Mexico - high season is almost here!

It is the beginning of December and high season in Mexico will soon be here. If you are interested the official Mexico high season start date is December 15th. Now what does that actually mean for those of us who live in a high tourist area like Playa del Carmen?

It means there will be a lot more people in town and way more activity. Party! Party! Party!

There is a buzz and an excitement as we are joined by people from all over the world. So many different languages spoken!

It also means increased traffic and it may be a little harder to find parking spaces in some areas – but who cares? The humidity is gone and the temperature is perfect. Except for a few mornings when we will awake to a bone chilling 16 degrees Celsius! That by the way is 60.8 degrees Fahrenheit!

You can tell the locals in winter because we are wearing long sleeve shirts, sweaters, scarves and boots. The tourists will be seen in shorts and bikinis.

So do you wanna come play? You can wear whatever you want.

Enjoy the Adventure! Suzanne

Suzanne Marie Bandick
Live your Dreams Life Coach

P.S. My book: Only in Mexico You Say? The Humorous Side of Living in Mexico is available now on my site http://www.onlyinmexicoyousay.com/.

Would you like help to visit or live in Mexico? Visit http://www.liveyourdreamscoaching.com/.

Do you live in Mexico City? An invitation

As you know my husband and our business partner have expanded on their real estate business in Playa del Carmen and they are now the owners and developers of a project in Bacalar, Mexico called Las Flamboyanes.

Our partner Jorge Penkoff just left this morning to do 3 evenings of presentations on the project in Mexico City. (Jorge is fluent in English and Spanish).

The dates are the 26, 27 and 28th of November at 7:30 PM and the location is The Hotel Marquis Reforma, Salon Paseo, Paseo de la Reforma 465, Col. Cuauhtemoc.

Now is the best time to get involved because the introductory prices are so low

If you get a chance to go see Jorge, please tell him Suzanne sent you. How fun that would be!

Online details about the project are here.

Watch for an anouncement of presentations in Vernon and Kelowna in the Okanagan coming in the new year.

Enjoy the Adventure! Suzanne

Suzanne Marie Bandick

Live your Dreams Life Coach

P.S. My book: Only in Mexico You Say? The Humorous Side of Living in Mexico is available now on my site http://www.onlyinmexicoyousay.com/.

Would you like help to visit or live in Mexico? Visit http://www.liveyourdreamscoaching.com/.

Mexico and my paved road

I’m getting a paved road in front of my house!

Isn’t that cool? Funny that I would be excited about that isn’t it?
Do you have a paved road and take it for granted? I used to.

This is an odd and rambling story but in its way it does depict life sometimes in Mexico. It is a life I love by the way, often because of the fact that it is different.

If you have been reading my blog for awhile you will note that several times I have mentioned my road that used to be paved five years ago when we bought our house. Then you may have read my mentioning that four years ago they tore it up to put in underground sewer. That part was great but they never did repave it so the potholes grew and mini lakes formed in rainy season. It was all very adventurous!

What is my news now? Three weeks ago they graded it and compacted it. I must admit it is looking pretty good even with just that – it is certainly easier and more pleasurable to drive on.

The littlest glitch is that now my road workers have disappeared. My neighbors and I cannot find them. However, I know they will return – I am an optimist. So I am going to tell you my road is almost paved. It is so close that it is almost paved and that makes me happy.

Just another little glimpse of living in Mexico.

Enjoy the Adventure! Suzanne

Suzanne Marie Bandick
Live your Dreams Life Coach

P.S. My book: Only in Mexico You Say? The Humorous Side of Living in Mexico is available now on my site http://www.onlyinmexicoyousay.com/.

Would you like help to visit or live in Mexico? Visit http://www.liveyourdreamscoaching.com/.

Bacalar, Mexico - want to own there?

Here’s a quick update for you on my husband’s Los Flamboyanes Bacalar project in case you are thinking of owning property in Mexico.

Have you seen the site http://www.losflamboyanesbacalar.com/ since they marked the Sold/reserved lots? Their office has been working with clients from all over the USA, Canada, and Mexico and it has been amazing to see the different points of view people have during this time.

Many people see this as a time of great opportunity; others get scared of the future and become paralyzed. I can totally understand how this can happen. We were recently in Florida and it was shocking the amount of bad news on the radio, TV, and bill boards, basically you were bombarded with the negative side of every possible situation – it can be hard to think differently.

Moving forward into the unknown future can be difficult but those who keep their focus are the winners. I know for sure tomorrow will come, and then the day will come that we will want to move or even retire and have an easy life in a beautiful location where we can afford to live a great lifestyle. We’ll be in Bacalar.

If we live life looking for the positive side wherever we can find it we will have a clear point of view that will ultimately lead us to the goal we are looking for. What is your goal? The actions we take today are going to ensure we achieve those goals tomorrow.

