0:28

You know , I retired at a pretty young age . What am

0:30

I going to drink and sit on the beach

0:32

for the next 40 years ? No , of

0:34

course not . You know , I need more

0:36

in my life than that .

0:43

Welcome to ExPATs Like Us . A

0:45

co-production with me , vita Margarita

0:47

, exploring the world of US ExPat

0:49

life in Mexico . In each episode

0:52

, we'll meet new people and hear their stories

0:54

. We'll also learn more about ExPat

0:56

life and get a few tips on everything

0:58

from making your move to settling in

1:01

, to living your dreams and , most

1:03

of all , having fun . Let's dive

1:05

in . I'm

1:16

your host , Bob Bosse . In the summer of

1:18

2021 , my wife Sherry and

1:20

I sold most of our possessions and made

1:23

the move from Vermillion , south Dakota , to

1:25

Acomal , mexico . Since that

1:27

time , we've met some incredibly interesting

1:29

people and learned a lot about making

1:31

the transition from tourist to expats

1:34

. Today , I'm excited to be

1:36

talking with Kelly Mahur . Kelly

1:38

is one of the people we met when we first moved

1:40

to Acomal and is well known in the community

1:43

for , among other things , her business

1:45

experience as well as her community service

1:47

work . Kelly's here to share her story

1:49

of making the move to Mexico and

1:51

provide some advice , maybe , for people thinking

1:54

to make such a move . Hi , kelly

1:56

, and welcome to ExPats Like Us . Hi

1:58

, bob , thanks for having me . Thanks for

2:00

being here today , kelly . Like I said , kelly

2:02

is one of the people that I admire

2:04

here because of the things that she does

2:06

and the things that she's known for , and it's

2:09

exciting to have you here today . So

2:12

, kelly , tell us a little bit about your

2:14

life before making the move

2:16

to Mexico .

2:18

Life before Mexico , the

2:20

last 20 years were spent in Atlanta

2:22

. I'm

2:25

a little different , I think , than a

2:27

lot of expats . I'm single and

2:30

I don't have any children , and my parents

2:33

both passed away decades ago

2:35

, so I've been on my own and doing

2:37

my own thing for decades , and

2:40

I had a very successful

2:42

but stressful career in media

2:44

sales when I

2:46

lived in Atlanta Actually , most of my career was

2:48

in media sales , so

2:51

I worked ridiculous hours

2:53

. I was an alcoholic . I always

2:56

took every vacation day , though , because

2:58

travel was really important to me , and

3:01

so I just kept working with this goal of trying

3:04

to retire as early as I could and

3:07

then to start

3:09

traveling the world .

3:10

I know that I worked in media myself

3:12

in different areas of media , but it's

3:15

high stress work and I can't

3:17

imagine I was in the production

3:19

end of it but sales .

3:21

Oh , my God .

3:22

I can't imagine . I've seen

3:24

that stress before many times .

3:26

Yeah , it's you know , there's

3:28

no paycheck . It's all commissioned sales

3:31

. So it's all based on the relationships

3:33

you build with your clients

3:35

, your reputation , your , you know

3:37

I mean it's . If you're

3:39

not honest in the industry , you don't have a

3:41

long career in it . Right , if

3:44

a client can trust worthy and clients can trust you

3:46

, then you can have a very lucrative career

3:48

. And I tend to be a people

3:51

pleaser , so I

3:53

was good at it . I retired May

3:55

of 2019 . May

3:57

8th 2019 . Okay , you never

3:59

forget that day , never forget that day I

4:01

had the countdown clock app on my

4:03

phone , for , like the last year , was

4:06

counting down how many days left till retirement

4:08

.

4:08

Yeah , the same way with me . People would ask me

4:10

, you know , two years out , they'd say so

4:13

. Once you're , when are you going to retire ? And I'd say

4:15

June 8th 2021 . Because

4:21

I always was conscious of that . So

4:23

when you , when you retired , you moved

4:25

to Mexico . What inspired that I did ? I ?

