Italy – Ex-pats in Mexico

Back in the U.S.A. — briefly.

*Looking north from Petco Park just before the game started. See the brick building just above the woman in the orange shirt? That’s Park Lofts, where Stephanie lives.*

Leslie and I are cat-sitting in beautiful downtown San Diego while daughter Stephanie is enjoying a well-deserved vacation on Italy’s Amalfi Coast. It’s sort of a vacation for us. We walked two blocks to Petco Park to see the San Diego Padres play the San Francisco Giants (Stephanie has a season ticket package).

The Padres lost, but it was a good game. On Independence Day, we watched fireworks from the crowded Embarcadero (a city park along the marina). Best of all, we’ve attended worship services at St. Paul’s United Methodist Church on Coronado Island, where our friend Tom exclaimed, “Welcome Home!” the first time we walked in.

Dining out is one of the best things about living in San Diego. We’ve already been to some of our favorite places, such as the East Village location of Breakfast Republic and The Blind Burro. We still have a few places on our go-to list, but Stephanie recommended a new spot on J Street called Whip Hand for burgers. Leslie had a glass of wine with her burger, but I had to try their Beer Bank — you get a card to use at any of about 20 different self-serve taps, mostly local craft beers. You can pour as much or as little as you like and pay by the ounce. I poured a healthy taste of five different IPAs and spent roughly the same as buying one brew. Burgers and beers were excellent. We’ll be back.

We’ve also done some shopping for things that are hard to come by in Ajijic, like the shampoo I use for thinning hair — can’t buy it in Mexico (except through Amazon) so we’re “importing” some. Also, an optometrist in Ajijic warned me that soft contact lenses, unlike most things in Mexico, are about double the price we pay in the U.S. So I got a year’s supply from the Costco optical shop here in San Diego.

You may be wondering if the two recent California earthquakes caused any problems for us. Only in the most minor way. We barely felt the first one, a 6.5. The epicenter was hundreds of miles away so all we noticed was a slight movement. A day later there was a 7.1 that happened while we were driving home from shopping in Carlsbad and dinner at the Del Mar location of The Brigantine seafood restaurant. When we got home, we pulled into the parking garage and found the elevators were out of order. We were glad Stephanie’s condo is on the second floor and her parking space is on B1!

San Diego isn’t close to any active fault lines, so it’s rare to feel a quake in this area. But this one was strong enough to trigger the earthquake protocol on the elevators in our building. As we came out of the garage stairwell onto the ground floor, a resident taking his dog for a walk asked excitedly, “Didja feel it?” But we didn’t, since we were on the freeway at the time. We were only slightly inconvenienced by walking up two flights.

*Lewis (top) and Piper enjoy their tree that gives them a great view of Island Avenue.*

We’ve enjoyed taking care of Lewis and Piper, Stephanie’s two Maine Coon cats, and they seem to appreciate our attention. Lots more to do and see while we’re here. We’ll be driving to Los Angeles to pick up Stephanie on July 13 (for direct flights to and from Europe, LAX is better than SAN), then we have a few days to spend with her before we go home July 19. I must admit, I have enjoyed driving her BMW!

More to come…

See you later!

*Didn’t get to see the Cubs play this time, but we did enjoy the game. Thank you, Steph!*

Living overseas, Retirement, Travel

A happy reunion with good friends

*Our friends Julie and Dave were traveling in Italy, so we took the opportunity to see them in Florence.*

Last weekend (May 26-28), Leslie and I rented a car and drove back to Florence. That’s an eight-hour drive through two countries and lots of tunnels! But it was worth it to spend a whole day with our dear friends Julie and Dave Kronbach.

When Julie and Dave lived in Naperville, Ill., we all attended Grace United Methodist Church. Leslie and Julie became fast friends when they were roommates on the church’s annual youth mission trip. And Julie somehow convinced me to serve on the Stewardship & Finance Committee. (Can you imagine? ME on the finance committee?!?!) She and Dave moved to the Denver area several years ago to be closer to family. Leslie and I last saw them about five years ago when we drove to Prior Lake, Minn., to spend a few days with them at their lake house.

