You can buy seven or eight eggs if that's what you need.
If you are making soup and need two stalks of celery, you can buy two stalks of celery. 
If you are looking at avocados, the owner will ask if you need them for today or tomorrow and then she'll pick out the ones that will best serve your need.
There is fresh produce being delivered and sold every morning as I walk past on my way to the coffee shop. 
There are many neighborhood kids walking to the nearby school. I have seen some being dropped off, but most walk, solo or in small groups. I haven't seen any school buses.

But a simple life doesn't mean it's an easy life -- at least not by the standards I am used to.
Many homes have no central air-conditioning and are lucky to have mini-split units in the main living area or sleeping areas.
Tap water is generally not potable, so bottled water must be purchased or a separate filtering system of some kind.
LP is delivered where gas is used since there don't appear to be underground natural gas lines in most areas.

The city is pretty walk-able and so I walk here -- a lot more than I do back home. Traffic is a completely different thing and I think I would have to be here for quite some time before I would be comfortable driving anywhere. I don't know if I'd ever be very comfortable on a motorcycle here. 

The people here work hard.
There are a lot of small business owners that work very hard at making things work for themselves and their families. 
There appears to be much more manual labor available and the laborers work hard. I don't know where the idea of "lazy Mexicans" came from, but it wasn't from anyone that actually watched them work!

I think that much of the living that I have observed here is harder than most people from the US would want to endure on a daily basis. But there is also a peacefulness that is rare in the US. It would be interesting to see if people would be willing to trade a little comfort for a lot of peace.

Just thinking...

John

Reading

Reading can be so much more than just understanding words on a page and passing time.
Reading can be more than informative; it can be educational. Even fictional stories can expose a reader to different cultures, times, and people.

Reading can be its own meditative kind of escape. It can transport the reader into a fantasy world of dragons, ancient gods, or futuristic super heroes and high tech wizards. I almost always have at least one book that I am reading -- often one fiction, one non-fiction.
I find reading of any kind to be good for either mental stimulation or for a calming, relaxing effect, depending on the material and my needs when I open a book or turn on my Kindle.

I also use reading (books) to keep from spending too much time reading internet garbage. I've done fairly well at reducing my screen time and social media time recently. I hope to be even more purposeful about my screen time in the future.

So...
What are you reading?
Why do you read?
How do you learn?

John

Sunday Morning

Today finds me at a softball field not far from where the kids live. We took a bit of a detour on the way to the ballpark to grab a cup of coffee from a nearby coffee shop. Aaron has the early game so I am just using this time to write while he and is team are warming up.

Our tequila tasting trip from yesterday was really quite wonderful. In fact, it is deserving of its own post and I will be doing that when I have the time to devote to it.
Today will be an easy day. Softball this morning, then who knows what this afternoon? 
All-in-all ...

Just another day in the life of John.

It's the weekend!

I know -- What difference does that make for a retired guy?

There is a big market that steps up in the several blocks at the end of the kids' street every Saturday morning. I'll be heading out for coffee and to do a little browsing in a few minutes. I don't expect to buy anything, but the atmosphere is always pretty festive and it will be a great way to begin the day.

Tequila tasting this afternoon. Aaron's baseball game and Jenny's softball game tonight.
It's going to be a full day. I'd better go get that coffee!

Have a grand weekend wherever you are.

John

Stuck in Paradise

Poor planning and a false assumption on my part has forced an extension of my stay in this tropical location. Since the cost to extend my stay is far less than booking a future trip to complete my dental work, I will be staying an additional week. Chris will be traveling home today and I will be moving from the Airbnb where we have been staying to the kids' place. 
Sacrebleu!

There are worse things in life.
Although it is an inconvenience and there is an associated cost, being here in November isn't the worst thing that could happen.

While the stay here is very much a departure from the quiet routine of home, I have kept up with some of my normal practices. I get up and go to bed at around the same time. I begin the day with a couple cups of coffee and time on the Chromebook. I read and enjoy an occasional cigar.
There are way more people encounters each day than I am used to -- probably as many each day as I would have had in the entire month at home! It is much louder in the city than it is from the quiet, rural setting of Highlandville MO.

Still, I am able to adapt and find a comfortable routine.
I am walking and moving much more than I do at home. I am managing to read about the same amount of time and really haven't watched more than a few minutes of TV. I am keeping up with a bit of blogging and have managed to post daily for the first three weeks of November. 

