(Virgin) Margaritaville

About us:

We retired from our jobs as college instructors in 2011. After a year’s mission at the Family History Library of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, we sold our home in Oregon and moved to the Las Vegas area.  While we have never looked back on that decision, it was part of a financial landslide that brought us to the winter of 2017, sitting in our living room and contemplating the time when we could move to a more comfortable home. “We’re finally debt free; if we save diligently for a year,” I said, “we’ll have a nest egg to put toward a better living situation.” “Instead of sitting here saving,” my husband Don answered, “we could be living on the beach in Mexico and still saving!” I like the way this man thinks!  We set up a six-day stay in Rosarito, Mexico, in May of 2018, at the Air B&B of a couple who had been ex-pats from California for three years.

We discovered that more than a million U.S. ex-pats live in Mexico, and 15,000 or more of those are living in the Rosarito area (estimates vary). Some people were very supportive about our decision to spend a year in Mexico; others, not so much. This brings me to the first question:

Is Mexico safe? To paraphrase an article in the Gringo Gazette:  We’re not planning to use guns or drugs, interact with drug dealers or gang members, drink alcohol (therefore, not be getting drunk at Sr. Frog’s when we should be in bed), commit any crimes, or live in an sketchy neighborhood. We drive as little as possible at night. Just as in the U.S., we try to stay aware of our surroundings at all times. I was caught on the last one when I was walking contemplatively along the beach and suddenly realized that I was standing three feet from a large, scruffy old bird – a grey gull, I think – but we do try. Recent events have worried even the most indulgent of our children, but in the words of my sainted mother and lots of others, “This too shall pass.” We’ll watch with interest as the new Mexican president, Lopez-Obrador, takes office and implements new policies. Almost every Mexican we talk to thinks a new and better day is dawning for their country. I hope they aren’t disappointed.

 The 75-foot statue, "Christ of the Sacred Heart" above the town of El Morro, just south of Rosarito, Mexico.

 The cobblestone street where we live (Uxmal #8, Baja Malibu)

The courtyard entry to our house.