If you’re Facebook friends with Leslie, you’ve seen the picture of the four of us in front of the Duomo. Julie and Dave were in Florence with Julie’s sister Susie and husband Mike. The four of them took a Mediterranean cruise and had a few days on their own after it ended. We met Julie and Dave about 10 a.m. Sunday in front of the Duomo and looked around for a place to chat and get an espresso. We found a nice al fresco spot on the piazza and stayed there almost all day, talking and catching up.

At some point shortly after noon, I realized our waitress was looking at our table often. I imagined her thinking, “Are they ever going to leave?” It wasn’t long before one of us had a great idea: Let’s get some menus. So we enjoyed an excellent lunch there and kept talking until we decided to check out two possible dinner locations, both of which Leslie and I discovered during our initial visit to Florence.

After reviewing the menus in both restaurants, we chose Le Botteghe di Donatello for its diverse offerings, outdoor seating and view of the Duomo. Susie and Mike joined us for our goodbye meal, and we enjoyed meeting and getting to know them. Leslie and I got back in the car Monday morning for another eight-hour drive while they took a train to Rome for their flight home.

What a great day we had, sharing the events of the past few years and renewing our friendship with these delightful people. Now we’re back in Montpellier, learning more about living in France. Until next time…

A bientôt!

Europe, Living overseas, Retirement, Travel

Naples: pizza, and a train to history.

Our two-week cruise is over. Many thanks to Ryan, our cabin steward, who exceeded expectations, and to Tenisha and Dwight, our favorite wait staff in the main restaurant. Thanks also to the spa ladies, who pampered Leslie just a bit. Great ship. great crew, great food. Would we do it again? No. Once across the Atlantic is enough!

Now we are in Italy — not checking it out as a possible home but just as tourists, like we did in Scotland and England back in 2016. Our ship docked in Civitivechia (chee-vee-tah-VEK-ee-yah), which is the port for Rome. Then we took a high-speed train to Naples so we could begin our sightseeing in the southernmost of the three Italian cities we want to visit: Naples, then Rome, then Florence.

Naples is the birthplace of pizza so we tried a few. I had a pretty good pizza with sausage and broccoli at a restaurant just down the street from where we stayed. And Leslie and I shared a true margherita pizza (tomato sauce, mozzarella, basil) at a hole-in-the-wall in Ercolano, which is modern-day Herculaneum. It was pretty good, but I think more research is in order. Is pizza better in Rome? We’ll see.

We’re in the main square of Pompeii, fulfilling one of Leslie’s childhood dreams.

Leslie has dreamed of visiting Pompeii and Herculaneum since childhood. She even considered becoming an archeologist when she was young. Maybe you did too. Step one in fulfilling that dream was a visit to the National Archeological Museum in Naples, where our guide (and graduate-level archeologist) Enrica showed us the best of the floor mosaics and wall frescoes from homes in Pompeii. They can be better protected and cared for at the museum than on the site, Enrica explained. We gaped at high-quality mosaics — the ancient artisans used tiles smaller than the nail on your pinkie finger!

*This statue of a faun is what gave House of the Faun its name.*

Let’s refresh our memories for a second. Pompeii and Herculaneum were Roman cities destroyed in 79 C.E. when Mount Vesuvius erupted. Thousands of people died in a matter of minutes. People in Pompeii were buried in volcanic ash, while in Herculaneum they were covered by lava. The main killer, however, was the pyroclastic flow. In Herculaneum, for example, people crowded into areas near the seaport docks to escape by boat. But the super-heated flow of air rushing down the side of the volcano killed them instantly.

To reach these two historical sites, we took a train called the Circumvesuviano. It’s a local train — similar to a Chicago “L” but above-ground — that makes all stops between Naples and Sorrento. It’s quite an experience in itself: dirty, covered with graffiti, un-air-conditioned and over-crowded, especially headed into Naples.

In Pompeii, we were able to see a few of the houses, like the House of the Faun, that had mosaics and frescoes featured in the museum. But the site is so huge it would take most of a day to see it all. We used Enrica’s information and found most of what we wanted to see. Here’s a 2009 four-minute Rick Steves video about Pompeii.

