Keep the Whining Wings Away and Sleep Peacefully When you Retire in Mexico

Even if you have screens on your doors and windows when you retire in Mexico you are likely to have mosquitoes in your house at certain times of year. If you are sitting there thinking, “No I won’t. She’s exaggerating,” you are obviously still in the U.S. Trust me. There will be mosquitoes. Since you probably chose to retire in Mexico so that you can relax and enjoy yourself you will need to get your sleep. Additionally, dengue fever exists in certain parts of Mexico and you definitely want to avoid that.

The Savvy Expat Uses a Mosquito Net 

To keep the tenacious little things away hang a mosquito net over your bed. I know this sounds obvious, but it is amazing how long it took us to get one. You can buy them at the market or where ever the locals shop. There are different styles and you can pick the one you like the best.

The Hoop

The prettiest ones hang off of a single hoop. They look like giant bridal veils. You hang the string connected to the hoop from your ceiling, then spread the netting around your bed.

Surprised that mosquitoes might be a problem in Mexico? What else do you need to know? Before you live or retire in Mexico read this humorous, practical e-book.

The advantage of these is that they are tall and you only have to hang the entire net from one hook–oh and it looks kind of cute, like a ferry princess bed draping. The disadvantage is that if you get a mosquito inside it’ll be harder to see among all of the netting pleated around the hoop and may be hung too high to reach without standing up on your bed and flailing around to smash the tiny intruder.

The Cube

My favorites are the cube-shaped ones. These are like square tents that hang over your bed. They have four tabs, one on each corner, to hang them up. The disadvantage to these is that you have to figure out how to tie all four tabs in a way that the net will hang squarely over your bed. If you move your bed around you can end up with a lot of holes in the wall! Also, the strings leading to the tabs might get in your way. If you have a ladder you could solve all of this by hanging it from the ceiling. The advantage is that it’s easy to spot and kill a mosquito who sneaks in. Also, it is easy to get in and out of the net. You just lift of one side, slide in, then drop it down behind you.

When you hang a cube type net hang it a few inches “low” so that the bottom of the net bunches up around the edge of your mattress. This makes a seal so that the mosquitoes can’t sneak under the netting if your pillow or blankets push the net out a little while you are sleeping. You don’t want your net hanging along the outside edge of your bed because mosquitoes like to hang out under beds and will find it quite handy to slide right up between your mattress and your net.

The Material

When you are purchasing your mosquito net you can select between a durable, less breathable fabric (top two pictures shown at right) or a more breathable “snaggy” fabric (bottom two pictures shown below right). There are advantages and disadvantages of both and you may end up wanting both for use at different times of year. A lighter fabric will allow more air to move through, which may be of highest priority during the hot, humid, pre-rainy season nights. Unfortunately, sometimes lighter fabrics can get tangled around your feet at night, causing you to have to sit up in bed and lay them down around the edge of your mattress. This is because they are so light that they don’t naturally fall straight down into a pile and they are impossible to “kick” into place. Trust me, I’ve tried. Some of these lighter fabrics are also teensy weensy knits and can snag on zippers or rough feet etc., causing holes or runs in your fortress walls.

A heavier fabric is the opposite. Generally, I prefer a heavy fabric because it tends to fall into place around the edge of the bed no matter how many times I get up in the middle of the night and I can get it into place with a flick of my toes. I almost never have mosquitoes finding entrances through places where the net is tweaked. Also, my heavier mosquito net has no holes or snags in it.

When you first thought, “Gee, I think I want to retire in Mexico” did you picture yourself at the market picking out your mosquito net?

Retire in Mexico and Return to Your Childhood Days

It’s funny, but a mosquito net adds a kind of exclusive, cozy feel to your bed. The sunny morning light makes the white fabric glow warmly, making the room beyond fade into shaded impressions of your bedroom. Shafts of afternoon sun slice yellow squares onto the fabric walls that protect you. I know what time it is when I wake up from my nap by where the shaft of golden sunlight is hitting my netting. I could put marks on it and make myself and indoor nap clock.

