When my husband and I announced that we were going to live our dream and move to La Paz, the capital of Baja California Sur in Mexico, our friends were aghast. No one believed that I could pull the plug and disappear to a hammock on the beach.
My daughter started a pool among my clients and colleagues, asking them to bet on how soon we would return to the States. My good friend, the assistant chief of police, asked, “Aren’t you scared?” I responded: “Who wears the bullet-proof vest to work?”
It’s eight years later and we still live in La Paz…and we have no intention of returning to the old country. We moved here to unwind, slow down, repair our shattered nerves, and live a life of meaning that was not overrun with malls and freeways and the need to keep up. My sister recently spent eight days here—her first visit. She is envious of our lifestyle.
Before our move to La Paz, I lived a high-profile Silicon Valley life. I wrote consumer advocacy columns for Metro and was a contributor to the San Jose Mercury News “Virtual Real Estate,” a consumer Q&Amp;A column. I held monthly homebuyer workshops for women. I was the “go-to” person for quick TV sound bites regarding women’s rights, San Jose politics, and real estate. I had a personal shopper at Nordstrom and my hairdresser opened his shop early to do my hair on days I made live TV appearances in San Francisco. Now, wardrobe staples for me are flip-flops and linen drawstring pants.
We had been visiting Mexico since 1989, seeking the perfect retirement spot. We needed to have a certain level of infrastructure, ease of travel, good medical care, a reasonable climate, and even job opportunities. I needed to be near or on the beach with a nice view…and away from urban noise.
I wanted to drop out, write, read, and sew. Off with the fake nails…and the wristwatch went back into the jewelry box!
Medical care in Mexico
Since I have been here, I have had emergency retinal surgery, which cost $2,500. After one particularly stressful day at work, I went to the emergency room with chest pains. The full array of services—lab, hospital stay, and doctor fees—cost $238. I was told to go home and have a margarita—that advice was free! I broke my front tooth and my dentist saw me immediately. He gave me a temporary cap, sent me to a specialist, and in two days I had a new front tooth for a total of $250. My husband had several cysts surgically removed in the doctor’s office, for which he paid $100. We have major medical insurance that covers us inside and outside of Mexico. We also have the national health program. Medicines cost 30% to 40% less.
Here are some sample medical prices:
Doctor visit without EKG: $35
Doctor visit with EKG: $45
Dermatologist visit: $20
Dentist for teeth cleaning: $35
Public health insurance costs about $100 per month. All doctor visits, hospital stays, and medicines are free. You must use the public health doctors and wait in line.
We visited southern Baja in 1997 and 1998, and bought some land on the Pacific side, south of Todos Santos and north of Cabo San Lucas. We visited twice a year and bought a house. Since near-total isolation was not for us, we decided on La Paz. Our house was located in a community across the bay from the city, surrounded by a biological preserve with ever-changing views, sea and shore birds, and neighbors close, but not too close. We later sold that house and bought a lot on the beach in the same neighborhood and built our dream home. It has a guesthouse, which we sometimes rent to augment our income.
We immediately enrolled in a Spanish-language school and immersed ourselves in the language. Many businesses in La Paz have English-speaking staff, as do the immigration office, banks, hotels, restaurants, tour companies, and real estate agents. Our doctors speak English, too. But to become part of the community and get to know people other than Americans and Canadians, Spanish is a must. As long as you try, the locals will smile and help you along. I make many blunders in Spanish and am willing to laugh at myself.
We went from six phone lines and high-speed Internet in the States to a table-top cell phone and, for months, had to go to town and use an Internet café. We now have broadband wireless, VOIP, Skype, and excellent cellular service. Wi-Fi is available in cafés, hotels, and shops. We also have satellite TV and a 15-screen “Cinepolis” that shows films the same time they are shown in the U.S. We pay $4 for first-run movies.
It is an easy three-day drive from San Diego to La Paz. Alaska Airlines (www.alaskaair.com) flies to La Paz and Los Cabos. Because of the high concentration of foreigners and the isolation of the southern Baja Peninsula, mainland goods and services are more expensive than in other parts of Mexico. Prices are still low compared with the U.S. and Canada.
The “fish guy” makes house calls in his bright yellow truck, selling fresh fish fillets, scallops, shrimp, and occasionally lobster. Two kilos of jumbo shrimp (about 5 pounds) cost $12. We eat Sonoran range-raised beef that surpasses anything in the U.S. in flavor, and we buy the entire cut of filet mignon for less than the cost of two steaks in San Jose, Calif. The meat is butchered and dressed to my specifications at the local market.
La Paz is the state capital, a charming place with the bustle of commerce everywhere but the historic center on the beach. The pace is slow and courtesy and graciousness prevails. People are friendly and they greet you with “buen provecho” (enjoy your meal) as they pass your table in a restaurant. Most everyone greets each other with “buenas dias,” “buenos tardes,” or “buenos noches.” Women are kissed at first greeting of the day by friends and colleagues. Men shake hands and hug.
It is safe to walk at night and crime is minimal. Sunday evenings are for enjoying an ice cream cone, walking the Malecon (boardwalk), and watching people roller skating, riding bikes, walking dogs, drumming on the beach, or making sand sculptures. It is rare for us to come to town and not meet people we know.
La Paz is booming, with new homes and buildings springing up daily, but because it is the capital and hub of ecotourism, the city will not become like Cabo San Lucas, its glitzy sister to the south.
In the eight years we have lived here, we have made many Mexican friends and have been invited to family events, big and small. Last December, I attended two baby showers, a wedding, and a going-away dinner. My husband works for the Mexican government at a biological research institute at the end of our beach. Many of our friends are his colleagues. He walks to work and comes home for lunch. We have adopted the Mexican midday meal—a full dinner at 3 p.m. Supper is a light snack, coffee, and a sinful dessert.
We have time to entertain and cook wonderful meals, and we are entertained often. This is something our way-too-busy California lives never allowed. Because of my work in real estate and cross-border mortgages, I have become a local expert, and even our Mexican friends come to me for referrals to doctors, lawyers, and help to buy or sell their homes.
Restaurants run the gamut from a trendy sushi restaurant, where ahi tuna sashimi and a beer is $15 per person, to casual joints where carne asada (barbecued, tender, tasty meat and the fixings) is $7. You can enjoy coconut shrimp and a jarra (pitcher) of limeade at a waterside restaurant for $13, or have a gourmet meal prepared and presented with flair for $25 to $30 per person, wine included.
La Paz has a healthy middle class and there are services of all kinds to please them: hair salons for every budget; day spas; a chiropractor; an acupuncturist; veterinarians; bead shops; fabric shops; espresso cafés; a wine store; bookstores; a gourmet food shop; and a Wal-Mart set to open this month.
I know the names of the owners of the shops I frequent, and , there is always space for me in a special parking lot. The owner takes my keys, parks my car, washes it, and retrieves it when I am ready to go. My “auxiliary office,” Café Exquisito, is where I meet my accountant. Here, a double decaf mocha on the rocks and a slice of carrot bread is $4.
It has not always been a perfect paradise, but it is a wonderful, tranquil pace of life. We can never go back to the U.S. We cannot afford the cost of U.S. health care. We eat superior food; we do not live by a clock; status symbols mean less; and we have time for our friends, walking on the beach, lingering over an espresso, and doing nothing.