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This is Sandy Caputo's second installment on Escaping the Rat Race. Her first article, which appeared in the June issue of Escape from America Magazine, told of her not so miraculous escape from the rat race north of the Rio Grande. In this current article, Sandy poignantly gives example that not everyone has the same concept of wants and needs. Sandy writes, "While alone I may be frugal, with him I become a lot more open to an if it feels good, do it attitude. In my year and a half of escapist living, I’ve done both:  lived cheaply and lived well.  The first variety easily fell into those much touted under $800 a month descriptions; the latter has definitely exceeded such." Stay tuned for more. Additional Resources Living in Mexico  Jobs Marketplace  Sandy's 1st Article  Contact Sandy Caputo

From my experience, fitting yourself  comfortably into one of those live well and cheaply abroad scenarios very much depends on how you define the word well.  If to you it implies traveling, collecting, frequent entertaining, and dining out - the word cheaply might have to be dropped.  In my year and a half of escapist living, I’ve done both:  lived cheaply and lived well.  The first variety easily fell into those much touted under $800 a month descriptions; the latter has definitely exceeded such.

There were less expensive hotels (starting at around $10 a day), full-meal boarding plans (at around $15), and a wide variety of home and apartment rentals ranging from a low of around $100 a month for an unfurnished place in a small suburb - called colonias, here, to upwards of $1,000 a month for a furnished mansion in an upscale neighborhood. 

That $300 apartment I opted for delivered me a place that spoke to all my romantic notions of Mexico living:  walled property with gates that opened to a parking space; courtyard with a lovely fountain; an unbelievable variety of flowering shrubs, plants, and fruit trees; a secure neighborhood; and  a phone line – a commodity not easily come by on short notice. 

The main house (which I could have rented for $800 a month) was on two levels, featured some seven fireplaces, a huge tiled kitchen, lovely bathrooms, terraces and patios, and (though of course I could have cared less), a satellite dish for picking up U.S. television. 

The one-bedroom apartment with neat little kitchen, nice bath and bedroom, fireplaced living room and terrace with sweeping view of the city was really all I needed.   The terrace even featured – and, truth be told, this is what sold me – a footed tub for hot baths under the stars. My living costs were quite reasonable, compared to U.S. standards.  My single woman, somewhat hermit-like existence of eating little, writing and reading constantly, catching an occasional movie, commuting around town by foot, taxi, or on the small vans that are the local version of a bus system cost me a total of $150 a month.  That included about a $20 weekly grocery bill – manageable because of the abundantly available fresh fruits and vegetables and my determination that meat and I could probably stand some distancing; $3.50  a movie and about half that much for popcorn and a soda; $7 to $15 for a really fabulous occasional dinner out; and commuting that costs some 30 cents or $2 to $4 a bus or taxi ride, respectively.

Additionally, I followed the custom of hiring local people to keep up with the abundant plantings in the courtyard and to take care of my laundry and housekeeping needs.  The practice is first of all affordable but it also provides needed work for a variety of neighbors, many of whom you might otherwise never come to know. 

In my case, it also provided me the opportunity to fall gradually  into a comfortable acquaintance with the everyday language of the community.  But,  most important, it has introduced me to the pride Mexicans take in their work and the tranquility they seem to have gained from their emphasis on people over things.   I’d say that’s a good return on what was costing me a mere $12.50 a week. 

In addition, I’ve averaged about $20 per month for natural gas, $7.50 per month for electricity, and $10 per month for telephone service.  I found an excellent Internet service provider at $20 a month who makes free house calls whenever there’s a problem I can’t solve.

So you can see that I was seeming to get nicely by well within that magic $800 figure.  I managed to reach and probably exceed it through the purchase of  many gifts for friends and family and by venturing via the great Mexican bus systems to the many fascinating indigenous villages throughout the state of Michoacan and to places more distant such as San Miguel de Allende, Taxco, Cuernavaca, and Acapulco.  A trip by these streamlined, first-class air quality busses to Acapulco from Morelia, for instance, cost approximately $100.
 

It was during my last planned five-week immersion back into the world of advertising and public relations in Tucson that turned into eleven that my fiancé prevailed upon me to agree to allow him in on my adventure.   And while alone I may be frugal, with him I become a lot more open to an if it feels good, do it attitude.  Thus a new version of living well in Mexico.  Save for doubling the small amount I was paying for laundry services, our basic expense have remained the same.  But in other areas our costs have grown exponentially.   My weekly shopping trip has become daily  forays to the mercado where things that never would have been on my list seem suddenly irresistible. We now make at least weekly outings to all those same interesting little surrounding pueblos, but now they are replete with the purchase of mementos from each as we add to the ambiance of this apartment with an eye toward how things will look wherever we may eventually settle.

My fiancé is a gourmand, so we’ve found where to buy the best cuts of meat, the most beautiful shrimp, the most exotic fruits and vegetables.   And in place of my occasional afternoon tea and cookies, there are now the best liquors and wines filling our pretty new Mexican stemware.   We’ve made major art purchase, replaced expensive eyeglasses and a lightning zapped modem, had the dog groomed, thrown dinner parties. 

An expense we haven’t taken on as yet is health insurance.  But our procrastination has only been because of the obviously excellent and low-cost medical care here.  For example, a recent hour’s personal conference with a board-certified specialist, including the most complete testing I’ve ever had for

a standard physical check-up, cost just $20 and prescription drugs are available over-the counter at much lower than U.S. costs.  Our research tells us there is federally provided health and medical insurance available at around $300 annually that is far more comprehensive than in the States.  The $300 supposedly includes a spouse and dependents and covers office visits, treatments, prescribed medicines, surgery, eye and dental care.  Our live-well-in-Mexico cost factor has been otherwise influenced by the fact that we’ve been bent on searching out the best of all possible places to put down more permanent roots, thus reflects such expenses as monthly bus or car travel to far-flung places, dog sitting, hotel stays, meals, and special sight-seeing excursions.  In the last three months we’ve covered the entire west coast of Mexico, stayed at lovely hotels, eaten grand

meals, and stinted on nothing here at home.   I hesitate to consider what that would have cost in addition to ongoing day-to-day expenses in the States.   But, at just over $3,000 per month, this is certainly a different take on the what does it really cost dynamic.   Still, I think it’s also a very realistic way to force oneself to look at the impact personality and personal tastes have on exactly what “escaping” costs. 

To gain a flavor of what daily life is like in Morelia – Why are those dogs on everyone’s rooftops? What is rebar doing sticking above all those houses?  Why you’d better not be looking up, but down and why that car you’re passing has suddenly turned on his left turn signal – stay tuned for Part Three of Escaping the Rat Race!