Why Cliffjumpers - my first post

I re-read a couple of old blogs today from 2003-2005. I want to start a new blog. The old ones are still out there but are anonymous. Sometimes the ups and downs of this roller-coaster we are on get to me. I read back to 2003 and realize how much we have struggled and for how long. It all goes back much farther too. To 1996 actually. Why do we do it? Can't help ourselves really. There is always just enough good happening to keep us going.

Like right now. I am writing this as I sit at a hand-made mexican wood desk in an apartment condo in Mazatlan. Outside the patio door, birds are singing, church bells are ringing and the sun is hot at high noon. We rented this place for the winter. It has always been a dream of mine to do this - live for several months in a tropical place. Not just vacation, but to experience living there for an extended period of time. This year, we jumped off a cliff and did it.

We came to Mazatlan for a vacation last winter. I loved it so much that I came back again by myself a couple of months later (I tend to do those sorts of things - Mike understands). I spent 2 more weeks here getting dental work done (very cheap) (another supposedly risky thing to do - but in reality it's not) and meeting some of the local expats from Canada and the US. I found out how little it can cost to live here for the winter and decided that if at all possible we should try doing just that next winter. That's this winter. Last summer, I looked for rentals online and found this great little place with 2 bedrooms, 2 bathrooms, ground floor, 3 blocks from the beach, buses, shops and restaurants. It was great price and I booked it from Oct. to May, not really knowing for sure if we would be able to make the rent on it each month, but trusting that we would. And we have.

It's now April. I have been back and forth from home to here 3 times over the winter - Mike too. I chose Mazatlan specifically because there are cheap direct flights from Calgary to here, 4 hours. And it is the same time zone. I have great internet and can work online and communicate with Mike by Skype. My boys, Tim and Simon, have been down to visit, and a friend staying with me for 10 days to get much needed dental work done here for far less than she was being asked to pay back home. Mike will be here again in a couple of weeks and maybe the boys again too. All in all, it has worked out beautifully and I am thrilled to have jumped off this particular cliff! More about Mazatlan in the next post.