Felize Navidad an all that

Happy Holidays and greetings from the Sonora desert here in Mexico!

Right now Ethel and I are enjoying the nice warm days and cool nights here in Hermosillo. Over the last year I have had the opportunity to think quite a bit about the people in my life, both friends and family as living in Mexico makes you all less accessible.

It has been a very full year for me and Ethel. 2010 started out for me with deteriorating mobility and numerous medical exams with the conclusion that both my hips needed to be replaced. Yikes!! As walking became more painful, and walks got shorter and shorter, I did everything to try to put off the inevitable, perfecting the art of procrastination as a tool to avoid the fear of having these major operations. But there is one thing constant pain provides without exception and that is a reminder, albeit excruciating, that in order for life to find normalcy, the risk of having the operation is small compared to the alternative of living a life in pain.

In April 2010 I had my left hip replaced, by a wonderful surgeon and person here in Mexico, Dr Baidon. While there was resulting pain from the operation, it did not compare to the pain I was experiencing before the operation. From the first day after the operation, I was feeling better! My activities over the summer were fairly limited and once I was declared free to return to normal activities (excluding things like running, baseball, cage fighting, combate), I had several months of pretty normal routine. I even played a bit of golf!

Ethel played such a major role in my rehabilitation. She was there 24/7 during and after the operation, feeding, washing, cleaning wounds and ferrying me to physical therapy sessions 6 days a week. The first few weeks included helping me get dressed, take showers and keeping our vegetable garden alive. During all this time Ethel managed to keep her art profession bouncing along as well. Quite an extraordinary woman!
Here she is with her daughter Kati

By September I knew it was time to start thinking about the other hip and on November 15th I had the right hip replaced. I am just now a little over a month into the recovery, having just finished physical therapy. While this recovery seems to be going faster, there is still probably at least 6 weeks until something like normal seems possible. Again, Ethel has really stepped up to the plate and has been invaluable to my healing. This time around she maintained her art class as well as preparing for an exhibition of her work in the new art Museum here in Hermosillo in 2011.

So that’s the short version of 2010. In between operations, I managed to set up several LLC’s and partnerships to purchase condo’s in the Phoenix area. I am hoping to close on the 3rd unit by the end of 2010!

Here’s hoping your 2010 was fruitful and abundant with creative projects, relationships and activities with 2011 providing more of the same opportunities.

Love and blessing to you and I hope I will be able to see you soon!

Feliz Navidad!

Love Don / Ethel

Mexico: The Switzerland of the American Hemisphere?

I was recently told that Mexico has never declared war on anybody and that its foreign policy is basically neutral. After giving this some thought for awhile, I decided to investigate. The first thing I realized was that I had not lived in a country that had never declared war on anybody. While I am sure Mexico has its problems on the international scene, it has never found a good enough reason to want to attack someone on account of a disagreement or even suspected weapons of mass destruction.

In fact the history of this region, long before there was a Mexico as such, indicates there were invasions of all kinds. The Spaniards brought the art form of invasion and pillage from Europe after many centuries of refinement there. Landing in the “New World” and finding out the natives were missing one giant piece of technological advancement that they had (gunpowder), the Spaniards had a field day on a scale never before seen. Wholesale slaughter of kingdoms, and tribes over a whole continent! Score that as one huge victory for really bad karma.

The United States attacked Mexico in 1846 to secure some real estate ranging from Texas, through New Mexico, Arizona, Nevada and right on through to California. After having taken all this land via an unprovoked invasion, the U.S government, possibly out of guilt, wrote a check to Mexico for $15 million which were the closing costs on the real estate deal. By reason of provocations like these, the Mexicans have never really trusted the gringos to the north. Judging by the state of things in those states now, Mexico looks to be on the better side of that deal.

The French and the English also had their day in the “invasion sun” attacking Mexico, and even the Russians gave it some thought at the very same time as the French. In the end both parties decided to call it off to avoid fighting the bigger war between each other.

For Mexico, all these invasions are seen as victories revealing the fact that while Mexico has been beaten around the head and shoulders quite a bit, they have not capitulated to anyone since becoming a nation all their own and declaring independence from Spain in 1810. Their independence war lasted many years until the general of the Spanish army formed an alliance with the “rebel” army and together they fought against Spain. There you have it, Spanish expatriates, siding with the Spanish army to fight Spain. Could it get any better than that? Karma came fast and furious to the Spaniards.

