It still seems almost sureal, the decision to move to Merida in the Yucatan on the Gulf of Mexico. Our adventure began many months ago in Calgary when after I was told at Fountain Tire we should have winter tires on our vehicle from October to May… Later that night at a friend’s birthday party I was telling that story to a couple we had just met and that if we ever won the lottery we would be moving very quickly. I told them I would love to buy a boat, home-school our boys and travel the world. If the boys were to study Greece, we would set sail for Greece and learn all we could before we arrived on their shores. To my surprise they told me of friends that were doing that very thing and they had not won the lottery but they had made the decision to live their dreams. They are documenting their travels through their blog and you can follow them at www.ginger..com. Then the couple told me they were in the process of selling their Calgary home to move to a place in Mexico called Merida.
I called Lyn over and introduced her to Rob & Holly and their two children to listen to their story and our lives started to change almost immediately. They proceeded to tell us why they had chosen this place to relocate their young family to and our wheels started to turn. Rob & Holly had certainly done their research and had located a city in Mexico which seemed to be in a safe state, had fantastic opportunities, and was close to the Gulf of Mexico while not being in a tourist spot.
On the drive home that night I could tell Lyn was thinking hard about it, and after nearly seven years of asking to move away from Calgary, she turned to me and said “Let’s do it.” I was flabbergasted as even though I had bugged her on a monthly basis to move, I was not sure I was ready to move. This was not a simple move to Phoenix. But a move to a whole other culture and language. Lyn had decided that as a family we should simplify our lives and get back to the family basics to teach our children about other cultures and what may seem important now, may not really be that important.
When we arrived home, I went on-line and ordered two books from Amazon to be shipped within 48 hours. One was on Moving to Mexico, the other was on Living in Mexico. They arrived and we read both of them in less than two days. They provided enough information that we were not scared of the move, but starting to get really excited. I ordered more books which again provided excellent information, one even breaking down the cost of living in different cities in Mexico.
We started taking pictures of everything in our house to start selling items on Kijiji as part of moving was to simplify. Items started selling and friends started noticing furniture missing from our home. I believe this more than our conviction showed the forward progress of a dream.
We told our parents and close friends about the impending move and that the move date was to be the beginning of July 2011. As expected our parents were not the biggest fans of our decision as our safety and the future of their grandchildren was of utmost importance. We did all the research we could from Canada, meeting everyone we could for advice, sending emails to people we had never met hoping to discover new things which would help make our move a success.
With much help from Adriana at Yucatan Expatriate Services (YES), a company dedicated to helping people relocate to the Yucatan, we had appointments set up at six different schools which we had chosen base on recommendations from Yucatan Living website. Yucatan Living is a must read and great place to start looking for help if you are truly serious about relocating to the Yucatan.
As a family we decided we must start to learn Spanish and even though I had several programs on learning the language, we discovered a new program which would teach us using the same techniques and principles engaged by babies when learning to speak their native language. Learnables. A program which concentrates on ‘good listening’ before worrying about speaking. We are currently comitted to at least 30 minutes per day, increasing our base vocabulary so that when we arrive in July, we will not be starting from scratch. Raquel, our nanny, has been crucial to the boys learning and ensuring that their lessons are completed every day.
We got together with Rob & Holly to learn as much as we could before we arrived in Merida. Holly made us a great Mexican dinner complete with chicken in a mole sauce from the crock pot. We managed to learn more about the city, about their property they had purchased in Chelem, and about expectations we should have about our first time travel to Merida.
Finally, it was the time to discover Merida first hand, Lyn booked our flights to Cancun. Lyn then booked our bed & breakfast at Cascadas de Merida, owned by Ellyne and Chucho. This decision to stay here for 12 days could be the best decision we have made so far. Ellyne and Chucho are a wealth of information and we cannot wait for them to meet our boys in July. Ellyne has already met them via ooVoo (a much better alternative to Skype) but they definitely want to meet the lady who is helping them move!
