Morning Thoughts--FInding our PLACE

It is another overcast morning in Portland. Yesterday the sun didn't come out at all. It was wet. This is Portland's summer? Oh well, when the sun does come out, it is glorious. Maybe summer will come back this week end. I hope so. Forecast is for a hot Sunday, in the low 90s. I love it. My son hates it. He likes these cold, dreary days. Good thing, since Portland is mostly like this. And colder. This is a place that he has chosen. His place.

I have said this many times, we all have to find our PLACE in the world. Some people never find it. They are the constant travelers. Sometimes I envy them. I wish I had more of an adventurous spirit. But I like to get to know one place. I guess I am considered a long term expat in Ajijic, even though I have only lived there six or seven years. I haven't been counting so I don't know for sure when I arrived there. In New England, I bet people would laugh at hearing that phrase attached to a six or seven year resident.

Rentals in Ajijic often say, long term price, and short term price. They consider long term to be six months to a year. Rental contracts usually are one or the other. Landlords feel lucky to have renters through the low seasons.

There is a lot of turnover in Ajijic.  Besides being an escape place in the winter for people to get warm, especially for the Canadians, it is also filled with older people. We get sick. Many of us decide to go back to our home towns for medical care or to be near family.  Canadians have to return to Canada so many months of the year in order to maintain their free medical care up there. And people die. Ajijic is constantly in flux.

Maybe not so much for the Mexicans. Some Mexican families have been living in the Lakeside area for generations. Sometimes when I am on the bus bench, I watch the Mexican sitting next to me, waving at almost every passing car. Cars with Mexicans in them. It can be difficult to cross that language barrier so that expats and Mexicans can become friends.

I have heard of Mexicans living in the Lakeside area who have never even been to Guadalajara. That is less than an hour bus ride away. We all get stuck in ruts. Mexicans and Expats. Or maybe just happy.  Happy to be in our own PLACE in the world. That is a gift.