Exchange Rate - November 2011

Saw this article on Yahoo today. It is in Spanish so if you have an automatic translator it will convert it over for you. Basically the exchange rate is continuing to move to new short term highs in favor of the U.S. Dollar. This is of great importance to expats living abroad, specifically here in Mexico.

How would you like to experience a 25% decrease in the cost of living over a six month period? Expats in Mexico have since May. The Peso/Dollar exchange rate has gone to $14.30 MXP to $1.00 USD today. Economists are expecting this trend to continue through Christmas with a move to 15/1 sometime before the end of the year.

FYI. Enjoy it while you can. I really think this has more to do with keeping Mexican manufacturing productive since 85% of all goods manufactured in MX are sent to the U.S.A. Those American imports are thus paid for in U.S. Dollars, keeping demand for dollars high, amongst other reasons.

Recuarda, "Hecho en Mexico."

Saludos
Jay

A Good Insurance Agent

I have posted in the past on car insurance for Mexico (Click Here). Let me make one modification to my recommendation. Use a local agent that will get you the same policy who is also available 24/7 and is accountable, accessible and understands your needs. I am not saying MexAdventure won't fulfill their responsiblities. I am just saying it is better to work through Locals if you can. This is one of the things I am learning.

I have a policy with HDI through MexAdventure but I don't have a local sale rep through whom I originated the policy. If I had it to do over again I would go the route of the local rep who hooks you up with the insurance agency. That way you have a local contact who will do everything in their power to take care of your needs.

This is the local agent I recommend, Julieta Morales Vera. This is her website. She gives excellent customer service, she is bilingual and she has a good reputation among the expats I have talked to. If/When I renew my policy I will start it over and use her. You need a good local rep on the ground who knows the city. For that I recommend Julieta. Here is her email and contact info:

US.phone: (786) 342-0569
Email: julieta.morales@segurosmerida.com
Telcel: 9991 63 35 61

Iusacel: 9999 49 31 32

Seguros Mérida - Oficina 

Calle 72A No. 489 x 17 Col. Garcia Gineres

C.P. 97070 Mérida, Yucatán, México

Email: contacto@segurosmerida.com

Oficina: (999) 285 72 82

I would highly recommend that you pay a few dollars more for full coverage. Contact her and she can explain the details. This is one of the areas that you definitely want to get right when living abroad.

Saludos
JEB
jayblackshear@yahoo.com

Schooling for the Kids and Learning Spanish

My advice to you if you are moving here with school-aged children:

Don't wait until you get here before you start immersing them in a good language program. Do that now. Why? If/when you move here you are going to want to put your kids in school at some point, even if you homeschool the first year after you arrive. Our kids are now enrolled in a private school and are doing well socially. But one of our sons is going through a bigger adjustment academically than we thought would happen.

Por ejemplo (for example): He is doing the same level of math this year in his Spanish curriculum that he did in last years English home-school curriculum with a few things added in. But he is adjusting to some aspects of the this years course study more slowly because they are speaking on a more advanced level with regards to Spanish verbs in the command form. Now his teachers are telling me that his Spanish is improving. But when we are studying and doing his homework in History, Geography, Ethics and Civic Studies....whatever, it is taking longer for us to decipher the written text in those classes because much of the vocabulary and verb conjugation is new to both he and I. Mexican History, as an example is obviously going to be spoken almost exclusively in the past tense. That means the verbs fluctuate between preterite and co-pretertie with regards to all all five verb tenses of me, you, him/her, them and us.

Confused yet?

And both he and I have finished the first three and one-half levels of Spansh studies from http://www.learnables.com/. Even if your kids have taken some of these courses, which I strongly advise that you do in advance of moving here, there is still an adjustment period for them in the language and in their course study. Some nights I spend two hours translating text with my son just to get him to a point where he can read and decipher the content of his course studies. In doing so we utilize Google Translate quite extensively along with a good Spanish dictionary.

And on top of that, if your child's teachers are not understanding of the adjustments they are going through and they grade them like they should be fluent, well, let's just say not every teacher in the world understands the word "curve". Some here do and some don't. I have already had at least three sit downs with my son's teachers. We love them and are grateful for the opportunities God has given our children and they are learning and growing. Not everything comes easy with that and you just have to understand that this will involve you with their homework, preparation for upcoming tests and general levels of encouragement more than maybe if they were going to schools where everyone speaks your native tongue.

Get a good language program like The Learnables before you come down. Learn as much Spanish as you can before you arrive. You will be glad you did and so will your children. If you have questions email me. We are glad to help and give feedback.

Saludos

JEB
jayblackshear@yahoo.com.

