A lot has been going on in our lives recently. But everyone has their issues in life.
We faced eviction for a little while, with no real idea nor a plan on what to do next, and I was slightly panicking, then full on, and then decided to surrender to whatever was coming our way because there was nothing I could do that I wasn't already doing, to change anything about it.
Thanks to some good things (unfortunately some of it to do with my recently deceased brother), and some good people, we managed to overcome this.
The beach close to our house
On February 20th, we moved from a place that was much too expensive for us to one that's much more affordable. Mexico can be quite cheap but the Riviera Maya definitely isn't. And although it's still a bit cheaper for a lot of things than in many other countries, some things like rent, can be quite steep. I went from paying 22k pesos (approximately US$1,100 or more since the dollar hasn't been very stable) a month and an income of around USD600 to 10k pesos (approx. US$500), which is a HUGE difference, and much easier to do without too much stress.
The place is much smaller, and we only have two bedrooms, which is not ideal with a teenage girl and a teenage boy in the house. My boy doesn't really care too much but my daughter is at the age that she needs and wants her privacy and her own space. The last house was the first time in her life where she had her own room, and this was now taken away from her again, and that sucks.
Not just for her but for me as well. We all want the world for our children, and the fact that I can't give her her own room right now is very frustrating sometimes but not the end of the world.
I try to put things in perspective for us all by remembering that there are always people who are much worse off than we are. People not so far from us even.
I decided to come to a compromise.
As soon as I have the finances to pay for it, I will buy a sofa or couch for me to sleep on. I've even been eyeing the hammock hooks in the living room and am seriously considering it...
We have a dining room and a living room, so I'll be using the living room as part bedroom for myself. Unfortunately, the 2 bedrooms have 1 double bed each only so I will need an extra bed too.
That way, the boys can share a room and my daughter will have her own space.
Our kitchen
Our dining room/office space
The house may be smaller but it's not the worst place on earth.
In fact, I quite like it here.
We share our front yard and back yard with our neighbour, J, who we get along with really well.
She's a retired paramedic from Philadelphia, so she's seen a thing or two in her career.
I thought the fact that she's retired and lives on her own could prove difficult with three kids next door but she's actually quite sweet, and will help us wherever she can.
My daughter washes her car once a week for 100 pesos, which makes both of them happy, and she spends a few hours a day with my youngest helping him with his learning (reading, writing, etc.).
We have one huge luxury, which is a shared pool out in the back yard. It's around 5 meters long so not Olympic size hehe but I'm not complaining. So yeah, we may have downgraded when it comes to our home but we've upgraded with this. Before we had to walk across the road for the pool and share it with many, now we could almost jump in from the balcony if we wouldn't break our heads doing it.
I mean, back in Ireland I was excited about a Dutch oven built into the kitchen, here it's a pool, HAH. Certainly no reason for complaints...
The neighbourhood is gated, and there is security out front but it doesn't feel at all like we're locked in. The guards are mostly really friendly, which isn't always the case everywhere.
However, even without the guards, it's really quite safe and quiet here. Mostly families with children and working couples, and some AirBnbs. Other than that, the surrounding area is very quiet too even though we have some holiday resorts close by.
It's the less rowdy kind of tourist that comes to this side of Playa so it's really quite nice.
We're a 20 minute walk from the beach, and 10 minutes on the bicycle to get to the nearest super market.
The only issue is that we're quite far from the city centre. Well, not much further than we were before but now we have to either cycle past a stretch of highway for a mile or 2 (some parts aren't the safest to cycle). It wouldn't be an issue with a car but right now, that's not on the books yet. We take the bus or a colectivo most of the times we have to go to the city but we always have to be aware that we come back before a certain time in the evening or we have to take a taxi which can be quite costly.
New Friends
My youngest son immediately took off here to play outside as there is a playground and a little park not very far from our house, inside the community gates.
There's an Oxxo (convenience store) just outside the gate to the right, and to the left a taqueria.
Around the corner there's a skatepark and there are a few little shops and restaurants, so it really has most of the things we need not so far away.
My son made friends right away and then came home one day telling me that he found me a friend as well. His friend's mom and I would get along very well.
At the time I had lots going on and felt like I didn't have the time to spend with the few friends I already had here, so I never pursued meeting her.
Until one day we ran into her, and we ended up talking for an hour.
He was right as it turned out: we have a lot of the same interests, and agree on many things regarding certain things that are happening around us and in the world.
My son knows me so well!
My eldest son has one good friend he hangs out with whenever he can, and my daughter is the social butterfly I knew she was, with so many meet-ups with friends that even she sometimes prefers to stay home because it's too demanding. All in all, it's good!
Work
It's too much to put all of this here now too.
Work & finances have been a bit 'off' these last few months.
But it all seems to go in the right direction at the moment.
We'll just keep going and keep believing that it will all be alright soon.
At least we have a roof over our heads that doesn't give me a daily headache on how to keep it,
and the rest will fall into place.
Maybe in another post, I will write more about work haha. I've got a few plans.
Until then, I still get up every day feeling grateful for being here in paradise.
People save a year, or two years or more to come here on a holiday for one to two weeks.
We get to live in paradise!
Lizzie seems to love it too...
I have to remind myself sometimes to think about that I got us here.
Not only that, I've managed to keep us here for almost 18 months now.
I've had help but I still did all of the rest.
I forgot to praise myself sometimes too.
So there, here's a pat on the shoulder for myself.
It's badass af, as the kids these days would say.😆
All photos are mine. Any edits were done in LunaPic
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So great to see you're doing well, all things considered... I so like your positive attitude and I'm sure you'll pull through like you always do. It does seem like a paradise, what with the pool and the beach being so close.
