Carol and Mike

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More information about this house sitter

Introduction

Please check out our profile on Facebook - HouseSittersInternational

We are Carol and Mike McCloskey and we have lived in Edinburgh, Scotland for most of our lives. Mike is 58 years’ old and Carol is 63. We have been together since 1993 and married since 1996. We each have 2 adult children from previous marriages and we now have 4 wonderful grandchildren and 3 great grandchildren. Our immediate and wider family are tremendously supportive of our new adventures.

Mike was a Chartered Accountant (a CPA is the US equivalent) and Carol was entrepreneurial, having run an outside catering partnership with Mike, two health and beauty salons, a restaurant, and a subcontract courier company, the last again with Mike.

We had enough good luck to be able to retire in December 2018 and had just finished planning a 15 month tour of the world when COVID struck.

Thankfully, in August 2020, we narrowly escaped another UK lockdown and spent 10 fun packed weeks, enjoying new friendships, in Costa Rica before moving to Mexico, where we are now residents, in November 2020.

Travel experience and plans

We have been fortunate enough through work, house sitting and vacations to have visited 35 countries.

Unsurprisingly we have visited a lot of western (and a little of eastern) Europe.

Some other highlights include a trip to Patagonia including an Antarctic cruise; a vacation in beautiful, volcanic La Reunion; being awestruck by Iguazu Falls in Argentina and Brazil and experiencing the magic of Colombia.

Mike’s 14 months’ work in Tyumen, Siberia has made him resourceful and resilient to the trials of travel and of living in difficult environments.

House sitting is a way for us to keep travelling, explore new places and, best of all, make new friends - all at a low cost (after all, Mike is a Scottish accountant!). It's also a fantastic way to be involved in a local community, which we find far more interesting than hotel living.

We hope to house sit through Central America, South America and Asia before settling back in Mexico.

Attributes

We speak enough and improving Spanish to communicate with most people in Latin America and have built a strong support group of Mexican friends who have already steered us through some of Mexico’s bureaucracy.

We are a mature couple (in more ways than one). We are flexible, self sufficient, resourceful and resilient. We are fit and healthy. We have been home owners for over 38 years and know how to be respectful.

We have had some minor and major illnesses and injuries on our travels. We have always managed to work with local health care professionals to overcome these and we’ve never let a host down, no matter what personal challenges we were facing.

We involve ourselves in the communities where we live. For example, we worked with the Huatulco Food Bank, delivering food parcels to people in difficulty.

When we travel we like to spend at least one month (preferably longer) in new places to experience them fully; not just to visit the typical tourist destinations.

Pets and animals

Growing up we occasionally had pets in our lives.

We had a wonderfully rewarding experience in Santa Cruz, Huatulco, Mexico where we cared for a street dog (Charlie), feeding her and getting her flea treatment. She is now strong and healthy. She used to “invite" her three friends (Tyson, Pinto and Bob) for dinner every evening, where we were happy to feed them all and play with them. They usually escorted us most of the way into town when we went for a walk, jumping around and playing with us and each other.

Our specific house sitting pet experience is detailed in the House Sitting Experience section below.

Our Facebook page has pictures of our animal friends.

Carol really goes the extra mile with animals. She has developed a real passion for caring for and nurturing them.

Vaccinations

We have all the required vaccinations and boosters for everywhere we travel. This includes 2 Pfizer COVID vaccinations and an AstraZeneca booster.

House Sitting Experience

March 2021 – October 2021 La Paz, Baja California Sur, Mexico (HouseSitMexico)

There was a casa which was being renovated and a casita, where we lived.

We photographed the renovation progress daily and shared the photos online with the owners. We let the construction team in at 6.30am and secured the premise when they left at 5.30pm.

The owners returned to La Paz occasionally to oversee the more critical parts of the renovation and during these visits we all became friends.

We looked after 2 semi-feral cats (Papa and Charlie) that our hosts had adopted. We fed and nurtured them, playing with them when they were in the mood and letting them fully trust us eventually. We had to rush Charlie to the vet one day and thankfully she recovered from bronchitis. Sadly, this beautiful little cat died a few weeks after we left La Paz.

We watered, weeded and maintained the large garden; maintained and cleaned the car; dealt with the mail and paid a few bills.

We also had our hosts’ car repaired and clambered up on the roof of the casa to fix the water supply (all in the first two days).

Things happen and you just have to deal with them.

October 2021 – November 2021 Ensenada, Baja California, Mexico (HouseSitMexico)

We looked after a large dog (Phoenix), a new puppy (Sophie) and three cats, (Gabriel, Piper and Ginger). Gabriel was recovering from an operation. All the animals were fed and watered twice per day. Phoenix had a morning and evening walk and Sophie was out in the garden as often as she needed to be.

Sophie was a late addition to the house sit and she needed quite a lot of training and looking after. Phoenix was a gentle gem.

Ginger was reclusive, only appearing for food. The other two were more sociable, sleeping on our bed. We took Gabriel to the vet three times to have him checked and we cleaned his wound three times daily and fed him his antibiotics.

November 2021 – December 2021 Guatapé, Antioquia, Colombia (Nomador)

This was a three week sit to which we added a little “holiday” time in Colombia, visiting Medellin and Cartagena. Unfortunately, we did not have time for more; Colombia is wonderful.