Of course in 1910 yet another revolution took place to overthrow the “monarchy” government that had been in charge since the first revolution. But what does this all mean? What it means is that while Mexico has been neutral in the sphere of international politics, it is no stranger to fighting wars, albeit wars against fellow Mexicans. To be fair, the revolutions were mostly wars between groups of expatriated Spaniards (much like the gringos to the north), but to Mexico’s credit a 20th century that can be characterized on the world’s stage as a century of wars, finds Mexico sitting for the most part as an observer.

Eventually though the infection of war on a global scale caught hold and Mexico in a fit of hysteria felt that it just had to declare war on something, after all everyone seems to be doing it so it must be right. With that in mind Mexico searched for who or what it could dazzle with its army. Based on historical research the leaders decided to do what had been done so well in years past and so they declared war on themselves yet again. You know I am referring to the War on Drugs. You have seen the figures, over 20,000 casualties in the last few years.

The idea of declaring war on “things” may not have been invented in Mexico or even in the U.S. (I really do not want to research this), but the U.S. has certainly had its share of declared wars against poverty, drugs, crime and civil rights to name a few. It is of note, that while the United States has had some modicum of success (define success) declaring wars on other countries, it has had a dismal record in the four “wars” I just mentioned. Mexico seems to be following a similar path with its war on drugs.

The most glaring reason to me why these wars on “things” do not work out so well is that there is no signal for victory. How would Mexico know the war on drugs is over, if in fact it ever was over? Would the cartels voluntarily lay down their arms (and drugs), giving up multibillion dollar businesses, then kiss and make up? Someone please explain to me who would not be tempted to pick up the vacuum created by such an act? Even the initiatives in the U.S. to eradicate, drugs, crime, civil rights and poverty if they did have goals to indicate when the wars were over, they did a poor public relations job letting the U.S population in the loop.

I do not want to be the pessimist here. I would be thrilled to see the Mexican government have a ceremony with the beaten drug lords on an aircraft carrier in the Sea of Japan signing a peace treaty, or how about the last person to emerge from poverty being invited to officially declare the war over as they ring the bell on the N.Y stock exchange? I cannot help but visualize the end of the war on crime from a prison cell where we all now reside. Or would that victory be signified by everyone being let out of prison?

The one gleaming beacon we can say we won is the war on civil rights. Isn’t that right? It must have been won, after all there is a black man living in the White House. Racism is now a thing of the past. Hmmmmm, maybe the jury is still out on that victory. What do you think?

Bit and Pieces from Mexico Part III

Yaqui Dancers and Las Vegas
In the midst of their “training” to be men, Yaqui Indian boys go on a 40 day ordeal where some portion of that training involves dancing. If you ever pull up to a signal light or a toll booth and there is a masked youth with feathers, shakers and clearly dressed in Indian garb, then you have come across something special. They dance for you. It is not just any dance and I will not try to describe it as I can serve it no justice with words. But the experience moves you. I always breakout the pesos for these men in training! They live in the desert and must come to the city as part of their experience.

You will also find other performers hawking for your money in various locations and these are clearly NOT Yaqui Indians. There is the fire breather who does an act with a flaming baton, twirling and tossing it high into the air and of course the coup de gra, blowing the flame from his mouth, all during the course of one red light cycle. Nothing like a mouthful of kerosene for that gingivitis. How they do this in the middle of the summer in the intense heat is a testament to the human will to earn money or is it simply a death wish?

My favorite street performers are a family of 3. The husband (on trumpet), the wife (manager with baby in sling) to collect money, and the son age 3 or 4 and no taller than a garbage can, on drums. The songs I have heard them play (and there is not much you can catch during the length of a stop light) is what the Aussies would call “a ripper” The little boy rails with a driving rhythm and dad lays down the "color" on the trumpet. While this is no Louie Armstrong and Buddy Rich, it is a family that clearly has its eye on Vegas.


Cleaning Happens
My perception of reality was again turned upside down as I pondered the day by day activities in the neighborhood here in the city. You would think by hearing how many friends and family in the U.S. have employed Mexican help in their households as cleaning people that there must be millions of Mexicans working in the U.S. to cover this task and that is probably right.. Upon thinking a little deeper on the topic you might assume that like rocket scientists, there is a finite amount of cleaning people from Mexico to go around and by now there must be none left in Mexico. After all, many of our friends here in Mexico also have cleaning people working at their homes as well. In fact if you drive around the city you will notice that the place is teeming with people cleaning various things. If you venture down to the zocala you will find scores of people waving towels as you drive around the square, urging you to park your car in their area so you can have your car cleaned. There are always people sweeping and mopping all over the city. I am really beginning to think they are all sweeping the same pile of trash. They just keep passing it around the city tag team style.