Looking down from what is now ground level to what was a seaside dock area in 79 C.E. That’s how much lava archeologists dug through to find the ruins of Herculaneum, where some residents waited in dockside storage areas (left) to be rescued.

Herculaneum is much smaller than Pompeii. The beginning of a visit here can be a little depressing because one of the first sights is the skeletons of those who hoped for a boat rescue that never came. Leslie overheard one of the Italian guides tell his group that he could not go with them to this place because it is too difficult for him. In the rest of the city, we were able to see how these first-century Roman citizens lived. For example, we saw a bakery, a laundry and some restaurants.

*These people, and thousands more, died 2,000 years ago in the eruption of Mount* *Vesuvius.*

The Herculaneum website is great, but I couldn’t find an English version. If you know Italian, take a look. If not, the pictures are good.

We had hoped to see the Amalfi Coast on this trip, but I got sick and needed a day to recover. So I guess we’ll have to come back someday.

Next post, Rome — The Eternal City.

Ciao!

That’s the culprit, behind Leslie’s head. Mount Vesuvius. Most recent eruption was in 1944. With 3 million people living in its shadow, Vesuvius is one of the most dangerous volcanoes in the world.

*One of the frescoes in a Pompeii house.*

*Try to imagine living in first-century Pompeii. You look through this arch and see fire and ash spewing out of Vesuvius. Gotta be frightening.*

Europe, Living overseas, Retirement, Spain, Travel

Stops along the way.

Leslie and I left the U.S. on Friday, April 13, for our two-week transatlantic 25th wedding anniversary celebration on the Celebrity Reflection. We next saw land on Saturday, April 21, as our ship docked at Tenerife (tenor–REEF), which is off the coast of North Africa but is part of Spain. We also visited Malaga (MAH-lah-gah), Cartagena (car-tah-HEY-nah) and Murcia (MIRTH-ee-ah) in Spain, as well as Ajaccio (ah-JAH-see-oh), the capital of Corsica, which is a French island. In a few hours, when we dock at Civitavecchia (Rome), we’ll be in our fourth country on this cruise.

Spending time in Spanish cities has made us think fondly of our first foreign living arrangement over a year ago in Alicante, Spain. As we head for the final country tryout (France), Mexico is still in the lead to be our new home in retirement, but Spain is a very close second. Yes, it’s a long way from family and friends, but the pace of life and the general feeling in Spain just can’t be beat. It’s very civilized. This is going to be a tough choice.

I don’t have much to say about our stops along the way on this cruise, so I’l just be visual. You visual learners will just love this:

*The view of Tenerife harbor from our ship as we departed on a gray day*

*Murcia’s cathedral and part of the plaza major. We had some very fine paella at a little hole-in-the-wall restaurant here.*

*The Roman theatre in Cartagena, which was not discovered until the mid-1980s. Restoration work is continuing. In its original form, it could seat seven thousand people.*

Corsicans don’t really like Napoleon Bonaparte because he fought for France and not his birthplace of Corsica. But tourists flock to Ajaccio to see this monument and the house in which the future emperor was born. As long as he brings in tourist dollars, Napoleon is OK.

*And of course, the obligatory selfie. We are on the well-kept grounds of a monastery that overlooks Murcia, Spain. The countryside here is beautiful.*

Our visit to Malaga was for a wine-and-tapas tasting tour. For some reason, I’m unable to upload photos I took of our little group. We drank some wine, but not so much that it would affect the photos!

Hope you enjoyed the pics. Now on to Italy!

Ciao!

Costa Rica, Living overseas, Retirement, Travel

Costa Rica misses the cut

While Costa Rica has a lot going for it, the downsides overshadow the positives for Leslie and me. The land of Pura Vida is no longer on the list of places we’ll consider living. It’s a close call, but we think Mexico is still in the lead.

On the plus side, Costa Rica is a beautiful country. The mountains are lush and green, and there’s an incredible diversity of flora and fauna. We didn’t get to see much of it because we didn’t do any of the touristy things, such as jungle treks and zip lines. Areas like the Central Valley and Lake Arenal have a nice climate with warm days and cool nights. The humidity in those places is relatively low. Beach towns are definitely out. Too hot, too humid.

