- Ask about my Special offer
Join us as Emily Bron sits down with Jennifer Phillips April to discuss her inspiring journey from Pennsylvania to Playa del Carmen, Mexico. Jennifer, a B2B copywriter, ghostwriter, and content strategist, shares her reasons for relocating, the challenges she faced, and the love she found in Playa del Carmen. Discover how she and her partner embarked on a new adventure, adapting to a different way of life in this vibrant coastal city.
TIMESTAMPS:
0:00 Introduction
2:00 Jennifer Phillips April’s Story
5:08 Your “Why” About Relocating to Mexico
8:20 What is Special for Living in Playa del Carmen
12:27 Personal Experience and Interaction in Playa del Carmen, Mexico
18:32 Relationships with Local People, Adaptation to New Culture, Spanish Proficiency
27:30 Impressions and Personal Experiences with Mexican Medical System, Safety, Local Services
44:10 Recommended Local Restaurants, Shops, Services for International Expats
Jennifer: don’t expect it to be like the place you left. People do that. And it’s wild to say that, people come and then they complain about how it’s not like it was back home.
Well then go back home if that’s what you want, because people also create fantasies in their head and don’t take on to experience what it’s really going to be like.
Emily: Hello. Hello. It’s me, Emily Bron. And today, as promised, I have pleasure speaking with Jennifer Phillips April. Jennifer is… Hello, Jennifer. Is B2B copywriter, ghostwriter, content strategist, which connect, help, sell, thrive. Build your brand. She’s top 5 percent in SEO according to LinkedIn. And she enjoying writing for B2B tech hospitality tech, AI, and hospitality marketing.
Again, happy to see you Jennifer
Jennifer: thank you for having me, Emily. Thank you.
Emily: Thank you. Thank you. And I can tell a little bit that we know with Jen a little bit each other for more than a year already, mostly online. Even apparently we have a place in the same city, Playa del Carmen in Mexico, which is very dear to my heart.
But I’m very curious to hear Jennifer’s story because Jennifer spent In Playa as locals say, in Playa and Mexico, actually more time than me being kind of rooted in Riviera Maya and this particular city that I really like.
So, please start a little bit with your personal story, in short, and together, like, your why.
Relocated to Mexico.
Jennifer: Of course so my, my boyfriend and I were living in Pennsylvania outside of Philadelphia suburbs, and his youngest child said, was graduating from high school, and she says, I have an athletic scholarship, three states away, so see you later this year round, you know, you won’t be seeing much of me.
Well, we were, we had been talking about moving someplace warmer after she finished college, high school, and so I said, seems like this is the time, where we’re going. And he’s like, well, I don’t know. And, I mean, we’ve both been living in that area for 15 years. So, you know, lots of, lots of furniture, shall we say, and, you know, personal things, right?
So, after a few days of talking about it and watching some YouTube videos and looking at maps I said, how about Floro Carmen? And I’d been here once on vacation, but it hit all the points. We wanted, we wanted walkable. We wanted a cosmopolitan city. We wanted to be by the beach and we want it to be affordable.
And it hit all those moments. And obviously it needed to have stable internet, you know, infrastructure, because we both still work. So, well, when you look at that, it all hit the mark. So we packed up all of our things, sold, donated most of our goods. And six months later, we moved to Playa with six suitcases and a cat.
Emily: Okay, so your, your intention was just to spend time here or to really leave? And travel in Mexico.
Jennifer: Well, we didn’t know what we wanted, or what we were going to do. We just knew we wanted to leave where we were. And this looked like a good option. And so at the time, we were thinking about digital nomading, but honestly we are not young anymore.
And we have other responsibilities. Only in heart. Only in heart. And we had this cat who didn’t like, was really unhappy about being, you know. moved to a new country. Initially he, he adjusted, but you know, so then we got here and we just really, our eyes were open. It was like getting you know, adjusted to a new, a new country, a new city.