Remember when you were little and you liked to nap in small, private places; behind the couch, in an emptied drawer, in a pillow and blanket fort? You can be in your net, hearing mosquitoes whining around your bed, knowing that you are in your own personal space, safe and comfy, and they can’t get you!

The Savvy Expat Can Also Use a Fan  

A fan is also invaluable at keeping mosquitoes away. If you can build your own home when you retire in Mexico I recommend that you install ceiling fans above your beds. Get fans that can turn slowly, blowing mosquitoes away but not making you feel as if you are sleeping in an arctic draft.  

If you don’t have ceiling fans you can get a free-standing fan and aim it so that it blows the air across your body. If you can, position the fan so that it sort of blows over your shoulder, missing your head, but keeping mosquitoes away. The only problem with fans is that they can sometimes cause you to get a stuffy nose, which is why I won’t part with my mosquito net. I’m sure you’ll agree. After all, if you wanted a cold you could stay in the icy north and forget all about your plan to retire in Mexico.

I only got three mosquito bites while I was writing this page. (I’m not kidding.) …Hey, now there’s a good idea. I need a mosquito net for my desk!

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The sound of water falling in my tank is making me very happy right now. For two days no water fell in my tank, but I didn’t notice that I hadn’t heard it. I went on blissfully using water without knowing that I was headed for a crisis. I learned about the impending water crisis in the middle of dealing with a gas crisis involving a near hypothermic 18 month old, but that’s a story for another time.

Now that I live in Mexico, I’ve learned to appreciate water like I never had before. Before you live in Mexico, your head knows that “water is essential for life” but the concept stays in quotes so to speak. It isn’t until you get to Mexico and have to figure out how to wash your dishes out of a bucket, flush your toilette with a bucket, ration drinking water, strategize on how not to create dirty laundry, and plan your social life around lack of shower water that you start to think more personally on the topic of water. The quote becomes like this: “Water is essential for LIFE.”

So when my neighbor told me that he was out of water, and my pressure got dangerously low, I knew I was about to run out of water. As an expatriate in Mexico it is my duty to create an expectation of good service and accountability so I called the water department–something almost no Mexicans will do. I called just to let them know that somebody in my neighborhood cared that there was no water and that I expected to have my service returned. The man replied honestly (what a breath of fresh air) and told me that, yes, they had a problem with their pump feeding our area and since it was the end of the day they were hoping to have the thing fixed the next day (as in mañana). Uh oh.

In October of 2006 the entire city of Cuernavaca was without garbage service for weeks. Garbage piled up in the streets and created a city-wide health menace, let alone major nuisance. Based on this experience I knew that sometimes problems can get way out of proportion in Mexico. Alarm bells went off in my head and we filled laundry tubs with water bucketed from my landlord’s cistern. This spare water allowed me to get by for the next 18 hours until… now! Water is again falling into my tank and I’m elated to hear it.

As an expatriate in Mexico it is also my responsibility to create an expectation of respect and gratitude for the hard work of service personnel, so I called the water department back and thanked them–something almost no Mexicans will do.

I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again. When you retire in Mexico make sure that you live in a house that has a cistern. You will need to delve into this water reserve from time to time.

Well, not exactly the countries. The other day I had a chance to talk to a man in India while he was helping me resolve some problems with my Microsoft product. We were waiting while my computer slowly downloaded a file and had some time to compare notes about India and Mexico.

“Where are you?” he asked me.

“I’m in Mexico.”

“Oh, what’s it like there?” he asked. I told him a bit and then he told me that he was in India and it seemed a lot alike.

On the surface it seems that things are similar between the two countries. Labor is cheap and material items expensive. People work 6 days a week. Rich kids go to private school and learn English, poor kids go to public school and don’t.

The man I spoke to spoke three languages and understood two more.  He told me to imagine the United States with a different native language spoken in each state. Imagine that.

One major difference we found between the two countries is that telecommunications is relatively cheap in India and expensive (read exorbitant) in Mexico.

This is one of the things that I think is really holding Mexico back. It’s so expensive to make a simple phone call that business doesn’t get done because people avoid using the phone–and hence communicating with one another–at all costs. Even messages are expensive at 10 US cents a minute.

