Moving To Mexico (3 of 3).wmv

in fact I feel more alone living like this than I do when I'm traveling alone and I am isolated right here now I would love to have grandchildren but my friend tells me it's kind of late to start thinking about your own steady with a girl at 80 years it just oh forget it lonely again if I have some paints and paper I can go out and immediately I can start interacting with anybody the water coloring is a way for me to break the ice wherever I may be I find some area and I sit down and and I start to paint for a couple of hours I meet the kids in the neighborhood I meet their parents I'm able to communicate on whatever level on occasion I produce something that I'm able to sell give away whatever there is plenty of social intercourse what with the gringos here we have our TGIF on Fridays just walking between here and the bank which is only a couple of minutes away more more often than not it's going to take you an hour to get to the bank and back because you're bumping into friends and the next thing you know you're sitting on a sidewalk and you're chatting about whatever oh you know God is some challenge in Chihuahua and the same way and come he's way more ring well then we'll all hide out at your house why does one move to Mexico you've moved to Mexico to do that what you always wanted to do whatever it may be if you want to be a hermit god bless you you can be a hermit you want to reinvent yourself as a water colorist then you're a water colorist see you later why do I spend my time doing well now that is interesting if I see something I want to paid I paint it if I think about some music to play I fiddle around with the guitar bed I go see my friends and I play play some bridge I like to play bridge it's a mathematical game and it's quite a lot of fun most of the people that live in houses down here spend a lot of time manicuring their houses they don't build anything much out of wood here because as I said the termites down here carry chainsaws I don't just - and some of the adobe walls have to be repaired so we spend quite a little time fiddling around of the houses the ILA is also a writer and has actually published a book about the houses of Alamos she's also an active member of the local history club the history Club meets on a weekly basis and is a good example of the kind of social gathering that the local Americans depend on because most of the Americans are still struggling with the Spanish language and to some degree with the Mexican culture they tend to socialize within their own groups this is true anyplace in the world the older you get the more difficult it is for you to pick up another language so you make friends and entertain each other itself a lot of home entertainment among the Americans go to party after party after party never see a Mexican face Todd go to Mexican parties and you're like a house gringo on my particular street I'm the only I'm the only gringo on my street and I'm learning Spanish but poco a poco slowly but surely I try to communicate with my neighbors we just had Christmas New Year's I give out gifts to the kids I give out watercolors today to my to my neighbors around here I have had dates with a mecca with mexicana women not to successfully mind you because my Spanish is terrible the biggest reasons that Americans move to Mexico are probably the warm climate in the low prices along with the natural beauty of the landscape Alamos is located in the foothills of the Sierra Madre so almost anywhere you turn here there's a nice view of the mountains but there's also an attraction to the Mexican culture that seems to have a strong pull on the Americans who come here the reason that I'm here and I feel the reason that most expats are here there's a certain freedom as soon as one crosses the border coming south you're back in the Wild West to a great degree I don't feel the rush I feel in the states the pressure I feel in the states the people stirring here and there I've I mean the manana mood well if I can't do today big deal I'm not going to get upset I'm not going to get uptight it'll be taken care of eventually I don't care whether it's slower so you can really enjoy your life here it's not about oh it's not all about making money and getting ahead they're very happy and pleasant and so many of them have nothing you know and so there's a lot to learn from them and that regard okay one of the things that interested me a lot about Alamos that I found really interesting is that there are a lot of strong women here there a lot of the businesses they're owned and run by women the mayor our new mayor is a woman my manager is a woman it's a strong masculine culture but there it's a wonderful place for women to live there's a lot of little old ladies walking around in the middle of the night by themselves totally safe so it works they take care of us as though we were mentally deficient children it's amazing you can travel anywhere in Mexico particularly if you happen to have white hair because they are very kind to their elders we live together like a well let's see a dolphin or a whale might have a bird that sits on its back or a little animal that picks off the things that grow there the people work together so if they can live side by side and each one respect the other we all get along with quite Greg quite a great degree of comfort you

Channel: Karl Knapp

Views: 184,260

Rating: 4.9354839 out of 5

Keywords: Living, In, Mexico

Id: YMlIcQOe1Js

Length: 9min 19sec (559 seconds)

Published: Tue Dec 02 2008