4:27

wanted to get the right moments and think about the schedule for that morning . I

4:29

probably for 20 years

4:31

I had always had in the back of my mind

4:33

living outside of the country . Once I retired

4:35

and I actually had done the

4:38

research , I'd narrowed it down to three countries

4:40

. Riviera Maya area

4:42

was on the list , but it

4:44

wasn't number one on the list . Actually , belize was number

4:46

one on the list , but after

4:48

doing some more research I realized it wasn't as good

4:50

of a fit and I used to come to this

4:52

area a lot doing yoga retreats , specifically

4:55

to Tulum . And then I discovered

4:58

this community that we

5:00

both actually happened to live

5:02

in that has a permanent

5:04

yoga facility on the property

5:06

and I thought wait a minute , I can live full-time

5:09

in a permanent yoga retreat . Okay

5:11

, let's do that .

5:12

Right we should mention . I haven't

5:14

really described where we live that much , but

5:16

where we live is a very

5:19

yoga centered retreat

5:21

type of area .

5:22

People from around the world come here , yeah

5:24

, yeah , yeah . Practice yoga . Yeah , you know

5:26

, we have this lovely wellness center that has meditation

5:29

and yoga and all sorts of

5:31

great physical activities for those of us

5:33

all in our middle ages to stay

5:35

active and healthy .

5:37

And you know what that's . The other thing is

5:39

, I'm always surprised at people

5:41

. Yeah , we're all in our middle ages , but look

5:43

at , people are in good shape and people

5:46

are active here .

5:47

Well , I mean , you know , we're

5:50

certainly not our parents . You

5:52

know middle age , right

5:54

? I mean , yeah , when I think back

5:56

to what my vision of someone in middle age

5:58

looks like . They don't look like us .

6:00

Right In my

6:02

family they always talked about my grandfather

6:05

. He died at like 68 years

6:07

old . Wow , and that

6:09

was considered he just died of old age . This

6:11

is like in the 40s , you know that's

6:14

crazy .

6:15

My family is actually a little different

6:17

, although I lost my parents at a young age

6:19

. My grandparents both lived to be 97

6:22

. And

6:24

my both of my mother's siblings were in their 90s

6:26

when they passed . So I'm

6:28

banking and my financial planner

6:30

and I are banking on the fact that I'm going

6:32

to be around for quite a while .

6:34

Yeah , that's a good thing to

6:36

take into consideration .

6:37

Yeah , we just had to make sure the money was going to last .

6:39

Yeah , that's a good thing to know . That's

6:41

my father lived

6:44

to be 98 years old , so I get that

6:46

. And my mother my mother passed away when I

6:48

was a kid , same with me , but

6:51

he was active until the end

6:53

and it was I credit his physical

6:56

activity with giving

6:58

him the longevity , absolutely

7:00

. So tell us , when you moved , what

7:02

was the process that you went through in

7:04

making the initial move ?

7:07

Well , for anyone who knows me , they know I'm a little structured

7:09

and I keep spreadsheets on everything

7:11

, and so there was a lot of research

7:13

that went into it and a lot of planning

7:16

. It was a four year process

7:19

of like winding down my life in

7:21

Atlanta and preparing to move here

7:23

. I knew that I would move

7:25

very quickly after I retired

7:27

, and I did . I sort of went on a six

7:30

or seven week farewell tour throughout

7:32

the Southeast saying goodbye to friends and family

7:34

and July 3 of 2019

7:37

. I was here full time . I

7:39

think that's when I first met you

7:41

guys . Yeah , because I think

7:43

, you were down visiting , then we

7:45

were Like the week that I

7:47

had moved here .

7:49

I forgot about that . We met here , we met

7:51

you and we were just visiting here on vacation

7:53

.

7:54

Yeah , and I'm pretty sure it was like that first week of

7:56

my living here .

7:58

So you're one of the people that you sold everything

8:00

and made the move . I did , I

8:02

own anything in the . United States anymore .

8:04

No absolutely nothing . Yeah

8:08

, I sold everything . I

8:10

. Whatever would fit in suitcases making

8:13

trips down would come down with me , and

8:16

that was it . Yeah

8:20

, I loved the process . Actually

8:22

, the more things

8:24

I sold and got rid of , the freer

8:26

I felt .

9:31

Welcome back . I'm here with Kelly Maher

9:33

, an expat from Acomal

9:36

Mexico and the friend of ours . Tell

9:39

me , kelly , what you know . We talk

9:41

about selling your stuff and moving here . What was

9:43

, personally ? What was the transition to

9:45

the new life that you went through ?