And that took a lot out of us. And it was, you know, it was a lot to adjust to in the first few months. And now we have built a life here and we have lots of friends and we, you know, we really love living in Playa. So we don’t see any reason to go anywhere. We go, we travel around Mexico, we’ve gone to other parts of the country for a few weeks at a time and we keep coming back.
But we always, the players are home right now. I mean, maybe they’ll change in five years, but who knows?
Emily: No, no, but it’s excellent and it’s how it’s usually happened. Like people start from exploration. A stage and and they love this place. It’s a lot of stories from Playa I’ve heard, like, oh, I came, or 20 years ago, 10 years ago, it was fishing village, or it was digital nomad hub.
And I so like it that I decided to, to, to stay there. So for how long you and Playa? As of now?
Jennifer: Six years. Next month. Okay, great, great. Six years this month.
Emily: So I understand that you represent kind of. Category of professional remote worker and many times people are asking or people who are looking for this kind of, you know, lifestyle asking me and I would ask you to describe your standard work day and lifestyle in Playa del Carmen.
Jennifer: Sure. Well, I’ve been self employed for Over a decade. So let’s so my lifestyle or my standard work day hasn’t changed dramatically since moving here I typically get up in the morning. I do a little yoga. I have some coffee I start working right and I usually my core working hours are usually between like 10 and 4 Maybe five, you know, depends on my mind because I’m a writer for, you know, mostly, and you know, you only have so many thinking hours in the day and some days are better than others.
Like, I try to go with energy as much as possible because, you know, some days it’s like. It’s harder than others.
Emily: You need inspiration.
Jennifer: Well, there’s inspiration. There’s also sometimes your brain just feels fried because you’ve been doing thinking too much. All right, so then you take a break. But fortunately, I live three blocks from the Caribbean Sea.
So sometimes I could take a break in the middle of the day and just go and have a swim for, you know, an hour or so. And that is really nice. I mean, that’s like one of the reasons we live here, right? We don’t do it often enough because. You know, we’re our worst enemies, but but that’s really nice.
And like tomorrow night, we’re going to have dinner with friends at a restaurant. Let’s see. I mean, we did that. We had this amazing weekend last weekend, which was nothing really planned, but we just sort of, we went out to this new place and it’s open. Some friends came by that we didn’t know were coming by, but because this, because you’re in a walkable area and you run into the same people in your neighborhood.
So it’s it’s a very friendly vibe here and we have we have other friends we’re seeing on Saturday. I mean, it’s just the season is starting, you know, we’re in October. So you have like a, right now you have a mix of like the year rounder people who we are. And then you have the people who come in because Playa is very popular with the snowbirds, as you know.
And so they, the Canadians and the Northern, you know, US people will all be arriving here in the next, mostly two months for the season as they call it. And we’ll be going into high season by December.
Emily: Yeah. It’s all I think pretty standard, even it’s nonstandard, like you actually free to do.
As you feel like based on the, temperature outside your own feeling, but you should be very organized to have work done. Oh, yes. As remote
Jennifer: work profession.
Oh, yes. Yes. I mean, you know, you still have to work. I mean, I’m not on vacation. People think that, yeah. A lot of people think that just because we live here, like we’re on vacation every day and no, we’re working our lifestyles.
Emily: Yeah. Yeah.
With a laptop, it’s it was, I think it’s a little bit overpriced, I would say, and over like the real life. But what is the beauty of this places and in particular, Playa del Carmen, both worlds kind of at the same time and manage your time based on how you feel. Yeah.
And next question. What do you found special for you personally and your partner living in this city?
For example, climate, people, nature, because there are many other wonderful cities in Mexico and you visited others. But as you mentioned before, you feel that your home is now in Playa.
Jennifer: Well, what keeps us coming back is the two things, the people and the ocean. And, you know, when we, we want to get out of here in August when it’s, you know, super hot, but we can go up to the mountains or, you know, and that’s really great.
