0:28

Don't necessarily make

0:31

a big decision

0:33

in your life and your lifestyle

0:35

based on just

0:38

visiting one area of Mexico

0:41

. It's a vast

0:43

country and the

0:46

environment is different the natural

0:49

, geographical , historic

0:51

and just

0:53

cultural differences throughout

0:56

this country , you know , which shocks some

0:58

people .

1:05

Welcome to X-PATs Like Us . A

1:07

co-production with me , vita Margarita

1:09

, exploring the world of US X-PAT

1:11

life in Mexico . In each episode

1:14

, we'll meet new people and hear their stories

1:16

. We'll also learn more about X-PAT

1:18

life and get a few tips on everything

1:21

from making your move to settling in

1:23

, to living your dreams and , most

1:25

of all , having fun . Let's dive

1:27

in .

1:38

I'm your host , chris Kowalski , and today we're thrilled

1:40

to be talking to our friend and fellow X-PAT

1:43

, scott Lawson . Scott and his wife

1:45

Deb moved to Riviera Maya about three

1:47

years ago . Scott is here to share his

1:49

experience in moving from his original home

1:51

in the Seattle area to living full-time

1:54

in Mexico and adapting to a new life

1:56

in a new country . Scott will also

1:58

share some insight on the special challenges

2:00

of navigating Mexico with a physical

2:02

disability . Hello , scott Lawson , welcome

2:05

to X-PATs Like Us .

2:06

Hi guys , nice to be here

2:08

and appreciate you asking me Glad

2:11

to have you here .

2:11

Scott , thanks for coming in today . So

2:14

tell us about your life pre-Mexico

2:17

in the US .

2:18

Well , as Chris mentioned

2:21

, prior to moving here

2:23

, we lived in

2:25

the Seattle Washington area , and

2:28

that was with our two

2:30

children , our dogs , and

2:34

while there , I

2:37

should mention my wife , debra . The dogs

2:39

got to feel like they

2:41

were out of their beards .

2:45

You're going to have to distract her during

2:47

this part of the podcast . Yes

2:49

, shame on me .

2:52

And while there , we

2:55

both went to the

2:57

University of Washington and

3:00

she went on to become

3:02

an engineer for

3:04

our local public utility , and

3:08

I spent my entire career

3:10

in construction management , doing

3:12

single family , multi-family

3:15

and commercial

3:17

healthcare work . And

3:20

prior to being

3:22

diagnosed with my

3:25

disability , which we'll explain

3:27

and talk about here in a bit

3:30

, I was a very active

3:32

guy . I

3:34

played a lot of softball

3:36

, golfed , skied

3:39

and a lot

3:42

of that just came crashing down in my

3:44

late 40s . Oh right and

3:50

but it kind of one of the things that

3:52

precipitated the move

3:54

down here . The

3:57

warmth , the

3:59

sunshine it's really

4:02

done wonders to

4:04

my health , including things

4:06

like blood pressure . I

4:08

think it affects a lot of people , but

4:11

yeah , so that

4:15

is sort of an outline

4:17

of what we did there . I

4:23

could elaborate on it , but really

4:26

the next chapter was coming here

4:28

.

4:30

Right , and what inspired you to decide

4:32

to move to Mexico instead of just being

4:34

in Seattle ?

4:36

Well , you

4:38

know it . A lot of it had

4:40

to do with my

4:43

health , of course , and

4:46

I was approaching retirement

4:48

age , my full retirement

4:50

age , and both my wife

4:53

and I , we were working at home

4:55

during COVID and

4:57

it was in a sort of that

4:59

pivotal point in our lives

5:01

. Where do we ? Do

5:04

we stick with this , or do

5:06

we work our way back

5:09

to commuting

5:11

to work rather than working

5:13

at home ? And you know , there was some

5:15

challenges for

5:17

myself being

5:20

at home as far as mobility

5:23

. I didn't get up enough . I

5:25

would sit there at my desk for

5:27

10 hours a day without

5:30

even getting up and moving around

5:32

. You know , something that I normally would

5:35

have done pre COVID

5:37

. So it

5:40

really it kind of was

5:42

the catalyst for

5:44

us to move

5:47

and retire .

5:49

I hear that a lot from people , that when

5:52

you say what inspired you to move to Mexico

5:54

, there's almost always , at

5:56

least you know , the people that have probably

5:59

been here around as long as we have , but

6:01

it's a consistent thing . Where they mentioned the

6:03

pandemic , yeah absolutely

6:06

, and it changed something in

6:08

all of our minds and

6:10

we all decided to make a big move

6:12

at that time .