9:48

Well , you know , it was an interesting time when I moved here

9:50

. I moved here July of 2019 . And

9:53

so I spent the rest of that year

9:55

sort of being on vacation

9:58

. Initially , right , like every day I needed

10:00

to go to the beach and have a couple margaritas

10:02

, and after a couple of weeks of that it's

10:04

like all right . Well , I can't do this forever . But

10:07

I spent the rest of that year sort of just getting

10:09

acclimated , remembering

10:11

how to get to the grocery store

10:13

, remembering , you know , the pesos

10:16

to US dollar conversion and living

10:19

in the metric system and all of that , and just

10:21

, you know , getting my bearings about me

10:23

, and then my

10:25

plan being to hit the road

10:27

in 2020 and start traveling right

10:29

. And then

10:31

COVID hit .

10:33

Right , right . You picked a very

10:35

interesting time to make a big change

10:37

.

10:37

Yeah , yeah , yeah , you know , but it's

10:39

interesting . I think it led

10:42

me down somewhat of a different path than

10:44

perhaps I might have taken otherwise , but

10:47

it's all been great so .

10:48

Yeah , very cool . So what was it like COVID

10:50

down here ?

10:52

It was a little surreal , you

10:54

know . Of course , we live in an area

10:56

that is very much based on tourism

10:58

. Everyone lost their jobs you

11:01

know all of the staff at all

11:03

of the resorts and the restaurants

11:05

because everything closed down . The

11:08

beaches even closed for three months

11:10

, literally . You could not go to the beach

11:12

. The National Guard , would you know , would arrest

11:14

you or remove you , and

11:16

that was in the summertime when it was hot

11:18

and it's like boy , you know . And our

11:21

swimming pools in the community closed down

11:23

again for health reasons , and the wellness center

11:25

closed down . So it was sort

11:27

of those of us who were here

11:29

and there were probably about 70

11:32

of us that were here during

11:34

COVID we

11:36

bubbled up and

11:38

we spent a lot of time in the air conditioning or we

11:40

, you know , or we spent a lot of time

11:43

outside , but it

11:45

certainly sort of Everything came

11:47

to a screeching halt in some ways in terms of

11:49

getting acclimated and expanding my

11:51

life here . Obviously , I

11:53

didn't get to travel , as was my original

11:55

plan , so you know

11:57

, but there were some really great things that came out of it

11:59

as well , right , what good came out of that , or

12:01

you know .

12:02

I can imagine , because , first

12:05

of all , I can imagine that when that hit

12:07

that , people here were just like oh my god

12:09

, what have I done ? Sure , what

12:11

is going on ? I'm in a country , I don't know the language

12:14

, I I can't go anywhere

12:16

.

12:17

I had friends back in the States begging me to

12:19

just move back to the States and move in with them . Please

12:22

don't be trapped down there in Mexico with

12:24

COVID , you know , and I kept

12:26

saying I feel safer here than

12:28

I would in the US , because so much

12:30

of life is built around the

12:32

outdoors , here , in open air , and

12:35

you know , until they shut the beaches down for those

12:37

few months , I mean , I could walk on the beach , I could be

12:39

in the open air . The few restaurants

12:41

that were open were all open air . So

12:44

you know . So from that standpoint , yeah . And then

12:46

the other thing was it threw

12:48

me into the community

12:51

in a way that I would have never

12:53

envisioned , certainly

12:56

not at the speed at which it did , and

12:59

I know that makes no sense whatsoever

13:01

.

13:02

I can elaborate on that , but yeah , tell me about that being

13:04

thrown into the sea . Yeah , what does that

13:06

mean ?

13:07

Well , what it means is quickly

13:09

, I saw everyone had lost their job and

13:12

you know there's no such thing as unemployment

13:15

insurance here in Mexico . right , you

13:17

lose your job , you lose your paycheck

13:19

, you can't eat because you have no

13:21

money , and the pueblos

13:23

that are around us are very poor pueblos

13:25

. I had heard

13:28

of someone I knew down in Tulum

13:30

who was putting together food bags

13:32

for the local families down there , and

13:35

I knew immediately that's what I needed to

13:37

do , and so I

13:40

partnered with Hecababitlioteca

13:42

, which has a long

13:44

history here in the community and the director

13:46

knows all of the families very well . I

13:49

fundraised both here in my community

13:51

and the local area and back in the States as well , and

13:55

put together 100 food bags that

13:57

fed a family of four three

14:00

meals a day , seven days a week for

14:03

39 weeks in 2020

14:06

. So , literally , we started at the end of March

14:09

and we fed families every Friday

14:11

for the next week until the

14:13

end of the year .

