CATCHING UP IN MEXICO

It has been a long time since I have written anything on this blog. Thanks to my subscribers who have stuck with me. I appreciate all of you.

So where to begin? As you know from my last post, we decided to stay most of the time in San Luis Potosi. We agreed because SLP (San Luis Potosi) fit most of our wish list. It has excellent medical facilities, an airport, and lots of things to do in and around SLP, few “gringos” and mild weather. The only downside is the size of the city, over a million people. Of course, to check off all our wishes, we knew we had to go to a larger city—a small price to pay.

Once we got back to Canada the real work began. We started downsizing. I would highly recommend that you downsize whether you are moving or not. We are not collectors, but after 30 years of living in the same place, one tends to gather things. Once we had downsized enough, we put our house on the market. We got an offer on the second day, which we accepted. The closing date was in six weeks! No problem. We started selling and giving away our possessions. I underestimated the amount of time and effort it would take. We were fortunate that the people who bought our SUV allowed us to use it until our last day. That also went for the people who bought our bed and our recliners. They picked them up the day we were leaving, which allowed us to stay in the house until the last moment.

So off we went on our new adventure. We flew into Puerto Vallarta and stayed a couple of nights to allow my husband to renew his passport. The only other Canadian consulate was Mexico City which would be difficult to get to.

Once we got settled in Melaque, we decided to apply for my husband’s RFC number (tax number), which is required by anyone who is a resident of Mexico. I received mine last year. So, with the help of our facilitator, Pedro, we got an appointment at the SAT office in Manzanillo, an hour away from Melaque. We had all the paperwork ready, or so we thought. My husband and Pedro went into the office only to be told we needed to copy the back of the CFE (electrical bill). They gave us an extra 10 minutes to get this done before we lost our appointment. Thankfully Pedro knew where to go, and we got it done and back in time for the appointment.

We decided to get our Mexican drivers’ licenses. We haven’t done it yet as we have company arriving in the next few days. But this is the procedure. First, you need to go to a lab, get your blood type done, and get a card showing that. Apparently, we may need it for other things. We have done that. Then you go to Cihuatlan, the county seat, and City Hall to verify your address. This is for people who rent. The next step is to go to the office where they issue the licenses to show them your blood type card and address verification and, I think, answer a few questions. You then need to go a block away to another office where you will pay and take a written test. If you don’t want to take the test, you can give some money to the personnel there. Once done, you return to the first office, show that you have paid and have taken the test, and they will issue you a license. This should be interesting.

We can’t apply for our three-year temporary residency until July 27^th.  It should be straightforward. We will hire a facilitator again, just in case.

The rainy season is here. We got a bit of Hurricane Beatriz, but she didn’t come inland, so all we got was a lot of rain. We know this is not the end of storms. We only hope that we get some nice weather for our friends that are arriving.

I will leave this post here. We have plans for our friends and will bring you along. Until next time.