6:13

Yeah , well , yeah , and

6:15

you know much of that is people

6:18

reflected on . You

6:20

know things just as simple as

6:22

family members becoming sick

6:24

. You know everybody

6:27

and I'm sure including yourselves

6:29

, new people

6:31

that passed away during COVID and

6:34

you know it's one of those things where

6:36

you just say you know

6:38

, do I want to work to die

6:40

or do I want to work to retire

6:42

? And it was just

6:45

something

6:47

that we just , you

6:50

know , we figured . You know we want

6:52

to go to the next chapter of our lives . Deborah

6:55

, she , she

6:57

was a little more reluctant to retire . She

6:59

absolutely loved her job and

7:03

it was a job that unfortunately

7:06

she couldn't do remotely . But

7:08

you know , she jumped on board

7:10

and you know

7:12

, here we are Now . We have

7:14

, we have

7:16

a bit of a history here

7:18

in Quintana Roo . We

7:23

we had been traveling here for

7:26

, I would say , over 50

7:28

years since we were you

7:30

know pretty darn young . Yeah

7:33

, exactly , exactly . As

7:35

a matter of fact , we honeymooned in

7:37

Cancun and

7:39

through the course

7:41

of that period we

7:44

we

7:47

had visited Cosmow

7:50

quite extensively . We

7:52

had friends there and that

7:56

was one of our first

7:58

choices in the area . There

8:01

were times where

8:04

we looked at Playa del Carmen

8:06

, and then we eventually

8:08

, of course , came to the Riviera

8:10

Maya , where we're at .

8:13

I'm guessing Cancun was a different place

8:15

at that time . Oh my gosh , yeah , tell us

8:17

about that .

8:19

Well , you know , many

8:21

of us know that Cancun is

8:24

, you know , relative to

8:26

most larger cities , it's

8:29

a new city . Cancun

8:31

has only been in existence

8:33

the city itself , for

8:35

roughly 50 years , and

8:37

when we first came here , I

8:40

would say it was around 1988

8:44

. We

8:50

decided that we

8:53

would take a vacation

8:55

and we had all of these different

8:58

places that we looked at

9:00

, and Deborah came

9:02

up with Cancun . We

9:04

had no idea what it was . In

9:09

simple terms , cancun became

9:13

in existence by

9:16

I

9:18

don't want to get this wrong , but it

9:21

was computer-generized . The

9:24

city they

9:28

were looking for , the Mexican government was

9:30

looking for a place

9:33

for folks to vacation

9:35

or retire and they just , you know , mixed

9:37

all these balls up in

9:40

a bowl and , with you

9:42

know , all those different criteria , cancun

9:45

was

9:48

picked , and I

9:50

think we all know that

9:53

, with its beauty , they

9:56

made a pretty good choice Back

9:59

in that time I mentioned

10:03

that , you know we decided to go

10:05

on vacation and

10:09

we picked one

10:12

of the few accommodations that

10:14

were in the hotel zone . If

10:16

you're not familiar with it , the hotel

10:19

zone is primarily

10:21

the zone in Cancun where people

10:24

vacation .

10:26

And , like most people that come to Cancun

10:28

, stay there and never leave there .

10:31

Exactly , exactly . But

10:34

at the time , like

10:36

I said , in the late 80s , there

10:39

were a handful of accommodations

10:42

. Now it's this high rise Mecca

10:46

that you

10:48

know . It looks like a large city if you're across

10:50

the way , in Moheris , you see

10:53

, you know these these tall

10:55

buildings . But

10:57

anyways , this

11:02

, this hotel

11:04

that we picked , it was horrific

11:06

. The first thing we

11:08

walk in the door , a cockroach . And

11:12

you know , we

11:14

, we just we

11:17

were not happy , so I

11:19

had , my trigger

11:21

is pretty short and

11:24

they put us in the presidential

11:26

suite instead which

11:28

was not much better

11:30

.

11:31

Not really not totally presidential

11:34

.

11:34

Exactly , exactly . I

11:36

recall another time that we came

11:38

with some friends and we

11:41

were staying at a and this is

11:43

, later in time , a

11:46

different hotel . No , actually I think

11:48

it was this one , deborah . Deborah

11:51

pulled out a postcard

11:53

or the advertisement for this

11:56

and she goes I want this room

11:58

, I paid for this room and

12:01

it , you know

12:03

, they pushed us to

12:05

a different suite . Yeah , so

12:07

anyways , long

12:09

story short there is is

12:12

that Cancun

12:15

hotel zone was nothing . Back

12:17

then they were even dumping sewage

12:20

into the

12:22

what do they call the area

12:24

in the center ?

12:25

Oh yeah , the Lagoon , or whatever it is the

12:27

Lagoon .

12:27

Yeah , so I mean , just read

12:30

the suit we hope .

12:31

We hope they're not doing that today .