14:15

That is , that's amazing . I

14:18

mean you could have easily

14:20

sheltered yourself in your condo and said I'm

14:23

afraid , and just you

14:25

know , wallowed in this whole thing .

14:27

But yeah , but maybe huge difference in people's needs , huge difference

14:29

in people's needs and

14:32

I don't know I mean , you know , I owe

14:34

a lot of it to the

14:36

type of radio stations that I worked for

14:38

in the States and the role that those

14:40

radio stations played in the community

14:42

and that it's built

14:44

into my DNA of there's

14:46

a problem I'm capable of solving

14:49

, or at least helping to solve this problem

14:51

. I have to do it and

14:53

it was automatic . It's like I didn't

14:55

even think about it and it was like I need a

14:57

distribution point . I already know where I can

14:59

find money . I know how to secure

15:01

the food bags done . Let me just put it together

15:04

and get it rolling .

15:06

It sounds like you maybe learned a lot

15:08

about yourself during that process .

15:11

I did because I had

15:13

not envisioned that being something that I was going

15:15

to do when I moved down here . I figured at some point

15:17

I would get involved in

15:19

the community somehow or do

15:21

something . I didn't know what that looked like and

15:24

I certainly wasn't searching for it yet at that

15:27

point . Everyone had warned me , when I

15:29

got retired , to just be retired

15:31

the first year . Don't get involved in

15:33

the HOA , don't get involved in nonprofits

15:35

, just be retired . And

15:38

then at some point something will speak to

15:40

you and you'll

15:42

see a passion or you'll see a purpose

15:44

and then go for it . And

15:46

so , yeah , that's exactly what

15:48

I did , I guess .

15:49

Yeah , and I you know that's one of

15:51

the things that I like to try and emphasize

15:53

to people considering retiring

15:56

and making a move is have you

15:59

need some sort of plan ? You don't have

16:01

to have a specific plan . It

16:03

doesn't have to be . I'm going to be involved

16:05

with this specific thing , but you

16:07

got to know that you're going to have to

16:09

find something .

16:11

You will . Otherwise , I mean

16:13

, you're going to sit every day and drink which

16:15

you know comes with its own set of problems

16:18

. It's certainly not very fulfilling or satisfying

16:20

. And you know and sort of going back to the

16:22

discussion about 68 used to be old

16:25

right in our parents' lives , but we

16:27

all do live older and

16:30

you know I retired at a pretty young age . What

16:32

am I going to drink and sit on the beach

16:34

for the next 40 years ? No , of

16:36

course not . You know , I need more

16:38

in my life than that .

16:40

So yeah , and one of our

16:42

guests mentioned that . You know , part

16:44

of it is you go from being like

16:47

. In my case , I was a manager . I had

16:49

a bunch of staff One

16:51

day . In the next day you're sitting

16:53

on a beach . Nobody cares

16:55

who you are .

16:56

You're not making any decisions . There's no

16:58

title after your name anymore

17:00

. There's no paycheck arriving .

17:02

We got nobody , you know showing you deference or respect

17:08

or anything . Your experience means

17:10

nothing .

17:11

when you're down here , you're absolutely right , and

17:14

I see men that I've known , primarily

17:18

because men tend to be in more managerial

17:20

roles than women . But men

17:22

suffer with what their purpose is , right

17:25

, I mean because , yeah , they don't

17:27

have a role anymore , they don't have a

17:29

position and a title , they don't have a staff to

17:31

delegate to . Yeah , suddenly

17:34

they're just Joe Blow , yeah

17:36

, right .

17:38

And yeah , you understand

17:40

, I understand that very well because I

17:42

felt the same way . I went six months

17:44

and thought now what am I going to do ? You

17:46

know , I've relaxed

17:49

as much as I can relax . I

17:52

drank half of the tequila in

17:54

Quintana Roo .