While I do believe that happiness is a choice, I also understand that privilege can make that much easier. Both our home in rural SWMO and spending time in the tropical beach area of Puerto Vallarta, Mexico are pretty easy places to be happy. 
But one could also find plenty to complain about either place and make themselves miserable. Oftentimes, changing our state from misery to happiness is just a matter of changing our attitude.
I do realize that's not always easy for some people.

I'll manage to be happy in the additional week here. 
I hope that you will be happy wherever you are in the coming days. 
It's a choice.

John

Community

On several occasions in the past, I have mentioned the overall feeling of community that I sense here in Puerto Vallarta. The more I think about it, the more I wonder what it would take to duplicate that feeling back home -- or if it even could be.

Unfortunately, I think that most of it is cultural and would take a generational shift in how we take care of one another. Also -- and I fear this for my Mexican friends -- I can see or sense that capitalism and its evil characteristics are making slow progress into the culture. While still a generational shift that will take time, I hope that they will see the signs from the corruption in the US and take great precautions to prevent such things in this country. I have hope that the strength of their communities will stand well against the few individuals that will wield power and wealth to attempt to overtake and control them.

On a much smaller scale, I am again realizing that I have a very small personal community of people. I also realize that I bear the responsibility for that. However, I am unclear about just how I feel about changing that. I may need to take some time for self-evaluation. 
Or maybe it's something that will take a little outside input to determine just how important a personal community (is that an oxymoron?) can be. 

In the past, church has provided most of the community for me. Church as I once knew it no longer exists for me and I really haven't found a community to take its place. I thought something more progressive might work, but I have found that, in many ways, even more progressive churches are still church. I just need to figure out how many allowances I can make between what I want and what I can accept.
Perhaps I need to be more purposeful in my search for community.

I don't think it is unusual for older men to have little or no community. That doesn't mean it is a good nor a healthy thing. It's mostly just a typical thing, but a thing that needs some attention. 
Hmmm...
Maybe a winter project to work on.

John

Wednesday Wisdom

Why do we listen to people with a platform but no credibility?
Why do we give opinions the same value as facts or science?
and Why do we let people get away with that shit?

John

Today is the Day

Today is the day I came here for -- to complete the dental implants I started earlier in the year. 
My dentist was on a nearly month long vacation in Japan so I scheduled the appointment for today, the 18th of November. But I really wanted to be here for the Day of the Dead celebration, so we came earlier for that. Getting to spend time with the kids and having some overlap with my nephew's time here has been a bonus.

Medical tourism is really becoming a growing industry for many countries that decide to meet the needs that the US healthcare system fails to meet at a reasonable price. For anyone needing dental implants and wanting to vacation in a tropical beach town -- I was able to pay for my two implants and two roundtrip airfares for less than the cost of the implants back home!
And I can recommend a fine dentista here in Puerto Vallarta!

Elective surgeries are also big on the medical tourism front. Many cosmetic surgeries, gender affirming healthcare procedures, and other things that are not covered by many insurance plans in the US are much more affordable here and in other countries that have learned to capitalize on our healthcare failures. 

I'm going to go out for coffee this morning and then a morning walk to begin the day. My dentist appointment isn't until this afternoon so I imagine another easy day in the life of John.

John

¡Feliz lunes! (Happy Monday!)

I am a little bit sad that this will be my last Mexican Monday for some time. We will be back home later this week. I know that I will enjoy the comfort and familiarity of our own home, but I will also be missing both the physical warmth and the social warmth of life in Mexico.

I have certainly had some meditative moments while sitting on the beach or floating in the ocean, and there is a peacefulness that exists in spite of the sound (noise) that permeates the city, but it is hard to beat the quiet meditation that I am able to have sitting on our deck with just the sounds of nature. 

The first time I experienced the ocean I felt the energy of the earth pulsing in the waves. It was something I could see, hear, and feel. And while you can't really smell or taste energy, you can smell and taste the ocean and be reminded of the earth's energy. I remember mentioning that to a farmer when I got back home and was sharing my experience. They said that they felt that in the earth; in the land.
It made sense to me as a young man, but it wasn't something I had experienced -- yet.

Today I do feel the earth's energy and life in its land. I love contact with the earth and believe that walking barefooted or working in the soil holds life giving value. I have learned to be sensitive to the energy of the earth from our landlocked home in Southwest Missouri (SWMO). It's weird how learning to sense energy from the land can help one sense energy from other living sources like plants, animals, and even other people.

Did you know ...
That the earth has a pulse-like beat that happens roughly every 26 seconds? While we can detect it seismically, nobody knows where it comes from nor what exactly causes it.

Just things I'm thinking about on my last Mexico Monday.

John

People

 

...or why they've been taught that.

John