We looked after a quite remote finca, which was low maintenance, and straightforward. The only thing of any consequence was getting a plumber to unblock some pipes. We cared for our host’s 2 dogs, Lady and Chico, who were delightful. Her other 2 dogs, Ivy and Zorro, were in kennels. Our host was a dog lover and was looking after two street dogs, Benni and Punk. They were joined by Mona, who had stopped visiting as Zorro didn’t like her. We fed and watered all the dogs twice per day and walked Lady, Chico and Benni daily. Punk followed of her own accord.

The finca was quite large and the dogs had found escape routes, which can be a little nerve racking, when you are caring for someone else’s animals. Thankfully they always made it home.

Our host was so welcoming and easy going. She took us on a tour of the little town of Guatapé where she had made many friends, introducing us all. We had some nice dinners and interesting conversation.

We were also fortunate to make new friends of our own, which is the part of travel we enjoy the most.

This was an easy, yet satisfying sit for us.

December 2021 – February 2022 Puerto Morelos, Yucatan, Mexico

Puerto Morelos is a town of two halves, the beach front tourist area and the more inland residential area, where we lived in a typical Mexican style home, rented by a lovely American couple from a Mexican couple, who still lived in Puerto Morelos,

We cared for the home as normal and 3 dogs. Tony is a clever 6 year old Chihuahua. You can’t get much past Tony. The 2 puppies, Ziggy and Lucy, grew in front of our eyes into beautiful, full sized dogs. The you dogs started off quite shy and skittish but within a week or so were sleeping on our bed, jumping on us like crazy and generally having a fun time.

Our hosts were so generous with setting us up with provisions and taking time to show us the town. We’re pleased to call them friends now.

February 2022 – July 2022 La Paz, BCS, Mexico (with the same hosts as previously)

Our first hosts from mid 2021 had a crisis and asked us to return early to help them. We felt honoured to be so highly thought of and changed our plans to help. Their and our plans are flexible so we have no future bookings. This sit involves looking after a large and a small home, with a little gardening and maintenance.

References

Our references include Police Certificates. These were required to emigrate to Malaysia, which we were considering until the Malaysian government suspended the MM2H process for all prospective immigrants.

Reviews

La Paz, Baja California Sur, Mexico

Date Submitted: May 21, 2021

Rating: 5 Stars

Verified review of house sitters by a HouseSitMexico member.

In February, as new members of HouseSitMexico, we posted our first ad for a sitter to care for our home in La Paz, BCS. Numerous excellent candidates applied, among them, Carol and Mike M., whom we ultimately chose. We recognize this has been a very difficult house sit position as the house is undergoing extensive renovations, our loaned vehicle has had some mechanical problems, and occasionally the household water system has faltered. Yet, through it all, this couple have been cheerful, accommodating, and willing to extend themselves to be helpful and implement solutions. On every day of construction, when the chaos subsides and workers have gone home, these house sitters take photos of the day’s activities for our review. This process has been invaluable in helping us to identify and circumvent construction errors in the moment, saving everyone time and money. When the car was acting up, Mike undertook to work with our local mechanic to diagnose and correct the problem. Same goes for addressing water system failures. We know it is wretched to awake and discover you have no running water, yet this top-notch team did not even express their distress. Rather, they took it in stride and immediately set about curing the problem. In short, Carol and Mike are friendly, responsible and communicative. They have provided stellar service under difficult circumstances for which we are eternally grateful. We know we chose the right house sitters for us and can, without reservation, recommend them to you. You will not be disappointed!

Ensenada, Baja California, Mexico

Date of assignment: October 26 2021 - November 05 2021

Date Submitted: November 07, 2021

Rating: 5 stars

Verified review of house sitters by a HouseSitMexico member.

Carol and Mike arrived early to take care of our animals. It was perfect because there was a lot going on. One of our cats had recently had surgery and needed special attention while we were gone and we had just unexpectedly adopted a new puppy. They took to our animals immediately and the animals reacted in kind. Even with all the surprises, we felt very comfortable leaving for our trip. While we were gone they had to handle vet visits, plumbing repairs and puppy training. All of it was done perfectly. We came home to healthy and happy pets and a house in order. We would certainly use them again.

Guatapé, Antioquia, Colombia (Nomador)

www dot nomador dot com /house-sitters/mexico/baja-california-sur/la-paz/183705

Mike and Carol stayed at my house for 3 weeks, and I couldn’t be more thrilled with their caretaking of the house and dogs. My dogs fell in love with them, and were sad when they left. I found them both to be personable, responsible and caring! The house was cleaner when I came home than when I left. I feel like I have made friends for life and wouldn’t hesitate to have them come again! If you need house sitters, they certainly would be a great choice!!

Puerto Morelos, Quintana Roo, Mexico

Date of assignment: December 15 2021 – February 15 2021

Date Submitted: March 02, 2022

Rating: 5 stars

Verified review of house sitters by a HouseSitMexico member.

Mike and Carol are now not only considered family but were a huge help and support with our 2 month trip abroad. They are reliable, self sufficient, took amazing care of our 3 dogs and cared for our home as it were their own. Not to mention, they\'re just fun to be around! We are extremely grateful for them and look forward to seeing them again. Thank you Mike and Carol, we and the pups miss you! Read more...