17:56

That wasn't working for you after a while , yeah

17:58

.

17:58

I've actually , you know , put on weight for so

18:01

many tacos , you know , so it's

18:03

time to get on with the next phase

18:05

of our lives right ?

18:07

Because we've still got plenty of life to live .

18:09

Absolutely so . Tell me about

18:11

the , what you're involved with

18:13

. I know that you're

18:16

involved with the biblioteca . Tell

18:18

me about the . Tell me what the biblioteca is

18:21

first and who they serve and

18:23

why it's here .

18:24

Sure , hegabe Biblioteca

18:26

which , by the way , biblioteca is the Spanish

18:28

word for library is

18:30

a really special place here in Acomal

18:32

and it's originally was the

18:34

very first public school

18:37

for Acomal and

18:40

then over time , school

18:42

was built across the highway

18:44

and the actual Pueblo and not

18:46

on the beach side , and then

18:48

it became a lending , it became a library , basically

18:51

for kids , and these

18:53

two women got a box full of books

18:55

that for children that were in Spanish

18:57

, and and loan them out

18:59

to children , and , and that's how it started

19:02

35 years ago it

19:04

has morphed into being really the heartbeat

19:06

of the community . The director

19:08

Kaori knows all of the families

19:10

in the Pueblo . She knows the one struggling

19:13

the most , she knows the ones with special

19:15

needs , children , she

19:17

knows when someone loses their job and

19:19

she has her finger on the pulse of everything

19:21

. And so we technically

19:24

provide after school and summer school programming

19:26

for the children of the Pueblo

19:28

, everything from arts

19:30

to language , science , psychology

19:33

, sustainability . You

19:35

know , we're children three to

19:37

14 years of age and

19:39

we're we're teaching

19:42

them and providing them an opportunity to

19:44

recognize that they can have options

19:46

in their future and

19:48

the girls don't have to get married

19:50

and pregnant at 16 . The

19:53

boys don't have to consider leaving

19:56

and escaping to the States or joining the

19:58

cartels somewhere or something like that , that

20:01

with education and finding

20:03

their passions and giving them

20:05

a little bit of extra guidance

20:08

that they really can

20:10

realize their dreams . And the beauty of

20:12

that is , then they're not only pulling themselves

20:15

up , they're pulling their entire extended families

20:17

up as well . And so we're

20:19

changing lives . We truly are changing

20:21

lives in the Pueblo and

20:23

yeah , we do it poco a poco

20:26

, bit by bit .

20:27

Yeah , absolutely , and you

20:29

know I don't . A lot of listeners

20:31

probably aren't familiar with what Acomol

20:33

is or what Acomol looks like . It's a small community

20:36

and it's very poor . I mean

20:38

, it's very , very

20:40

poverty , like if you're from the United

20:43

States , you've never seen poverty on

20:45

this level before , right , you know . So

20:48

yeah , and it just emphasizes how

20:50

important a service like heck

20:52

I'll be bibliotech it is .

20:54

It is , and we don't get any funding

20:56

from the government at all not

20:58

the local , state or federal Mexican

21:01

government so everything's donation

21:03

based . We have a US 501C3

21:06

. So we're an authorized nonprofit

21:08

in the US and so that's

21:10

a benefit that we can offer to people

21:12

who want to donate . But yeah , we do it

21:14

. We do it all on a shoestring

21:16

budget and lots of passion and lots of

21:18

commitment and you know you've

21:21

helped us out . You know your wife , sherry

21:23

, is a constant . She started English

21:25

classes and teaches the kiddos English

21:28

.

21:28

It's an impressive thing that you guys have going

21:31

over there , we do a lot with a little

21:33

right .

21:33

Oh my God .

21:35

Yes , well , I

21:37

shot some video of their Christmas program , but they were

21:39

showing off all of the stuff that they learned recently

21:41

. They're learning best practices

21:44

and riding bikes .

