Tuesday, April 25, 2006

We are making progress....


This is our new home, on Amapas Street in Puerto Vallarta. We will rent here through August, when we will hopefully have a permanent home. The movers will be here to pack our "stuff" on May 8. LOTS of paperwork involved here, but fortunately, the movers will take care of that. We are not taking any furniture -just what will fit in an 8' by 8' by 4' container. Memories of two lifetimes - and neither of us is very good at throwing things away.

Our new official address, however, will be in Miami, FL, where the mail forwarding service run by Mailboxes, Etc. in PV operates. Once a week or so, they will courier the mail to PV and it will end up in our box. The Mexican postal service is apparently not very reliable, and most expats use a forwarding service.

Less than three weeks now!

Wednesday, April 19, 2006

A huge sense of accomplishment

We have our FM3 visas and the process was relatively painless, in spite of the waiting - a day and a half at a very crowded Mexican consulate. For those seeking to do the same, the requirements vary from one consulate to another, but for those applying in Portland, OR they currently include a valid passport and at least $2000 monthy income for a couple. You need to be able to prove your income with pension statements, SS award letters, etc. I cannot say that the officials were overwhelmingly friendly; I got the idea that there is considerable tension surrounding US immigration policy, both real and proposed. On Monday, we will have the house listed. Almost everything is packed and we are taking loads to the Salvation Army daily. The cats have gone to the vet and have all their shots. We will go again 3 days before we leave and get the Certificate of Health that is required. 26 DAYS.

Sunday, April 09, 2006

We have a departure date!

The plans are now in motion - we have our tickets and are leaving the United States for our new home in Mexico on May 15. In order to make the cats more comfortable, we've purchased three seats. That way, we can take their carriers out from under the seats as soon as the plane achieves altitude and set them on the middle seat and comfort them a bit. We need to get an international health certificate for each cat within 5 days of our departure. And there are very strict requirements for the dimensions of their carriers, so we'll have to get new ones. We had one big yard sale, but the weather will not cooperate for another, so we are just giving things away right and left. We are packing and the house is almost ready to sell...