“Yes, it’s for sure – I am moving to Cabo San Lucas, Mexico,”

I say with as much courage as I could muster letting my three bowling teammates know I am dead serious. “Oh, and by the way, I am taking the kids with me!”

They are now rolling all around me in complete shock and dismay shrieking in unison, “You can’t take the kids. They are too young. You will ruin their lives. You can’t drink the water! You have to be kidding. You can’t go away for an entire year, alone!! You’re going where exactly? Mexico? What will you live in? How will you make money? One year is too long. You hate bugs! What about banditos?” And so it went on like this for months and everyone I knew said the same thing.

After discovering Cabo’s overwhelming beauty while on vacation in 1991, leaving the frigidly cold northern Canadian city of Edmonton was easy. I couldn’t wait to live in paradise where summer was the whole year long with endless white sandy beaches and warm ocean water to swim in and most important of all - everyone had a maid! (Besides, I was still licking my wounds of a broken heart by being dumped by my husband … ouch)

Arriving in the middle of August of 1993 was not the smartest plan. I didn’t even think to check and see what the weather was like during summer months. (Google not invented yet) Besides, what could go wrong living in paradise? A whole other story – that’s what.

The very best part about living far, far away, in a little Mexican fishing village is meeting all the other interesting, let’s just say, odd characters, and hearing their stories of finding this Mexican paradise we all call home. We expats qualify as the ‘wanted and the un-wanted’ and are a strangely courageous bunch somehow struck with wanderlust. The truly ‘normal’ folk’s who must know what is going to happen day in and day out, same routine with a job and life in general, don’t do such outlandish moves. The wanderers of the world end up staying here, welcome grand adventures and have fascinating stories to share. And some expats eventually grow up and go back home, usually north.

There are some real doozies, stories of how expats arrived to live in Cabo. Almost every expat is asked, “How did you end up living here? You are so lucky to live in paradise.” The most common reply is “I came on vacation and never left.” Of course almost all who ask understand completely how this would happen. Doesn’t everyone go on vacation and never return home?

Taking up roots in paradise means so many visitors from ‘back home’ now vacation on your living room sofa bed. I didn’t have to add dramatics when sharing our first adventures with scorpions, blackouts (electric - not alcohol induced!), water shortages, hurricanes, a burning car in the desert, and a rattlesnake in the kitchen! After a bit too much tequila one special houseguest sighed, “Sounds like Cabo is great for vacationing in and not meant for living in!” Okay, some days this fits.

I like the love stories where someone, usually a woman, falls madly in love with the waiter at the Office (beach club bar) and moves here to be with her new soul mate. Not shocking at all. Back home she had a great job, living in a big house, only to move in with Mr. Waiter somewhere up on a hill in a studio condo nowhere near the ocean. Ahhh, but at night who notices there is no view?

Most of us arrive to this very special micro-paradise soul searching, wanting adventure and much needed change from the ‘real world rut’, all this recovery might as well be in perfect weather. Of course there is the reality that wherever you go … you take yourself with you!

When you ask a local expat how often they go home to the USA and they proudly announce, “I never go home.” Run the other way quickly as this is a sure sign that this Person is one of the ‘wanted’. (Either that or they hate shopping!)

Cabo was a small little fishing village in the early 90’s with limited access to telephones. The two phone centers in town offered pricey long distance calling while standing in narrow stalls with curtains for privacy. Satellite TV was typically only found in hotels and if you were lucky enough to have TV in your rented condo or home it was with a pirated service card. (Pricey!) The small local jail and small offices around town still used the old manual typewriters. (These relics fetch a pretty price the days on E-Bay). The ‘Up’ street, the ‘Down’ street (no street signs yet), dusty roads, one stoplight and everyone knew your name.

There is a significant date to be aware of when exactly an expat arrived: Before BC or after BC? When separating the true renegades of Cabo, those who arrived single and with kids vs. married, flat broke, or broken hearted, we also use the BC date. The real defining factor of who earned their survival badge in the early years BC. (Before Costco) Yes indeed. We originals who had kids to feed found ourselves desperately craving American products.