When the grass pops up between the cracks in our sidewalk in front of our house, we don’t bother to pick up the phone and call someone to clean it up. We don’t even bother to think about cleaning it up ourselves. Why you might ask? We know that it is only a matter of days until our doorbell will ring with someone eager to take that grass out. We had someone come by just a few days ago for that very reason. We agreed on a price $50.00 pesos ($4.21). This particular worker put in a good 2 hours work and when he was finished he rang the bell for his payment. We noted that the walkway was not swept and queried the man who replied, “I don’t sweep walkways, get your housekeeper to sweep it.” Were we witnessing an evolution in the field of sanitation or possibly the emergence of a new division of labor in the Mexican economy? Time will tell. What did happen was that the man left the walk un-swept (he will not be hired in the future), but within hours our doorbell rang again with a women who noted our unkept walkway and offered to sweep it so she could afford to buy much needed medicine for her child.

What has upended my reality in this case is that the Mexicans cleaning houses in the U.S. are simply the overflow of cleaning people in Mexico that have spilled over the border. Mexico is so overstocked with cleaning people that the pressure of all those people (simple physics here) has pushed them northward into Arizona, California, Texas and beyond (some have been found as far away as Canada) Imagine that! 2 illegal border crossings.

I’m thinking all the good cleaning people have stayed in Mexico to be close to family and friends, but if that is true then why does it seem that the whole country is strewn with garbage? Everywhere you go; garbage. It came to my attention when we recently spent a weekend at a beautiful beach near-by. I noticed all the groups of Mexicans with family and friends that had come to be at the beach that day and when they had left, they had also left all their garbage right on the beautiful beach. I mentioned this to our host who surprisingly commented that every morning the Americans who own houses on the beach clean up all the garbage left by the Mexicans! As our host was saying these words I could feel the neurological pathways in my brain twitching and clicking as the sound of new neural pathways like floodgates poured open. The irony and symmetry of it all was too perfect. Americans hiring Mexicans to clean their houses in the U.S. and Mexicans selling beach front property to Americans to clean up their beaches. There is a deeper intelligence at work here. Let’s pay attention!

The Bicycle
In our town you will not find anything resembling a bicycle path. No special lanes with silhouettes of people biking painted on the street, no signage telling you where the path meanders through town. In fact you would be hard pressed to find anyone willing to take the risk of riding a bike. Just recently I noticed the first intersections painted with yellow lines to indicate pedestrian cross walks. Drivers here in Hermosillo are still trying to come to grips with what these painted lines actually mean. You see, under normal circumstances, pedestrians are fair game. I have noticed while crossing busy streets that cars actually speed up as they approach pedestrians. It is my assertion that these new clearly marked crosswalks could well be interpreted by the average driver as an area you would be more likely to find pedestrians for sport.

Once you are out of the city and traveling on the intercity 4 lane high speed divided highway, you are more likely to find bicycle riders. As a rule, the roads on these highways do not have shoulders. What you get are 2 lanes in your direction. If you need to stop for any reason there is no place to put your car. Bicycle riders have overcome this problem in their own unique way. They simply ride their bike into oncoming traffic, usually in the left lane. Many of these people on bikes have them all stacked up with firewood making the experience for someone driving a car that much more profound. I see this often as I drive the 3 hours between Hermosillo and Nogales almost once a month (and never again at night). I think this practice is a form of population control, or a proving out of Darwin’s theory relative to survival of the fittest.

Putting out the “Garbage”
When I arrived in Hermosillo I had 2 garbage pails with wheels and covers. They were nice. Our garbage gets picked up on Tuesdays and Fridays in the early morning. As an average American, I was used to putting out the garbage in the evening so I did not have to crawl out of bed at 6 am to beat the truck the next morning. After being here several months, one evening around 5 pm I put out a garbage pail and at 5:30 pm I noticed the pail was missing, garbage and all. Also of note here in town, if you want to get rid of anything (and I mean anything) all one need do is put it out on the sidewalk overnight. Just about anything and everything will disappear (including garbage and the pail). Who needs special pickup!