12:33

I don't think they can confirm that but . I

12:36

think they come a long ways , but

12:38

anyways that that

12:41

was sort of the start of things . We were going

12:43

to stay in

12:45

, like I said , cosmow , but we

12:47

we decided we

12:49

looked at homes there and we decided that

12:52

there was really very little

12:54

new . A lot of the infrastructure

12:57

was old and we just figured we

12:59

have all kinds of problems with that

13:01

Sure . If we purchased . But anyways

13:04

, playa de Carmen . We

13:06

looked at a lot there and we all know

13:09

what Playa has turned

13:11

into .

13:12

And right , it's now a . It's now

13:15

a busy , large , busy

13:17

city , oh yeah .

13:18

And , as a matter of fact , we

13:21

read somewhere that they expect

13:23

that the population of Playa

13:25

will exceed Cancun in

13:27

X amount of years

13:30

. So we'll see what that happens

13:32

there . But it's turned

13:34

into a loud city with

13:36

traffic and I think

13:38

we're we're happy with our choice

13:41

. Where we came to and I know you

13:43

guys have talked about it

13:45

, sherry and Erica , and the

13:47

both of you where we live , and

13:49

I think we're all very happy with

13:52

our choice .

13:54

I would say we are . Yeah . Had you

13:56

gone to any other areas of Mexico

13:58

to look , or just ?

13:59

No , you know , interesting

14:01

, you mentioned that we

14:04

, we pretty much had our

14:06

hearts set on this area . We

14:09

, from being from the West Coast

14:11

, we were familiar

14:13

with the West Coast of Mexico

14:15

and , as

14:18

you know , the climate is is much

14:20

different . Even

14:22

, you know , even areas of Southern California

14:25

people often

14:27

think that it's it's warm , it's

14:29

in the water temperatures freezing

14:31

there , and that continues

14:33

all the way down along the coast

14:35

of of Mexico

14:38

pretty chilly temperatures

14:40

. So , you know , we did this

14:42

is one of the things that we , we

14:46

thought that you know was , you

14:50

know , one of the one of the things that

14:52

we felt was beneficial to

14:56

, you know , our well-being

14:59

, our health , to be able to be

15:01

in an area that you know we

15:03

have , you know , bath water

15:05

warm ocean here and

15:08

we're all , we can all be active , you know

15:10

even even with with the disability

15:12

that we'll talk about .

15:14

I mean you're , you're a very active guy .

15:15

Yeah , you know I try to be , you know

15:18

, given given my limitations , yes

15:20

, but yeah , so

15:22

anyways , ended up here . Like

15:26

I said , we were here multiple times

15:28

and at the time we

15:30

it wasn't that

15:32

time , but we had

15:34

purchased our property here about

15:36

eight years ago . I'm not

15:38

sure how long you guys have been here , but

15:42

it wasn't until three years

15:44

ago that we did retire . But

15:47

we , we , we liked it so

15:49

much that you know , we used it

15:51

as a rental for a while and vacationed

15:54

here , and that's kind

15:56

of how we kind of ended up in

15:58

the Riviera Maya .

16:00

Okay , so tell us , in

16:02

your view , what are some of the most important things

16:04

people watching or listening should

16:06

think about before making a move to Mexico

16:09

.

16:11

You know , be

16:14

it Mexico or or

16:16

another country , there

16:22

are differences , no

16:24

question about it . And you

16:27

know if , if you're , if you're

16:29

from the US or Canada , there

16:31

are similarities but the differences

16:33

are greater . And

16:36

you guys have touched on it

16:38

, on your , your new little session

16:41

.

16:41

Yeah , it's , it's kind of a team

16:43

with us is K .

16:44

Padre K came out .

16:46

Oh yeah , wow , he remembers that . That's

16:48

awesome , absolutely .

16:50

Absolutely . I found it very

16:52

entertaining in it . You know

16:54

, kind of hit me , you know right

16:57

to heart , because we've all been

16:59

through it , and but

17:01

anyways , you know one

17:04

of the other things

17:06

that you know people

17:08

should be aware

17:11

of when they come here do

17:13

your research

17:15

. It's , it's ever

17:17

changing , this country , and

17:20

you know , like I said , either

17:22

be it this country or another country

17:24

, there's

17:28

a vast amount of knowledge out there

17:30

that can assist

17:32

you to to make

17:34

the right choices . You

17:37

know I would . I would say that

17:39

don't hit

17:42

and I'm , my

17:44

wife and I are a bit guilty of this

17:46

Don't necessarily

17:49

make a big decision

17:52

in your life and your lifestyle

17:54

based on just

17:56

visiting one area of Mexico

17:59

. Right , it's

18:02

a vast country and

18:05

the environment is different

18:07

. The natural , geographical

18:09

, historic and

18:12

just cultural differences throughout

18:15

this country , you know , would shock some

18:17

people , right ? So

18:19

Bob and Sherry and Debra and

18:21

I , we were just recently in Mexico

18:24

City .

18:25

Completely different place than where

18:27

we live in every way .