There are a number of things we like about Costa Rica in general. It’s a politically stable country that just elected, by a fairly large margin, a center-left president who has great plans for his country. There has been no standing army since 1948, the 90 percent literacy rate is one of the highest in the world, there’s a growing middle class, and Costa Rica takes care of the environment. For example, almost 100 percent of the electricity generated in Costa Rica comes from five renewable sources: hydropower, wind, geothermal, biomass and solar.

But electricity is expensive, and the overall cost of living is only slightly lower than in the U.S., In some cases it’s on a par with North American and European countries. We’re looking for a place where our money goes a little farther.

Other downsides include:

There are no street addresses. We talked with a Canadian who rents a box at the post office to get mail. If he knows a package is coming, he calls the UPS or DHL delivery driver to meet them somewhere. Crazy.
And you get directions that assume you know where you are: “We’re 200 meters south of Pops Ice Cream.” Thanks — now where the heck is Pops?!?!
Even the highways are not very well marked. We used Waze and Google Maps on our two trips around the country and still got lost in places.
Driving is hideous. In cities and towns, you have to avoid hitting pedestrians and cyclists who just dart into traffic. In rural hilly areas, the twists and turns force me to slow down while the locals just barrel ahead. We saw several near-accidents from drivers passing against a double-yellow line.

Finally, we just don’t have good feelings for Costa Rica like we have for Spain and Mexico. The people are friendly, and there are a lot of ex-pats in the area to socialize with. But neither of us has developed warm fuzzies for this country.

So Costa Rica is off the list as a place to retire. But we would like to come back someday as tourists to do some of those things we passed on while we were here. Also, Horizon Church — the nondenominational we’ve been attending in Jacó — is building a new church. The walls are up already and the plans look terrific. We would love to see it after they have moved in, and reconnect with our new friends there.

*Our last look at Costa Rica — a Pacific sunset. Hasta luego!*

Now we’re taking a short break to celebrate our 25th wedding anniversary, which was back on Feb. 6. Has it really been 25 years? Doesn’t seem like it. We are marking this auspicious occasion by taking a two-week cruise from Fort Lauderdale to Rome. While Italy is not really on our list of places to live in retirement, we’re taking this opportunity to visit Naples, Rome and Florence to see the historical sites and museums — places like Pompeii and Herculaneum, and the coliseum in Rome.

After Italy, we’ll move on to France, the last place (maybe) on our list of possible places to live. We’ve rented an apartment in the historic center of Montpelier, capital of the Languedoc-Roussillon area, for six weeks. Leslie is looking forward to finding a French cooking class, and I relish the idea of sipping cafe au lait at little French bistros.

We’ll be back in Chicago’s western suburbs by July 12. Then we have a decision to make.

Next post will be from the middle of the Atlantic Ocean — IF we have decent wi-fi on the ship!

Ciao!

Costa Rica, Living overseas, Retirement, San Diego, Travel

UPDATE 5, last in a series!

Gotta give credit to James, the American Airlines agent who re-booked our cancelled trip to Costa Rica at no additional cost! We’re all set to fly from San Diego to San Jose on Tuesday, March 13, and get this show back on the road where it belongs.

Leslie has almost fully recovered from the ordeal that landed her in the hospital last month. Many thanks to the nurses and other staff at Sharp Urgent Care and Sharp Memorial Hospital, especially those in the Emergency Department and Acute Care 7-West. We deeply appreciate Dr. Watt, who runs a great ER; Dr. Ghafourian, the incredible hospital-based internist; and Dr. Bench, the skilled surgeon who removed Leslie’s gall bladder.

Our extended time in San Diego has been terrific because we’ve been with our daughter Stephanie for a little over a month. We’ve been to some excellent East Village restaurants and Stephanie has enjoyed quite a few home-cooked meals.

Leslie and I have also had time to talk about the rest of the journey. We plan to be tourists in Italy for a few weeks, then live in southern France for six weeks or so. But now we think there may be time to sneak in a few weeks in Portugal, which wasn’t on our initial list but sounds like it’s worth a look. The original plan was to return to the Chicago area in the summer to see family and friends, as well as several physicians, and decide where we will live from now on. That may still happen, but we’re also re-thinking Uruguay. We might just head down there in November and December to check it out, and push decision-making to January 2019. We’re nothing if not flexible!