The Volkswagen Beetle
No one living in the United States would give this thought a moment of consideration, but after spending any length of time in Mexico you will notice the Volkswagen, the Peoples Car. There are many of them and they are everywhere. I have even seen them used as taxi cabs …… imagine that! God forbid you have luggage. The thought I am referring to is the thought of where do discontinued early model cars go when they die? If you live in North America I can assure you that one place they go is Mexico. Maybe they come here for the weather, or possibly the amazing highway system (I kid, I kid), but whatever the reason, the fact is that if you happen to be looking for parts for a 1932 Volkswagen, I know where you can find gobs of them. The Volkswagen thrives in Mexico, and they are kept alive in many ingenious ways (duct tape was invented here).

Their usefulness is expanded to move beyond mere passenger vehicles; in fact down here they also can be outfitted to function as a pickup truck. I kid you not. I was passed one day on the highway by a “Volkswagen” with the following “upgrades”. At each bumper of the car was an iron pole soaring vertically to the height of the roof of the car. On the top of the car, attached to the vertical poles was a very tall iron roof rack, the sides of which extended another 4-5 feet above the height of the car. Close your eyes and picture this. There was more volume of space in the roof rack than in the entire car. I do not know what the owner of this “stock” car might have used the rack for, but what I do know is the engine in a Volkswagen is a 2 cylinder, air cooled, rear engine, manual transmission. With a full tank of gas and 3 people in the car you would be hard pressed to attain 40 mph downhill. In any case, the Peoples Car thrives here, all model years are available going back to inception.

As an aside, a little know fact is that during Apollo moon missions, it slipped out that the space capsule was no larger than a Volkswagen and to give you a feel for what the astronauts had to endure, image spending 3 days in a Volkswagen with 3 people in it where you ate, slept, pooped etc, which after arriving at the moon, you had 3 more days on the return journey to look forward to. Once news of this got back to Mexico, sales of Volkswagens soared. It was in fact the reason why Volkswagens became so popular here. Mexicans began sleeping and eating and even living in their Volkswagens with families of 8 or more once it was obvious you could go to the moon in one. A small slice of Mexican pride also had it in for those gabachos, wanting to one up them by showing NASA that Mexicans were training for the Mars mission years in advance!

Bits and Pieces from Mexico Part II

Free Enterprise the old fashioned way.
If you are alert and have a great idea, especially for a restaurant, then the thing to do (if you are in Mexico) is to stake out a corner or empty lot in the city (like a mining claim only with squatters rights) and open an outdoor culinary gathering place otherwise known as a restaurant. All you really need to get started is a concept (what type of food), the means to prepare it (camp stove, grill, food cart, propane, wood a few plastic chairs) and your own abandoned lot. I would say most of the restaurants in Hermosillo are open air establishments (or started as one) and each one (like the house building concept previously described) in varying states of development. Some are full blown, covered structures with seating for 50 or more, while others are little more than hot dog stands with food serviced from a cart. You may or may not have a seat to enjoy your meal or even plastic ware to eat your food with, until the “restaurant” makes the next improvement on their business plan. Don’t get me wrong here, that hot dog stand I mentioned does not open until after 9 pm and does not close until 3 am, and my personal observation (and reports from long time residents) indicates that there is always a line of people for these hot dogs.

There is a restaurant across the street from where we live. The seating area is where the garage for the home was. The kitchen is not in the house (hey everyone needs a place to live, right?) but is under a tarp in the backyard. It is a full service kitchen with a large gas grill, numerous propane stoves, several soft drink coolers and a line of people to get in. The food is ridiculously inexpensive, a hearty meal under $5.00, and very good home cooked food.

The last restaurant example is one that we just discovered this past weekend while out by the beach. After driving 3 or 4 miles off the main road to the beach headed to Kino Bay, we came to an area of estuaries. Along this road we made a turn off into an area that had no less than 3 “restaurants” huddled together. Located literally on the banks of the estuary, with dirt floors and covered by awnings, open aired and by health department standards in the U.S. would never see the light of one day in business, we had the freshest and most delicious and the most inexpensive meal I have had to date in Mexico. In the estuary was a genuine oyster, and clam farm stretching over acres of water. For years I have avoided eating oysters due to declining water standards in the U.S., but as I looked out over the pristine waters near Kino bay I could not help but notice that the oysters I would be eating were literally coming directly out of the water and onto my plate. A bakers dozen of oysters cost $50.00 pesos or $4.17 before tip. Each restaurant was full of local Mexicans (I was clearly the only American and maybe the first), there were local musicians and mariachi bands adding to the spirit of the event. The shrimp seviche was absolutely the best I have had so far in Mexico and all the while I was aware how this could never be in the U.S. (OK maybe Louisiana).

