Catch Up !!!! February, 2016

Well, HELLO there!!

Yup, it's me finally getting the time to write a few words. Since returning from Europe on October 21st, 2015, I haven't truly gotten the chance!

The day after we returned, we dealt with an infestation of termites that just about ate up our bathroom cabinet. We were able to salvage it but what a mess!

Then Hurricane Patricia, yea, my namesake, decide to put us all in a state of high alert. Mike & I fortunately made it to Costco and the market to restock our coffers before the masses descended there. The day Patricia was supposed to kick our butts, Mike and I made the decision to stay put in our condo. Based in many factors, we felt safer right here rather than trying to flee or move inland. 

So we taped Windows, took everything off the walls and counters, and set up a safe room in our bathroom. Our biggest concern was the blow out of our windows, which we knew would definitely happen.

Store fronts all taped.

I was also kept crazy busy with monitoring my huge membership Facebook Group, Puerto Vallarta: Everything You Need or Want to Know. Unfortunately, the news media in the US and Canada had us all dead. Yup, they were reporting that anyone still in PV would be a goner!! I had to ask people tactfully, to please stop!! We were the ones here and could tell them all exactly what was going on. 

Early in the day, the government did evacuate everyone from the beach hotels and housing. I can't tell you how impressed I was with the way they mobilized so quickly. This storm became a CAT 5 within 24 hours. The biggest in the history of Pacific hurricanes!!

It was a very long day, to say the least!! First they told us they were going to cut power off at 2pm, then when that didn't happen, they said 4pm. But, in the end, they never did turn it off because the storm didn't reach us at all!

We were all praising our beloved Sierra Mountains that have always spared us from any direct hit. One of the reasons we live be it here. Sure enough, the storm actually took the path for least destruction of people. However, those that were in its path had tons of damage. We got no more than a light rain and a whiff of wind. The storm we had a week later was way more ferocious!

So we had party, after party of surviving a hurricane that never came. And fund raising began in earnest for those less fortunate. 

So began the high season !! Lol 

I committed to a part time job as Media Coordinator for a local organization. That has kept me quite busy. Plus, I was given the opportunity to do some advertising for the local live theater and, in return, given free tickets to the shows. So between the two opportunities, I'm crazy busy!!

Halloween, Day of The Dead, Thanksgiving, Pilgrimages, Christmas, New Years, Mardi Gras, Valentines, and many birthday parties have come and gone. All the while, we're enjoying our friends and getting together to celebrate our way of life here.

View from Casa Karma

Build your own Bloody Mary at Casa Karma.

Nathan & Allen, our neighbors & good friends.

Mardi Gras:

I modeled in one of the wonderful charity functions for the orphaned children. Mike has been playing trivia with a group on Monday evenings. I even called the trivia event one week because the organizer was taking a short trip. I'm now working on modeling for another charity function in a couple of weeks.

 

A couple of weeks ago, Mike and I took a short 4 day/3 night trip up into the mountains to experience the Monarch Butterfly Awakening. No words to describe!! Stunning and spectacular!!

We also got to visit Morelia, where the Pope just visited, Tzitzanzun, Santa Clara de Cobre, & Patzcurao. All beautiful with gorgeous local handcrafts of straw weaving, pottery, copper, etc. We did a bit of very inexpensive shopping but came home with a bunch! LOL
Video of Monarchs:
https://www.dropbox.com/s/hq8wgjb3yelolid/IMG_6010.MOV?dl=0

https://www.dropbox.com/s/b16vnpm7adhrm4w/IMG_6121.MOV?dl=0

A terrific opportunity to go to China and Thailand for 22 days at a simply fantastic price popped up, so we jumped on it!  Booked and everything in the works. August 24th is our departure date. So excited!

In the last couple of weeks we also applied and received our new passports that were expiring this year and it looks like we may be embarking on starting a new business here. Like we're not busy enough!! Retirement for us just meant that we have time to give our time to causes we are passionate about. It certainly doesn't mean we have become reticent about life.

But, the BIG news, is the that Mike was asked and he accepted to be a contestant in the 2nd Annual "What A Drag 2016" show. This is where 8/9 straight men dress up in drag and perform in the theater. The audience gets to vote on who's best overall after they are interviewed and then perform. This is all for the battered women's shelter. A fantastic cause!! So, stay tuned, as this is happening this coming Friday night!

Well, I have to say, the What A Drag 2016 was an amazing event!! The 8 guys did an incredible job of putting themselves out there. We raised almost $30,000US (over 500,000 pesos) for this worthy cause - Banderas Bay Women's Shelter. You guys ROCKED!!

 Video of Mike

The MC's, Sutton Lee Seymour & Kim Kuzma

My Guy, Mike Lyman - MISS CANDY APPLE!!

Joe Jack of Joe Jack's Fish Shack.

 

Mike & his Fairy Godmother - Nathan Frye!

I intend to finish my postings on the last two cities of our European trip - Madrid and Lisbon. I will, I will!

New friends keep coming into our lives and we feel so very fortunate to have them. Everyone here says they have more good friends than they did back "home". It's so easy to meet new people here and we're all just friggin HAPPY! Our health continues to be good and we cherish it. 

