March 2024

March Overview –

On March 1, our beautiful daughter Kayla came for a visit.  She was able to enjoy some much-needed rest and relaxation and we were able to enjoy having a visitor.  We crammed as much as we could into that week:  time on our patio, new restaurants, a couple of road trips, a quick stop at the beach, and so much laughter that our faces literally hurt.  We are already looking forward to her coming back again next year. (Be sure to check out our Snippets for additional photos).

March 18 was Mexico’s Benito Juárez Day which meant a nice three-day long weekend for us, and then Easter gave us an even better four-day long weekend.  For the Easter weekend, we made sure to shop early enough as stores usually run out of stuff over this long weekend as so many people arrive in Los Cabos to celebrate Holy Week. 

Because Easter weekend is one of the busiest weekends here, we usually schedule a project that will keep us busy here at home.  This year we did a big kitchen purge.  It’s been three years since we did our kitchen renovation and we have added more and more stuff into our kitchen since then.  So much so that we were finding it hard to get at some things inside the cupboards.  We took everything out of all the cupboards and drawers and figured out if we used each item on a regular basis or not at all.  We ended up with a pile to donate of things we don’t use anymore, and we moved the stuff we still use, but infrequently, to storage in our home office.  Then we put back all the stuff we use on a regular basis and now it is very easy to access everything in each cupboard and drawer.  We also moved a few things around to make the kitchen more efficient, however we are still not used to it yet and often open the wrong cupboard when looking for something.  Maybe a couple more weeks and we might have it figured out… LOL!

On March 21 a memory popped up on Facebook from 2014, which said “It’s official…. We sold our townhouse today!”  The new owners took possession in May, and after a rather lengthy unplanned hotel stay (a crazy story for another time), we finally moved into our new Richmond condo in August that year.  What was most interesting about this memory was the fact that it was 10 years ago.  In 2014 we were so excited to be moving into our new condo, where, according to our 10-year plan, we would be living there for at least the next 10 years.  Except we didn’t!  The 2014 versions of Lorne and Shari had no idea that in 10 years, future Lorne and Shari would have been living in Mexico for four years already!  Moving to Mexico wasn’t even on our radar back then.  It’s really funny how much can change in just a few years!

Our temperatures here in Cabo were on the cooler side for the beginning and end of the month, along with some warmer days popping up in the middle of the month.  Our average daytime high for March was 26C (78F), and the nighttime low was 14C (57F). 

We are well into our dry season which, along with the crazy March winds, brings so much dust into our home.  Our rainy season ended in November, and it generally takes about 8 – 12 weeks for all the moisture to evaporate and the air to become noticeably dryer.  Other than a tiny sprinkle of rain we had in February, we normally experience no rain at all from November through May, and March through May brings the driest days of the year.  Our first rain of the year usually comes in June.

Retirement

The Honeymoon Phase

The “Big Day” finally arrives!  Co-workers honour you, and your retirement is celebrated as you leave work for the final time with best wishes for your new life ahead.

Those first feelings of freedom and the sense that life is now open to so many possibilities are very exciting.  People look forward to this time of stretching their wings and making their dreams come true. 

This is the part of retirement that people plan for.  It’s the time to break free of that 60-year-old routine:

It’s time to turn off the alarm and sleep in, a time to enjoy the fact there are no more meetings or deadlines to worry about.  It’s a sense of release and relief.  We anticipate having the time and freedom to do what we want when we want. 

Many people travel during this time, or visit relatives, or indulge in hobbies.   Many advertisers portray retirement filled with beaches, bike riding, dining out and golf.  People usually think “This is the life” and dream this is how their retirement years will be.

This is known as the Honeymoon Phase of retirement and usually lasts for a few months or maybe up to a year.

For me, I totally missed the Honeymoon Phase of retirement.

There was no sleeping in for me as my first day of retirement started with my alarm going off at 5am as the movers would be arriving early. We then spent five hectic days running last minute errands and saying our goodbyes before moving to Mexico.

Our first year living in Mexico was filled with so many to-do lists, meetings, deadlines, and decisions, it honestly didn’t feel like I was retired at all.  Instead, it felt like I left one job behind in Canada to start a new job in Mexico…  I became the project manager of our home.  My routine still continued with: get up, get dressed, get breakfast, go to work, come home, eat, go to bed, just like it had been before I retired.

While Lorne worked at his actual job, my days were filled with organizing our house, sorting out cell phone plans, medical plans and of course our residency.  There were bank accounts to open, and a car to buy.  Our finances needed to be organized and money transfers done to meet bill payment deadlines. There was a major kitchen renovation to oversee, as well as some additional improvements we wanted in our home.  There were preparations for our first hurricane season, as well as second and third wave Covid-19 to deal with.  Researching and organizing everything really became a full-time job for me.

Moving to a new country kept me so busy that some days Lorne had to remind me that I was retired and let me know it was okay for me to take a break or a day off now and then.  But there was just so much that had to be sorted out and dealt with.

That first year of retirement certainly wasn’t a “Honeymoon Phase” for me. But then again, not everyone experiences each stage of retirement and each person’s experience may be different. 

In our upcoming blog posts, I will continue to share my experience of how the five stages of retirement applied to me.  Next up:  The Disenchanted Phase.  Stay tuned!

March in Review

(No) Daylight Savings
In 2022, Mexico’s Senate approved a bill to eliminate daylight savings time, putting an end to the practice of changing clocks twice a year.  We changed our clocks back one final time and Baja California Sur permanently moved into our new time zone – Mexican Pacific Standard Time (GMT-7) in October 2022.

Even though we did not spring forward last year (in March 2023), our electronic devices did not seem to understand.  Bizarre things happened even prior to the time change.  The time on my tablet was suddenly an hour ahead, and Lorne’s alarm moved an hour ahead one day and woke us up at 6am instead of 7am.  For the first two weeks in March last year, we were never sure what the time really was, even though our time did not change.

This year was a little better.  Our phones and computers finally understood we would not spring forward this year, however some software programs were not as smart, like Lorne’s Outlook calendar for work had all his meetings moved forward by an hour.  It took a day or so for Outlook to figure out that he is still here, and his time did not change.  We are crossing our fingers that next year everything will finally work properly.

Now that we no longer observe Daylight Savings Time, the sun currently sets at 6:36pm, which will eventually increase to 7:09pm at the summer solstice.  We thought we might miss having the sun set later in the evening, but as it turns out we don’t.   Once the sun sets, the temperatures start to go down, which makes it easier to sleep in the hotter months.

Benito Juárez Day
El Día de Benito Juárez is celebrated on the third Monday in March as a Mexican public holiday to honour Benito Juárez, Mexico’s former president and national hero.  Schools, government offices, banks and most businesses are closed on this day.

Benito Juárez was born on March 21, 1806.  He served five presidential terms between 1858 and 1872, when he died of a heart attack in 1872 at the age of 66.

He was Mexico’s first indigenous president and led the country during two civil wars (the War of the Reform and the French Intervention).  He is known for restoring the republic, for modernizing the country and promoting indigenous people’s rights.  He is regarded as one of Mexico’s greatest heroes. 

Easter Celebrations
Semana Santa (Holy Week – Palm Sunday to Easter Sunday) is one of Mexico’s most celebrated religious holidays, and one of the busiest weeks for vacationing, as everyone in Mexico heads to the coast for sun, food, and cultural festivities.

Many Mexicans will take their vacation during this week as schools and many government offices are closed.  It is one of the busiest times of the year for travel at airports, bus stations and highways as families and friends flock to the beach for picnics or camping, which is a tradition that goes back generations. 

ps…  Don’t forget to check out the latest Snippets!