Point South Mexico - Real Estate and Lifestyle Magazine

Just as I turned into Sepulveda Boulevard to get into some serious "look ahead" eightball at the Castle, my favorite neighborhood bar in Manhattan Beach, California, I saw something that made my jaw drop.

Down the street it looked like a Mexican fiesta line dance, dozens of people hand clapping, and guess who was leading them? My Chicano buddies, José and Josb, identical twins, boogying in front, José with a big tuba, Josb with a horn, a miniature mariachi band leading a posse of people to the Castle.

Pablo Vista winds up a hill and stops at a cul-de-sac. Most of the houses are attractively landscaped. Some had their lawns taken out when water shortages began and substituted tan bark and shrubs. I bought an eleven-and-a-half ton "mountain," had one-fourth of it buried in the ground so it would stay put and planted a cedar next to it. It looked great. By my front door a fountain featured a lady pouring water from an ornate vase.

I knew before I ever moved to Ajijic that my retirement life would have to include some volunteer work. Both my personal ethics and my means of self-fulfillment do not allow me to sit idle for too long. I discovered several possibilities that intrigued me, but with a background as a pediatric nurse practitioner, the Ninos Incapacitados (officially PPNI) stood high on my list.

In my belief system there are no coincidences or accidents, just learning experiences...something that only that person or event can teach you. I had one of those learning experiences on August 30, 2006.

When I started escaping the heat of Arizona summers last year, my friends were quick to point out all the presumed negatives about Mexico.