Living your dream life.

Planning a retirement is very important but sometimes we have to be bold and take risks so we can accomplish our dreams. It takes a lot of courage to leave the stability of a job and the comfort of our life, but if you have the need of moving to a new place and are willing to take the challenge of a new adventure, go for it! 

Life is to short to be scare and not doing what we like makes us feel incomplete, so be adventurous and live to the fullest. At the end, even with all the limitations that you might have in the beginning, it would feel good starting all over again because you would be living your dream.

Retiring doesn't mean that we have to stop working or that we have to settle in one place. I would say that retiring is the opportunity to start doing what we like in a different city or country. You don't need to be rich to start living your dream life, all you need is to make up your mind and take the decision of giving it a try.

Keep in mind that everywhere you go there would be opportunities of getting a new job, starting a business and many other different ways of making a living. This is what I like about all the foreigners who are living all over Mexico, they are always reinventing themselves by creating farmers markets and selling their art craft, fresh baked bread,  organic food, hand made jewelry, etc. The best is that they help the locals to do the same so they can have a better income to improve their quality of life.

It's amazing what we can achieve by helping each other and uniting our talents and strengths. This is what I like about two groups that I have joined and they're doing a great job by promoting what each of  us can offer, one is MexicoBudgetTravel which has its base in Puerto Vallarta/Riviera Nayarit and Traveling around Yucatan which covers the riviera Maya.

These groups are very helpful not only to promote your business but they're also a good way of making new friends and getting advice of what to do when you're ready to retire or relocate to a new place.

Are you ready for a new adventure? Remember, all it takes is the desire and giving it a try... Safe travels! 

Here we are enjoying our adventure!

My home town.

There is a special place I have so many memories from, where I spent my childhood and my teenage years. Colima is a small state but is with no doubt one of the most beautiful withing Mexico. It has a great infrastructure and is surrounded by mountains, charming towns, lakes, rivers, the Pacific Ocean and the amazing volcano.

The capitol, Colima, is very vanguard and it offers a great cosmopolitan life style. This is a small city full of parks and palm trees along the avenues which gives it a very tropical feel. The port city of Manzanillo is about 30 min and is a great place for locals and foreigners to spend time by the ocean, offering a very laid back life style with lots of activities to do. In the last ten years, Manzanillo, has been growing a good expat community. Foreigners like it for its beauty, weather, safety, amenities but also by the affordable cost of living.

If you like to visit places with more of the local feel, Colima has it all and would be the right choice for you... visitmexico.com/en/colima  for more information.

Safe travels!

Beautiful sunset in Manzanillo.

Great views of Manzanillo's bay.

Amazing volcano background.

Charming restaurants in Manzanillo's marina.

Lovely hidden beach in Manzanillo.

Mexico, a strong warrior.

Mexico like any other country has been in a constant evolution, always looking for independence and working hard to keep its freedom. It has been fighting many battles along the way, but always ends up wining like a strong warrior.

Having the opportunity of living out of this beautiful country for so many years has helped me to have a different perspective and to appreciate even more what it offers. Exploring this magical place for the past year and a half has been a great experience and it makes me understand the reason of seeing so many foreigners making it their home. 

When I listen to all the complains from locals, it's like hearing people complaining in other countries about the same subjects, politics, economy, jobs, social issues, etc. but they're still living a good life.

There is a special freedom in Mexico that I don't think locals appreciate as much as someone who has experienced living in other countries, here applies the saying "Nobody knows what it has till it's lost." There are so many opportunities to grow professionally and to have a good quality of life, the fact is that we all have to work hard to achieve our goals like in any other nation. Some might have to work harder but everything is possible when we set our mind into what we want.

I am glad to have the opportunity to be back and now it's my journey to show the world that Mexico, even with all its social issues, still is a great place to visit and for many others to make it their home.

 

 

These are some picture I've been taking from different places we have visited. It's amazing to find so much charm in each of them, they all offer something unique. From beautiful colonial cities to amazing beach towns with a mix of traditional and modern life style.

Colorful city of Guanajuato.

University of Guanajuato.

Amazing view of San Miguel de Allende.

Colonial church in Merida.

Guadalajara's art and music theater.

Indian sculpture in Queretaro.

Hiking at the botanical garden in San Miguel de Alllende.

Relaxing view of Puerto Vallarta.

Amazing volcano in Colima.

Romantic sunset in Isla Mujeres.

Nice walk in Isla Mujeres park.

Enjoying a nice afternoon in Merida.

 

Taxco, Mexico.