21:46

They have to learn how to repair their bikes

21:48

and to maintain and learn maintenance

21:50

on their bikes . Yeah , the life skills

21:53

that we teach these children is

21:56

just amazing . And it's , you

21:58

know , our director and we have two part-time

22:00

teachers , one of whom , davide

22:02

, actually has a degree in childhood psychology

22:04

, and so that knowledge

22:06

that he brings to the table and teaching children

22:09

how to deal with whether it be bullying

22:11

or self-esteem , or I mean

22:13

, he's just tremendous at you know

22:15

, what he can impart to the kids .

22:18

So tell me how you , what do you think

22:21

that having that available

22:23

and having those programs available means

22:25

to the town of Acoma

22:27

?

22:29

It's . It changes

22:32

the town and we're not just

22:34

the library . You know

22:36

we have expanded and there are a number of other

22:38

things that we do , and all under

22:40

the Hecabay Biblioteca umbrella . But

22:42

we do an annual art festival

22:44

where we paint murals . We

22:47

invite artists to come in from around the world and they

22:49

paint murals and so they create this

22:51

happy environment for the pueblo

22:54

, for this sad , poor little pueblo

22:56

, but all these beautiful murals that exist

22:58

in the area and they actually attract

23:00

tourists . We

23:03

will be opening a water park this year in

23:05

the pueblo for the children because

23:07

it's so difficult for them to access the beach

23:09

. Even though beaches here are public , it's

23:12

private property a lot of times that

23:14

blocks you from being able to access it and there's

23:16

a big old , crazy highway between them

23:18

and any of .

23:20

even if they could get across .

23:21

there's a big old nutso

23:23

highway , A very scary highway

23:25

and the beaches close , technically , at 5

23:28

pm . That's when the parents most of the

23:30

parents stop working , so it's

23:32

not like the children can even go in the evening

23:34

. So we're building a

23:36

water park with donations

23:39

from some generous people and we're

23:41

just waiting for the power company to hook everything

23:43

up now and then we can flip the switch . But

23:46

so there's so much that we do . We do

23:48

spay neuter clinics , we do an annual

23:50

free health assessment

23:53

for the adults in the community

23:55

, so everything that we do

23:57

is about giving back , empowering

24:00

, creating a sense of pride and

24:02

a sense of ownership in the community

24:04

, and because of that , the Acomal

24:07

Pueblo looks better now than

24:10

it has in the past . And you

24:12

know , in order to have a building

24:14

on , you know , painted with a mural

24:16

, you have to sign an agreement in

24:18

terms of you can't have garbage and litter sitting

24:21

around , and so you know

24:23

it creates this snowball

24:25

effect of creating this beautiful

24:28

looking little community and with happy

24:30

faces , right , I mean , these children are amazing

24:33

. They have so little and yet

24:35

so little will make them happy . And

24:38

an accomplishment , a simple accomplishment of

24:40

completing an art project or

24:42

you know , or going on a field trip and

24:45

gives these kids so much joy .

24:47

Right , something they would never have the

24:49

opportunity to do were it not for the

24:51

library .

24:52

But we've got children . Now we have

24:54

two young adults that are at the University

24:57

of Iowa to lead , both getting degrees in graphic

24:59

art design .

25:00

That's amazing .

25:01

And because we've sort of adopted them

25:03

under our Acomal Arts program

25:05

. They've shown the propensity and the talent

25:08

and the willingness to do what it takes

25:10

and we found donors to support them

25:12

. Yeah , and you know , that's going to change

25:14

the lives of those families .

25:16

So where do you find your donors and

25:18

do you have like a website or something that people

25:21

can go to and find out more ?

25:22

Yes , we do . We have heckabayorg

25:25

. You

25:32

can find us on Facebook if you search heckabay

25:35

as well . We

25:37

take donations on both and , yeah

25:39

, you know it's outreach . We

25:42

use a lot of social media for outreach . We have a quarterly

25:44

newsletter that we send out . You can sign up

25:46

for it if you go to our website . As

25:49

you know , I tap into the

25:51

community here that we live in , our neighbors

25:53

, a lot asking for help , and

25:56

as do the other board members who are involved too

25:58

, and you know it's

26:00

all about just once we tell our story

26:03

and once someone comes and visits us , once you're

26:05

hooked . Yeah , at that point you

26:08

just can't say no , and whether that's does

26:10

not have to be financial donation . It

26:12

can be volunteering , it

26:14

can be . We've got an Amazon wish list

26:16

and you can go buy something off that wish

26:19

list and have it shipped down to us .

