I’m a little bit late on my month 4 update. Well, a lot a bit late. That seems to be a trend though, so I’m just going to roll with it.
When I left you last, we had recently returned from a trip to Ajijic outside of Guadalajara to visit our friends Jake and Michelle and their two kids. We returned to Mexico City and I was slammed with a terrible cold that proceeded to last a month. For basically 2 weeks, I did nothing but work, sleep, drink fluids and blow my nose.
Work has been really busy for both Ryan and I over the last 4 months, and it’s been really amazing watching my business grow and to see my revenue increase with that. Nevertheless, it’s been at points super overwhelming and it often feels like I’m not really seeing much more than my neighborhood in Mexico City.
But, as always, when I reflect back on what we did, we did much more than it feels like we did.
We met up with some new friends for a couple of fun nights out. I also met up with a yoga teacher friend who I met through my private Facebook community who lives in Mexico City for a coffee and we spent a couple of hours talking yoga business.
Ryan took a work trip to Charleston and I spent 5 days in Mexico City all by myself. I was nervous going into it, but being in the city all by myself was a good reminder that I am totally fine on my own and that I really do feel totally safe here. Plus, I’ve lived here long enough now that I am super familiar with our neighborhood, the grocery stores, and where I like to eat, so it didn’t really feel that strange not to have Ryan here.
We had lunch at one of the most popular restaurants in Mexico City, Contramar, and spent an obscene amount on food to celebrate mine and my friend Ben’s birthdays. Unfortunately, Ben and his husband Jory left Mexico City a couple days after our birthday lunch so it was also our going away lunch.
Soon after that, we headed to the beaches of Acapulco for 5 days of sun and sand. I turned 29 sipping a margarita poolside, and reflected on how grateful I am to be able to fly 45 minutes to get to the beach. As usual, I received a ton of birthday wishes, texts, calls, emails and so many people sending me messages to make my day amazing. It was a really great day, and I wouldn’t have had it any other way.
While we were in Acapulco, we also experienced a 7.2 earthquake. Since arriving in Mexico, we’ve been ready for an earthquake to happen at any moment, but I don’t think anything could have prepared me for what it was ACTUALLY like.
So, what’s it actually like? Weird AF.
I was sitting on the hotel bed watching a ski dancing video on Facebook (yes, this is how I spend my time) when all of a sudden, my bed turned into an amusement park ride. I looked up at Ryan across the room from me and he asked, “Is that light shaking?”
Yes. Definitely yes.
His earthquake app began going off like crazy as the entire southwest of Mexico was struck by earthquake after earthquake.
So, we ran.
I grabbed our passports, my purse, and my shoes and fled down the emergency exit.
It wasn’t until we got outside that I realized I wasn’t wearing a bra and I had forgotten my cellphone. Oops!
What really matters though is that we’re okay!
Since that earthquake, we’ve experienced a number of smaller earthquakes, and each time it feels equally as weird. Fingers crossed we won’t experience anymore while we’re here.
After we got home from Acapulco, we spent a number of days playing catch up, and have spent our weekends mostly relaxing, and gearing up for our upcoming trip to Panama, which we are both super excited about.
It’s been weird spending so much time in Mexico City because we’ve really gotten into a routine here, and it feels like life is much less interesting than people probably imagine it to be living in Mexico. We live in an apartment in a nice area, work at a WeWork, go to spin and yoga, watch movies at home on Friday nights and go out to eat at our favorite restaurants on Saturday nights.
We’ve settled in with virtually no issues here, and although it feels really good to have some stability and routine, it feels strange after not having it for so long. In a lot of ways, it gives me itchy feet, and then I remember that we still have so much left to do and explore here before we leave.
Knowing that we only have 2.5 months left in Mexico inspired us to create a bucketlist for the coming months to make sure we see and do everything we want before we leave.
Here is what we came up with:
- Visit Tulum
- Visit Oaxaca
- See a soccer game
- See a folklore show at Bella Artes
- Visit the inside of the National Palace
- Museo Soumaya
- Hike the volcano
- Spend an afternoon drinking margaritas at La Guapachosa
- Day trip to Puebla
- Xochimilco
- See J Balvin in concert a 2nd time!
Can we do it all before May 29th when we fly back home to Canada? 😉 Follow along and find out!