Housecarers.com

Thursday 2 October 2014

The universe is shifting.

Before I jump into this post, I just want to note that the post "How to find a rental and live cheaply in Mazatlan" has surprised me by being the most read post - 10 times more popular than any other post. Obviously, I have struck a cord of interest and various articles I have read in major media lately confirm that.  With Baby Boomers retiring en masse and wondering how the heck they are going to be able to do that in North America, they are looking at Mexico as a viable alternative.

I will probably write a follow-up post on that subject but I just want to mention now that some of the rules for becoming a resident of Mexico have changed and there are many places online you can go to get this information.  It's a little complicated, particularly if you want to bring down a vehicle, so I strongly recommend that you google "residency visas in Mexico" or something similar and inform yourself.


I have been a busy woman this summer.  After returning in June, I left again six weeks later to go up to Calgary where Mike started a new consulting job.  Our intention was to find somewhere to rent but instead we did something I never thought we would do again.  We bought a condo.  Real estate in Calgary is booming, unlike many other places, so the thought that we could actually buy something was astounding.  We moved in almost right away and rented for a month while the mortgage was processed.  That was a lot of work for me - our financial status was iffy given our struggles in the last two years, but I managed to pull off a miracle of shuffling money around to at least make it look like we were a good bet to the mortgage company.  They really have nothing to worry about, we have recovered quite well since Mike went to work for Chevron in 2013 but banks are nigglers.


So this is all part of the "shift".


First:  After about 5 years of Mike NOT working in Calgary, making my staying in Mazatlan during winter months make sense (I did visit him in various work sites like Sacramento and Houston), it now appears that Mike will be permanently located in Calgary.


Second: After more than 5 years of developing, pivoting, promoting, begging and struggling, Qtility Software has paying customers - oil and gas companies, government departments, and others.  That means I need to be there to help manage it until we find someone to replace me.  Mike is under contract to consult until the end of December and is walking a fine line between obligation to the consulting client, and being CEO of Qtility Software.  There is a blending there because the consulting client is the one who is selling our software to their clients.  We are working on some kind of partnership deal with them to make sure the blending is clear to prevent conflict of interest issues.


And so, I am going back again, less than a month after getting back here in Sept.  I have lined up a great couple for house/dog-sitting - they are world travelers with an active blog and travel business.  www.honeytrek.com   Very interesting story and I am sure they are going to love Mazatlan.


I have to come back in late November again in order to drive my Jeep back to the border to renew the sticker for another 6 months.  No getting around it.  After that, we'll see.  If I have to spend a winter in Calgary, I am very happy to do so if it means that I am helping to get us to the point when Mike and I are free to have adventures - together!