My Life In Mexico

Matt Ouellette – “The Canadian Renaissance Man: Family, Music, Business, and Sports”

Matt Ouellette came to Mexico as a vacationer and real estate investor and fell in love with the area. Originally from the west coast of Canada, Matt found a Spanish beauty in British Columbia and the two of them were married in Spain. After years of rainy cold weather in Vancouver, Matt and his wife decided they would like to explore living in a warm tropical climate so in 2000 they...

Like any mature, clear-thinking, rational couple, before coming to live in Mexico, my wife and I did research into what it would be like to live there. Maybe you’re in this research phase now.

It’s not easy getting to the truth.

On the one side are the obvious promoters; people, websites, businesses, seminar-sellers, certain magazines and YouTubers, etc., that tell you how wonderful absolutely everything is.  It’s not unusual to hear that you can live for $1,019 a...

Maybe my wife and I lead lives a lot like yours.
 
Or at least we did, until about a year ago.  That’s when we sold our comfortable home in Arizona, sold, gave away or put into storage about 90% of our “stuff,” packed the rest into a big white van, and along with our two dogs, spent a year traveling around Mexico.

 

Why did we do it?  For an adventure before we were too old to do it and to see if we liked anywhere along the way as a place to...

Many expats do not like to drive in Mexico, so I constantly answer questions about public transportation.

Tijuana has more expats than anywhere else in Mexico and it is a big city, so understandably, many people wonder about the buses and taxis.

 

The public transportation in Tijuana is very good and is inexpensive. I am familiar with public transportation in the United States, Europe, and Africa. The quality and prices are better in Tijuana than...

Even if you move to another country, you will find many things that remind you of the United States. You will see Walmart, McDonald’s, Costco, Home Depot, Pizza Hut, Coca-Cola, Lego, L'Oréal, Nike, and many other familiar names everywhere.

 

One of those familiar names will show you the value of your US Dollar. You can compare the economies of different countries by comparing the price of a world famous sandwich.

 

The Big Mac...

We have been asked several times to compare the lifestyle of the very well known and established expat locations San Miguel de Allende with Ajijic, both in the Mexican Highlands.  Let’s start with what they have in common:

 

“Gringolandia,” Yes, But With Plenty of Local Flavor

 

While no reliable figures are available, a reasonable guess is that Ajijic and San Miguel de Allende may each have somewhere around 10,000 or so expats in...

Las Posadas is the name for the popular celebrations in Mexico, Honduras, Guatemala, El Salvador, Nicaragua, Costa Rica, Colombia, the United States and Panama during the nine days before Christmas (December 16-24). Las Posadas (which is Spanish for the “inns” or “lodging”) relates to the search by Joseph and Mary for a place to stay in Bethlehem.

 

 

 

This tradition began in Mexico in 1586 when Catholic...

A Perfect Day in Paradise

 

The sun is barely peeking over the horizon as I grab a cup of coffee and step into my yard. There are a few clouds and as the sun catches them they light up and create a spectacular sunrise to start the day. As I sip my coffee, I enjoy a multitude of vibrant and colorful flowers and lush foliage.

 

The air is sweet and clean (not much pollution here). I love the fragrance from the flowers and some...

We moved to Mexico from Edmonton, Alberta, Canada, in November of 2011.  I had visited Mexico many times before, and spoke some Spanish prior to the move.  My wife is Mexican born, but had lived in Canada many years.  We made the move with our 2 young daughters (2 and newborn), and our 5 year old dog.  We were going because of my wife's work (she had been offered a research position at the state of Veracruz' leading university. 

I expected some culture shock,...