A Coder's Notebook:

Living in  Mexico has many advantages  over living in Los Angeles. The housing costs are lower, there is little traffic congestion, and the medical and dental care and drugs are cheaper. Middle-class housing is generally better designed and constructed with cinder block, cement and rebar. I appreciate the Spanish-Mexican decor and architecture. The extensive use of tile flooring and the judicious use of decorative hand-painted tile in kitchens, bathrooms, and on stairs best symbolizes the flavor of Mexican style housing. For reasonable prices you can rent luxury oceanfront houses, condos, and villas on the beach. In general, the people are very nice to Americans. If you plan to take a vacation to Mexico or to live there, you will be drawn by the landscape, beautiful women, laidback lifestyle, and possibly by the greater availability of higher quality drugs (see How to Buy Pain Medication in Mexico for more information about finding drugs in Mexico).

I grew up in L.A., a cement jungle where you’d be hardpressed to find unpaved open space larger than a basketball court.  In Rioverde, San Luis Potosi I enjoyed the wide expanse of undeveloped terrain, farmland and ranches, rodeos, and no freeway traffic. Playas de Rosarito, North Baja California can be used a jump point for the adventurous to drive south down into the Baja peninsula, or to take a trip east through the mainland, or you can stay in town and go shopping without fighting traffic. I love exploring Mexico in a 4×4 truck. If you are driving around Mexico, you can expect to run into military checkpoints, which are usually situated on the outskirts of most cities, on the main roads leading into and out of cities and towns. The typical wait time at the checkpoint a few miles south of Rosarito Beach is five minutes.

Your diet will probably change to what Mexicans eat,  which isn’t much of a difference to me, and it is not quite like the paella at Seville’s restaurant in Long Beach, CA. Eating cactus leaves (nopales), cactus fruit (pitayas), mangos, and papayas was new to me. Most of the food that Americans are used to is sold in large supermarkets and some U.S.-based restaurants like McDonald’s and Dominoes Pizza are flooding small towns, and Walmart, Home Depot, Best Buy and other large stores exist in most large and mid-sized cities, including Playas de Rosarito. If you like to eat peanut butter, then you should buy a couple large jars of it in the United States before you embark on your trip, because it is sold in few stores and usually only in tiny jars.

Since I spend all day almost everyday on a computer and on the Internet, I sometimes forget that I’m in a third-world country. I’m reminded where I’m at when I  see packs of dogs roaming the streets and when I hear roosters crowing. Mexicans think it is cool for pet dogs and strays to live in the street; therefore you need to watch where you are stepping when walking in Mexico. When I feel burnt out tinkering with computer software, I will entertain myself by going on an adventurous expedition around Mexico. I’ve flown to Mexico City (Distrito Federal or Ciudad de Mexico or D.F.), La Paz, South Baja California, Puerto Vallarta, and Mazatlan, and I rode buses, and I have driven through several states and cities, including Zacatecas, San Luis Potosi, Durango, Tamaulipas, Monterrey, Nuevo Laredo, Nuevo Leon, Ciudad Juárez, Chihuahua, Coahuila, Hermosillo, Guaymas, Sonora, Sinaloa, Los Mochis, Guasave, Culiacan, Guadalajara, Jalisco, Queretero, Leon, San Juan del Rio, Guanajuato, Tijuana, Ensenada, North Baja California and Torreon – to name a few. If you are planning to take a road trip to Mexico, I strongly recommend using a high clearance vehicle like a four-wheel-drive truck or SUV because there are many dirt roads, potholes, and speed bumps (called topes) are everywhere making driving at night extremely dangerous.

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