Heather in Paradise

Over the last year, I’ve received a few emails from curious people asking questions about my life as an expatriate local in Mexico.  I presume this curiosity stems from the writer’s desire (often latent) to move south of the border themselves.  I’ve been meaning to answer these mails for some time, but talking about the same thing over and over again bores me (this is often the first topic of conversation when I meet someone in person here).  Plus, you know, I’m lazy.

Anyway, I decided to make this a win-win for everyone concerned.  From now on, Ask an Expat!  will be a semi-regular feature of this blog.  You send in your questions via email and I’ll answer them publicly.

Our first letter comes to us from US American Sandy.  Please see my answers/remarks in blue within the body of Sandy’s email.

hey Heather (in Paradise) -
I’m curious – what brought you to Mexico?  and to that part?

Hi Sandy!  I was brought to Mexico on what is called an airplane.  Ok, seriously…there was no profound reason that I decided to move here.  M. and I had been vacationing in Playa del Carmen for a number of years and just felt a strong connection to it from the very first trip.  Over the years, we met a number of expat locals and often daydreamed about packing it all in and moving down, but as we both loved Chicago, it wasn’t ever very serious.  At one point, both M. and I grew tired of the weather, plus we both had a general feeling of being disgusted by what we read in the newspapers every day about GW and the way our government was being run.  While we didn’t discuss this malaise, we sure both felt it.  One day, as we were sitting in the bar where I worked, we just looked at each other and said, “Why don’t we?”  We had no kids, no debt, and no careers/jobs we were too afraid to walk away from.  We proceeded to sell everything we owned and save money, and just 4 months later (July 4, 2004), we flew to PdC with 2 suitcases each.

my hubby and I are considering a move south of the border.  well, ok, I guess I’m considering.
I really love the area you are in.  Visited there 3 times in the last couple of years.any schools there for kids?  I have 5 ages 4-10.  yes, 5 kids.
No, sorry, there are no schools here at all in this city of 130,000 people.  Kidding again…of COURSE there are schools, silly!  There are lots of schools.  I have no kids, so can’t give any advice about any of them, but I have noticed that just about anyone who can afford to sends their kids to a private school, rather than the public schools.  I don’t know if this means that the public schools are terrible or not.  You should be able to find more information about this on Playa.info or Playa Maya News, or just by a google search.  Sorry I’m not more help!
what do you do for money?
M. and I had managed to save enough money, thinking that we could live frugally for 6 months to a year if we weren’t able to find jobs right away.  Plus, we weren’t entirely sure we’d want to stay.  Unfortunately, M. became ill within 4 days of our being here and wound up in the hospital for a week, requiring nurse care and surgery.  This took about 1/3 of our savings right off the bat, so instead of the few months I thought I’d have lounging around, we started looking for work right away.  We both got super lucky…I found a job with Playa.info and M. found a job as a property manager with a company in Playacar.  Naturally, our salaries were ridiculous by US American standards, but we prepared ourselves well before we moved and our expectations were very manageable.  My initial salary was 8,000 pesos per month, working 6 days a week.  This is roughly about 800 usd per month.  We were just so happy to have found jobs and to have the all-important legal working documents to stay!

We have now started our own property management company, which I don’t talk about much here, since I prefer to keep my private and professional lives separate.  M. still continues to work for the other mgmt. company while we are growing our business, and I do still work for Playa.info half time and continue to moderate on their forum.

I guess the only thing we could do is start a business.  but not sure if that would work in this economy.  maybe I’d be throwing money away.
Starting your own business is really the best way of finding work here, but bear in mind that you might not even be able to work for your own business.  If your hubby is a Mexican national, this process will be much easier for you.  Think long and hard about the business you want to start, however, and do your research diligently.  We see businesses fail all the time for the simple reason that they let the dream get in the way of reality.  Also, whatever you think you’ll need in capital, take that sum and add a few more thousand dollars onto it.
medical?
M. and I have health insurance through a Mexican company.  My cost is around 1,000 usd or so per year, I believe, and M.’s is less.  They do not cover anything preventative (like screenings or physicals), but they would cover me if I got an illness or disease.  When I fractured my foot in Feb., I didn’t go to the “right” clinic and they only ended up repaying me for about half of the medical bills, but fortunately paying out of pocket for medical care here isn’t outrageous.  The hospital/clinic I typically go to has a consult fee of 250 pesos.
any advice??
Not sure what advice you’re looking for, but if it’s about moving here, my biggest advice is this:  Do your homework.  Try not to get starry-eyed and think that life here is going to be all sand, palm trees, sun, and sparkling sea.  In fact, you can almost always tell the people who live here by our pallor.  I haven’t seen the beach in months.  It’s much easier  now to live here than it used to be (from the US expat point of view).  We have a number of large, modern grocery stores and a lot more imported items can be found.  The hardest thing, now, is missing my family and friends.  No one ever visits the way they say they will, and if you work here you will have little opportunity (or cash) to visit them.  There are a number of things I didn’t think about before I moved here and that I miss desperately:  Libraries, for one.  Finding books/magazines in English.  Not having mail service/ability to receive care packages or things bought online is another.  I’ve adjusted, but having those two things would put me over the moon.
I know I’d love the weather as it is currently freezing and snowing.  and I hate that.
but beyond that………………….

arrrrggg why is life so hard?
Sandy, I’m afraid you’re on your own with this question.  If I could answer that, I would no longer need to work and could blog full time for a living.

well, would like to hear from you if you are up to it!

thanks
Sandy

Thank you for your email, Sandy!!  I hope this answered some of your questions.  As for the rest of you, fire away!  You can find my email address under the About tab.