And it’s nice to have a break, but we don’t know, we don’t have a community there and we have a community here. So I’m always going, I can’t wait to get home to play. I can’t wait to get home to play. So it’s you know, being able to go down to the ocean really anything you want, a lot, lots of things that you would want to do happen here.
I mean, if you want to yoga or sound healing or salsa dancing, I mean, all of that is here like every day of the week. And it’s not hard to get to or anything. And, but the, and the people here are just so interesting. People who come to Playa and who live here, people who come here long term, are are a different kind of crowd, they’re not really looking for the status quo, they’re looking for something different, they’ve often had very interesting, experiences in life, and I mean, that’s, because Playa is such a young city, it doesn’t even have, like, a long, long like, Mexican population, you know, I mean, people, the Mexicans here come from other parts of the country, I mean, it’s just this brand new, you Place they’ve built out of, you know, concrete in the jungle, basically.
Emily: So when you speak about community, you mean expat community, or you’re also interacting… With Mexicans, with local. I just don’t know about your kind of Spanish proficiency, but please explain this dynamic.
Jennifer: Well, the Mexicans that we know and are close with have better English skills because our Spanish skills are not so good.
Our expat community also includes many people from South America and Europe, as well as Canada and the US I mean, there are lots of expats here from all over the world. And we know people, I mean, we ended up having, we were having drinks randomly last week over the weekend, this new place, with a guy from India a woman from Argentina, and then these two friends of ours who were just walking by, and then our, and the new, and the new place that opened is run by a Russian.
Who six months ago didn’t know about Playa del Carmen, and now he’s opened a restaurant. So, you know, it’s just, and that’s a typical kind of Playa experience, I think. Is this that people come from all over the world here.
Emily: I think you, you kind of just targeted the main point. A differentiator between Playa, I would say, in different places.
Expat like hubs. In Mexico, which also have international crowd, but playa is really attract for the long living time professionals from different countries from different cultures. And they are more entrepreneurial style. I would say type rather than just kind of, you know, beach boy or like Investors, which are like, they might be in the same time investors, but in my perception, when I’m traveling over the Mexico, I always coming at the end to playa and I feel different.
Why really more young people. Always something happening like events here and there, and I mean, not only local activities like, you know, Zumba, yoga, dance, Riviera Maya is full of this kind of treat, but even international type of events started to come and not only to Cancun, which is kind of a bigger city in the area, but in the playa, but it’s specific events like digital nomad forums, Crypto related event, like really this specific niche even in digital nomad world that make this city outstanding, I would say, and very interesting for me and yes,
if you can kind of delve deeper on your personal experience, interaction with people.
Representing different expat groups and different, I mean, we mentioned already like remote workers, expats, but there’s also retirees there is a very active professional retirees like running some consulting businesses or other types. And there are some who just enjoying the life. And I believe with your communication skills, you have you surrounded by many people of these different groups.
Please share with us.
Jennifer: Yes. When we first moved here, we went to a lot of digital nomad meetups, because it was easy for us to do that. They were always well publicized. We met this guy who runs an outfit called Mexpats, which is, he’s from Mexico City and he runs sometimes a weekly meetup but it’s, you know, Mexpats for Mexicans and, and, and people from international people.
And so they, you know, they do different events. Usually on, I mean, quiz night or, you know, dancing or something. It could be, you know, all kinds of different things or art galleries, brothers and artists. And so we, but, but also a lot of digital nomads are much younger than us because, you know, we’re past 50.
So we didn’t so, you know, we’ve kind of, so we fell out of going to those specials as COVID. And those things have started up again, but we really have found a whole new, and I find that the more you stay here, longer you stay here, you kind of go deeper and deeper and deeper. And like your relationships with people, you meet new people.