Next post from Jacó, on Costa Rica’s Pacific coast.

*The downside to leaving is saying good-bye to Lewis (right) and Piper.*

Europe, Living overseas, Retirement, Travel

We join thousands marching in San Diego

First, the good stuff. Leslie and I have completed our Costa Rica plans, renting a condo in the Pacific beach town of Jacó (ha-KOH) for five weeks in March and April. So we have solid plans through the end of April.

Here’s how it plays out: We fly from San Diego to San Jose, Costa Rica, on Wednesday, Jan. 31, arriving late in the evening. We’ll spend that night at the Hampton Inn (great breakfast!) and then move on to the Central Valley town of Atenas (ah-TAY-nas). We’ll be there until March 10, when we go to Jacó. International Living has named Costa Rica the top retirement destination of 2018, so we’re excited.

On April 11 we fly from San Jose to Miami, then take a shuttle up the coast to Fort Lauderdale to board the Celebrity Reflection. We set sail the afternoon of April 13, arriving in the port of Rome on April 27.

That’s where it gets fuzzy. The plan is to be tourists in Italy, like we were in the U.K. in October 2016, for two or three weeks before taking up residence in France. In the coming days, we plan to nail down some of that Italian tourist stuff and decide which city in France will be (hopefully) the final stop on the two-year Vagabond Tour. We’ll be in France until late July, when our 90-day tourist visas expire, and then back to the Chicago area.

Now on to the fun stuff, completely unrelated to our travels. On Saturday, Jan. 20, Leslie and I joined more than 37,000 of our closest friends for San Diego’s version of The Second Annual Women’s March in Waterfront Park. You already know about this if you’re Facebook friends with Leslie, and some of the photos below will be familiar.

*It was a bright, crisp morning. Cool in the shade, pleasant in the sun. Just about perfect.*

We took the San Diego Metropolitan Transit System’s trolley (light rail) from our condo to Waterfront Park. Walking there was an option, of course, but there’s something weird about walking to a march! Getting off at the Little Italy stop, we could’ve turned right to go to the weekly farmer’s market, as we have done several Saturdays since our arrival. Instead, we turned left and followed the crowd into the park.

We couldn’t get close enough to hear the speeches well, but we were there and supporting the cause. Progressive rallies and marches are lots of fun, in my opinion, because the signs are so creative. The signs also feature correct spelling and proper grammar (usually). However, halfway through the route, just as the crowd turned to head back to Waterfront Park along a different street, I said to Leslie, “I don’t know about you, but I’m ready for lunch.” She quickly agreed and our need for a burger won out over our desire to march for anything. Lots of other marchers had the same idea. We both had burgers at Barleymash (I highly recommend The Volcano burger!) in the Gaslamp Quarter, then went home and took naps!

We both took lots of photos, and I leave you with some of my favorites. Next post from the land of Pura Vida: Costa Rica!

Midterms-2054

Cabinets-2079

Men-2076

Accepting-2081

Europe, Living overseas, San Diego, Travel

Surprise! We’re back to Plan A.

You may recall that Leslie and I originally planned to go from San Diego to Costa Rica, but those plans changed because of scheduling issues. So we decided to take a cruise through the Panama Canal instead. A great way to celebrate our 25th anniversary, we thought. Well, we’re back to Plan A again!

It’s a long story — here’s the short version. The company we were working with to book the Panama Canal cruise failed miserably, so we called on USAA* for help. They quickly verified that canal cruises in the time frame we wanted were sold out. After some discussion about our options, they booked us on a repositioning cruise from Fort Lauderdale to Rome in mid-April. So we return to Europe in spring when temperatures are milder than in February!

That, in turn, caused us to take another look at Costa Rica, and we found what appears to be a good place — under budget — in the Central Valley town of Atenas (ah-TAY-nas). The plan is to be there for about five weeks, then head to a Pacific coast beach town for another five. Still working on the beach town. More on that in the next post.

The 14-night transatlantic cruise takes us from Fort Lauderdale to Civitavecchia, the port city of Rome, with stops in Tenerife, Canary Islands (Spain); Malaga, Cartagena and Barcelona, Spain; and Ajaccio, Corsica (France).