Service with a Whistle.
There is nothing I react to more than having my windshield cleaned by sneak attack. After growing up in N.Y. I noted on my early trips to Manhattan that upon entering the city through the midtown tunnel and stopping at the first stop light, that I was going to get my windshield cleaned whether I wanted it cleaned or not. I remember the first time having this experience in N.Y. and thinking, “Hey, this is a great city, they wash your windows when you get here!”. That was a momentary illusion that was quickly disolved when the rosterman finished cleaning my windows and demanded payment. From that day forward I had an attitude toward this particular form of “free” enterprise, the only problem as I saw it was that I was not free to choose whether I wanted my windows cleaned, more often than not I had to pay. Eventually, window washers like these were outlawed in Manhattan and that was very nice, a relief in fact. What I did not know was that all of those newly unemployed window washers from N.Y. headed on down to Hermosillo Mexico to set up shop. They are like kamikaze’s here. Most of the time you don’t see them coming. With their water bottle they can hit your windshield from a good 10 -15 feet so that you now have to have at least that bit cleaned off. I have had running battles with these guys. On some days you can get your windows cleaned 3 times on the way home from a movie! But wait, I digress here. What I really wanted to go on about are the self-employed parking lot attendants you will find all over the state of Sonora and beyond. Combing big box store parking lots, grocery stores and small shopping centers you will find the parking lot attendant. I liken them to the guys you might find in the rest room of well healed hotels or restaurants or upscale nightclubs, they hand you a towel to dry your hands after you have done your business there, and then you are required to give them a tip for their laborious efforts. The parking lot attendant in many cases is equipped with a whistle. He helps you find a parking spot (even if the lot is empty), will help you load your car with goods purchased (even a package of gum, no job too big, no job too small), and of course will help guide you free of your parking spot (yes, even in an empty lot). The whistle indicates the way is clear, and of course the attendant always positions himself in such a way that once you are free of your parking spot, you will be looking directly at him in one way or another for the unsolicited tip request. I will admit that there are occasions where the attendant is actually useful and even I have bolstered the local economy by tossing him a 5 peso coin, and in the end the service rendered is given without too much expectation on the part of the self-employed attendant, and they always give you the courtesy of offering you the opportunity of having a nice day. I have discovered that similar to the startup restaurant real estate “acquisitions” the parking lot attendant is not employed by the retailers in whose lot he operates. The various parking lots are “claimed” (and no doubt handed down from father to son).

Drive through Shopping
The Mexicans have truly innovated retailing and solving unemployment by allowing “drive through” shopping at every major intersection of the city. If the intersection has a stop light, it is also is likely to have some kind of retail opportunity. I call it drive through simply because in many instances as a sale is in the midst of completion (payment), the light will change and the traffic begins to move. Here is the training ground for Mexican salesman and the art of closing a sale. It gives a whole new understanding (and visual picture) of where the phase “letting one get away” comes from.

Unlike the retail experience at the border crossings between the U.S and Mexico, the items for sale in the city are often of high quality. For many months I avoided purchasing anything in the “intersection drive through” until one day I found out the produce, juices and nuts for sale come right from the farms that surround the city. You can see the type of produce offered change as the growing season unfolds. This week I am seeing lots of strawberries, asparagus and peaches, last week there were cantaloupes and throughout the season lots of watermelons. These guys hustle to make sales and the prices are negotiable.

A kilo of asparagus will run you $30.00 pesos ($2.50), a big bag of juicy peaches $40.00 pesos and a braid of fresh garlic 3 feet long will tap you for around $60.00 pesos. What's not to like?

There is also the "Drive-by" retail experience. Just like in the days of my youth when fresh milk was delivered right to the front door of my childhood home, here in Mexico we have numerous vendors each with their own mode of transportation as well as their own song. In the early mornings we have the "Bakery Bicycle". Equiped with a 360 degree fully visible plexiglas showcase attached to the handlebars, and a bell that clearly identifys him as the bakery bicycle, you have your choice of fresh made pastries while they last. I know at some point this vendor will figure out how to attach a latte machine to the bike, at which time I will know it is time to become an investor.

Not to be outdone, once or twice a year I have heard the distinctive whistle of the knife sharpener. His grinding wheel (and chair) resting on his shoulder he strolls the streets blowing his familiar "signature song". He will sit on your sidewalk and sharpen your knives and tell you stories of his 35 year career.

