travel

Getting the Hang of It

mukluksKee-rist, it’s been cold around here! Although I may not be as personally involved in the global climate as many of my friends, you don’t need to be a meteorologist or an activist to feel cold when the world’s-second-best-climate turns on you. The Canadians don’t care, they’re racketing all over town in tank tops and shorts that could have been thought through a little more, in my opinion. The Mexicans don’t care, because they have as much winter gear as an Ice Road trucker, and they can’t wait to put it all on, which they do the moment the temperature gets to 65 degrees.

Children particularly are upholstered in several layers of insulation, and waddle to school in Nordic ski caps and mukluks as though class was going to be held in an igloo. I personally am not that bothered by cold weather. For one thing, intermittently sweltering in my own private middle-aged ecosystem, if you follow me, it’s hard to get worked up about the temperature. The other thing is in a world of constant sunshine, a coolish spell once in a blue moon is not unwelcome. It gives us the excuse to have a sort of snow day, a change of pace.

I can tell you who is bothered by the cold, though. People who come here looking for equatorial warmth in January and don’t get it. And since real estate clients fit in that category, I’m on the front line, so to speak. Along with a lot of sneering and endless repetitions of ” If I’d wanted to be cold I would have stayed home!” as though that little bon mot has never been heard before, unpleasant weather reminds visitors to ask us what we do around here. As in, “What do you do all day?’ said in an accusing tone of voice that implies that we ‘ve got some nerve, not spending our day zip lining and windsurfing and drinking 2 for 1’s while the band plays “Red Red Wine.”

“There’s nothing to dooooo!,” is a noise that doesn’t sound great coming from a bored six year old. It is much, much less attractive coming from a sixty four year old. What we do all day around here is live. We go to the office and make excuses not to exercise and gossip and help each other out when one of us needs it. We celebrate holidays and inadvertently step on toes and try new recipes and worry about money and make each other laugh and cry on each others shoulders. We watch football and go to the beach. Oddly enough, we take vacations.

I typed “What to do in Ajijic, Mexico” into the search engine and was led to a site that dias de muertossuggested I eat at the American Legion, a pastime that has never occurred to me, no matter how prostrate with ennui I may have found myself. Mostly, there are real estate sites,cleverly disguised though they may be. I should know, hello, I’m writing this blog.

So if we don’t do anything that interesting, and it gets cold once in a while, if there’s no parasailing or all night disco, why do people move here, year after year? I don’t know. Unless it´s that there´s some truth in that dumb old saw about being ¨Human beings, not Human doings.¨

It took me a long time to settle down into friendships that aren´t networks, and to not feel guilty about hanging out. I like hanging out. It doesn´t really matter if it´s cold or not. And I like having friends because they're cool, and make hanging out even better, without worrying about whether they can scratch my back. I guess this appeals to a lot of other folks, too.

Once they get the hang of it.

Elliott Joachim pulled the plug on life in Metro D.C. and headed South of the Border. In her blog, Lifestyle Refugee (honey, what the hell are we doing in Mexico), she regales you with how a middle range baby boomer builds a new life in Ajijic.

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