So here's to hoping that you're all healthy and happy! Later taters. 

Budget Update - January, 2016

It's again a New Year!! Wow, time is flying by here in beautiful PV where we once again proved that you can live well for a very reasonable budget.

So, off we go again into this new year trying to continue to live within our income but still keeping our goal of no more than $2,000/month for our true Living Expenses. And, if we keep our total expenses to no more than $2,500/month, it leaves a good bit for our love of traveling.

January was an extremely busy month for us! Many show openings that we love to attend. Free tickets in lieu of doing some advertising work for local entertainment venues. Thank You!!

I also took a part time job doing media coordinating for a local organization. My time is most certainly not idle!!

Living Expenses:	January
Rent w/util	$       800
Electric	$         18
Cell Phone	$         16
Groceries	$       192
Meals Out	$       363
Drinks Only	$       197
Entertainment	$         37
Massages	$         19
Bus/Taxi	$         15
Dental Cleaning
Incidentals	$       100
TOTAL	$    1,757
TOTAL W/O RENT	$       957
Discr Spending:
Visas/Legal	$       220
Clothes/Shoes/Gifts	$         48
Medical/Life Ins.	$       322
Tours
Home Improve	$       203
Medical
Dental
Air Travel
Trips/Vacations
Car Rental/Gas
Spanish Lessons
TOTAL Discr.	$       793
TOTAL ALL	$    2,550

*Meals Out: Jan. 15x
*Drinks Only: Jan. 14x
*Legal: Jan. Passport Renewal

YEAR END 2015 BUDGET UPDATE

HAPPY NEW YEAR 2016!! Or as I'm choosing to call it the Sweet 16.

It's been 2 full years now that we have lived full time in PV. Wow! Where did the time go? We've been busy assimilating into our new town and with it has come so many wonderful new friends and rewards for being actively involved!!

In 2014, we showed that you could live a very good life style for approximately $25,000/year, if you weren't lavish and chose wisely where you eat and drink out.  (See Year End Budget posted in mid December, 2014.)

In 2015, we proved that our high quality of living on as little as $25,000/year was no fluke. We've established wonderful friends and enjoy their company through many different activities. This year I was offered an opportunity to earn a few dollars by doing media coordinating for a local organization.

We continued to take advantage of Cupocity discounts on meals, tours, massages, etc. We also determined where we get the best bang for our buck, which allows us to eat and drink out with our friends. We are social people and gathering with friends is very important to us.

Living Expenses are broken out separately from Discretionary Spending. We are fortunate that we have some discretionary income and make no apology for spending it.

As we also knew would happen, in 2015, our family and friends would start visiting us and the winter months would see us eating out and going on excursions more with them. My daughter and her family were here for 16 days in January, and several friends came to town to spend time with us. It definitely shows in our expenditures for these 2 month!

We also had the opportunity to meet up with friends from Nicaragua in Mexico City for a week in February and while we were already up in the "highlands" of Mexico, we decided to come back by bus and visit San Miguel de Allende, Guanajuato, and Leon. A beautiful part of this wonderful country!

The month of January also brought us the expenditures of washing machine repair ($232), camera repairs ($10), more of Mike's dental woes (a new crown, reconstruction of previous crown preparation performed in Costa Rica,  & a tooth pulled = $742), and Mike needing to visit a chiropractor twice for adjustments that couldn't be dealt with in a massage ($73). We also took a 3 day side excursion to Yelapa with family and incurred hotel expenses and a more expensive water taxi ride plus all meals out.

But, we are extremely happy that everyone wants to come see us!!  This was part of our decision to live here. We knew it was easier and more alluring for them to come here to PV than any other location we considered. So it is what it is and we make no apologies for enjoying our family and friends.

In March, our expenditures went back to normal. EXCEPT we had decided back in December, 2014 to purchase excellent seat tickets ($300) to the Santana/Journey concert in Guadalajara for March 26. The total of the expenditures including the tickets, tours of Guadalajara, meals out, our stay in a B&B, gas, taxes, busses, etc. are all accounted for.

April shows we have come out of high season and back to well below our goal budget for Living Expenses. This was also due to our renegotiating our lease here in our apartment. Because we have been an asset to our landlord, which allows him to spend more time with his family in the states, he agreed to allow us to sign a 15 month lease with 3 months of free rent during the low season so we could travel a bit more without moving. We all agreed to a steady cash flow over the 15 months of $800/month.

Restaurant Week(s) are held in May. This is where many restaurants have a special set 3 course meal for well below the cost of a normal meal at their establishment. We took advantage of eating at several restaurants that would normally be well out of our budget. We also attended a charity function called The International Altruism Festival, which had 35 restaurants represented there. Also as a result of several friends coming to town, we ate out way above normal for a whopping 18 times!

In May, we also took advantage of the low cost medical clinics that are provided by Pam Thompson-Webb of www.healthcareresourcespv.com. So Mike and I both had our ears checked for a cost of $46US for both of us. Mike had an ear infection, so we had medication to purchase for $3US. I also took advantage of getting a Shingles Vaccine at a local hospital for the low cost of $157US (it's about $400-$500 in the US).