When you retire in Mexico you can enjoy a special aspect of Mexican society, gathering in the zocalo to spend a couple of relaxed hours. Sundays are especially big for going to the zocalo. Each city’s zocalo has its own character created by the layout, trees and flowers, benches, items sold by vendors, and habitual artists and performances.

Cuernavaca’s zocalo has some award winning shade trees and plenty of benches. Vendors in Cuernavaca sell elotes (corn on the cob), esquites (corn cut off the cob), liquados (fruit, milk, etc. in the blender), icecream, traditional candies, raspados (snow cones), pottery plaques, hammocks, photos of you on a paper machet horse, colorful baskets, beaded necklaces, and cheap rind stone belts, among other things. Before you decide where to live in Mexico, see if you like hanging out in the zocalo. It’s such a nice part of living in Mexico.

Entertainment in the Cuernavaca zocalo sometimes leaves something to be desired since, unlike Oaxaca, Merido, Puebla, and Palenque and many other cities throughout Mexico, there is rarely a free concert. Still, there is a group of older citizens dancing ballroom dance on Fridays and Sundays and there are the clowns.

If you can understand Spanish, the ribald clowns can be funny. Today they had us giggling harder than ever. We caught the beginning of the show and so were standing in the front of the crowd near the white chalk line they have painted on the paving stones to delineate their open air stage. Being in the front helped me to hear and better understand the jokes.

They brought up 5 young boys from the crowd and had them help with the show by standing perfectly still while being tickled by a “snake” (balloon) to show their bravery. Of course the boys are as cute as the dickens and doing their best so that they could win balloon art toys as prizes.  The thing that really made me laugh was when the boys had to wear rubber masks of former President Salinas, Subcomandante Marcos, a chimpanzee from Land of the Apes, former President Fox, and an almost alien looking character with his cheeks puffed out and his mouth as tight and round as an …. well, you know.

The tiny boys couldn’t see through the eye holes well, and of course the clown knew how to play off of that to a “T.” The boys, of course, where doing their best to cooperate. It’s not funny unless you are there, so I’ll leave it at that, but make a mental note before you retire in Mexico to get to know your local zocalo. It could be worth a few good laughs. When was the last time you went to a park near your home and had some free entertainment? You’ve got to love and live in Mexico!

When it rains in most places in Mexico, it pours.

Yesterday we walked from our house to see the annual fair at Tlaltenango. This is a fair that happens every year in front of the first chapel to be built in the Americas! Or so says the place on the front of the simple, cozy chapel, with the dates of 1521-1523 on the plaque.

The fair is important as a celebration of the miracles said to have been granted by the small, lovely virgin above the altar in the larger chapel built next to the original one. A main avenue in Cuernavaca, Avenida Emilano Zapata, is closed for the entire week for this fair. Traffic is rerouted through parallel avenues and lines of cars crawl through nearby neighborhoods.

The vendors were just setting up their stalls on the newly closed street as we walked among them. It was a busy scene of Mexicans doing something that they have to get good at–making something out of nothing. They were patiently transforming a street into a fair, erecting their metal frame stalls, covering them with tarps, and stacking their wares in colorful, plentiful displays. In one stall that sells pottery bowls, mugs, and other kitchenware a toddler was proudly helping her parents to stack the breakable mugs. In another, native women, wearing their traditional dresses and accessories where hanging hand-embroidered dresses and blouses. Up the road two women in their 60s were scaling a ladder to fix their frame stall.

During the week, the vendors stay in their trucks, parked in nearby streets, and spend hours on end in the cramped spaces behind their stalls. Crowds of families and teenagers throng up and down the double row of stalls, eating the treats and buying the things for sale. At the church various celebrations take place and people can walk behind the altar to see the virgin.

Last night, the rain clouds were dark, but to the south of Cuernavaca. Since rain usually comes from the north or east, the storm snuck up on us. Suddenly, the drops began as a thick mist. Soon the rain was pelting down in huge, soft balls of moisture. We paused under an awning, but it was clear that the rain wasn’t going to let up soon. The street was running deeper and deeper–a rain-speckled river. Taxi cabs were starting to through splashes onto our feet, then our ankles, then our knees…. We finally had to run for it through the streets. Another family passed us, giggling, the mom holding the hand of the oldest and the father carrying a three-year-old hiding under his father’s coat.