Another routine cart that rolls by regularly is the one with mops, brooms, dust pans and various other cleaning supplies (I am sure this guy must make a killing with all the cleaning people down here).

On overnight trips to San Carlos and the beach if you are up early enough in the morning you will likely catch the fish monger with his catches' of the day. His pickup truck is loaded with coolers which are in turn loaded with all types of fresh fish that once lived nearby in San Carlos Bay. They find themselves in the back of a pickup and brought to your door for prices I am sure they would feel are way too low.

In case you have not had enough of Bits and Pieces in Mexico, you can feel comforted by the fact that there is likely to be a Part III. When I started this blog topic I did not realize there could well be an endless supply of anecdotes.

Bits and Pieces from Mexico Part 1

I have taken the liberty to present facts and then stretch them to enhance both your reading pleasure as well as my own experience while writing.

Having lived here in Hermosillo, Sonora for the last year and a half has had its share of interesting cultural uniqueness’s. I do not live in what is commonly called “an American colony” of which there are many around Mexico. These are cities or towns where you will find Americans living close to each other thereby maintaining a level of consistency as it relates to the cultural norms. I do not live in such a situation and am not suggesting that any one situation of living in a Mexican town or city is better than another. Each has its own palate of circumstances. This is about my situation.

For instance, I live in the central part of Hermosillo very close to the Zocala (town square). Many years ago this neighborhood was THE place to live as evidenced by the very large homes throughout the area, many of which are still occupied by “old money”.
The rest of the homes are a mish mash of culture. For instance our neighbors behind us have one of these large homes. The difference here is that the previous owner (who was old money) had no family to leave the home to, so it was given to the housekeeper (presumably for many years of fine service). Well of course the housekeeper along with ample family members moves in, dogs and all and proceeds to do what just about anyone would do in such a circumstance; open a business fixing cars. At least that is what it sounds like back there. We have enjoyed many hours or roaring engines, car alarms and junk yard dogs. One particularly noisy day we went up on our terrace which overlooks our neighbors’ yard to see what it was all about. Our neighbors, not liking the fact that we could “look down upon them” proceeded to construct a visual blockade soaring 25 feet into the downtown skyline. We lost a nice view of the cathedral on that day and there was nothing to be done about it.

The Daily News, Delivered.
Every morning at around 7 am a car with a rather large stereo speaker attached to the roof drives up and down the neighborhood streets with the morning news blaring out. Of course the news is relayed in Spanish, and with the quality of the speaker on the roof of the car and my understanding of Spanish somewhat limited, I really have never understood what was being said and more often than not had a few ugly things to say about people who drive around at 7 am with high volume anything coming out of one highly taxed stereo speaker. Today was different. Today as my partner Ethel and I were checking our emails, the “news car” rolled by and Ethel started laughing. Apparently the rendition of the news that was blaring went something like this, “Last night a poor man who was feeling down on his luck, with a hungry belly and spirits dancing in his mind (drugs/alcohol) was found in a neighbor’s house risking his life and freedom for a few pesos to feed himself and his family. By chance, a policeman found him there and took him to the great castle (jail).” Apparently many renditions of news stories are literally juiced up like this to make one feel less fear and get a little chuckle instead.

Dog town.
Everywhere I have been in Mexico I have noted the omnipresence of the canine. Unleashed, un-collared and street savy. These are not mean dogs, they are simply part of the culture. Roaming, exploring, sometimes alone, sometimes with amigos. One of the oddities I have noted is that I have never seen the loose roaming canines barking and carrying on. These dogs know how to cross a busy street and in some cases even direct traffic. The “domesticated” canine is where I find the problem. I use the word domesticated with a looseness that borders on anarchy. I have considered a few of the local domesticated canines with pity and distain. One around the corner from us lives 24/7 on a second floor balcony totally exposed to the sun all day and the moon at night. If you are not familiar with Sonora weather, summertime daily temperatures routinely hit 115- 120 degrees. Aside from being penned up all day exposed to extreme temperatures, wouldn’t you bark your little brain out every chance you had? Nobody appears to listen to the pleas (I am talking about the owners here), we get to hear the canine news frequently as this is only one of several dogs who have “barksex” almost every night. They really want to meet each other, I can tell from their tone, but they are separated by human walls and fences.