This is a very transient town. People are always coming and going. Even if they have a house here, you know, they might not be here but three or four months a year because they’re always somewhere else There’s a lot of those kinds of people as well. And so it’s yeah, we know a fair mix of retirees We know a handful of digital nomads that would classify as that part of our social circle but mostly now we’re it’s mostly professional people who are either working here remotely or retired people That we’re seeing the most of or they’re entrepreneurial say they’ve run a restaurant.
They’ve opened up some kind of a business either here or something. They do remote work.
Emily: And what I like about Playa and actually about Mexico in general, it’s actually pretty easy to start conversation and to make kind of new friendship or like I’m this type that I I like this.
I know that some people feel maybe disturbed like North Americans.
For me, it’s kind of, I’m swimming in my water. Obviously depends on the on the situation. And I met a lot of wonderful, interesting people. As you mentioned, in Playa, just in a couple of days, I remember actually why I decided to kind of to stay more in Playa because when I arrived first time and my Mexican partner told me that like.
I started conversation and I’m not speaking a Spanish like you only with English speaking people like on the street or in the office. He represented me. He told me, okay, in five days, you, you know, more people that I’m here living for two years because But people are reflecting. I mean, Mexican people and local people.
I feel people became relaxed, even people from different cultures. They kind of became different in this vibe, obviously different personalities, but people kind of opening more and And it’s attractive for me.
Jennifer: Yeah. Oh, yes. It’s easy to meet people here. I mean, if you can’t, and I mean, my partner Rick is the kind of guy who talks to everybody.
You know, if you’ll, if you’ll listen, he’ll talk to you, stand in line at the grocery store. We, you know, he just talks to everybody. So it’s like, we meet a lot of people and most people are super friendly because this is vacation land. So when they come here, they’re happy. They’re relaxed. They’re like, you know, people aren’t in a hurry to get to their next meeting.
That’s it. That’s, you know, we’re not a big city. So, this is people relax and happy. And yes, they’re much more likely to chat with you.
Emily: But the city is growing, by the way.
Jennifer: Ah, I know.
Emily: It’s building, like in every direction. And a lot of Mexicans from different states coming to Playa. And they have their kind of communities.
Living communities and a lot of investors. I still believe coming to Riviera Maya and Playa is the center.
And, oh, with the train, which should be launched like speed train, the first in Latin America, is it already coming? It’s close
Jennifer: I have no idea what the status is of the train. I hear things different, you know, all kinds of things about it here and there, but when it opens, it opens.
I don’t know how close they are.
Emily: There will be even more people coming because it will be a direct connection. Even now, it’s no problem to arrive from the airport and good bus transportation. But I’m a little bit afraid it will be too crowded. With the second airport and this train coming through the peninsula, Yucatan Peninsula.
Jennifer: Well, there’s already a lot of traffic. I mean, and this is one of the beauties of living where we live in the middle of town because we don’t own a car and we hardly ever even need to get in a car. But once in a while when I am in a car and I’m on the highway, I’m like, oh my gosh, there’s so much traffic.
So, but that’s true everywhere. You know, I mean, the world over is full of travel jams these days. There are a lot of people in the world. Yes. And I think in Playa we’ve added at least a hundred thousand in the six years we’ve been here.
Emily: I think in the high season it’s even more.
Jennifer: Oh no, we’re, no, added. I mean, no, we’re, we’re at like 350 now.
Emily: It’s a kind of good middle sized city of the United States of Canada by my size,
Jennifer: right?
Emily: And again, we already touched this topic relationship with local people adaptation to the new culture like Spanish proficiency how you feel in Playa after six years living Taking into account like, you know, Spanish and actually culturally, cultural differences.
Yes. Do you feel something? Well, I don’t. Did you have issues at the beginning? That is my question.
Jennifer: Yes. It was confusing. I mean, and let me tell you the first, the first place we lived here was on the third floor of this apartment building near the Mega Grocery Store, which is a big grocery store in Millatown.