My daughter keeps asking why don't we all move closer to some beach, but my teenage son is very much against the idea, so I'm afraid she'll have to go alone. We've considered Mexico as it is cheaper than most European countries with a decent weather and beaches, but it seems so far away to me.
Looking forward to reading about your work projects as I'm at a point where I need to reinvent myself.
Enjoy the sun!
So lovely to hear from you!
Yes, I can sometimes wallow in self-pity but I always snap myself out of it quite quickly when I look around me and see what we have and what we've achieved. Moving from Ireland to Mexico alone is quite something but I haven't regretted leaving that place, not even one second.
Once we're completely established here, papers done, finances in order, we want to start with our original plan, which was traveling through Mexico and then explore other countries close by. I've been to Belize in 2008, so I'd really love to bring the kids there, and it's only a few hours drive from here.
Dominica and Colombia are very high on my list, as well as Guatemala and El Salvador. But there are so many places here in Mexico, so that's where we'll start.
My work and projects have been hit and miss but now it's looking like we're actually going to get somewhere haha. I needed a lot of patience. Not my best trait!
But I'll be writing more about all of it soon!
Thanks for stopping by, it's always great to hear from you @ladyrebecca :)
Loved reading your story. I understand completely what you're talking about. Been to riviera maya many times on vacay, but we moved to Nayarit 2 years ago and love it. I am in the same boat....23K pesos for rent and would love to cut it in half, but same thing, kids would all share a room basically, not ideal as you know.
That pool looks lovely too, and convenient. Nice to have an Oxxo so close too.
Congrats on everything. Hope it all continues to work out for you.
Wow, yes 23k is a lot. I'm not sure how it is over in Nayarit but here it's mostly the expats with money who ruin it for everyone else. You'll see them post things like: looking for 1 bedroom apartment, budget 40k pesos. It's not surprising that home owners catch on to this and raise their prices.
Not every foreigner and immigrant (I hate calling myself an expat haha) is rich but this kind of behaviour drives up the prices.
Nayarit is very high on my list for places to visit in Mexico. It looks so beautiful. I can't wait till we can travel a bit more, as this was what we set out to do in the first place. But then again, there are worse places to be 'stuck' in haha.
Yes, the pool is really an amazing luxury, I'm so happy we have one.
I do love the beach but just can't find the time to go there every day, or even a few times a week, so the pool is a welcome alternative on a hot day.
Thank you for your well wishes, and lovely to see you around.
We'll have to do a small Hive meetup when I'm up on your side of the country, hopefully someday soon.
I love the tile in the kitchen. Muy mexicano!! It is great and fun to live in a place where people go to vacation. I loved living in Mexico years ago and now I love living in the mountains of Panama. When we want to go somewhere hot, we drive about an hour, but then we can return home to sleep in the cool! I just love the colors in your photos and it sounds like the kids and you have found some amazing friends in your new place.
Yes, the tiles are muy muy Mexicano haha. I love them too. There's a house close by that has stairs in the Mexican tiles, and they're all different but they made it work. It's so nice and colorful.
Yes, Panama seems amazing to me too. I know we'll visit one day...
I adore where you live. I've always been a beach girl but since I came here, I've become more of a cenote girl haha. But I love mountains too, and as long as there's some sort of water nearby, I'm happy anywhere (as long as it's not cold).
And we've been really lucky with the people we've connected with.
I'm so glad the kids finally have friends here that they can hang out with.
This wasn't the case in Ireland for years, and here it just seems so much easier to make friends. Kids still play outside and aren't just stuck to their screens. I love that about this place.
Great to hear from you my friend. I wish you a happy Sunday.
This is some tile that we have around here and love. We've put it up in all the bathrooms (some are colorful like this and some are gray/white or tan/brown) and as accents in various places! It makes me think of Mexico as well as my Fiestaware!
I love that kids around here also play outside most of the time - even in the rain. That's the benefit of our neighborhood - lots of good friends available to play with and we have a pavilion next to our house so they can play there as well.
So glad things are looking up for you!
Oh, I love those tiles!
Yes, it makes me so happy to see kids run around outside to play. And when they come here to ask if mine will come outside. Just the way I used to grow up. And even my teens don't really use their phones a lot when they're with friends, it's great to see. The more time spent in nature, the better. My youngest loves anything to do with the outdoors, and he loves to discover new things and learn about plants and animals, so I'm really lucky in that regard.
Before we moved here, I had this dream in which he was around 12 years old, and he was guiding people through a jungle area, educating them about plants etc in the area. Last year, we went on a jungle trip with a friend who showed us the caves in his cenote and the surrounding areas of the jungle. My son was completely mesmerised and stuck close to him. When I asked him later if he'd like to do something like that when he grew up, he didn't even let me finish the sentence before he yelled: YESSS!!! Haha. I can totally see him do it too. He loves to talk, and he knows a lot already. People will be happy to have him as a tour guide hehe.
That is so cool! It's nice when we can picture what our kids might end up doing in the future! I have an idea for a few of my kids and some, not a clue! Ha!
Yes, it is nice. I can see him do anything he wants to do to be honest. He's always trying to find creative ways to make money too. He and his friend are selling ice pops outside of Oxxo some days of the week for a few hours. I love that about Mexico, you can do that here without too much hassle. In Ireland or the Netherlands there'd be child protective services at the door LOL.
Well, for my other kiddos it would be a wild guess. My eldest son...it's looking like professional gamer or game creator is on the books because that's where he is at now, if given the chance. My girl...hmmm, different story but I know they will find their way.