We won’t be able to meet in person at this year’s Mexico event, so I thought I’d take the time to virtually introduce you to some of the key speakers who’ll come together online next week.
These guys are the real deal—expats who have lived in Mexico for years and experts who are the best at what they do and have the experience to show for it.Continue reading
Fellow reader Dianne R.—a full-time expat in Mexico—shared this note last week on our Overseas Living Club page…
“My husband and I have been living in Guadalajara, Mexico, for two years. We’re about 4.5 hours from Puerto Vallarta and they are finishing up a new highway that will make the trip only 2.5 hours when we want beach time. It’s a great city with plenty to do and beautiful weather. Average temperature is about 80 degrees. It gets into the 90’s in May and June but there is no humidity. We’re entering the rainy season now but it typically only rains at night so we have beautiful sunny days. Cost of living is wonderful and health care is amazing.”
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During the COVID-19 confinement, I gave gardening a try…
I didn’t do so well.
Most of what I bought died. And, honestly, my heart was only half in it…
The apartment I was quarantined in was a temporary home and I didn’t have much invested in it…
Now, though, having just moved into a wonderful new apartment with three balconies, I’m eager to begin planning and planting my little city-mouse garden.Continue reading
From Ecuador to Uruguay to Colombia, Latin America Correspondent Lee Harrison has been living south of the border since 2001. So smitten with his latest adopted home of Mazatlán, Mexico—where he’s been based for the past four years—Lee claims it represents one of the best lifestyles he’s found in his broad experience living overseas.
Today I’d like to share some of his thoughts on this dynamic city on Mexico’s Pacific coast…Continue reading
Playa del Carmen is a little beach town that sits about an hour south of Cancún on Mexico’s Riviera Maya. Once a sleepy fishing town, the port was inadvertently put on the map by Jacques Cousteau in 1954 when he filmed an underwater documentary of the Great Mayan Reef just offshore of Cozumel Island—which lies about 12 miles offshore of Playa del Carmen.
Divers began seeking out these Caribbean waters for themselves, and in the 1970s a port was built to ferry the tourists from the mainland to Cozumel. In the following years Playa del Carmen (or “Playa” to the locals) became more globally known, but only as an access point to Cozumel, the real star.
Simultaneously, 60 kilometers to the north, Cancún was being born. The first expats to Cancún in those early days were mainly European, but once the resort city became overly saturated by tourists, many of these first settlers started heading south to Playa del Carmen. In the 1990s, the population was growing so rapidly that Playa was the fastest growing city in Mexico… and growth has continued strong in the 21st century.Continue reading
Panama has been called the ultimate halfway house for American expats. But I disagree…
For those who aren’t ready to launch themselves into a truly foreign culture… who want some familiar comforts, reliable services, and to be able to get by in English… Mexico is the ticket.
It’s estimated that nearly two million Americans and 500,000 Canadians live in Mexico, part- or full-time… and with good reason…
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With our virtual event on Colombia coming up soon, I’ve been thinking back on good memories of this wonderful country…
Again this week I refer to Wendy Howarter’s recent Overseas Living Letter issue on her adopted home town of Medellín…
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I feel lucky that my profession allows me some escapism… even if merely mental these days. As we go about our jobs at Live and Invest Overseas, we are constantly launching our minds (and usually ourselves) across borders.
As none of us will be able to get there in person anytime soon, I wanted to share an excerpt from a recent Overseas Living Letter issue by Wendy Howarter, long-time Medellín expat, who gave some fantastic snapshots of her favorite neighborhoods in the city. Please join me on this tour-by-text and get out of your own town for a bit…Continue reading
Last week I wrote about not letting lockdown keep you down… specifically, that we should all keep dreaming our travel dreams and making our plans despite the delays that the coronavirus will impose on us all.
I spoke with our Events Team this past week about their lockdown inconveniences, and I’m far from alone in having my travel plans upended this year…
Events Assistant Gloria Contreras is in Panama during the lockdown. But, like us all, she had other plans this summer…Continue reading
It was 10:30 on a Saturday night, just when we were deciding on dessert or not…
Our phones dinged… along with everyone else’s in the restaurant.
The text message was an announcement from the French government.
We only had another hour to eat before this café—along with all the others in Paris—would be shuttered until further notice.Continue reading