The Housing Crisis and Debt Bubble
When I first started driving down to Mexico, I couldn’t help but notice the number of partially built homes and buildings everywhere I went. Columns of cement and cinder blocks with steel rebar poking out from all the seams. It was always something I had been noticing almost at a subliminal level. My thought process went almost un-noticed. I made the assumption that these structures were in the process of falling down. There was no evidence of people working, machinery or equipment, just partial buildings on a dirt patch along the side of the road. These structures take a bit of the luster out of enjoying the scenery of a country side or a city, but there they were. I often wondered why these eyesores were not simply taken down repairing the view ………. And then I found out the truth.

The truth is Mexico is still pretty much a cash economy. While there are plenty of banks, people do business the old fashion way. Hell, those houses weren’t leftover; crumbling edifices and eyesores, they were new construction! Many people down here go by the economic principle “pay as you go”. Them there houses I was seeing all along the highways and byways were getting’ built when the owners had the cash to make the next improvement. I’m still wrapping my mind around these new fangled ways of doin’ things ‘round here.

Surgery in Mexico

The Operation


The day finally arrived and checking into the hospital was pretty quick, we arrived at 10:30 am and by 11:30 I was in the prep stage of the operation. One by one the surgery team arrived and within 30 minutes or so we were having a good time. I had baked 3 dozen cookies a few days before and brought them along sharing with the staff along the way. I highly recommend this tactic (unless you are a terrible baker) as it certainly built some valuable lines of force.

By 12:30 I was being gradually sedated and by 1:15 I was yawning and dosing off. Being wheeled into the operating room was somewhat surreal along with what followed. My primary sedation was from the hips down with secondary sedation for me to sleep. There was also a shield so I could not see the work being done. In this semi-conscious state I felt nothing, no pain, but there were moments when I heard what was going on as if I was in a room next door. I could hear the pounding of a hammer on the prosthesis as it was being driven into the tibia, but again, I had no feeling of it. At one point I opened my eyes and saw the anesthesiologist and asked him for a drink of water, but again it all took place without full recognition of where I was and what was happening. I write this 2 full days after the operation and I still have felt no pain. Perhaps once I start my rehab this will change.

The hospital staff has been amazing along with the food, and the accommodations are well appointed (although the TV’s could use an upgrade). I am scheduled to be home on Thursday. I have had a good number of visitors both in person and online for which I am so grateful. My partner Ethel has been amazing too and will be “nursing” me back to health over the next few months. Thanks to everyone who has made contact and provided surround for this event.

Health Insurance in Mexico

I moved to Mexico in October of 2008 and with things the way they were in the U.S. with healthcare, I purchased a private health insurance plan in Mexico. Initially I did not know what to expect with an annual premium less than $1,000.00. In the U.S. $1000.00 would get you maybe 3 or 4 months of insurance for an over 50 male. I have heard there is a public plan in Mexico that costs $250.00 per year and that many Americans buy into it and it works quite well, but I do not know this first hand. The state run plan is for public hospitals which I can only assume, means waiting in lines in crowded hospitals, but again, I have not explored this option at all. Having visited a number of hospitals here in Hermosillo, public, private and church run, I have not seen any over crowded facilities.

The plan I purchased is from AXA Insurance a company born in France and now has independent groups around the world. My first experience here in Mexico was to schedule an annual physical that is included in the plan. Of course I had to choose a Doctor so I inquired about English speaking MD’s that could be my primary care Doctor and upon choosing my Doctor I called to make an appointment for the physical. The receptionist being bilingual was able to make an appointment for the very next day at a time that I chose. The annual exam that is covered by the plan includes: blood pressure, EKG, full blood and urine analysis (cholesterol, prostate etc) and the usual eyes, ears, throat, look under the hood evaluation. The only cost involved is the fee for the visit to the Doctor that totaled about $15.00 U.S. The AXA plan I purchased also provides limited coverage in the U.S. Should I be in an accident of some kind. I am covered 100% for emergency room costs as well as transportation (once stable) back to a Mexican hospital for the rest of my treatment.

To give you an idea of how different the system is here, the blood work was booked for an appointment, blood taken and the results presented, all on the same day! This is the usual procedure as I have had 4 or 5 blood / urine tests in the 18 months. The same is true for the urine analysis as well as x-rays. In fact during one of my visits with the orthopedic surgeon he wrote a Doctors order to get x-rays of my hips. I went to the hospital with the order and was immediately taken into the x-ray lab, had the x-rays taken and received the results all within 10 minutes. That kind of blew my mind, but in the year and a half I have been in Mexico, it seems to be the norm.