While we’re presently not sold on Italy as a place for us to live — at least not right now — Leslie and I would like to check it out and do some touristy stuff, like we did in Scotland and England when we started this journey in 2016. So the plan is to spend two or three weeks in various parts of Italy and then head to France for about six weeks, probably in Languedoc-Roussillon in southern France, or maybe in Provence. Details to come.

If all goes well, we will be back in the Chicago area in late July to see our doctors, catch up with friends and family, and make a decision on a retirement location. By the end of this year, we hope to be vagabonds no more!

Looking back at the last post, I’m afraid it may have left you with the impression that we don’t like San Diego. We love San Diego, but our focus is to live in another country. Plus, the cost of living in southern California is quite high, so things will have to change dramatically for us to retire here.

*Lots of Navy people attend this church. The design of the sanctuary is that of an old sailing vessel, upside down. The roof is the ship’s keel.*

There are lots of great things about San Diego, though. One of them is not even in San Diego — it’s St. Paul’s United Methodist Church, the “Church of the Voyager,” on Coronado Island. We’ve made some good friends at St. Paul’s and have learned a lot from Pastor Robb’s sermons, like his current thought-provoking series on the Gospel of John. Anytime we’re back in San Diego, we will return to St. Paul’s.

I’ll close with this: Stephanie’s Christmas gift to us was tickets to the musical “Hamilton”! All three of us went on Thursday, Jan. 11, to the San Diego Civic Theatre. Wow! This is the best show I’ve seen since “Les Miserables,” which is my all-time favorite. The music, the staging, the singing, the dancing — all just incredible. I’ll admit I was prepared not to like it because I’d heard some of it was in rap. But the rapping was like the recitative, or spoken words, in opera. It worked really well. I highly recommend “Hamilton.” Go see this one, it’s definitely worth the price!

The music is the real star: songs like My Shot, The Room Where it Happens, and Washington On Your Side, just to name a few. They’re not tunes you can hum while walking down the street, though. They are rich and complex, like fine wine. One of the most impressive things about this musical came after the last notes died away. The entire cast took a bow together. Curtain calls didn’t start with the minor characters and end up with the stars getting the most applause. No. The cast appeared at the end as equals, no matter what role they had. It made me think about Mr. Jefferson’s eloquent words, “…all men are created equal.” Too bad we have drifted so far away from that idea.

*The Civic Theatre is an excellent venue. Decent seats and good sight lines, even from the upper balcony. We could see the dance moves well from up above.*

*We use San Antonio-based USAA (United Services Automobile Association) for car and home insurance, life insurance (Mike), banking and investments. In fact, I’ve never had any other brand of car insurance — over 45 years with the same company. The bank and investment services are available to anybody, but the insurance is sold only to current and former military officers and certain non-commissioned officers. The company offers many additional services to members, including a car buying service and a travel agency. If you ever served in the military, go to their website to see if you qualify to become a USAA member. And no, they didn’t pay me for this advertisement!

Europe, Living overseas, Mexico, Retirement, San Diego, Travel

New year, new plan

Happy New Year, everybody! May this be a great one for all of you. Leslie and I have been sharing a bad cold since right before Christmas, so we’ve been staying pretty close to home and doing very little of interest. Nothing to post about. We both feel much better now but we still have lingering coughs that sound worse than they are.

A new year brings new plans. We will be here in San Diego until the end of January (longest we’ve been anywhere since this project began). Unless our circumstances change significantly, San Diego is not on our list of possible retirement locations.

The cost of living is stunningly high here. For example, there is a one-bedroom, one-bath condo for sale on the first floor of the building we live in right now. It’s 717 square feet and is listed at $398,000. A two-bedroom, which is what we would need, is closer to $500,000+ in the downtown area. In nearby towns like La Mesa, one of our favorites, you can find two-bedroom places under $500K, but they’re generally quite small. And rents are high throughout the area. I’m not going into detail about real estate because everything depends on location. Prices are affordable if you don’t mind owning a double-wide in El Cajon. Want to see water from your house? Now you’re looking at seven figures.