And, we’re wide eyed, we don’t know anything. We just got out of the van from the airport. We’ve got, we’re unloading our suitcases. We’ve gotten the guy who rented this apartment meets us. He’s actually a woman runs parties for this young couple with us. So they take us upstairs to show us how to use all the keys that were standing on the terrace.
He points to the big orange building. So that’s the mega. That’s the grocery store. And I’m like, great. That’s useful. And I’m like, how do we get water? He goes, Oh, you listen for the bell. And when you hear the bell, you go, hola, aqua. And you run downstairs and you go, aqua. And I’m like, and I laughed because I thought he was joking.
Emily: No, it was not joking.
I’ve heard this, I’ve heard this aqua
on the street.
Jennifer: And I’m going down three flights of stairs behind three sets of locked doors to get out on the street before the truck has passed is not really very likely. So then it was my mission to get someone’s WhatsApp number. Also, we knew nothing about WhatsApp because we come from a culture in the US that no one uses WhatsApp and in here, you can’t function without it. So, so a week or so later, we’re down, we’re down the street and I, and we’re eating quesadillas at this little place in the corner and someone pulls up in a little car. I don’t remember what kind of car, but like, like a little, little, little small car.
And this guy gets outta the back and he brings out two big garons of water into the restaurant and hands them a bill. And Rick says, that’s the water delivery. And I’m like, oh, we’re getting water. So I go, my Spanish is still bad, but it was at the then, I mean, on the talent 10 days.
And so I, but I, my best, I, I make it understood that we lived up, up the street. And could we get water from her too? And she’s like, yes, yes. So I wrote down the address and my number and you know, she’s at an hour and then so an hour or so later, they came and brought us water. And now we’re good. You know, now we had our water service on call.
We could call them
Emily: to explain to our followers and listeners. Actually, there is water in Mexico in Playa del Carmen. There is water that you can take showers and do your dishes, whatever you need. But there is a recommendation to drink bottled water in Mexico in specific areas, and Riviera Maya in particular.
That’s why for drinking, you need to order a kind of drinking water and it’s coming. In the big industrial size bottles, I would say that really you need to order somebody to bring you on a third floor. So don’t think that Mexico is desert without water, but to know the local specific and services, it’s very important at the beginning.
Jennifer: Yes. But now, because we’ve been here for so long and, you know, technology changes, now there’s reverse osmosis. So I think we’re getting that very soon. We know more and more people who have gotten that gotten the reverse osmosis systems put in. I don’t even really, it’s, it’s, it’s like bringing in some kind of little system and it basically filters the water for you.
And then you can drink your tap water. Cause the problem here is that you know, the, the water is full of minerals. And so if you drink it here in the Riviera Maya, that can like lead to more kidney stones because the water, so the ground is limestone.
Emily: So, osmosis can help with filtering this? Okay. So, it’s a double benefit.
And There are some other stories and interaction. I know usually at the beginning there is a lot of kind of laughable stories. At the beginning of new life when we are not familiar and we’re making sometimes childish mistakes with language, or because of lack of knowledge.
Jennifer: Oh, sure. No, my language skills are terrible.
I speak like a two year old, but I mean, I can speak now. I can actually string together sentences, and sometimes they’re even correct, I think, like conjugating the verbs and everything. Whether or not I’m understood well is a whole other matter, because of this pronunciation aspect of it. But I,
I can speak, I can have a conversation on the phone most of the time. So yeah, it’s coming along poco a poco, as they say. You know, and, and if I were, we were just in Guadalajara last month, and if I were to go to Guadalajara for like several weeks, maybe we will next summer I am certain my language proficiency would, would skyrocket because I know a lot of words.
I can do my Duolingo every day. I’ve taken Spanish lessons. I know a lot of vocabulary. I can read all the signs on the street. I can read advertisements. I’m reasonably proficient with reading things like a cereal box, you know, so it’s a, but, but then taking that in and actually using the language skills as a whole nother matter, right?
