The next several
visits were at the Nogales USA/Nogales MX border crossing. . The downtown area consisted of bars, strip
clubs, hotels, restaurants, and a large number of curio stores, which sell a
large variety of artesanias (handicrafts, leather art, handmade flowers, and
clothes). One of the highlights was the La Caverna (The Caverns) Café, built into the hillside where
the caverns (caves) were the dining rooms of the
restaurant.
Believe it or not, these memories were the beginning
of my love of Mexico.
Dolores’s mixed ethnic background of
Mexican/Philippine/Spanish had already instilled in her a strong bond with
Mexico. After graduating from High
School and working at Boeing for a year she traveled to Mexico City to visit a
pen pal and stayed three months with a woman who took in borders. Later she also vacationed with a friend to
Veracruz soaking up more of the Mexican culture.
Dolores and I started traveling to Mexico in the early
1980’s, initially to Acapulco to attend a MLM convention with a company called
KM/Matol. Later during our travel development-consultant
years, we brought many travelers to Mexico for short and intense 7-10 day
visits.
So where am headed with this line of thought?
When many of us start our retirement planning a major
consideration is where. Where do we want to spend our days of
leisure? Many have no desire to uproot
from the current environment and there are many factors that have a heavy
influence on that decision – family (children, grandchildren, cousins, nephews,
nieces, etc.), close friends and acquaintances, familiarity with that around
you, established living patterns, finances, and not the least of all health, current and expected.
For most of us when we retire we’ve already lived
50-60 decades and are concerned with our longevity. If we reached the decision that we want to
change our living environment and make a long term commitment to live
elsewhere, then the health issue and focus on available health care becomes a
prime issue.
Dolores and I had already agreed that a move to a warm
climate was a good idea for us. Our
children were grown and my grandchildren were already growing up. My sister and brother-in-law were currently
“retired” in Puerto Vallarta and were encouraging us to take a close look. Both of us were in good health; and my
hypertension was under good control. We
had already been tempted to buy a condo in Mexico so our decision to move was
made. We purchased a condo in PV, downsized from our home to a condo in Seattle
and began a six month/six month living arrangement in Mexico and Seattle, WA. We
now have permanent residence status in Mexico and just recently sold our
Seattle condo.
I found the same medication I used in Mexico at a
substantially less cost and highly trained/educated Doctors and medical
facilities were readily available. In
Puerto Vallarta, Pamela Thompson is an independent resource that can assist in
finding/scheduling a physician, finding a hospital and-or service for any
health care needs. This is one of the
most valuable and unique services I’ve ever encountered.
Until late this February all our Dr. contacts have
been limited to minor walk-ins. We have
heard and read numerous comments from persons who needed hospitalization and
they were all glowing reports. On
February 24th I was admitted into Hospital CMQ Premiere with a case
of pneumonia and spent the next 4 day’s being taken care of by my doctor and
the hospital staff. Never could I have
imagined the care and attention lavished on me.
The administration paper work was handled by a specialist as we drank
Starbucks coffee from the comfort of lounge chairs in the lobby. That’s right, the hospital restaurant is
operated by Starbucks. Checkout was just
as easy. In the assigned room I was
surrounded and attended to by cheerful nurses, floor doctors, and technicians 24/7. Even though the hospital food matched all
definitions of blandness, Starbucks did room delivery and believe me we used
them quite often.
What struck me most, outside of the professionalism of
all personnel, was the obvious concern and respect shown to me at all times.
I’m now home, recovering and feeling better than I have
in many months. Once again my point is
you should have no fear about the health care in Mexico. I never did and that has just been powerfully
reinforced.
Hasta Luego