Wow guys! This is very exciting. What will you do once you live in this glorious place? Besides enjoying the endless sun and beauty
We are hoping to spend one year here, while we figure out if we can get jobs to provide us income. Lyn actually has an appointment at one of the hospitals here tomorrow to see if a job is a possibility at the hospital. I can continue to be a mortgage broker for Alberta, while living here as most of my job is email and phone based. And yes of course we are searching out property right now to rent a home with a beautiful pool for the boys, and for any guests that may come visit us!
I am so happy to have found your website! Can you please tell me the specific names of some of the books you found most helpful? Thanks! We are hoping to move our family in the next year or so.
Hi there!
Books we have read in addition to many websites and blogs we searched in our quest for information:
The Plain Truth about Living in Mexico by Doug and Cindi Bower
The Best How-To-Book on Moving to Mexico by Carol Schmidt, Norma Hair, and Rolly Brook
Live Better South of the Border in Mexico – A Practical Guide for Living and Working by Mike Nelson
The People’s Guide to Mexico by Carl Franz & Lorena Havens
Each of these books provided us with information we needed, some more than others. Most of them we had read completely within the week we got them and then had re-read parts and shared information with friends.
Yucatan Expatriate Services (YES) is a fabulous company which helps relocate people.
Cascades de Merida is a fabulous B&B in Merida owned by Ellyne & Chucho and is definitely a great spot to start the search on Merida. While their B&B is for adults only, they do have facilities to rent for longer stays and kids are welcome there.
Yucatan Living is a great website and has a lot of information and links to more information for the Yucatan area.
Good luck with your move!
Kurt
My husband (Mexican citizen) and I (California gal) along with our 2 year old daughter are contemplating a move to Merida/Progresso. We have spent an extensive amount of time in Mexico and love what it has to offer in terms of quality of life for our family. Our only hesitation is how we will manage to create some sort of income….We are not retirement age and have not yet managed to win the California lotto:-) I am very excited about the prospect of moving to such an amazing place but need to feel some level of assurance that there will be job opp’s for us….we have also considered opening our own business but not 100% sure about that either. Any suggestions on where to start would be appreciated.
P.S Love your blog-follow it regularly! Congrats on making the big move.
Thank you for the very nice comments! We are also trying to still figure out how to live here long term. Wages here paid in Mexican pesos are very low so it is always best to figure out how to make money in US or CDN dollars if possible. Creating your own business is really your only way to get a job as a non-resident, your Mexican husband may have a better chance of gaining employment depending on his capabilities.
I would definitely recommend looking for online jobs which pay you in US$ and that let your work remotely without having to be in the US. I hear that there are many of these available, I have just not been able to find one yet as many of them require you to train in the US initially. As you currently live in the states you may be able to secure one of these jobs before moving. I would definitely try to secure online jobs before leaving the states if possible as it may be more difficult to get them when you are living in Mexico, especially if there is necessary training involved. Depending on your skills you may be able to ‘outsource’ yourself to companies that have need of your talent and give you a job which can be done remotely. Many companies would love to pay you less than the going rate for remote work if you can find the right fit.
There are a lot of scams out there taking advantage of people trying to honestly make money on line so be careful if you are applying for on-line jobs without knowing a lot about the company.
Good luck!
Hi-Kurt
My wife Sue and i met you and your family tonight at Chilis restaurant as we happened to be sitting at the next table and Sue asked if we could exchange our catsup bottle with yours.–We just wanted to say how much we enjoyed tallking to you and your wife about your move from Calgary to the Merida area–We have 7 children and 13 grandchildren–so you and your family are about the same ages as some of ours–we felt very comfortable talking to you guys–our 3 months here is up next week and so its back to Canada for us–We have toyed with the idea of moving to Mexico–but we enjoy travelling so much–we,re not sure if we,re ready for one spot.—Anyways–thank you for your conversation and both Sue and I wish you and your family good luck and fortune in your endeavours.
Best Wishes–Brian and Sue
Hello Brian and Sue:)
We are always amazed at how many people we meet while we are here on our adventure and it is fabulous to meet new people. It was great meeting you and having the chance to talk to you, even while your burgers were getting cold! I am glad that you managed to find our blog and hopefully it provides some useful information, who knows, maybe one of your children would like to relocate for a period of time! With 7 kids you should be encouraging them to all buy houses in exotic places so you can visit many places throughout the year as you travel to see your grandchildren! This would still provide you the ability to travel all over (and staying for free, of course!) without the expense of buying a motorhome!