18:30

Yep , every way . People

18:32

are often shocked that they

18:34

think of Mexico as a relatively

18:36

you know

18:39

flat country , you know it has

18:41

mountains . But what

18:44

is Mexico City ? I think it's like

18:46

8,000 .

18:46

Yeah , it's somewhere out there , I mean it's something .

18:48

It's very high , yeah , and you

18:50

sit in the middle of the city and you look at two

18:52

snow covered volcanoes

18:54

which I personally

18:57

had never imagined until I

18:59

saw that .

19:01

Yeah me neither . That surprised me too .

19:03

Yeah , but you know , I know there

19:05

are Debra and I

19:07

really haven't traveled , like

19:10

you said , much throughout Mexico and

19:12

I know you guys have traveled probably

19:14

much more . But culture

19:18

has a lot to do with it . There

19:21

simply isn't much culture here

19:23

, right In Cointanero

19:25

, other than you know the ruins

19:27

and you know .

19:29

Mayan culture , and by culture we mean , like music

19:31

, like you know , concerts and

19:34

theater and architecture

19:36

.

19:36

Yeah , architecture , yeah , exactly

19:38

.

19:38

I mean , there certainly is

19:40

culture , but not that type

19:42

of culture , Because you can find that kind of stuff

19:45

all

19:47

over in other cities , in central cities

19:50

in Mexico like . Mexico City or Guadalajara

19:53

even , or you know , it's

19:55

very different . Yeah , it's . I think

19:57

part of it is . Quintana Roo is such a

19:59

young state . We just we

20:01

did a thing in a trivia contest the other

20:03

day and Quintana Roo was not

20:05

even a state until the 70s , till the

20:07

mid 70s , right , I mean , it was jungle

20:10

until then , you know . So

20:12

, yeah , they don't have the tradition of culture

20:14

and theater and that kind of stuff .

20:17

Yeah , so some of the other

20:19

things that you know

20:21

one should consider when they move

20:23

to Mexico . You

20:27

know I said that things are

20:29

different and patience

20:33

goes a long ways .

20:35

And we all learn that often the hard way

20:37

.

20:39

Yes , yeah , and

20:41

you know , I've

20:43

heard , I've heard many people

20:45

say that give

20:48

it a couple years . You know , the

20:50

first year is going to be a test

20:52

and if

20:55

you fail the test you're probably

20:57

not going to be here the second year . It's

21:02

just . It's something that

21:04

you

21:07

have to have tolerance and

21:09

you know we

21:11

talk about , you

21:13

know things , that thing

21:16

about Mexico that resonates

21:19

is things

21:21

, everything , everything

21:23

is consistently inconsistent

21:26

and you have to go with that Right

21:29

, and if you don't , you're

21:32

going to have problems .

21:33

Yeah , yeah , you can't

21:35

expect things to be consistent , yeah

21:37

, or you will be horribly disappointed .

21:39

I think Bob . Bob has a story

21:41

that he shared , you

21:44

know , a couple of weeks ago about getting tabs

21:48

for his or his license

21:50

plates . And

21:53

you know , one guy , they'll tell

21:55

you something and another

21:57

person will tell you something else , and

22:00

it's just , you know , it's a matter of how they rolled out

22:02

a bed that morning .

22:03

The person yeah , we just did it this week

22:05

. Yeah , yeah , you know , we brought all the paperwork

22:08

in . The guy says I don't need any of that . Yeah

22:10

, Exactly .

22:12

I got sent home to get more paperwork

22:14

.

22:15

Yeah , I mean .

22:16

I'm touching on that in a second

22:18

.

22:19

But yeah , yeah , the guy next to you , you

22:23

know you've been requested

22:25

, or the literature tells you

22:28

that you need these six documents

22:30

and just for safe measure , you

22:33

bring eight and

22:35

you know you're standing there , you give them

22:37

the six , they take four , but

22:40

they want you to go home to get

22:42

another one Right to get another photocopy

22:44

of one or two . The guy next to you only

22:47

had two documents and he made

22:49

it successful ? Yeah , and

22:52

anyways it's . You

22:55

know

22:57

it's some of the things

22:59

that you need to consider . And

23:01

Mexico right now , things

23:05

are changing a lot . It's

23:10

rapidly changing With

23:13

the current administration . The

23:17

laws are changing , the way that

23:19

this country operates

23:21

. It's

23:24

no longer what

23:28

we might have thought about in the

23:30

past . The economy

23:32

is changing and

23:35

, as we all know

23:37

, when we first came here

23:40

, we could take a pace

23:42

on its stretching . Yeah , and

23:45

you know it was one of the alerts

23:48

of you know coming here .

23:50

Right .