P.S. Just because a school in Merida says they are bilingual doesn't mean they are really bilingual. The bulk of the course studies will be in Spanish more than likely. If the teacher teaching those courses speaks very little English and they are not understanding of your situation, you will be wishing your kids spoke more Spanish. Study Spanish now.

YES

We just got our visas renewed about two weeks ago. Overall it was about a three week process. While we are grateful that everything went smoothly and the process is over, I am not going to write in detail about it because Visa laws in Mexico have changed. The new laws are to go into effect as of January 1, 2012 from what I have been told. Because of this, much of what I might write on may not be applicable in the next 60 days or so.

I do want to point out that we did receive help from Yucatan Expatriate Services (YES). They offer a wide variety of immigration, legal and property management services for expats. Adriana and Betty are bilingual and do answer emails promptly which I appreciated. I even caught Betty about to leave for the day when we dropped in at the office. She offered to stay and help us out with an issue even though we offered to come back later. This was very curteous and helpful on her part and very much appreciated by my wife and I.

They helped me to get my required cover letters typed and filled out properly for my renewals. I had already done my forms on line which they do offer to do for you. Their visa renewal assistance fee is only $250 MXP per person if you retain them to handle all issues for you. That comes out to less than $20 per person. Good deal if you ask me.

If you need anything they are a good resource in not only my opinion but other expats as well.

Saludos
JEB

Weather and Seasons in Merida

Invierno (Winter). Primavera (Spring). Verano (Summer). Otono (Fall). Merida does have four annual seasons. They are just not as pronounced as the seasons in the continental United States. Texas and Oklahoma have very distinguishable seasons that last about 3 months per season so there is never any doubt as to what time of year it is.

From what I have seen over the past year, the four seasons of the year generally unfold in the Yucatan in the following order:

• Invierno - December through February
• Primavera - March through Mid April
• Verano - Mid April through September (Mid July to September is rainy season)
• Otono - October and November

It doesn't get cold here in the winter. It's basically about 65 to 70 degrees Fahrenheit for a high each day for about three months in Merida proper. You can subtract about 5 to 10 degrees off of all of these numbers for the beach towns north of here.

I still don't understand why Costco and Sam's sell winter clothing here but they do. And the Yucatecos buy them. And when you have a dip in temps them come out all bundled up. It's actually kind of funny to see.

Spring was the shortest month this year and lasted about 6 weeks. When I say Spring I mean that it didn't feel cold or hot in the midday. It just fell somewhere in between. It's pleasant and fresh outside.

Summers here are harder to endure and last at least 6 months a year. Combine the higher temperatures with the blanketing humidity and you will feel like heading back north every year just to remember what cold weather feels like. Summer is when you get heavy seasonal rains, specifically from July through mid September. During that time it rains almost every day for at least 10 minutes at a time, maybe twice a day, usually in the afternoons.

Fall weather started almost on a dime on October 1st. From what I remember last year it ended at or around December 1st.

I really miss winters in the U.S. I miss all of the seasons. Every season has noticeable smells in the air and sights that seem to mark them that you just don't experience here. The smell of burning firewood and chimney smoke in the winter, occasional snow in Texas, the smell of fresh honeysuckle in the springtime, fresh water lakes in the summer, the beautiful fall colors of trees as their leaves change over.....You just don't take in all of that here.

Everything here is just a little more bland. There are going to be things you are going to miss when you move here. These are some of the things my family and I miss. Sights, sounds, tastes, ......Some things back home just seem irreplaceable sometimes. Where's a Kleenex?

JEB

Speaking of Food...............

There are three restaurants that my family and I really enjoy frequenting here in the Yucatan.

First, La Tradicion.

La Tradicion is located on Calle 60 north of the Centro area. This was where I first had Panuchos and sopa de Lima, two of my favorite Yucatecan foods. When you come down you need to catch a cab here for dinner. I highly recommend it. La Comida del ayer, hoy. Yesterday's food today. It's delicious.

My second restaurant recommendation is Eladios at the beach in Progresso. 

My recommendation is to order your drinks and let them bring you endless finger foods. I took a client there with a couple of Yucatecos and we basically all filled up on every type of Yucatecan finger food imaginable (seafood, sauteed/flavored veggies, ......) and when we were done, after two rounds of drinks, paid a grand total of $20 USD for a party of four. Not Bad. And to top it of....

...You get a tremendous view of the beach right at the base of the pier plus all of the gulf breezes blowing across your face. Just sit back and enjoy.

My final recommendation is for people with kids. If you move here and start getting settled in you need someplace to go where the little ones can play and blow off steam while you sit back and talk and eat. We like Los Trompos at City Center on the northside. 