26:22

And you have a bazaar where they take people people

26:24

clear out their closets around here

26:27

.

26:27

All of you guys love when I

26:29

say , yes , come on and bring all your things . Yeah

26:32

, and it's phenomenal . That

26:34

provides , it's a big fundraiser for us . It

26:37

allows the local population to

26:39

buy products , you know , products that

26:42

we bring down , that we spend sometimes

26:44

hundreds of dollars on , and they can pay

26:47

, you know , just mere pesos for

26:49

good quality clothing , good quality

26:51

household goods , furnishings

26:54

, etc . And so , you

26:56

know , it allows the local population to

26:58

be able to take their hard earned money and

27:00

buy some fuel quality . And

27:02

and again , it's a fundraiser for us

27:04

. So , yeah , everybody wins

27:06

with that type of scenario .

27:08

And I will say , having worked a little

27:10

bit with with the director

27:13

there , Kairi , she

27:15

makes a lot happen with very little right

27:17

. She's amazing . She throws

27:19

nothing out . I know that

27:21

she's well known for that .

27:25

Yes , she is yes , and

27:27

I'll tell you early on .

27:29

I'll tell you a quick story .

27:30

I was over there and she

27:32

was cutting up some threadbare

27:34

white towels that one of the hotels had

27:37

donated to her , and I mean they

27:39

were threadbare . I've

27:41

thrown away much better looking towels than

27:43

what she was cutting up and she was turning them into

27:46

paint canvases for the kids so

27:48

they could paint on . And when I saw that

27:51

I said you know what ? I'm no longer qualified

27:53

to determine what is trash and what is treasure

27:55

. Right , I'm bringing you a lot more things

27:57

than I have brought you in the past . You

28:00

decide what to throw away , because I

28:02

can no longer make that decision . I've thrown away things

28:04

of value , right that she repurposes

28:07

. I mean it's lovely , acomal

28:09

, you know , is the land of the turtles . I mean that's

28:11

what the Mayan name is about , and

28:13

so we really try to live sustainably

28:16

here and she embraces that

28:18

to such a great degree with repurposing

28:20

everything that's given to her , you know , and

28:22

turning it into a project for the children and

28:24

a learning experience .

28:25

She personifies sustainability

28:27

more than anybody I've ever

28:29

met .

28:30

She does , and you know , and Kory is Japanese

28:32

, right , she comes from living on

28:34

an island where you have to live that

28:36

way right . So she brings that mindset

28:39

here to the bibliotech and is just wonderful

28:41

.

28:41

We're blessed to have her . Just an example

28:43

of the amazing people you meet over at HECABE

28:45

the amazing experiences

28:48

you can have over there .

28:49

Yeah , yeah . I encourage

28:51

everyone if you come to visit this area , definitely stop by

28:54

and see the kids .

28:55

Absolutely . And visit the

28:57

Pueblo in Acomal and you get to see

28:59

. The first thing you're going to notice is the

29:02

poverty , but you are going

29:04

to go through there and you're going to start seeing the artwork

29:06

and you're going to start seeing the things that are

29:08

going on there and it's

29:11

truly amazing . It's a great experience , yeah

29:13

it really is .

29:31

And it's a special

29:33

place we live

29:37

in .

30:20

If you had a list of things that

30:23

you would suggest to people considering looking to

30:25

retire and move to Mexico , what would those be ?

30:29

Ask yourselves some questions . Are

30:31

you curious , are you inquisitive

30:34

, are you patient ? Living

30:37

in a foreign country can be challenging

30:40

. Some of us have

30:42

transitioned Easier

30:44

than others have . We've watched

30:46

people not make the transition and have

30:48

already gone back to the states . So

30:51

you really need to sort of dig deep and understand

30:54

who you are and

30:57

how , how you'll meet those challenges

30:59

if you meet them with the right attitude

31:02

. It's an incredible , eye-opening

31:04

opportunity that really expands

31:07

your worldview and your heart . So

31:10

that's that , that would be my advice absolutely

31:13

very good .

31:14

And what advice would you have for people

31:16

looking For

31:18

fulfillment and retirement ?