The waiting rooms in the buildings where the Doctors are located look more like first class airport lounges than what I had come to know in California as the metal chaired waiting rooms full of people waiting 30 minutes or an hour beyond my appointment time. The waiting rooms here have nice leather couches with large coffee tables arranged in pods in spacious rooms where I have never seen more than 5 or 6 people waiting at any one time.

My plan has a deductible of $22,000.00 pesos or roughly $1,800.00. Because I am having my operation in a Cima Hospital I am given a further discount to the equivalent of $1,500.00. I am not sure of why this discount is applied, but I have no reason to complain about it. Once the deductible is exceeded the coverage is 100% including all meds, all Doctor fees, physical therapy both in the hospital and when I am home. Regarding hospitals, I am eligible to go to any private hospital in Mexico with the exception of 3 or so that are located in Mexico City. I will get a private room in whatever hospital I am attended to and if the hospital has suites (two rooms), they are included in the plan. As I will be beginning my hospital stay in just a few days, I will be able to better describe the accommodations food, staff etc. I tried to book the suite, but it can only be reserved one day before entry into the hospital. We will be calling on Sunday to see if the suite is available. I have been told wiifi is available in the hospital and will confirm that once I have checked in.

Outside of the annual physical exam, these are the approximate out of pocket coasts for the following tests: blood test $10.00, x-rays $15.00, MRI spine $485.00 and of course the cost of prescription or over the counter drugs are a fraction of the cost in the U.S. The hip replacement operation costs are about $18,000.00 each. As I have been run through the approval process to have both hips done (not at the same time), I will only pay the one deductible of $1,500.00.

The proof, as they say, is in the pudding. So far my experience here in Mexico medical land has been far above the average care in the U.S. What remains to be seen is the result of the operation which takes place Monday morning, April 5 at about 11:30 am PST. I like my orthopedic surgeon; he has been doing hip replacements for 20 years and seems to be active in his field attending Int’l symposiums related to the latest equipment and procedures. My replacement will be a metal ball in a poly cup inside a metal holder screwed into my hip joint. No metal on metal, no ceramic and hopefully a replacement that will last many years (average expectancy is 20 years).

If you would like to check out the Cima Hospital in Hermosillo follow the link below.


http://www.cimamedicalvaluetravel.com/herm

Up next: Checking into the hospital and the Operation

My Mexican Medical Odyssey (or “How I came to Mexico to have my hips replaced”)

I wasn’t particularly surprised when I got the news, none the less fear did rise up in me. I have never had an operation in my life. It has been my belief for many years and it is confirmed these days statistically, that people die in hospitals! What I mean to say is that people die because of various negligence’s of patients while they in the hospital. Bad diagnosis, wrong treatment, poor professional work, drugs and the list goes on with probably the most prolific cause of people dying in hospitals is from something different from what they initially went there to be treated for. Go in for stitches and come out with staff infection. Those are reasons I have avoided hospitals my whole life. Now I am looking at an unavoidable circumstance.

In 1995 I was in a pretty serious car crash where I exited unscathed, or so I thought. I did miss 3 months of work, but I had no broken bones just the physical trauma of being in a head on smash. My muscles were stiff and soar to the point where I could not exit a bath tub after returning home from the emergency room. During my massage and chiropractic rehabilitation was the feeling in my left hip that it was not quite all together. It was like a knuckle that needed to be cracked, pulled on and put back in its rightful place.

By 2001 I was experiencing some odd symptoms with numbing pain in my buttocks that ran down my left leg to the knee. I went and had x-rays which revealed nothing conclusive from the doctor’s standpoint. Because the occurrences were scattered and not continuous, I “powered through” with exercise and activities, and while I was not inhibited anymore, it was there in the background, that feeling of a chip or something in the hip. A chip in the hip.

In February of 2009 things began to change. I was still walking everyday, but I was noticing more and more stiffness in both my hips, but mainly on the left side. By August of 2009 I had to give up daily walks. The pain was inhibiting movement as well as increasing in intensity.

The news I received came as a result of simple x-rays. One glance at the x-rays by the orthopedic surgeon and the definitive statement he made, “you need both hips replaced” was both alarming and calming at the same time. I finally received a diagnosis that was definitive and concrete; even I could see in the x-ray the bone on bone contact in my ball and socket joints, the source of jolting pain as well as numbing radiant agony keeping me from sleep.

That was the calming part. The alarming part was the idea of having part of my bones hacked out, the extended recuperative down time and how am I going to pay for it?

Next blog .... Health insurance in Mexico