We had our own little one in a child carrier backpack with my wool ski cap covering his head and neck and my sweatshirt absorbing the water before it could soak his shirt. Crossing the road the water was ankle deep. It had been years since I had had feet so wet that the water squished and flowed around my feet as I moved. We came inside, where it was dry, but there is no heat, closed the curtains and stripped to our skivvies, then changed into warm, dry clothes. Probably we had more fun in the surprise rain storm than at the fair.

First Published
on Mexico Connect July 1, 2007

Las Estacas

By Julia Taylor

The aquatic park Las Estacas came out of your dreams and became reality in the tiny Mexican state of Morelos. The park is sunny, breezy, lush, fun, and relaxing, all rolled into one. The focal point of this park is a sparkling, clear, cool, artesian fed river which borders on much of the bathing and sunning areas. There is a slow, steady current that makes floating delightful and swimming upstream exercise.

The river is perfect for a lovely swim-right after you get used to the coolness, which makes it wonderfully refreshing. It’s not so cold that you get Goosebumps; our “experts” guess that it’s around 75 to 80 degrees (23 to 26 degrees Celsius), or just a little cooler than a lap pool. The depth is around 7 feet (approximately 2 meters) in most areas and much deeper in pools. The pool in front of the rental area is 20 feet (6 meters) deep with a platform built for jumping or diving. Peaceful little fish ranging from 2 to 30 cm glide around the sparkling depths. Every few meters there are artfully constructed retaining walls with “stepping stones” below them that maintain the natural look yet provide easy access and exit points for swimmers.

The design of the rest of the park supports enjoyment of the river and provides for activities pleasing to everyone. The sunbathing area has a perfect grass lawn for lying in the sun and a cement “boardwalk” equipped with ladders for exiting the water after invigorating cannonball leaps.  It’s easy to move around the park, yet there are plenty of surprises as you round a bend into a new area. The landscaping is a balance of very tall, elegant palm trees and other vegetation creating semi-private gardens separating large, grassy open areas. The partially shaded grassy areas are perfect for kicking or tossing a ball around and make it easy to play. Every area is perfectly mowed and raked and you can go barefoot all day long.

Despite the fact that it is perfectly manicured the park still feels natural, especially along the river because it is shaded by a variety of flowering trees common in Morelos. The opposite bank of the stream is natural, with very few areas for bathers to exit the water. This creates peaceful little vistas and provides a sense of privacy and exclusivity to much of the river’s winding length.

Elderly or disabled people can enjoy the park due to the fact that it is connected by wide, flat walkways covered in compacted, small gravel, though the hanging bridges, which provide a nice adventurous feel at the entrance and hostel areas may be a challenge. (A second entrance near the camping area does not have a hanging bridge.) These bridges, which are hot from the sun, can also cause trouble for unsuspecting bare-footed strollers.

The park employee stationed at one of these bridges told us the story of four little children who got part way across the treated wooden surface of the bridge when they realized that it was burning their tender, bare feet. He said that they stopped, looked down at their feet and started to “dance” crying loudly for help. It didn’t occur to them to turn and run for safety so he ran and scooped two up in his arms and delivered them back to the cool grass. “I wished I could have carried all four,” he told us, “but I could only get two. Meanwhile their mother ran and rescued the other two.”

For children there is a large, shallow pool created by diverting a small portion of the river’s flow through a complex “lake” with bridges, swings, and a jungle gym right in the water. The water in this pool is shallow and the sun warms it, making it just right for romping all day. For those in need of luxury there is a full service spa offering massages, warm stones, hot wraps and other services — at very high costs, of course.  For sports lovers there is a basketball court, climbing wall (near the hostel), soccer field, and miniature golf. If you don’t want to swim in the river there are some traditional pools for lap swimmers and for children, which are warmer than the river.  I also observed zip lines and other ropes course-type equipment in the trees. If you are interested in an extreme challenge contact the bilingual staff for more information.