Groceries cost a lot more here in Southern California. Ralphs is the biggest and best grocery store in the downtown area, and it’s an easy 10-block walk from our condo. (An aside here for my editor colleague John: It’s Ralphs, not Ralph’s. No apostrophe — checked their website to be sure.) The best thing about Ralphs is getting 30 percent off all wine (mix and match) if you buy a minimum of six bottles! That’s a great deal. These prices, though, not so much:

gluten-free penne pasta, $2.79.
Classico pasta sauce, $2.99.
zucchini, 1.29 lbs., $1.92.
grape tomatoes, $3.99.
Silk almond milk, 1/2 gal., $3.49.

Across the street from us is Grocery Outlet Bargain Market, a discount food store. Prices are lower and the walk is less than a block, but they don’t carry the range of stuff Ralphs or Whole Foods does:

5 limes, $1.00.
zucchini, 1.29 lbs., $1.02.
Quaker oats, 42 oz., $3.29.
Ritz crackers, $1.99.
pineapple, $1.99.

When we have a rental car, we go up to the hip Hillcrest neighborhood to Whole Foods. There are some things we can only get at Whole Paycheck, like our favorite Intelligensia House Blend coffee, which sets us back $13.99 for 12 ounces. It’s worth it. Some other stuff:

guacamole, .85 lb., $7.64.
romaine lettuce, $1.99.
coconut milk coffee creamer, $4.49
low-sodium bacon, $5.49.

*People-watching is great at the year-round Little Italy farmers market.*

Then there are the Little Italy (Saturday morning) and North Park (Thursday afternoon) farmer’s markets. I have no idea what we spend there, but it’s dramatically more than at the tianguis in Ajijic, or the mercado in Mérida. For example, you may recall me bragging about getting 13 limes at the Santiago mercado in Mérida for about 75 cents. At the Little Italy market, one vendor was selling limes at three for a dollar. Sometimes, though, you get what you pay for, like free-range eggs from Three Sons Farm in Ramona, Calif. — expensive at $7 a dozen, but by far the best eggs I’ve ever had.

I looked back at cost-of-living posts from Mexico, and you should feel free to do the same if you like. The Orowheat whole wheat bread I enjoy, for example, is $3.49 at Ralphs. We paid $2.30 for the same loaf at Wal-Mart in Ajijic, Mexico. At Ralphs, a dozen large eggs is just a penny shy of four bucks. In Ajijic, less than two dollars.

Mexico still seems to be in the lead in our home search, and cost of living is a big factor. But we’re giving Europe — France and maybe Italy — another chance in the spring. More on that when plans firm up.

Finally, some sad news. We had to say goodbye to our cat Sam last week. He was only 10 and suffered from episodes of poor health about once a year since he was a kitten. Dr. Berg, the best vet in the world, would give him a B12 shot and some other treatment and he would bounce back as if nothing had happened. She did that several times while we still lived in Westmont.

This time, after more than a year of excellent health, he didn’t respond to treatment as he had in the past. He stopped eating and his kidneys and liver were shutting down, so we consulted with Dr. Berg and with our dear friend Barbara, who was caring for Sam in our absence, and made the tough call to end his suffering. We deeply appreciate Barbara, who did all she could for him. She and Sam had bonded, and we know she feels the loss as we do. We bring these little creatures into our homes and into our lives knowing their life spans are shorter than ours, but it’s still hard to handle.

2018 started on a sad note as Leslie learned that her second cousin, Helen Thoman, died in New Jersey at the age of 99. She was a grand lady, and a lot of family history may have been lost with her death, especially information about Leslie’s Hungarian relatives.

And we were shocked just after Christmas to learn of the unexpected death of our former neighbor Dan Smith. Dan and Zdenka were the best neighbors we ever had. I remember Dan shoveling his own driveway, then shoveling ours, then shoveling Monica’s driveway across the street, after her husband Ed died. Dan was one of those really big men who was never without a smile. Except, maybe, when the Chicago Blackhawks lost a hockey game! He was truly a gentleman, and a gentle man. Z, you and Christopher are in our prayers.

We miss you, Dan. So glad we had this dinner together last summer.