23:51

Well , and you know , minimum wage has gone up since

23:53

we've been here , like what , 50%

23:56

at least , and slated

23:58

to go up more , which affects the

24:00

prices of everything . But

24:02

on the other hand , it means Mexico

24:05

now has more of an emerging

24:07

middle class that they can

24:09

afford to buy things and buy more goods and stuff

24:11

, so the economy is improving . Oh , this economy

24:14

is on fire , yeah .

24:16

I mean , we all know

24:18

what the conversion rate is

24:20

right now between the peso and the US

24:22

dollar . And

24:25

you know , for those of us who are taking

24:27

our money from the United States , we're

24:29

getting clobbered , yeah , and

24:32

it is becoming more

24:34

expensive to live here

24:36

, and you know

24:39

it's . You know . The second punch

24:41

is that we live in the most expensive

24:43

area of

24:45

Mexico , with the tourism

24:48

region that it is .

24:50

When we went to Mexico City , we were surprised at how

24:52

inexpensive things were .

24:54

We were taking uvers for pocket change

24:56

you know , which you know . It was

24:59

quite a pleasure your

25:17

All

25:40

right , we're back .

25:41

Hey Scott , so we know that you lead a very

25:43

active life in retirement and we mentioned

25:46

earlier in the podcast that you're a person with

25:48

physical disabilities . Could you describe

25:50

that disability and how it affects

25:52

your daily life ?

25:55

Sure , Like

25:58

you said , a lot of my neighbors they see

26:00

me walking around and most

26:02

often I have a cane . So

26:06

I have a disease called

26:08

Charette Marie Tooth

26:11

Syndrome and

26:13

a goofy name , but it's based

26:16

on the doctors

26:18

that discovered it

26:22

. It's a genetic

26:24

, hereditary

26:28

degenerative disorder

26:31

that roughly

26:34

3%

26:37

of the population in the

26:39

US has it

26:42

. It varies in

26:44

severity . My

26:47

case is it's

26:51

sort of middle of the ground

26:56

. What my symptoms are

27:00

Kind of in a nutshell

27:05

my

27:10

nerves are dead from my knees

27:12

down Kind

27:14

of the best way to describe it , and

27:18

part

27:20

of this disorder is with

27:22

my motor and

27:24

sensory nerves . It

27:28

gets scrambled when the signal

27:30

is sent from my brain . It

27:33

somewhere along the way it

27:36

doesn't send the signal to

27:38

my knees and

27:41

my legs . It

27:43

I wanna

27:45

, kind of . The best way I describe it

27:47

is I wanna be 20

27:50

feet ahead , but the

27:52

signal isn't telling my feet

27:54

to be there . Yeah right

27:56

, and with that I

28:01

have a gate

28:03

in my walk , whereas

28:05

when I walk my feet have to

28:08

go higher because if

28:10

they don't I am

28:12

susceptible to

28:14

tripping . I have drop foot

28:16

where my foot drops

28:19

and

28:22

much of what I have to

28:24

do is balance myself

28:26

with a cane . The

28:33

other walking aid I have

28:36

is a articulating

28:38

brace on my foot and

28:42

that brace allows

28:44

me to walk

28:46

without

28:48

having to think about every step

28:50

I take , and under normal

28:53

circumstances I have to think

28:55

about every step I take , otherwise

28:58

I'm gonna trip and that

29:00

can be exhausting . No , I can't even imagine

29:03

. Yeah , so

29:05

this brace is a guide sign . Most

29:10

of these braces go roughly up

29:13

to the knee , and

29:16

I approached my orthotic

29:19

guy doctor and

29:22

I told him that my wife

29:24

and I are coming to Mexico and

29:27

in doing so I'm gonna be wearing shorts

29:30

. Yeah , 99%

29:33

of the time , and

29:37

for several reasons I wanted shorter braces and

29:41

my request to him was

29:43

to go ahead and cut the braces off . He

29:46

had never heard of it , anybody

29:49

doing that , so

29:52

it was kind of a unique

29:55

request and

29:57

it works great for me . It

30:00

kind of serves the purpose

30:03

of helping me not

30:05

have the drop foot or drop foot . Cosmetically

30:09

. It still allows

30:11

me to

30:14

have be able to wear shorts and

30:16

still have the

30:18

brace short enough . And

30:22

we had talked about the act of life . If

30:25

it weren't for this brace , I would not

30:27

be able to play golf . Oh right

30:29

, and you guys are

30:31

very passionate about your pickleball

30:33

and

30:36

I try to be passionate about golf

30:38

, but unfortunately

30:40

I don't get out enough . We

30:45

live on an incredible golf course

30:47

. It's one of the most beautiful

30:49

courses in Latin America

30:52

and anytime we

30:54

have an opportunity to get out there . It's

30:57

special and I

31:01

would like to play more , but

31:03

it's just a matter of logistics and getting

31:05

people . But these braces

31:07

are really

31:11

something that , if

31:13

you have the disorder that I have

31:16

, you really need them and

31:18

they're going to allow you to

31:20

carry on with

31:22

life . I don't wear them

31:25

all the time . I'm in my

31:27

sandals , quite often and

31:30

in doing so I pretty much have to

31:32

use my cane to maintain

31:34

balance .