The arrival of Costco changed all our lives forever! We would plan ‘date night’ every Friday, slowly walking up and down each isle breathing in the sights of each new item waiting for us to feed our shopping starvation. Touching everything and giddy with anticipation to see what was new each week. A love story with Costco was born.

Before Costco our local grocery store, which stocked a few American items, had new shipments arrive we all knew about it and raced to see what products came in. Seriously overpriced and usually outdated, we had our favorite items, such as Cream of Wheat individual serving pouches, Captain Crunch or Kraft aged cheddar cheese, real salted butter or sour cream! Guess what? We expats would buy every single item left on the shelf in case the store never restocked! We all became hoarders.

The unusual marketing and display techniques were evident with the motor oil and gasoline additives placed along side the canola oil and mayonnaise. Or, one sunny warm day we had giant belly laughs discovering a large bin of plastic window ice scrapers made by the company ‘Igloo’. Most likely someone ordered hundreds of these thinking they were something cold and icy! (Wrong latitude for that)

Many interesting sub cultures live here. The ‘boat’ people, basically those who work on the many luxury yachts and fishing boats moored in the marina, from Captains and first mates, to the owners and managers. These spotless yachts are privately owned and some are enjoyed but once or twice a year and can cost several hundreds of thousands of dollars a year in upkeep, to the smaller fishing charter boats. Some boat Captains can work crazy hours 24/7 and have very little rest when the owner and guests are in town fishing. But then, when owner and guests leave, the Captain gets to siesta for the next 3 months enjoying his own company.

The ‘sales’ community is the biggest of all because our town if full of luxury resorts that sell timeshare, fractional and general real estate. This is now a huge expat community and most of these talented folks can sell the salt off a margarita rim. This group tends to be the ‘big spenders’ with many golfers, fishermen, surfers and divers. (Diamonds for the girlfriends) Some of the best stories come from this group of renegades.

Of course there are the ‘art’ people, all those cultured painters and crafty types. The many galleries are all over southern Baja. Todos Santos is a well-known art community just north of Cabo by about 50 miles and full of fabulous life stories! I always describe Todos Santos as the place where all the 60’s hippies arrived and thrived and never went back home. (Love this town)

Besides the slower beach and surf days soaking up the perfect weather, we had very little entertainment options so created our own fun events. Close friendships became our family and we created special themed dinner parties, which were a ‘must attend’. One favorite party was a ‘non wedding’ party celebrating the cancellation of a doomed wedding engagement to a newly arrived local character. Us gals all dressed in wedding gowns and dined out at Peacocks Restaurant. GREAT fun. Two days later the bride-to-be secretly ran off and married him anyways! Then, divorced him within 3 months (Yup – true story)

What about the kids you might be thinking? ‘Cabo Kids’ is the groups name our gang of expat children all grew up with. These kids were the luckiest kids in the universe with daily beach fun, pool time and surfing. Every few weeks someone’s kid, no matter what new age, had a birthday to celebrate. Of course we all attended, meaning entire families went to Squid Roe! The best party place ever created. The floors are covered in wood chips, the dance floor is a playground and the dance music loud. Fabulous waiters provided entertainment, all food and drink service and the clean up. May I say the best part was the clean up! Cabo’s streets were safe to roam and we never once worried about them. School was 3rd on the list of priorities. (1. Family time at beach; 2. Time with family at the beach)

Now, the ‘Cabo Kids’ are all young adults living around the world in places like Switzerland, New York City, Mexico City and Canada. Some are here working and enjoying life in the NEW Cabo San Lucas. In fact this group had a reunion recently and realize they all share a special bond that is forever. (Smile)

Our NEW modern day Cabo San Lucas is so famous now and well photographed. Cabo is ‘THE’ place where the celebrities come to play and be ‘seen’. We see the action photos in People Magazine beachside weddings, honeymooning and dining out and partying at the local clubs like Squid Roe and the Nowhere Bar.

It is nice to be there. Life in paradise is easy peasy now and I am proud to be a Cabo ‘original’ expat.

You What?

“Yes, it’s for sure – I am moving to Cabo San Lucas, Mexico,”