Thank you very much for your thoughts and wishes and the best of luck to you as your travel around the world!
Kurt and Lyn
My wife found your blog on googlethe other day and i started scanning it today. Our families seem to be running in parallel ! We moved here from Australia in January initially for a year with our 2 kids aged 8 and 3. Was very interested to hear you got into Uxmal for free on a Sunday when you showed your visas – wish i’d known that before we visited Uxmal, Chichen, Mayapan, Dzibilchiltan ….. :-).
If you,d like to see some photos of our stay so far (no blog as yet i am afraid) http://www.flickr.com/photos/bruce_edmiston
Thanks for a great blog with some really good info ! Keep up the good work !
Great pictures you have in your Flickr account!
We have discovered that many places will have one day a week were you can get in for free, or for a substantial discount with your FM visa’s. The visa is supposed to let people know that you are indeed a resident of Mexico… However, this is sometimes hard to convince the people taking your money! Always hope for the best and have money just in case… Couldn’t convince them at Dzbilchaltun, but they did accept the kids for a discount… not sure how that worked but maybe we were there on a day the discount did not work. It will be great when we speak more fluently and are able to understand what is being said instead of just bits and pieces of conversations.
Thank you for the great comments on the blog and maybe our families can get together sometime for lunch or a swim,
Kurt
Hello from Penticton, BC, Canada. Great Blog. I just found it while surfing for info on Progresso. I’m in the process of helping my 83 year old father purchase a property in Progresso. We paid the deposit earlier today and should finalize by early January. He’s excited about the move and hoping to be down there by mid January. He’s going to be on his own once he moves other than (hopefully) bi monthly visits from myself and relatives. With a little luck he can hook up with other transplanted Canadians down there. My sister is planning to move down within the next few years, probably to Merida as she has made some friends there, . I’m still trying to persuade my wife that it’s possible. Drop me a line by e mail if you like and I’ll give you dad’s contact info in Progresso.
Hi there! Congrats on the move for your father, that is a big relocation and I hope everything goes well with the home purchase! Would love to meet up with him and your family when you are here. He will find that he is arriving to Progreso at a time that many expats from Canada and the States are here for the winter season and he will have no trouble meeting people.
Good luck!
Kurt
Hi Kurt, my hubby and I have been talking about making the move to the Merida area for some time now, years actually. We actually bought a beach lot inthe Santa Clara area a year ago. We are not of retirement age either and it is just a matter of income. How did it work out for your wife and her interview at the hospital?? I also have 30 years inthe health care field and had wondered about that possibility a few times. I have even considered starting a home care business catering to the ageing expat community. Any advice would be appreciated. P.s. We are from Lethbridge, Canada.
Hi there, I think the health care business is very difficult to get into here. Lyn tried right when we first got here with no luck, but had some potential. We really need to expand our Spanish before she tries again.
I think a home care business would be fantastic down here and if run properly could do very well. There are very few of them around.
Income is very important! I have seen a lot of people come here without having jobs lined up ahead of time, and then they have to leave as they cannot secure jobs that pay enough for them to remain. There are lots of online options which you should explore before coming and have actual income from them before making the move.
Good luck!
Kurt
Hi Kurt and Lyn, I was very happy to find your blog! I’m from the US (DC via California), but have been living and working in Guadalajara on an expat assignment the past year with my wife and 2 daughters almost 4 and almost 2. Ever since we visited Progreso 2 years ago, we knew we wanted to live there. We’ve been getting our affairs in order to do that within the next year. We are actually heading there in April for a scouting trip. It is one thing to read info on websites and blogs but it is quite another to find a blog about a family doing exactly what we plan to do, specifically with younger kids. I’d love for us to meet your family while there and hear first hand some of your experiences.
My husband and I have thought and prayed a lot about moving to Progreso over the past two years. Was curious if you all could give us guidance. We are hoping to come sometime in the next visit for another planning trip. We have younger children and would love to talk with you all more about the process. Thanks so much!