31:35

So how is life different in Mexico , I mean

31:37

in the US , there's ADA

31:39

compliance for buildings

31:42

and for everything . Oh , I just see . And

31:45

when heck I can trip

31:47

and hurt myself walking around

31:49

anywhere ?

31:50

in Mexico . I always say everything's hazardous in Mexico

31:52

, yeah .

31:53

Yeah , I'm gonna put it on the swivel

31:55

. Yeah , it's kind of funny . You mentioned that

31:57

I just

31:59

yesterday I was at the doctor and

32:02

in their parking lot they

32:05

have if everybody's

32:07

pretty familiar with a ramp in

32:10

the United States and Canada . It's

32:12

got a fairly gentle slope like

32:15

one inch to 12 feet or

32:17

whatever . It is this

32:20

particular ramp going into the doorway

32:22

. Was it 45 degrees ?

32:24

I've seen those before . I always think , oh

32:27

my God , if I was in a wheelchair I would

32:29

never want to go down that thing and

32:31

. I couldn't probably go up it .

32:33

Yeah , at the opposing end of this

32:35

is a main

32:37

thoroughfare . You can roll

32:39

right into it . Yeah

32:42

, so , and you know . Also

32:45

, with this particular ramp

32:47

it went up to

32:49

the doorway . So there's no landing

32:52

, there's no staging area

32:54

for somebody at 45 degrees

32:56

to pull the door open Right , and

33:01

there's no enforcement for

33:03

something like this . Now they may

33:06

try , but

33:08

their effort is a little futile

33:10

. But anyways

33:13

, you go throughout any city here

33:16

in Cancun , be a plier to loom and

33:20

you'll be walking along a sidewalk

33:22

and there

33:25

are junction boxes

33:27

with a great smessing , and

33:30

it never embers anybody's

33:32

mind to put a grate on it Right

33:34

. Any of the municipal workers

33:37

or just the guy

33:39

who has the shop adjacent to it . You

33:42

think maybe throw a piece of board

33:44

on it or something . There

33:48

are few curb

33:50

cuts that are

33:54

in the intersections

33:56

.

33:58

And I'm assuming the places that do

34:00

have that sort of thing are they're

34:02

few and far between , like your ramp

34:04

is at a doctor's place , right yeah

34:06

?

34:07

exactly .

34:08

It's not just a normal government

34:10

building or something .

34:11

There's some irony there

34:14

. Yeah

34:17

, you have to laugh . I mean , it's

34:19

as much as things

34:22

. You want

34:24

to be safe , you

34:27

got to chuckle . You know parking

34:29

spaces . They do have

34:31

ADA accessible

34:34

parking spaces , but

34:36

in the area I

34:38

have to say they're highly

34:40

abused .

34:42

They use them for loading .

34:43

I don't think they bust people for

34:45

parking there Right , and

34:48

if you take a peak

34:50

, 80% of the cars parked

34:52

there don't have blockers Right , and

34:56

that's kind of a shame , but

34:59

there are . You know there's no

35:01

bite to anything when it comes

35:03

to things regarding

35:05

ADA .

35:06

So do you have a placard in your car ?

35:08

I do Okay , I do yeah , and

35:10

is that ? Issued by

35:12

the Mexican government no actually

35:14

mine is from

35:17

the United States and

35:23

it is accepted in Mexico

35:25

and widely accepted throughout

35:27

the world . I don't know if there

35:30

is any reciprocating agreement

35:32

, but it is

35:35

being acceptable here

35:37

.

35:38

That's something I've never heard before . Yeah , yeah , that's interesting

35:40

.

35:41

I've never , you know , had anybody

35:44

try

35:47

to enforce it

35:49

.

35:49

But yeah , but that's

35:51

good to know because people from the States thinking

35:53

of coming down here . If you

35:55

have a handicapped and you do have

35:57

a placard , bring it with you . Yeah , Because

35:59

it's good here .

36:00

Yeah absolutely , and there

36:03

must be some you know reasoning

36:05

to have it , because

36:08

I will say that one

36:10

of your former neighbors had

36:15

asked me to loan them

36:17

a placard and I got stolen

36:19

out of the car .

36:20

So somebody's using it here and

36:23

there's probably not somebody with a handicap either

36:25

. I got to assume .

36:27

Yeah , yeah , but

36:30

you know it's

36:32

, you know , one of those things that

36:35

you just have to accept

36:37

If

36:41

you're traveling . You

36:44

know , part of my advice we had talked about

36:46

, you know , looking at different

36:48

cities throughout Mexico

36:51

, you know , probably , before you make a

36:53

choice of living in a particular

36:55

area , not

36:58

every city is even

37:00

anywhere close to the compliance

37:03

that you might see in Cancun or

37:05

one of the newer cities . You

37:08

go to Merida or

37:10

some of the , even Mexico City

37:12

, there are areas

37:14

that they have cobblestone and

37:16

they don't think twice about

37:18

and the cobblestones have been there since horses

37:21

were walking .