Mexico is rich in culture, traditions and it has many magic towns. One of them is Taxco, which is consider the Mexican silver capitol. This city conserves a mix of colonial and baroque architecture, giving it a very picturesque and European style. Walking on its narrow streets, it's to feel in each corner the history and the identity of this magic town.

We fell in love with Taxco since the first moment, it felt like we were transported back in time. This is a place full of traditions and with a great art community. If you're looking for silver, come to Taxco and you would find anything you might have in mind. The silver artisans make everything from traditional art craft to the most modern jewelry, and if there's something you want that they don't have just bring a picture and they would customize it for you. 

Our trip to this beautiful town was because we love visiting places that offer history, charm, art and culture but we also had in mind getting our wedding rings customize. We wanted to have a nice memory of our rings and make a little story out of this trip. We had an amazing experience!

You would find beautiful hacienda hotels style, cute restaurants and cafes with breathtaking views of the city. If you like to walk, go for hikes, relax, eat well, visit cute little stores and you appreciate an artsy community, this is a perfect get away for you.

Safe travels!

These are some of the pictures we took in Taxco. 

These are our customized wedding rings.

A view from the city.

This is the beautiful center court yard of  hotel Los Arcos where delicious meals are served.

Beautiful old church.

Amazing view from Montetaxco hotel.

A view from down town.

Here I am with my friend Efren which owns a B&B/SPA. "Posada Antigua Casa Hogar" is a great place to stay in Taxco with amazing views and walking distance to downtown.

This is a view from our friend's B&B "Posada SPA Antigua Casa Hogar."

Here we are at the Montetaxco restaurant. We had to take a tram to go all the way to the top of the mountain, the views were amazing!

The Angels in my life.

As growing up, I heard my grandma's stories about angels. She said they were around all the time to guide us and protect us from all the bad things we were expose to. I loved listening to her, she was an amazing story teller! As getting older, I understood that all the stories had a message and my grandma's goal was to direct us on the right path. When I look back into my childhood, I feel so lucky to have had a woman in my life who knew what it was best for me and that made me realized that my grandma was my guardian angel during all that time.

Most of us have the idea of angels as a religious way, with big wings and beautiful faces. I believe that angels can look just like us and they're regular people who are there for us in moments that we need them the most. It could be a stranger helping you get up after you fell on the street or you're best friend giving you advice and supporting you all the time. Human Angels are those who are there for us every time we are in need of help.

I have had angels in my life, starting with my grandma who took care of me as a child and who taught me the basics of life. Then I had Barbara, a lady who made me feel safe by letting me know that I wasn't alone and that she cared about me when she hardly knew me. I would never forget this Hindu guy who walked into my beauty salon in California, the salon was brand new so I didn't have a lot of business and I spent most of the time reading and trying not to worry to much about paying bills at the end of the month. Then this guy walks in and asked for a glass of water, after having some he said "brand new business? don't worry, money right now comes and goes but in less than two months this place would be busier and you would have extra money." He made me feel so good by telling me that and giving me hope when I needed it the most. My last angel came to my life about five years ago, at that time I was feeling lost and I was trying to find my way again. I had nothing to offer so I felt that it was better for me to be alone. When I told him my story, he said to me "we all have had hard times in our lives so let me help you to get out of this one and share with you what I have." I believe that everything happens for a reason and because of that, him and I have been together for all this time. I can tell you many more stories like these, but I am sure you guys have many to tell as well.

As I said before, everything happens for a reason, all the hard times we go through are taking us to better moments, opportunities and life in general. There will always be someone there for us helping us to get through... those are our human angels.

The right place to call home.

Being back in Mexico after more than twenty years of living in the US has been an adjustment for me. Besides the great experience I'm having exploring all the beautiful places that this country has, there are moments when I feel like I don't belong here anymore. Don't get me wrong, I'm loving living in Mexico but I'm also realizing that I miss been around people from different cultures. Then we go to cities like San Miguel de Allende, Ajijic, Puerto Vallarta,Guanajuato, etc.,  where there is a mix of expats and visitors from all over the world and I feel like I'm home again. It's such a good feeling finding cities in Mexico with a multicultural life style and even better meeting people, who are living here, from different parts of the world.

My present situation makes me remember all the adjustments I had to go through when I first moved to the states, not been able to speak English and not been used to different customs made my life very challenging. Been around people from all over the world, listening to different languages and accents plus trying to find a group where to belong to was an adventure too. It didn't take so long for me to fall in love with the multicultural life style and it would be very hard for me not to have that in my life anymore.