Have a look at the site. They have done a great job.

Enjoy the Adventure! Suzanne

Suzanne Marie Bandick
Live your Dreams Life Coach

P.S. My book: Only in Mexico You Say? The Humorous Side of Living in Mexico is available now on my site http://www.onlyinmexicoyousay.com/.

Would you like help to visit or live in Mexico? Visit http://www.liveyourdreamscoaching.com/.

Day of the Dead in Mexico

A friend sent me this and I thought you would enjoy it. I have never lived anywhere in Mexico where they actually practice this tradition, at least not that I was aware of . . . . . .

On November 1st we celebrate day of the dead in Mexico, a tradition that seems to be mostly lost or modernized in the big cities of Mexico. Lucky for me though, there are many, many tiny towns where old traditions and even prehispanic languages are still preserved. So on Saturday night I went with a couple friends to a town called Cucuchucho (yes that is spelled right...) near Morelia, to see the real tradition.

We went to the graveyard where the families had decorated the tombs of their deceased family members with a traditional orange flower called Zempazuchil and candles. They leave food offering so that the souls will have food and candles so they have light to guide them. They put up wooden frames and cover them with the orange flowers (some even have creative shapes) which are believed to be the door for the soul to come though at midnight and the whole family stays by the grave all night (even the kids) chatting and eating.

It was a beautiful thing to experience, there was such a different energy there then one would imagine for a grave yard. There were kids running around asking for money to buy a sugar skull (which is a Mexican version of trick or treating, but now with the north American influence they are happy if you give them candy too). So we went to the town and found an open store to buy some candy to give them.

On the way back we went to the main town square and had corundas for dinner (a Mexican food that is like a corn bread wrapped in banana leaves and served with cream and salsa verde). The girl that served us told us all about the traditions and the town festivals, she said they had a party for something or another almost every week so we should go back there as often as we can to see their different customs.

Enjoy the Adventure! Suzanne

Suzanne Marie Bandick

Live your Dreams Life Coach

P.S. My book: Only in Mexico You Say? The Humorous Side of Living in Mexico is available now on my site http://www.onlyinmexicoyousay.com/.

Would you like help to visit or live in Mexico? Visit http://www.liveyourdreamscoaching.com/.

Mexico Sunshine

Well after about three weeks of rain the sun seems to be back out in Playa del Carmen! I don’t remember seeing much sunshine at all during those weeks.

I found something interesting out when the sun returned. My spirits lifted and I felt even better then my usual cheerful self. Now, you think I would have remembered this effect as I grew up in and around Vancouver, B.C. and there can be quite a few raining days there. People would get really depressed with the lack of sunshine for so many days in a row. Even I would spend every day I was home with the light on in my house to counter balance the lack of sun. I called it artificial sunshine.

Now I live in this beautiful tropical climate where the majority of my days are sunny and I had not even thought of that for a long time. It is interesting the difference the sun can make in our moods. I bet everyone in Playa starts to have better days now.

What’s another bonus to the sunshine being back? I can now do my laundry and hang it out on the line to dry without the experience of natures second rinse cycle on it.

Also, the heavy humidity seems to be gone. No wonder they say this is the start of high season.

Enjoy the Adventure! Suzanne

Suzanne Marie Bandick
Live your Dreams Life Coach

P.S. My book: Only in Mexico You Say? The Humorous Side of Living in Mexico is available now on my site http://www.onlyinmexicoyousay.com/.

Would you like help to visit or live in Mexico? Visit http://www.liveyourdreamscoaching.com/.

Mexico credit and the economy

My husband recently wrote about this and I wanted to share it with you as I too, as a foreigner living in Mexico, get many questions on this.

From: Shawn Bandick, One Stop Real Estate

Many people think because of the shifting in the market in the USA that the Mexican Real Estate market must also be flat. This is not so. They also assume if there’s a credit melt down in their area it will happen in Mexico as well. That’s not going to happen either. How can I be so sure? It’s easy, Mexico is not a credit driven economy. Most Mexicans don’t have a credit card, at best they have a debit card, and this way they are only spending the money they have.

Currently most Mexicans don’t have mortgages on their homes. Yes it might be a modest home but they built it as they had the income and they never paid the huge mortgage payments. Only in the last few years have mortgages been available and only if you could put about 20 to 30% down. That’s a very healthy no risk position for the bank. In a nut shell credit is so new to Mexico that the economy doesn’t rely upon it; therefore you will not find a credit crunch in Mexico.

Enjoy the Adventure! Suzanne

Suzanne Marie Bandick
Live your Dreams Life Coach

P.S. My book: Only in Mexico You Say? The Humorous Side of Living in Mexico is available now on my site http://www.onlyinmexicoyousay.com/.

Would you like help to visit or live in Mexico? Visit http://www.liveyourdreamscoaching.com/.