Why I’m Living in Mexico

I’m writing this blog post as I sit at my desk in my apartment in Mexico City, but I’d like to take you back to kind of how it all started. It was a few months after graduating from college. I was tired of not being able to really do what I wanted the past four years so I was ready to make an adventure for myself and spend my time doing what inspired me. I set off November 28, 2017 with a one-way ticket to Mexico with the intentions of backpacking my way down to South America solo for the next year or so. I had no idea what to expect, but this is how it unfolded…

Backpacking Latin America

I started in Mexico City where I volunteered at a hostel for 6 weeks. It was such an amazing experience, I couldn’t stop thinking about it during the rest of my trip. I used Workaway to find that volunteer opportunity and two others during the rest of my trip. I fell in love with Mexico City and I met a ton of awesome people. Afterwards, I explored small towns, beaches, and the jungle in Mexico over the course of 3 months before moving on to Guatemala.

I lived with a host family in the city of Quetzaltenango (aka Xela). Here I practiced my Spanish and took in the sights of mighty volcanos that towered over the city.

After one month in Guatemala, I flew to Colombia. I decided to volunteer at my third hostel since I had such an amazing time working in hostels in Mexico City and the beach town of Puerto Escondido. I stayed for a month volunteering in a hostel in Colombia’s rainy and moody capital, Bogotá. Read more about how I volunteered at hostels in my post Money Saving Tips for World Travel. After staying in Bogotá, I spent a second month seeing as much of Colombia as I could.

Living in Mexico Sounds Like a Great Idea

It was in the lush and rainy town of Filandia, Colombia where I got the idea of moving to Mexico. I had been traveling solo for 6 months at that point and I had become tired. I wanted a home base where I could relax and feel settled, but also someplace new and exciting with a lot to explore. That’s when Mexico City came to mind. I was no where near ready to move back to the U.S. and Mexico City was my favorite city I had visited during the past 6 months backpacking. So from my hostel in Colombia I found myself an apartment in Mexico City through Facebook. A month later, I was on a flight to what would become my new home.

Living in Mexico

I arrived in Mexico early June, 2018 with the intentions of staying 3 months or so to explore this amazing city and to improve my Spanish. I ended up getting a job and making some really great friends. My 3 months stay in the city quickly became almost 14 months now as I write this and I do not plan on leaving anytime soon. None of this was planned, and I am not much of a planner if we are being honest. I came with an open mind to look for adventure and a lifestyle that I truly love and that’s what I found.