| To respect the people and the local culture, that's one of the tips that Bliss gives about living in Mexico. She and her husband moved from the USA to San Carlos last year, and every day is a learning experience. Bliss talks about things like their passion for sailing, their business, and improving her grasp of Spanish. |
 Bliss Cochran |
March 16 2007
-Where were you born?
South Texas, USA
-In which country and city are you living now?
San Carlos, Sonora, Mexico
-Are you living alone or with your family?
With my husband Jim and dog Sophie
-How long have you been living in Mexico?
One year, three months
-What is your age?
64
-When did you come up with the idea of living in Mexico?
We have a 33' sailboat we sailed from Northern California to Mexico in 1997 and it has been here ever since. My husband returned every year for 5 or 6 months and explored the Baja and mainland coast, while I held down a part-time job at a Northern California inn as night manager, which allowed me most of my time free to work at our publishing business. Last year, I was finally ready to give up the job, relocate our business and move here.
-Was it hard to get a visa or a working permit?
We're self-employed publishers, with our market in the U.S., so we don't need a permit. It's easy to get a visa for Mexico, but I have gone on to get an FM-3, which means I only have to visit the local government office once a year to stay legal.
-Was it difficult for you to get medical insurance before you went there or when you first arrived?
We haven't yet applied as the local doctors are not that expensive, but we plan to do so. It's a matter of completing a simple form and paying an initial fee, around $50 to sign up and then $300/year. We were spending $600 a month on health insurance we never used, in the States.
-How do you make your living in Mexico? Do you have any type of income generated?
We have been publishing an annual guide to antique stores, two editions a year covering the entire western U.S. for 18 years. We always believed we could eventually do this from anywhere in the world, but we had to wait for the technology to become reliable. Now we use the Internet, a Vonage phone and fax to conduct our business from San Carlos. Mexican mail isn't reliable, so our customers mail their payments directly to our bank, where they're processed and reports are emailed to us. This is obviously NOT the usual bank and it took a while to locate it. Occasionally there are still "bugs" in the system, and our first year we had to drive up to the States (4 hours) just about every month, but we expect soon we'll have a procedure that works smoothly enough to allow us to move further south.
We'd like to live somewhere in Banderas Bay (around Puerto Vallarta) for the excellent sailing, great anchorages and more tropical weather -- here we're in the desert, and winters are still colder than we like.
-Do you speak Spanish and do you think it's important to speak the local language?
Over the years our Spanish has gotten better, and we can conduct just about any transaction needed. We're close friends with a fellow norteamericano married to a Mexican doctor, and I make a point of speaking Spanish with her. We have a sort of loose agreement that I'll help her with her English too. I've just discovered local Spanish classes I'm hoping to participate in. We're still learning about customs here, and make a point of respecting them as we become aware of them. We don't want to look or act like tourists.
-Do you miss home and family sometimes?
Because my family is spread out all over the U.S. (Oklahoma and California), we didn't see them very often anyway. I like to think my blog helps them keep up with our activities and discoveries. Since we've been here we've sailed hundreds of miles up and down the Mexican coast, and I've kept detailed logs of our adventures, with photos and videos. My sister prints out my blogs for my mother to read, and my son (age 38) has been able to follow along and get an idea what it'll be like when he gets free time to come down and sail with us. I belonged to a jazz choir and a theater group in California, and I'd love to find those activities here.
-Do you have other plans for the future?
We hope to sell both our publications sometime in the next five years and invest the proceeds, perhaps even start a small publication here. We bought a larger boat which is going to need considerable work; currently it's in drydock in Ft. Lauderdale and it will have to be shipped here and refurbished over the next 2-3 years, but when we're done it'll be our own design and perhaps our home for a few years.
My husband, already accomplished in carpentry, mechanics and plumbing, wants to learn welding and some other skills needed for the rehab. I just bought a used sewing machine from a sailmaker so I can do the canvas work for the boat. We're thinking of sailing it through the Panama Canal, visiting the Caribbean and who knows? Maybe cross the Atlantic.
-What about housing, have you bought, or are you renting a home? How much do you pay for it?
We rent half of a duplex, with two bedrooms and a storage room/laundry room for $225US. But this is unusually inexpensive for northern Mexico, where prices are starting to resemble US prices. Typical condos are going for $1,000 a month.
-What is the cost of living in Mexico?
If you "go native" and don't require US products and amenities you can live inexpensively, possibly for under $1000 a month, but many items are as costly or more so than the US. San Carlos is a popular destination for US and Canadian retirees, so there's been a recent real estate boom and now houses and lots are getting out of our range.
-What do you think about the Mexicans?
People in northern Mexico are, I think, heavily influenced by the US, more so than people we met further south. But they are almost without exception courteous and seem to appreciate that we are communicating in their language (however poorly). We don't live lavishly and flaunt our advantages, which I think would be behavior they would resent. We've been warned a lot about thievery, but so far haven't experienced it, and in general I think the crime rate is much lower than in a US town of comparable size. We are only 17 minutes from Guaymas, which is a much more "Mexican" community, far less focused on catering to the gringo, much more intent on following their own culture.
-What are the positive and negative aspects of living in Mexico?
I miss reliable mail service. We have received a few pieces of mail over the past year delivered to our door, but we maintain a PO box in Arizona for any mail we have to count on getting (IRS, for instance). On the other hand, it's actually easier to get on the Internet here; there are Internet cafes everywhere with good service, very inexpensive. Last time I tried to go online at a Starbucks in Arizona, it cost us $10 and all we wanted to do was check our email!
Medical/dental care is better, even without insurance. Each time we've needed to see a doctor or dentist, we've gotten an appointment within a couple of days instead of having to wait for weeks.
-Do you have any tips for our readers about living in Mexico?
Learn Spanish! I know people here who haven't bothered, but they're the sort who seem to think the Mexicans should learn English, even in their own country. An avid reader, I pick up a Mexican newspaper now and then, and translate it, just trying to get the gist of the articles. I watch American movies with Spanish subtitles and learn a lot from that.
Whenever we hear our fellow expats complain about services or goods not up to the quality they're used to, we remind them, "This is Mexico." People work very hard here, for much less than we could ever live on, and they deserve our respect.
Spend time exploring and discovering before settling into one place. Mexico is a big country and cultural variations are enormous.
-Do you have any favorite Web sites or blogs about Mexico?
My blog, part sailing log, part ramblings about adapting to life in a smallish Northern Mexico town, is called 1st Mate.
Brenda and Roy Going to Mexico: My nearest fellow-blogger is Brenda, who moved to Guaymas (a city 17 minutes away from San Carlos) about the same time we moved here. She lives in the middle of town, in a much different neighborhood than mine, and I find her discoveries very interesting.
My Life in Chacala: Andee, who retired to Chacala, a beach village north of Banderas Bay, is an avid gardener and works to promote the Techos de Chacala, local people who have built additions to their homes as low cost rentals.
Tales of Zapata Street (V. III): Michael writes an entertaining, sometimes hilarious blog about life on Zapata Street in Patzcuaro with his wife, La Guapa Senora.
Rollins packed a lot of valuable information in his website, My Life in Mexico, about settling in Durango.