37:21

Yeah , so horses could have been walking

37:23

on it earlier today , but since

37:26

it was built in , like the 1500s

37:28

or something , yeah , so there

37:31

really are

37:33

few expectations to

37:36

accommodate .

37:37

I mean , it's not like they do anything on

37:39

purpose to not . It's

37:43

you know kind of how they do it . A

37:45

lot of it is , you know , economic

37:47

. They don't have the money .

37:49

Right , there's , yeah . Yeah , there's

37:52

been an earlier podcast about one of the

37:54

good things we like is we pay very low

37:56

property tax . But the

37:59

bad part of that is there's not a lot

38:01

of money for infrastructure , isn't that true

38:03

?

38:03

That sort of thing . You know that's good and bad . It's cheaper

38:06

yeah , it is cheaper , it is

38:08

, but yeah , yeah , so

38:10

yeah , those are . Those are some

38:12

of the things that

38:16

you

38:18

wish we had a lot of

38:21

Pause and enforcement

38:24

for something like

38:26

. You know , what we know is ADA in the US . But

38:31

you know , I try to pretty

38:34

much work with what

38:36

you know , what we have

38:39

here .

38:41

So what advice would you have for people with

38:43

physical challenges who are thinking about making the

38:45

move to Mexico ?

38:49

Kind of what I touched on a second ago . Look

38:53

at different areas . If it's something

38:55

that's really important

38:57

to you , you

39:01

know , check these places out first , because

39:05

you'd be , you know , shocked

39:07

at , you know , making a choice if

39:09

you're going to live in a particular city and

39:12

you have those expectations

39:15

that you know are going

39:17

to be realized . You

39:20

know things like

39:22

you know , and

39:24

I think we've seen this maybe

39:27

in our neighborhood every so often

39:29

, if

39:31

you're making decisions on

39:33

homes

39:36

and they have elevators

39:38

, you

39:40

know , consider that often

39:43

our electrical

39:45

grid here in Mexico is

39:49

sometimes questionable . It

39:51

goes out a lot and

39:54

you know it sort of resonates because , like

39:56

I said , we've seen

39:58

a couple instances in

40:01

here in our neighborhood that

40:03

if the power goes out it

40:06

becomes a burden not to

40:09

have .

40:11

So maybe that kind of house you know you might want to consider

40:13

keeping in mind , look at places

40:15

on lower floors .

40:18

Yeah , absolutely yeah

40:21

, it's . You know

40:24

those are . Those are some of the obstacles

40:26

that that , if

40:28

you are considering coming

40:30

here , I think

40:33

the biggest you know takeaway there

40:35

is there are no ADA

40:38

loss , right , or you know the

40:40

comparable requirements

40:42

in Canada to that . You

40:45

know , don't

40:47

have expectations that

40:49

are not realistic .

40:51

Right , okay , we'll take another break

40:53

and we'll be back .

41:10

Sure , okay , we're back . Okay

41:12

, scott . So in an earlier episode we played a game called

41:14

Cape Audre Caymallow , which

41:16

is things you love about Mexico and

41:19

things you don't like so much . Give me one thing

41:21

you really love about living here , cape

41:23

Audre , and one thing that you don't necessarily

41:25

like as much as Caymallow . I'd

41:29

love to just elaborate

41:31

and you know , play your entire game

41:33

, because you know one

41:36

for a while it's fun to listen

41:38

to it .

41:39

You know , I think , that which

41:44

is a Cape Audre , the things

41:46

you do like

41:48

365

41:52

days of the year , sunshine , summer

41:54

. You

41:56

know , occasionally you have a blip in

41:58

weather here and there and perhaps

42:01

winter and hurricane

42:04

season , but it's

42:07

so nice to wake up every morning

42:09

and see the sunshine

42:11

, especially coming from Seattle . Huh , yeah , oh

42:13

yeah . Yeah , you know a place where we

42:16

thrive on three months a year . You

42:18

know , getting outside , but and

42:21

you know I knew you and Utah

42:23

. You know you faced snow

42:25

and same with South Dakota , yeah

42:28

, and , but it's

42:30

just something that

42:32

I'm sure a lot of people can't imagine

42:35

until you experience it

42:37

. It's just so

42:39

good for the soul Just feeling

42:41

now today

42:43

. Maybe a little warm

42:45

outside , but you know

42:47

for March , but you know

42:50

most often yeah .

42:52

Yeah , okay . And if you had

42:54

a list of , like the top

42:56

thing that someone should consider when

42:58

looking to retire and making an international

43:01

move , what would that one thing be ?

