Sweet Home Mexico

Mexico turns out to be my everything.

I am well into my second month here in southern Mexico, and I’m looking at homes today. Amazing homes which, compared to U.S. homes, are ridiculously inexpensive.

We chartered a large sailboat yesterday, and I sat there with my many new friends and love, and Duran Duran on the headphones (that’s what one does on a sailboat), staring at the beautiful Pacific Ocean. The ocean I was born and grew up on.

It’s blue and warm — unlike the Atlantic on which I now live in the U.S., which is brown and cold. It brings back a lot of memories.

And it was on that trip yesterday that I decided definitively that I do not want to leave Mexico. I looked around at the great friends I have made in such a short period of time. I high-fived the captain. I surveyed the incredible beauty that surrounds us here and reflected again on the fact that I have not met a single a**hole.

Exclusively for our VIPs: Democrats’ Dreams of Gun Control and Open Borders Can’t Coexist

I’m still learning the ropes, but with the help of my love and my assistant, I’m getting there. It would be impossible for me without them.

I went to the Doctor the other day — a specialist who spoke English and was very thoughtful and helpful. The clinic was modern and clean and it cost 500 pesos. $27.80 U.S. Yup. The low cost of living is reason number 99 why I want to stay.

But the real reason is the nature (extraordinary) and the people (just plain lovely). I have more actual friends here than I have in the U.S. I have mostly aquaintances in the U.S. I have true friends here. Already. Mexicans, Americans, Brits, Canadians…

And I like the pace. Everyone is just… tranquilo. It’s actually taken a bit of getting used to because the last thing that’s happening in the U.S. right now is tranquilo. And it is wonderful.

I was talking to a well-known journalist friend last night. He turned me on a while back to a film series called The Trip, which I very highly recommend. I told him I wish I had a film crew following me because this experience I have had could very easily have been the fifth film: The Trip to Mexico. It’s just been magic. The characters. The food. The companionship. The love. And a few bad decisions thrown in, but, you know — wouldn’t be CJ without some bad decisions in the mix.

And business is good. I am learning I can do everything I need to do from here. I feel like the most fortunate man on earth. Seriously. If I stay (and I’m quite sure I will), I hope my friends and family will visit. I want to invest in the community, perhaps by building a studio that focuses on music education for Mexican kids. They get bored, I’ve noticed. Time will tell.

At the moment, I just need to spend more time on my Spanish — daunting! I speak French (I try at least) and English, and I keep mixing up the three — yikes. It confuses my Mexican friends. I’m learning.

And to close, I cannot say this enough: my fellow Americans really need to get over their hostility toward Mexico and Mexicans. These are our brothers and sisters, and they love us. We can work it out.