For all of you who are thinking about relocating to a different country or even to a different city within your own country, you have to take into consideration the kind of life style you want to have. It is very important to have a clear idea of what you want because once you make a move, it might be a little to late to change your mind. I have friends who decided to move to other cities without even knowing if it would be the right place for them, they ended up being unhappy and finally moving back to the city they were living before. There is nothing wrong with taking a risk, but sometimes is better to have a plan and ask yourself what kind of environment you want to live in.

We all dream about moving to certain places just because we hear nice things about them, but the reality is that we don't know if they would be the right choice for us. The best you can do is to make a trip to the city you have in mind moving to and try to spend as much time as you can exploring and getting the feel of it, then you can make your final decision. 

That is what JJ and I have been doing for a year and a half, exploring and getting the feel of different cities within Mexico, US and other countries so at some point we can decide to make one of these cities our home again. It's fun to be on the road all the time, but we all need to have a place to make memories and call home.

Safe travels everyone!

 

Puerto Vallarta, Mexico.

Puerto Vallarta is one of the best beach destinations withing Mexico, the fusion between traditional and modern architecture gives it a very special touch. The old town has all the charm of a typical Mexican village with roof top tile houses and cobblestone streets; It's full of international restaurants, hotels, bars and cafes. The modern side of the city offers all the amenities its locals and visitors might look for. Life in Puerto Vallarta never gets boring, there are lots of activities to do from walking on the boardwalk (malecon), aquatic sports, farmers markets, going for a hike, shopping, movie theaters, nightclubs and more.

What I like the most about this city is the mix of people, locals and expats from all over the world give it a very eclectic touch and it's definitely a fun place to visit and live.

We lived here during the high season (November-April) and we had a great time exploring the city and all its surroundings. Now I understand why Puerto Vallarta is one of the best vacation and retirement destinations.

The low season runs from May through October, we were curious about how this time of the year would be like so we made a trip to find out. I have to say that the city is a lot more quite and the weather is warm and humid, but still fun and beautiful. The convenience of this time of the year is finding better deals on hotels and even renting a place for long term is much cheaper. If you don't mind the moister of summer and more of the relax environment, this is a great time for you to visit.
Safe travels everyone! 

These are some of the picture we took while exploring PV... We had a great experience!

 

A new day.

I woke up by the barking of the dogs we're house sitting and I felt irritated, the morning was cool and bed felt so comfortable. I had to get up anyways, the little monsters needed to be fed. We've been with these dogs for a week and it's amazing how attach we're getting to them even when they drive us a little crazy, they give such an unconditional love.

The morning was beautiful, clear blue sky and a nice breeze. The birds singing and flying around the back yard, then I saw the sun right on top of the lake reminding me that it was a new day. There was no reason for me to have a negative attitude when I was given the gift of waking up one more time.  Sitting by the pool and feeling the sunshine on my face while having a cup of coffee never felt so good, moments like these make me realize how lucky we all are by having the opportunity of been alive.

It's incredible the small things that can make us happy, we just need

to open our eyes and be able to see the simplicity of life without making it complicated by our negativity.

Having the opportunity of traveling is the best thing that can happen to each of us. It's not only about visiting beautiful places, it's about seeing what's out there and learning what people have to do to survive. These experiences are helping me to be more grateful with what I have and to try to help the ones who might be less fortunate than me. Life is not easy, but it's up to us to make it better or worst. It's all about our attitude.

                     

                                                             

      This video plays the same song from the one above with English subtitles lyrics. Every time I feel a bit blue, I like to listen to it.

                                                                        

Retiring in Ajijic, Mexico.

Ajijic is a beautiful town only 30 min from Guadalajara city in the state of Jalisco. This charming village is right next to Chapala lake and is surrounded by mountains, keeping very mild temperatures all year around.

This town has become one of the most popular retirement places withing Mexico, there is an expat community from all over the world, specially Americans and Canadians, living here for generations and the snowbirds keep arriving every year.

Ajijic offers a very tranquil life style with plenty of international restaurants and different activities to keep you occupy every day. The international airport is only about 20 min which makes it very convenient for all its visitors.

The vegetation here is amazing! You can go for daily walks and find beautiful houses with amazing back and front yards full of a variety of plants. If you feel more adventurist, you can go for a hike to the hills and appreciate the breath taking views of the lake. 

If you're looking for a small, quite and affordable place to retire, Ajijic is a perfect destination. If you need the city life,  you can scape to Guadalajara city which is only a short drive (about 30min) and it offers a very cosmopolitan life style.

Visit the website Ajijic.com for more information.

Amazing View!

Enjoying the hike.

Beautiful mountains!

Perfect back yard to relax.

Hiking on the green hills.