43:02

You know . One comes to mind is

43:05

and I've seen in many

43:07

other blogs and podcasts

43:10

, people

43:13

often say rent first before

43:16

you really make a commitment

43:18

and

43:23

to doing so I

43:25

, you know , it , it , it

43:28

. I probably

43:30

should have heated that advice

43:33

only because you

43:35

know we haven't experienced the rest

43:37

of the country Right , and

43:39

you know we , you're invested

43:41

here and we're invested here and

43:44

absolutely love it . I

43:46

mean no question about it , but

43:49

you know it was a thrill

43:51

to go to Mexico City and

43:53

see the different neighborhoods and our

43:56

area is growing here and

43:59

you know , I think you know

44:02

we'll you know , eventually we're going to

44:04

see . You know some of that

44:06

, yeah , but

44:08

to answer your question

44:11

, I would say the

44:14

number one thing and I don't care

44:16

where you go research

44:18

, research the place

44:21

, you know when we first

44:23

, you know , thought

44:26

about coming here and

44:28

you know , like I said , almost

44:30

50 years ago we never

44:33

had the vast amount of knowledge

44:35

and tools and

44:37

internet , and it's

44:40

. It's out there . You know

44:42

, listen to podcasts like this . You

44:45

know it can . It can really help you

44:48

with those

44:50

choices rather than , you

44:52

know , jumping in .

44:53

We both fade . We , you know

44:55

, we always and we talked about this on an earlier podcast

44:58

we credit . What's

45:01

the guy's name ? It's 2xpats Mexico .

45:04

Paul , paul Paul .

45:05

Yeah , for that's . They're the reason we moved

45:08

, you know , they made us realize we

45:10

could move Paul . Tons of good info . Yeah , paul .

45:12

Absolutely , paul .

45:12

We studied that for years before we came here , paul .

45:14

Absolutely yeah , and

45:17

you know one of the other

45:19

things that you know I don't want

45:21

to digress here , but

45:24

you talk

45:26

about . You know

45:28

when you make choices and

45:30

what choices you

45:34

make . Look at realistic budgets

45:36

. I mean , so many times

45:38

you look at these sites and

45:40

, quite honestly , they're bogus budgets

45:44

. You know you can't

45:46

live in Mexico on a

45:48

thousand dollars a month . You can perhaps

45:51

, you know , somewhere in a hut in

45:54

the middle of Mexico .

45:56

But you know often , you

45:58

know it's portrayed

46:02

that you can do that , you've got to look at all of it , and it's taken as a blanket

46:05

statement about all of Mexico too

46:07

, which is completely not true

46:09

, yeah , yeah , but you know that would be

46:11

some advice when

46:13

you know you're looking

46:16

at trying to make that commitment . All

46:18

right ? Yeah Well , thank you , scott Lawson , for

46:20

joining us today on X-PATS , like

46:22

Us .

46:22

Oh , thank you very much . Thanks , man had a great

46:25

chat with you guys , yeah

46:27

.

46:29

In each episode of X-PATS , like Us , we're

46:31

going to teach you a new Mexican slang

46:33

word . This is something you may not find

46:35

in your phrasebook or your online Spanish

46:38

class or your Spanish app or wherever

46:40

you're learning your Spanish . Instead , this

46:42

is a term used primarily by

46:44

Mexican Spanish speakers . Today's

46:48

word is Eres

46:53

la neta . Eres la

46:56

neta .

46:56

Eres la neta Okay .

46:58

I know that Eres means you are yes

47:00

.

47:01

La neta is a slang way of

47:03

saying you're the best , you're cool

47:05

, you're spot on . Eres la neta , Okay

47:07

.

47:08

You're the best Eres . La neta

47:10

, erika Kowalski , from Me , vida

47:12

Margarita . We'd

47:18

love to hear your thoughts on today's topic

47:20

. Just look up X-PATS . Like Us

47:22

on Facebook or send us an email

47:25

at xpatslikeuscom

47:28

. You can also see the video version

47:30

of today's discussion and all of our discussions

47:32

on our YouTube page . Follow , like

47:34

, subscribe and leave us a review

47:37

. Thank

47:39

you to today's guest , scott Lawson

47:41

. Thanks also to my co-host , chris Kowalski

47:43

and his wife Erika , and thanks to

47:46

my wife , sherry Bussey . Most of

47:48

all , thank you for tuning into X-PATS

47:50

. Like Us and thank you for interacting

47:52

with us on social media . Next time

47:54

we'll bring you more first-hand information

47:57

about your international move . We'll

47:59

see you again in two weeks . Until

48:02

then , remember our homes are not defined

48:04

by geography or one particular

48:06

location , but by memories of events

48:08

, people and places that span

48:10

the globe .

49:06

Thank you .