Upstairs has adult dining with a large indoor play area for the kids. Downstairs is where adult only parties sit. The food is typical Mexican food from outside the Yucatan, not Yucateco food. It is very popular however with the locals and gets quite busy at most of it's locations around the city. The food is not expensive, the restaurant is always clean and the service has always been very good, especially if you tip 15% or more.

These are just a few recommendations.  Hope this helps.

Saludos

Jay

 

Sanitation Essentials and Preventing Sickness

The following is a good way to try and keep yourself healthy when you live here. Besides exercise and generally eating well, you are going to have to take some precautionary measures to reduce the risk of you getting sick from improper HACCP in restaurants and grocery stores (See Previous Post) and from catching things caused by the poor hygiene standards of others. I find this to be especially applicable for kids that go to school and for the elderly.

I know people can and do get sick everywhere. But one thing you will find when you move here to Merida is that your immune system is not yet ready to fend off some of the challenges it is going to face in the first months of living here. Some of this will seem like common sense but you will find that the emphatic use of these things may not be common practice for you where you are coming from. Here goes:

Germans make good stuff!

Take Vitamins. Vivioptal is a brand that is affordable and seems to work quite well for our family. It is sold pretty much everywhere (Costco, Sam's, Wal Mart, .....). We buy ours at Costco.

Vitamins are cheaper and the selection is better North of the Border so I would recommend you bring your own every time you make a trip down. Always try and bring a 60 to 120 supply. If not, that's ok. You have some good selections here. This is one of them. Stores also sell good children's liquid vitamins here that don't have a bunch of sugar in it. Again, you will have some choices.


I already gave you my personal story on this HERE.  I can't emphasize to you enough how important it is to take this at least every six months or more. We keep a running supply of it in the house, both the children's liquid form and the adult tablets. You get a better deal on this stuff at Costco or Sam's. Take it as often as you see fit.

If I were to do this again, and this is not medical advice, I would take this every 30 to 60 days for the first six months.

I know this seems like a no-brainer but we wash our hands constantly. I would recommend you especially do so after handling cash money here. See my link on Vermox to understand why.

Wash Often!!!





Antibacterial Hand Gel. My family and I never really used it until we moved here. Now we buy it in 175 gallon drums at Sam's. I keep a 4 Liter bottle of it next to the kitchen sink. I also carry a small bottle of it in the glove box of my truck and whenever we pick up the kids from school I make them both take a bath in it.

For a good laugh on this, click here. Very Funny!





I wipe my kitchen counters down with these almost daily. Why? Because we have alot of large roaches in Merida. I will get to handling those in a minute. But they do spread a bacteria and you will see your fair share of them in your home, even if you spray daily for them. They crawl up out of the drains from the city sewers so you need to spray your drains as well.

Before we moved to Merida my wife and I were foster parents in Texas. We had a little girl for over a year who had a lingering bacterial infection in her blood from previously living in a home with roaches. Wipe your counters down even if you rarely see them.  And with that said......

They sell this stuff at Costco....Gun and everything. We go through a gallon every 60 days or so. Even if you don't have bugs in your yard or drains you may have a neighbor who does. That means they crawl over your neighbors wall and into your house.

My wife absolutely hates roaches. Not that I am a big fan of them but she despises them. I spray my house all the time and they just keep showing up dead around the house. There is nothing you can do about it except spray. It is hot to moderately warm year-round here. The humidity and temp just breeds them along with other things. Nothing you can do but aim and shoot...and be prepared to sweep up the collateral damage the next day.


Everyone...this is Microdyn. Microdyn....everyone. Guys, seriously, I had never heard of this stuff until we moved here. If we are going to boil and cook pasta with sink water we purify the water with this first.

If you are going to eat fruits and vegetables....soak them in this first with sink water. Otherwise....you are eating fruits and vegetables picked by people that, when they need to go to the bathroom in a third world country, just squat and go right there in the field. And I have no idea what they are using to wipe with.

Always soak your fruits and vegetables in this stuff before consuming. They sell it in larger bottles at Sam's and Costco. Apply liberally.


I am not sure even this guy could drink the tap water in Mexico and come out alive. Yucatecos don't drink their own tap water so why would Yanks or Cads????

Guys will deliver it to your door twice a week if needed.

When we first moved here someone told me that you could brush your teeth with sink water and it not be a problem. I don't agree with that advice in your first six months here. Your immune system is not prepared for it. Later maybe but not at the start.

My youngest son was getting diarrhea from doing that so we switched to bottled water when brushing teeth.

And last but not least, before you eat, Pray over your food. Why?

"The horse is made ready for the day of battle but victory rests with the Lord." Proverbs 21:31

God Bless
JEB