Europe, Retirement, San Diego, Travel

Looking at options in San Diego County

In the last post, I said one part of the plan for San Diego was to spend the holidays with our daughter Stephanie. Another part was to continue being warm — or at least warmer than we would be if we were still in the Chicago area. So far, so good.

*One of the upsides to living in California. Great wines!*

It was over 80° F. on Thanksgiving Day here in San Diego. Leslie and I enjoyed a great Thanksgiving dinner with Stephanie. The list of things we’re thankful for begins with Steph. Being here in San Diego to share the holidays with her ranks right up there. And leftovers, of course. I’m always thankful for leftovers!

We got the festivities started a little early. On Nov. 18 (the Saturday before Thanksgiving), we enjoyed a “Friendsgiving” celebration with Stephanie and more than 40 of her closest friends. The hosts provided a roast turkey and a turducken. All the women brought a side dish and all the men brought two bottles of wine. There was a lot of great food, and a lot of wine! Leslie made her famous home-made cranberry sauce (way better than that gelatin stuff out of a can) and Stephanie made some amazing mashed potatoes. The party was on the rooftop of a condo building where one of Steph’s friends lives. Long walk for us — almost a whole block from where we’re living now.

Plans for Christmas Day haven’t been formalized yet, but we had dinner with Stephanie last weekend and helped her put up her Christmas tree. In keeping with tradition, we watched the 2003 Will Ferrell movie “Elf.”

friendsgiving-1976 — *A small part of the crowd at “Friendsgiving.” We were the second- and third-oldest at the party. One other set of parents was there: David (he’s 70) and Patty, a neat couple we enjoyed meeting.*

This week Leslie and I have been going to a number of communities in and near San Diego to see if maybe we could live here. We still plan to live outside the U.S., but San Diego has always been “Plan B.” There may come a time when we would need to be closer to Stephanie — driving distance rather than a potentially long flight.

*There’s a Farmers Market every Saturday morning, year-round, in the Little Italy neighborhood of San Diego. Lots more* *than just fruits and vegetables: hummus, sauces, jellies, bread, cheese, you name it.*

So far we have visited places as close as North Park, La Mesa and El Cajon, as well as farther-flung haunts such as Carlsbad, Temecula and Poway. We also drove through the coastal villages of Solana Beach and Encinitas, both of which are very similar to Carlsbad. And we have a few other places to check out.

The leading candidates appear to be Carlsbad (a quaint beach town) and Temecula (inland, lots of wineries). It’s jarring, though, to look at tiny apartments — two-bedrooms, about 850 square feet — that would cost us three, four, even five times as much as a nice furnished home or condo would in Mexico.

And so far, all the independent senior housing we’ve seen has been at a very high price and includes three meals a day in the facility dining room. We’re not interested in that — not yet, anyway. We want to cook most of our own meals. If you’ve tasted Leslie’s cooking, you understand.

*One of the desserts we enjoyed at Friendsgiving. Couldn’t resist including this! Leslie says the turkey is made of fondant, a type of decorative icing for cakes.*

UPDATE: We’ve been struggling with where to go after San Diego. The original plan was to spend some time in Costa Rica before heading back to Europe to check out France and Italy. But we couldn’t seem to find appropriate housing in our preferred area of Costa Rica, the Central Valley. The other problem was how to celebrate our 25th wedding anniversary, which is Feb. 6, 2018.

We always try to be flexible, so here’s the new plan: A Panama Canal cruise for late January and early February. That would allow us to see a bit of Costa Rica, as well as some of Panama and Colombia. It would also get us from the west coast to the east coast while crossing the Panama Canal transit off both our bucket lists!

Getting to the east coast (Florida) sets us up to take a repositioning cruise to Europe (up to four weeks). That should make for a nice vacation — like the one we did last year in the U.K. — and it’s a little less expensive than airfare. Plus it gets us to Europe in spring when the temperatures are more amenable. Yes, we’re still leaning toward Mexico for our retirement home, but we need to give Europe another shot.

More on that later. I leave you with photos of Stephanie’s cats, Louis and Piper. They’re both Maine Coons, which is the third most popular breed in the U.S. right now.

*This is Louis. He’s the senior cat in the house.*

*This is Piper. Her markings are really dramatic.*