I have been thinking about part 2 of my moving to the Yucatan series, I have so many things to say that I am having a hard time getting it all organized. Today I think I'm just going to talk about the little everyday questions, things that we take for granted back home. I don't feel like going into legal issues of crossing borders, visa's etc., will save that one for another time. So, here goes:
People always ask me, "Can I drink the water?" The answer is simple, NO! We use bottled water for everything, ice cubes, making jello, drinking etc. Some people here have city water, some have wells, we have both. The reason being sometimes (not often) the city seems to run out of water and none is pumped to your house. We have the well as a backup. Our well water is slightly salty, we live so close to the beach, and I hate to use it, but it works fine for flushing, washing etc. We use bottled water for making coffee and cooking. Bottled water is delivered to our doorstep 2-3 times weekly and costs us about 12 pesos (less than a dollar) for the big 19 liter bottle.
Next: trash pickup. Here along the beaches of the Yucatan, trash pickup is virtually non exisitant we have a guy who comes buy every 7 -10 days and gets our trash. But most people don't, they bundle it up and take it to the dump. Burning seems to be allowed, I certainly see enough of it, but I hate the smell and it has been so dry here that I certainly wouldn't recommend it.
Another thing, we don't flush our toilet paper here. Can you believe it? We all have small waste paper baskets beside the toilet and that's where it goes. That one took me a long time to get used to. I don't totally understand the workings of this, why or why not, Doug does, you could ask him. I don't really find discussions on septics and drain fields all that stimulating. Most of us follow the adage of it's yellow let it mellow, if it's brown flush it down. Needless to say, we empty the trash in our bathrooms alot!
Hot water is considered an amenity here. Many homes along the beaches and in the cities of Mexico don't have hot water, it's normal. When we moved here we had our house replumbed so that we could have hot showers and hot water at the sinks. Generally speaking if you buy a home here unless it has been updated by an American or Canadian you won't have hot water. We have a construction crew that works for us as well as some of our friends and clients. In all honesty we are in the real estate business, not construction, but our guys do such a good job for us we like to keep them working. We would be glad to introduce you to them or make recommendations on other contractors.
Another amentity is an oven, most people simply use cooktops or little portable electric burners for all of their cooking. I wanted an oven, I mean how can I make brownies or roast turkeys without one? Many Mexican dishes are sauted or grilled so ovens aren't the norm.
If you are any kind of medication besides narcotics, you don't need a prescription. Just write it down and take it to the local pharmacy and they will fill it for you. I am talking about meds for chloestral, high blood pressure, Viagra, birth control pills, antibiotics etc. However here in the Yucatan they just don't fool around with heavy duty pain killers, Valium, oxycontin etc. If you need something like that you must see a doctor and get a prescription.
And finally most us us have gecko's that live in our house. No screaming now! They are cute, stay up high around the corners of your walls or behind wall clocks and eat mosquitos and flies. I welcome them, natural bug control! Speaking of bugs........we are not a cock roach infested country as people may think, I have seen one in my house in over a year and a half. I lived in Florida back in the 80's and had my house exterminated every month trying to keep the foul things away. They don't seem to show up much around the beach area. I feel sure that the one that saw got brought in with some boxes of stuff that I had purchased.
I just found out that Mexico is being considered by the Discovery Channel for a possible chance of being in the Amazing Race. Here is the link where you can vote for it. Please take time to do that if you love Mexico as much as I do. There has been so much negative publicity lately, I would love for people to see the many beautiful and positive things that this country has to offer.
Another beautiful sunset from my buddy, Star
My son, Justin and his girlfriend Chrissy, dancing on the beach!
So until next time, warm breezes and cold beers coming at ya from Chelem, remember if you are interested in property here, check out our site!
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