31:21

I'll pass along the advice that was given to me

31:23

just be retired for the first year

31:25

. Don't don't jump into every project

31:28

and everything I

31:30

don't recommend spend every day on the beach drinking

31:33

, but , but just

31:35

be retired . But but start paying

31:37

attention and see what's around

31:40

. And and then also

31:42

, you know , you've got to listen to yourself , right

31:45

? So I a lot of self-reflection . I

31:48

think that's important . You

31:50

know we're we're thrust into an

31:52

entirely different phase in our lives

31:54

where we

31:57

don't know who we are anymore , right ? You know

31:59

, I very much had fully defined

32:01

who I was with my career and Without

32:04

having that , I had clients who

32:06

had bets that I would be back in

32:08

18 months , that there was no way I could remain

32:10

retired . They've all lost those

32:12

bets . I've found

32:14

that next phase in my life . I found the fulfillment

32:17

, I found the joy in the happiness , and

32:19

. But you've got to be open to it , you've got to be accepting

32:21

of it and , yeah , go

32:24

for it , all right thank

32:26

you so much for joining me . Thanks for having

32:28

me . This has been great . I've enjoyed it .

32:34

In each episode of expats like us , we're

32:36

gonna teach you a new Mexican slang

32:38

word . This is something you may not find

32:40

in your phrasebook or your online Spanish

32:43

class or your Spanish app or wherever

32:45

you're learning your Spanish . Instead , this

32:47

is a term used primarily by

32:49

Mexican Spanish speakers . Today's

32:53

word is Cheeto

32:57

cheeto . Thank you , Erica

32:59

Kovalsky . From Mi Vida Margarita

33:01

, tell us what cheeto

33:03

means . Awesome , awesome

33:06

. Tu carro esta chido you use that in a

33:08

sentence

33:11

You have an awesome car , okay

33:14

, chedo , chedo . I

33:16

think I've heard that you know Moving

33:18

around in Mexico a little bit , but I

33:21

guess I never knew what it meant . So it

33:23

must be good news if somebody's saying cool .

33:25

Yes , that is awesome .

33:27

Cheeto Gracias . We'd

33:33

love to hear your thoughts on today's topic . Just

33:35

look up Xpats . Like Us on Facebook

33:38

or send us an email at xpatslikeuscom

33:41

. You can also

33:43

see the video version of today's discussion and

33:45

all of our discussions on our YouTube page

33:47

. Follow , like , subscribe and

33:50

leave us a review . Thank

33:53

you to today's guest , kelly Maher . Thanks

33:56

also to co-producers Chris and Erica

33:58

Kowalski . From Me , vita Margarita

34:00

and my wife , sherry Bussey . Most

34:02

of all , thank you for tuning in to Xpats

34:04

Like Us and thank you for interacting

34:07

with us on social media . Next

34:09

time we'll bring you more first-hand information

34:11

about your international move . And

34:14

until then , remember our homes are not

34:16

defined by geography or one particular

34:18

location , but by memories , events

34:20

, people and places that span the

34:22

globe .

35:24

Oh justice , where

35:26

did you run to ? Really

35:32

great to come back , cos I've been missing you

35:34

. And love

35:37

, sweet love . I could use a

35:39

hand , but no one else can hear me love

35:41

. No one else can

35:43

hear me love . I know

35:46

you understand . Sweet

35:50

love , make yourself

35:53

known . Sweet love , come

35:55

on back home , sweet

36:01

love . Let your

36:03

light shine bright . Sweet

36:09

love freedom comes

36:12

tonight . Sweet

36:15

love freedom

36:17

comes tonight . I'm

36:21

taking my place in life With

36:25

a long line of people

36:27

. It's a long time

36:29

we're coming and I never

36:32

stop believing I will never . I'll

36:34

be there . Make

36:38

yourself known , sweet

36:42

love . Come on back home , sweet

36:49

love . Let your light

36:51

shine bright . Sweet

36:55

love freedom comes

36:57

tonight . Sweet

37:03

love , make yourself known . Sweet

37:08

love , come on back

37:11

home , sweet

37:13

love . Let

37:15

your light shine bright

37:18

. Sweet

37:21

love freedom comes tonight

37:23

. Sweet

37:26

love freedom

37:28

comes tonight . Sweet

37:33

love freedom comes

37:35

tonight .