New Yorker in Paradise and on a budget

 I finally have an official date for my comeback. May 2nd, 2023. Which leaves me 3 more months and a week in Huatulco.  Just today I sat for brunch at an empty street with no passerbys, listening to the birds sing and looking at a clear sky snd nature on a hot sunny afternoon during winter. I’ll never get that in NYC, where I’ll see crowds of people pass by in fast movement or traffic for sure and tall buildings.  I couldn’t be in more opposing environments and I wonder if I’ll get used to being back in NYC. But for now I’m excited, I’ve missed the variety I have there, the turn of the seasons, my big hot tub I used daily with hot water, going to the sauna and steam room, taking walks in parks and picnics. I also miss my friends there who are always up to doing something fun. Here in Huatulco people are passive and don’t go out as much.  Im excited for all the new discoveries I’m going to make. New friends, new meetups, new kinds of invitations. I’m ready to reinvent...

 I'm really grateful for the internet because I can work from Huatulco, Mexico for assignments given in all parts of the United States. Though I mainly work with the East Coast region.  It's the second year that I'm doing this and so far, the internet has only failed me twice and got back up again, after an interruption. And so I've learned to trust it. I only work 4-6 months of a year, so beginning work is always an adjustment. This is my 2nd week of getting back to work since 7 months ago and so it's been work getting used to a certain amount of stress again. But today I felt like I had finally adjusted, because today's assignment seemed easy.  In the midst of living in a beach town where every one is relaxed and everything laid back, I deal with the stress of litigation, which is linear and precise. And so I couldn't be dealing with more opposing worlds! It's nice to get out of work and take my bun and pearls off and my formal work shirt and relax in ...

Facebook memories was in charge of reminding me how I’ve gained a whopping 26 lbs in a couple of years by presenting me with posts of how I used to look. I immediately sent the pictures to my best childhood friends and they said I should just “stop eating”. As if it was just that simple. Last night I went out for some chicken soup with a friend who was my mirror when she said she had been drinking a lot of alcohol lately and she was planing to detox for 3 weeks. When she said that I realized I needed to hear that for myself and believe I could do it. I concluded that I need more like a month of not drinking alcohol and that month is January. Ever since I came back from Italy in November I increased the amount of alcohol and food intake. All of a sudden I stopped caring about my diet and was chasing the thrill of life through food and booze. I went from 152 to my current 164 lbs.  The good news is that I’ve dropped tons of weight in my past and know what I have to do to get down to ...

 I’m sadly saying goodbye to 2022. It was a great year in which I discovered and gained many things! For the most part it was a good financial and emotional health year. I gained an apartment as owner, yes I’m a property owner here in Huatulco!  And almost every day I was in a good mood except february when I wasn’t exercising and missing the endorphins.  In general this is the year when I fell inlove with myself all over again. After having moved to Mexico coming from the United States, I hardly knew anyone here and had to build my list of friends from scratch. I discovered that Huatulquenos aren’t active people like New Yorkers are and I reduced my social life considerably because of that. Not by personal choice but life gave me the gift of loneliness.  And what did I discover?! That I LOVED being alone, I learned how to nurture myself like never before eating home cooked meals or taking myself out. It was also a time to make mends with my past. An ex boyfriend who...

 I still have a third of my trip left though I wish I would’ve written a blog sooner. These past 13.5 months have been of exponential growth. But I figure I can still share some of that.  Well I arrived November 2021, willing to be here for a year or maybe never return to New York. I was open to letting life live me and see it all as an adventure.  Just a few months after living here and exhausting my beach time, I started missing nyc life but also realizing that my health insurance is one of my most treasured valuables since I have a health condition I need to manage. And so it was then that I decided I would go back to live in Nyc oscikating my winter time and spending about 3-4 months here a year.  Huatulco, the place I chose to live during this sabbatical year, is the opposite if New York in every way. It’s peaceful and tranquil, no crowds are here, bo traffic no tall buildings. Here nature abounds, silence flourishes and relaxation is the mindset. The hustle and...