NOTE: I was having some issues dealing with formatting for this blog post, it may look a little strange.
Dear readers of Believe It Ohr Not:
Recently on Facebook, I asked you to send me questions that you might be interested in having me answer. Thank you for heeding my plea and for sending me some very thoughtful ones. I was touched so many of you took time out of your busy schedules to compose them.
Here’s my answers to your queries.


Yes! Local schools need basic school supplies, especially some of the more remote schools in Zihuatanejo. If you want to bring supplies when you come to visit us in Zihuatanejo, I can put you in touch with people I know that work closely with a local school in the hills of Zihuataenjo.
Not horrible, not great. It’s better on the Caribbean side near Cancun, but I’ve gone in Zihuatanejo before and it’s not horrible.
We don’t always know where it’s OK to eat. Generally, as a rule, I don’t eat street food, unless someone recommends it, or we see the vendors taking advanced hygienic precautions. This includes serving food on plates that have been wrapped into plastic wrap, and serving food with gloves on. We also try to locate vendors that do not touch food and collect money at the same time. Sometimes we’ll bend these rules and I will eat plain cheese quesadillas. Andy is not as strict as I am. He’s way more open to eating street food. The sanitation rules in Mexico are not as advanced as the U.S., but they are improving.
We use Lonely Planet a lot! We find that they have good restaurant recommendations. We also use TripAdvisor, (but it can be hit or miss). While traveling, we always ask ex-pats to recommend their favorite places.
Not that much. But I continue to try. I can successfully order food in a restaurant most of the time. I can tell people where I’m from. I can ask for things in a store. Andy’s Spanish is way better than mine on all levels. But I continue to take lessons and hope for a miracle! My comprehension is improving. Actually, my vocabulary is improving too, but I can’t string together sentences very well.
I can’t answer this question. This is too individual. But if you are seriously interested in doing something like we are, I will happily help you prepare a budget. And I can share our budget with you. I can tell you that life in Mexico is way, way cheaper than life in the U.S, especially life in the San Francisco Bay Area.
Right now are are on tourist visas. This means we can stay in Mexico for 180 days. After 180 days (six months) we have to leave Mexico–for how long we are not sure. We’ve always left for at least a few weeks. Sometimes people do border runs to the U.S.A or Guatemala, or Belize, and return in very short amount of times. Eventually we may decide to apply for permanent residency, but this process has to be started outside of Mexico and we’ve not had a chance to start it yet.

I think Mexico is starting to feel like home. I’m not sure I would actually call it my home, but the longer we are here, the more it feels like it.
I cannot answer this. Mexico has tons of cities I love. I always, always wax poetically about both Morelia and Zihuatenjo, but I also love Oaxaca where we are now. I’ll blog about Oaxaca soon, but it has blown me away for many reasons. I guess Morelia still would have to be my favorite city, (with Oaxaca a close second) because it’s vibrant, old, beautiful and it has a certain buzz that I can’t adequately describe. It’s a city that lives.
I’m surprised that I could do what I did. As I often recount, I’m not a good hiker, I don’t handle hills well, and I get winded easily, because I’m not in tip-top physical shape. Still it felt good to challenge myself while in Guatemala. The water/cave hike was most memorable.
Thankfully, I never saw the cockroach again, so I don’t actually know.
It depends. It was fine to drink in Japan and South Korea. But it is not fine to drink anywhere in Mexico, (unless in a fancy resort with filtered water). It’s was not OK to drink tap water in Guatemala. I know this question is not about river water, but several months ago, I drank water from a river spring ONLY because an ex-pat told me it was a pure source, directly from and because he drinks from it every day. I didn’t get sick, but eventually I developed a parasite. It could have been from the river, it could have been from something else. In Mexico you just never know. No more river water for me!
Guatemala is not known for its food. I did really enjoy eating beans and rice, though. I liked the black beans a lot. I also liked the fact that the food was not as spicy as Mexico, but it’s very similar. I was a big fan of a Guatemalan white fish. I also enjoyed snacking on fried fava beans. They were my favorite Guatemalan snacks.
I go to the doctor! I have a great oncologist in Morelia, Mexico who I see every three months. I’ve had to seek medical attention in Israel, Belgium, and Japan and all of these experiences have turned out fine. I do recommend carrying travel insurance whenever you travel.
I didn’t feel completely safe in Livingston, Guatemala on the Caribbean coast. But I didn’t feel threatened either. Safety, thankfully has not been an issue for us.
We haven’t encountered many ugly Americans. I would say that the opposite is true. For the most part, the Americans we have encountered love and respect Mexicans and Mexican culture. They go out of their way to show respect in their daily interactions. But, I also attribute this to the fact that with the exception of Zihuatanejo, we’ve not been in places with tons and tons of tourists. However, even when we’ve stayed at all-inclusive resorts with a lot of gringos, we’ve seen tourists trying to be respectful.
In order to find good travel agents, I would use two sources 1) Word of mouth 2) online reviews from TripAdvisor.
In Guatemala I really liked the black beans they served with many meals. In Mexico, I have a soft spot in my heart for beers mixed with tomato juice. It’s super refreshing even thought it sounds disgusting. I’ve also developed an appreciation for mezcal since we’re now in Oaxaca. Don’t get me started on the chocolate from Oaxaca, especially when combined with the local chili. It’s fab.
I’m not sure I would consider myself a risk taker by nature, but I know many readers of my blog would disagree. I think my “superhero” shines brightly because I simply do not know if and when I might get cancer again. Right now, I’ve been in remission for two whole years! Amazing. I don’t know how long I’m going to be around and I don’t know how healthy I’m going to be. This allows me to do things I wouldn’t normally do like do a cave hike.
I expected that I would not miss working 40 hours a week. This has proven to be true.
Gosh, some of these questions are hard! I guess I’m surprised at how much we love Mexico and how much it fits in with our lifestyle. Before we started this adventure, I had been to Mexico many, many times but primarily only to the Yucatan and Zihuatenjo. I didn’t realize what a beautiful and interesting country Mexico would turn out to be. I didn’t realize how much we would fall in love with the people. And I really didn’t realize how much the Mexican way-of-life (cultural tempo?) would fit into our lifestyle.
Throughout Guatemala, many, many women (and often men) wear traditional clothing. It’s beautiful, colorful and a feast for the eyes! Most women wear clothing that does not match. Every region has a different style of clothing and many indigenous people can tell where someone is from by the pattern of their clothes. Handmade clothing is for sale everywhere in Guatemala, but much of it is expensive. I didn’t buy any shirts in Guatemala because they seemed very heavy and hot. I didn’t think I would be able to wear them while in Mexico so I passed.
Yes! Many Mexican restrooms are not nice places. In Japan, I felt like I could eat off the floor easily in the restrooms. They were always spotless including public ones. Not true in Mexico. It’s not always easy to find a clean one. Usually, when taking a driving trip, highway gas station restrooms are decent, but often public ones are not good. I close my eyes and do my business as fast as I can!
I miss our super big and super comfortable couch at our house in Oakland. I miss hanging out and exploring cool Oakland neighborhoods. I miss sushi and I miss dim sum. I miss shopping at Trader Joe’s. I miss my friends and mother-in-law!!
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Thanks again for submitting questions. I had a lot of fun answering them!