In June, we traveled the whole month, which is why there aren't any expenses except our rent in the Living Expenses category. Our journey took us to Cancun, where we spoke at the 10th Annual International Living Retire Overseas Conference; then on to Playa del Carmen for a week; then to MA & CT to visit family and friends; and down to Raleigh, NC to visit with family. On June 30, we flew to WA, which is where we were until July 17. This is our annual US visit from coast to coast. An expensive trip but with family spread out all over the US, it's very necessary.

Our Trip Expenses include air fare, hotel, car rental, meals & drinks out, clothes, electronics, entertainment, cell phone, etc. In February, we flew to Mexico City for a week, took a bus back via San Miguel, Guanajuato, & Leon for a total of 12 days. In June, we went to Cancun/Playa for a week. Then flew to CT, USA, drove to Raleigh, NC, flew to Spokane, WA for a total of 6 weeks. In September, we flew to Europe and traveled throughout via train for 6 weeks.

The month of August saw us back into a "regular" routine. No having to stock up because we'd been gone, no visiting friends or family, just a normal month of living at home in PV.  So you see, you CAN live reasonably here and still enjoy life.

The one change we did make in August, was our insurance situation. After more research, we chose to switch to a company (WEA) where both of us could be covered globally (except US). We chose a $3mil, $2,500 deductible plan for each of us. Our combined premium equates to the $322/month (we paid one full year in advance to avoid extra servicing charges).

The Living Expenses are our true living expenses and we could easily have a good life on just this amount. However, we are fortunate and do have some discretionary income, which we gladly use to have an even better life. So just because you might not have this additional income, doesn't mean you can't enjoy life here in PV.

Living Expenses:	January	February	March	April	May	June	July	August	September	October	November	December
Rent w/util	$    1,000	$    1,000	$    1,000	$       800	$       800	$       800	$       800	$       800	$       800	$       800	$       800	$       800
Electric	$          24	$             -	$          23	$             -	$          45		$          33		$          20		$          44
Cell Phone	$          42	$          40	$          39	$             -	$          14		$          65			$            6	$          12	$          36
Groceries	$       227	$       219	$       249	$       143	$       231		$       378	$       151	$            4	$       306	$       246	$       297
Meals Out	$       448	$       292	$       240	$       183	$       420		$       112	$       258	$          99	$       113	$       376	$       228
Drinks Only	$       161	$       154	$          95	$       238	$       144		$       116	$       169		$       199	$       173	$       191
Entertainment	$          60	$          57	$       105	$          33	$             -		$          65	$          87	$          40		$          88	$          67
Massages	$       101	$          20	$          40	$          33	$          33		$          43	$          31	$          47	$          66	$          30	$          46
Bus/Taxi	$          64	$          55	$          15	$          25	$          50		$          10	$          16		$          12	$          25	$          13
Dental Cleaning	$          33	$          80		$             -	$          33						$          48
Incidentals	$          25	$          18	$          82	$          25	$          78		$          20	$          51		$          98	$          50	$          70
TOTAL	$    2,185	$    1,935	$    1,888	$    1,480	$    1,848	$       800	$    1,642	$    1,563	$    1,010	$    1,600	$    1,892	$    1,748		$ 19,591
TOTAL W/O RENT	$    1,185	$       935	$       888	$       680	$    1,048	$             -	$       842	$       763	$       210	$       800	$    1,092	$       948		$    9,391
Discr Spending:
Visas/Legal	$             -	$             -						$       146
Clothes/Shoes/Gifts	$          13	$          32	$          27	$       162	$          63
Medical/Life Ins.	$       211	$       211	$       211	$       211	$       211	$       211	$       211	$       322	$       322	$       322	$       322	$       322
Tours	$          87	$          60										$       111
Home Improve	$       420	$       171	$          57	$          75	$          65		$          53	$       131			$       163	$       267
Medical	$       237				$       221		$          48			$          24	$       100	$          14
Dental	$       742
Air Travel
Trips/Vacations	$       180	$    2,459	$       684			$    2,685	$    2,655		$    5,723	$    5,723				$ 20,109
Car Rental/Gas
Spanish Lessons
TOTAL Discr.	$    1,890	$    2,933	$       979	$       448	$       560	$    2,896	$    2,967	$       599	$    6,045	$    6,069	$       585	$       714		$ 26,685
TOTAL ALL	$    4,075	$    4,868	$    2,867	$    1,928	$    2,408	$    3,696	$    4,609	$    2,162	$    7,055	$    7,669	$    2,477	$    2,462		$ 46,276

*Drinks Only (in PV only): January 11x; February 9x; March 7x; April 15x; May 11x; July 9x; August 15x; September 0x; October 12x; November 13x; December 14x
*Meals Out (in PV only): January 12x; February 10x; March 9x; April 8x; May 18x; July 6x; August 9x; September 4x; October 6x; November 14x; December 10x
*Our Rent includes 1br/1ba; dipping pool; view of Bay; fully furnished with everything you need; cable TV, internet, water; excludes electric.
*I do not include health insurance as a Living Expense because many expats choose not to have insurance. It is our choice to have it.