Originally from the US and an early retiree, my husband and I owned a condo on the beach in Ambergris Caye, Belize where we lived full-time for 1.5 years (Aug. 2011 - Mar. 2013). We returned to the US to continue travel adventures. Spent 1.5 years traveling all over the US, then spent a year in Playa del Carmen, Mexico. We then spent three years back in the US traveling full-time in a motorhome, spending winters in Florida. Then back to Mexico in 2018, to the Yucatan Gulf coast in a small village called Chuburna, where we spent 17 months. Now we're back in the US in my home state of North Carolina.
I joined expat.com on 13 December 2010.
Building our retirement dream home
Bicycling, feeding street dogs
The birds and beach, the unpaved sandy roads, the people, the bicycling, and the laidback lifestyle
Very hot and humid for much of the year, noisy during Mexican holidays and summer vacation periods, inconvenient to get around without a car, some street dogs can be aggressive
Lived in a motorhome with my husband and our dog and traveled the USA. We have a Florida domicile but really live wherever the motorhome is parked!
So much to see and do, excellent bicycling, hiking, variety of foods available, varied weather
Can be expensive, crowded, and worried about the gun culture and divisive politics in the US
Blogging, volunteering at Playa Animal Rescue, visited Merida, Puerto Morelos, and Tulum and hope to visit more of the Yucatan in the future. Also love Campeche and San Cristobal in other areas of Mexico.
Lovely weather, great food, friendly people, warmth, more affordable than Belize with better food, relaxing environment, less costly and crowded than the US
I need to learn more Spanish! I am working on it...
Traveling, cycling, hiking, blogging, cooking, birding
Diversity of natural environment -- so much to see and do, availability of goods and services, ease of visiting family members, easier to deal with having a dog
Expensive, highly populated, lots of traffic, cold weather!
expat, traveling, birding, biking, blogging, photography, working on humane society web site
friendly people, beautiful ocean, beach biking, birding, weather
touristy, getting busier and more developed all the time, expensive food and utilities
Born and raised in North Carolina. Also lived in Boston, Mass. (as a child), Florida, Ohio, and Wisconsin.
close to family, diversity, availability of products and services, nature
traffic, high population, cost of living