To see the awe inspiring source of the river, turn left at the rental shop and head along the path, keeping the river to your left. After leaving the sun bathing area, the path goes under an archway of flowering vines and through a natural area of tall trees. A short distance ahead, the path ends at an overlook and high dive platform. As you approach the railing you can look right down into the silently rushing mouth of the spring. The water is the same turquoise blue as tropical beaches with dime sized bubbles wiggling their way to the surface.

The rental shop has a complete selection of equipment for all kinds of water sports including, rafting, snorkeling, and diving. The equipment is in good condition and they even have life vests for small children. Next to the rental area is a bathroom, shower and changing area for general use. It is clean, airy, and comfortable to use. Lockers are available in both the men’s and women’s changing areas. You just need to go to the rental desk to get a padlock and key. Padlock rental is reasonable, but bring extra money with you because deposits are required for all rental of equipment and padlocks.

The park has a fancy restaurant connected to the hotel, which is open to the public. On weekends and holidays, a variety of snack bars are also open, including a fruit “smoothie” bar. Of course you are allowed to bring in any foods or beverages that you would like to consume and picnic tables and small barbeques are available throughout the park. Be forewarned that the barbeques are a little tipsier than they look, as our 1-year-old discovered. I recommend that you at least bring enough water for the day, though bottled water is available in the mini-supermarket located near the main changing rooms. If you choose not to bring foods be advised that on weekdays only the fancy restaurant is open.  If you were to decide at the last minute that you needed something that were not available inside the park it would be difficult to buy it because there aren’t any stores nearby the park.

There are a variety of accommodations provided at the park. A hotel, surrounded by a private garden, is located at the heart of the park. The prices for the rooms are divided into weekday and weekend rates and are those of expensive hotels throughout Mexico. (For all price information see the official web site at: http://www.lasestacas.com/ingles/promo.html).

There is a spotlessly clean hostel, called the Fuerte Bambu (Bamboo Fort) with 3 bunks–two beds each, for a total of 6 beds per room and ample, clean community shower/bathrooms, the price of which adds only an extra 90 pesos (or 10 dollars) to the entrance fee, allowing you to enjoy the park for two days. There is a grassy camping area with clean bathroom/showers, the cost of which also includes the entrance fees to the park. Finally, if you drive your R.V. to Las Estacas you can stay in the R.V. camping area with hookups and bathroom/showers.

I recommend that you avoid weekends, especially holidays or long weekends. It’s a Mexican family tradition to go to a park and play on Sundays and holidays so the park is packed with families, teens, and everybody else on these days. On weekdays there is enough space that it’s fun to watch other people having fun. Mexicans are quite open and used to sharing space. They say hello as they pass by your picnic area or paddle past you in their rubber rafts creating a feeling of relaxed community that is at the heart of Mexican life.

As a connoisseur of outdoor water experiences I appreciated Las Estacas for its natural feel and for the good planning of the river access. Because the depth is always just slightly over your head you never get into areas where someone has stirred up a bunch of silt from the bottom. The water is always as clear as glass - so clear, in fact that you sometimes can’t gauge how deep it is. Another important design and maintenance factor is that there are no areas of slimy algae growths - even in the warm, shallow children’s “lake.”

If you want to have a fun family vacation in a safe, private, yet adventurous place consider the aquatic park Las Estacas in Morelos. The facilities are perfect for large group gatherings, but would also lend themselves to a lovely vacation for two. If water and swimming are in your heart for your next vacation, Las Estacas is a dream come true.

Captions below are in order of appearance:

1. Inviting aqua colored water near the sunbathing area at Las Estacas
2. Swimmer swings out over the crystal clear stream
3. Looking back at the sunbathing and rental shop areas
4. Paddling upstream in a rented raft
5. The hanging bridge at the entrance to the park sets the mood for outdoor adventure
6. The shallow children’s lake has fun bridges and play equipment
7. The awe inspiring, silent mouth of the spring
8. Rental shop and smoothie bar (closed on the day the photo was taken)
9. View of mango trees from the women’s shower
10. Visitors walking near the sunbathing area
11. A warm lap pool surrounded by open grassy areas
12. The shady grounds are connected by convenient pathways
13. A road sign points the way and encourages visitors “Almost There Las Estacas”

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