Octopus Overlords

AWS said I had been summoned.

We were actually looking for bgt.

Guessing your presence is missed in the community appreciation thread we have going in EBG. Nice to see you!

Awesome. Glad to see you around. Hope all is well.

I thought it was Hell's Taco whose name was repeated three times. The incantation book must be whacked.

How's retirement? We're in July of 2020. That puts you like 30 "This is my game of year's" behind schedule.

Well, I said your name three times but it wasn't a calling. More like an exorcism.

How is olde mehico?

I only called you once. Well, texted. Got no response so I sent a donation in your memory to Pork Producers of Greater Tucson per our previous arrangement.

Hey hey! Good to see you! LET'S GET THE WHOLE GANG BACK TOGETHER

There's a TLA from the past!

I've been meaning to check back in for a while but never got around to it.

Now for some catching up

As Jaymann correctly remembers, about a year and a half ago we retired (well, semi-retired. We have a small business we work for about 4 hours a day during the week for something to do and a little extra cash) to Mexico.

Puerto Penasco aka Rocky Point aka "Arizona's Beach" is a little village (pop <> 60,000) on the Sea of Cortez, about 60 miles South of the border. Even when fishing was the main industry, the occasional Gringo would come down to enjoy the food, culture, and ocean (Al Capone was a regular). Some time in the 80's the Mexican government started promoting it as a vacation destination, hoping to turn it into the next Cancun. That didn't take, fortunately, except in Arizona, since it's only a four hour drive from Tucson or Phoenix. While there are a lot more resorts, condos, air BnB's than in Big Al's time, it's still largely a well kept secret except to Arizonans and maybe some people in California. Over the last 20 ears or so the expat community has grown tremendously. Some, like us, live here year round, while most are snowbirds from the US and Canada. This time of year can be pretty trying with temperatures in the 90's and humidity in the 60's. Still, even though not yet Cancun (thank FSM), tourism is now the main industry, particularly during Spring Break (ASU and U of A) and Holy Week, which can bring as many as 90,000 pilgrims from the interior of Mexico in to celebrate Easter.

We love it here for the people, the culture, the music, the food, and most of all the cost of living. We rent a 2000 sq ft house 5 minutes from the beach, with huge front and back yards for the dogs, for $800/month (which is high for this market). In temperate times our electric bill is $40 (right now it's about $100 - 1/3 of what we were paying in Tucson). Water is $12/month and internet (pretty good WiFi) is $20/month. Groceries are about 1/3of what we paid in Tucson, and when we got out to eat, if we go where the Nationals do, and not the tourist joints, lunch is about $10 (or less) for the two of us and a good dinner might be as much as $20.

So how are we faring with Covid, you might ask? Better than you, since we're not relying on a thin skinned man-child telling us to mainline Clorox. The governments of PP and the state of Sonora realized early on that we're just not prepared to deal with a major outbreak, and took some pretty drastic action. From March-June we were almost under martial law - two roads leading in were completely closed, and the main one, the one from the border, and a "health filter" set up. Staffed by members of the Mexican National Guard, no one was allowed into town that couldn't prove they lived here, unless they were delivering essential products. Restaurants, bars, hotels, the beach were all shut down. There was a 10 PM - 6 AM curfew in place. Masks were mandatory ($2000 Peso [about $100] fine if caught without one), only one person was allowed per vehicle, and residents were only allowed to travel if going for essentials. Things have loosened a bit - restaurants are open, but only with social distancing, masks, etc. Tourists can come in if they have a reservation at an approved resort, and the beach is supposed to be re-opened this weekend.

Extreme, but effective. As of last week we've only had about 35 confirmed cases and 2 deaths.

Anyhoo, that's about it. I'll be popping back in more frequently, but feel free to pepper me with questions.

Oh, just one more thing. Get a load of our governor. Yowza!

Glad you're doing well, boss! What's this small business that you run?

How does that work with regards to Social Security and Medicare?

I’m about 7 or 8 years out from retirement and was looking at Portugal. But you’ve got me looking into Mexico now.

If I move next door to you, can I be your personal Mrs. Kravitz?

I'm glad things are working out for you. Do you have internet?

I think he is on dial-up.

@Hipolito - We're doing lead generation for commercial insurance (liability, workers comp, etc) agents in the States, getting them appointments with small business owners.

@Krakken - At 67 (68 next week) there's no limit on how much I can earn vis a vis Social Security. Ruth isn't old enough to start collecting yet. As to Medicare, we still maintain an AZ address, and since the border is only 90 minutes away, I can go back for any major procedures.

@hepcat - We were seriously considering Panama until running into some old clients who have been living here for about a dozen years. It's a bit more expensive, but the proximity to the border makes it easier for people to visit or us to go back to the States when necessary. As to being my Mrs. Kravitz - no. But you can be my Senor Winces, and if you don't know who that was you're not ready to retire.

@dbt - What is this internet of which you speak?

He said pretty good wifi. I'm assuming you saw the Governor pic and forgot any other details.

tgb wrote: ↑Thu Jul 30, 2020 9:52 pm @Krakken - At 67 (68 next week) there's no limit on how much I can earn vis a vis Social Security. Ruth isn't old enough to start collecting yet. As to Medicare, we still maintain an AZ address, and since the border is only 90 minutes away, I can go back for any major procedures.

So the US government deposits your checks in a Mexican bank?

We still have a US bank account, and I get cash via Mexican ATM. Although I've checked, and we could get it deposited into a Mexican account if we had one.

We also have an AZ PO box just across the border. There's no mail delivery here, so everything goes to the box, and we pay a service $20/month to pick it up weekly.

Freyland wrote: ↑Thu Jul 30, 2020 10:43 pm He said pretty good wifi. I'm assuming you saw the Governor pic and forgot any other details.

Oh, I thought he was just kidding.

tgb wrote: ↑Thu Jul 30, 2020 8:17 pm
Oh, just one more thing. Get a load of our governor. Yowza!

How the hell has nobody else commented on how hot that governor is? We are getting old. There should have been at least one curved sword joke by now.

She has more curvature than a curved sword.

One of the problems with the picture is that it doesn't really show if she has any golden globes or not.

How is the side business as a drug mule?

Your life down south sounds really nice. I once visited a different expat-heavy town in Mexico (Yelapa), and it sure made the expat life seem nice.

Jaymann wrote: ↑Fri Jul 31, 2020 9:51 am She has more curvature than a curved sword.

Shake, shake, shake, Sonora...

From online pics its an old pic. She is my age now and seems to have gotten surgeries. Not so hot faced now.

Welcome back-ish!

I was just thinking about you a couple of days ago watching some best places to retire videos.

Daehawk wrote: ↑Fri Jul 31, 2020 12:32 pm From online pics its an old pic. She is my age now and seems to have gotten surgeries. Not so hot faced now.

That picture gives her that botox lip look.

The video does nothing to counteract that.

My wife brought up retirement in the Philippines again today after showing her tgb's post. But then she said we should have a house there (estimated cost, $20K for something nice) and keep our house here as a summer home. The house here won't be paid off until I'm 85, so the whole premise of retirement is rather far-fetched.

I called your name!!! Good to see you back! Wish I could re-locate there it sounds fabulous, but unlike you I can't maintain an US address and move there as well....

Lorini wrote: ↑Sat Aug 01, 2020 12:09 pm I called your name!!! Good to see you back! Wish I could re-locate there it sounds fabulous, but unlike you I can't maintain an US address and move there as well....

Why not?