And here in Playa, so many people speak English that it’s really hard to practice your Spanish in the part of town where we are. I mean, I could also go out of town, you know, different part of town.
Emily: You are telling me and our listeners that there is enough in downtown of Playa del Carmen for service providers, like communication with service providers, because we need a lot of services, at least set up at the beginning, they all speak in decent English, so you can communicate without issues?
Jennifer: Not all, but for example, like we just got a new internet service. There’s a guy that will go with you to the internet provider that we know through, you know, the standard networking, you know, we met this guy, he actually went to high school. He went to high school in the Us for a few years, for some reason, and he’ll go with you for like $10 or $15, you can hire him for an hour, he’ll go with you to the, to the place.
So we went with Rick to the the Telmex office to make sure that we were getting everything we wanted, we needed with the With the service for the internet service.
Emily: So actually it’s translation, like professional translation.
Jennifer: Sometimes you need that. Yes. But doctors now, no, we haven’t had any issue with that.
Almost all the doctors speak really amazing English.
Emily: It’s my next question. It’s my next
Jennifer: question. All right, we’ll pause on that.
Emily: Okay, but all what you described, it’s like understandable hardship, I would say, even not issues. So even when people are relocating from state to state, place to place in one country.
There is some locals specific you cannot know before you coming and you learn it at least for six months, year, and after then you kind of swimming in this water, correct? Like you feel
Jennifer: yes, I’m talking to a number of people over the years and reading a whole bunch of digital nomad forms. I feel like it takes roughly six years to two, six months to two years before you feel really comfortable in a new place.
You know, it gets your lay of the land. You, you’ve built up some relationships. You have some people you can call on. Yeah, but different for everyone, of course. But six months, two years is about right.
Emily: And it’s interesting because it’s pretty small city comparing with Guadalajara as you mentioned. Did you found that people less speaking English in Guadalajara?
I understand you were as a tourist, it’s kind of different perspective, but what you would say comparing these two different type of cities?
Jennifer: Well,
Guadalajara is much more of a city. I mean, it’s… It’s, you know, very, very well organized. And and the like wait staff, yes, but spoke English. When we stayed in a hotel, we’re like the front desk people didn’t speak English.
The bellman spoke perfect English. I mean, he got in the elevator and taking our things upstairs and he starts giving us a history of the, of the hotel. So I think it’s, it’s kind of hit and miss there. But it’s definitely probably an opportunity to practice more Spanish just because it’s not, I mean, they have a large.
You know, English speaking population there, but we didn’t, we didn’t run into any of them and like the week we were there, we just didn’t run into Canadians and Americans or Europeans on the street. We went, it was all Mexican.
Emily: Because you need to know places, and actually, I mean, where expats are living, and your itinerary was different, you wanted to learn more about history, city, and yes, Guadalajara is a big city, which I visited a couple of times, but I feel that I need to spend more time to understand this city better, and again, like vibe and environment of small city like Playa del Carmen versus a million city like Guadalajara, it’s, it’s, it’s a different, it’s different.
And now I’m interested really about your personal experience with Mexican medical system.
And I can tell for our followers that there is a in Mexico, public system and private system and you know, as a question about safety, which is the first one, which usually people asking when they hear about Mexico, or they considering relocation. Or when I’m speaking about Mexico, the first what they asking me, how safe did they feel, but I want to hear your impressions and your stories.
And yes, again, about local services and mentality. You already touched this base, but medical system and safety. It’s very important for everyone.
Jennifer: Yes, of course. Safety wise, I feel very safe here. We don’t have random shootings like we’re known for having in the Us You know, so that’s a big thing.
I mean, I’m, I’m actually have anxiety when I go into public places in the US now, like, you know, supermarkets and whatever, because there’s just so much chaos and, it just unnerves me. So I don’t have that feeling here.
Emily: But it was shooting. I remember it was one shooting in, in Playa over the last three years in Tulum area as well, and it was all in newspapers for months.
How you feel during this time. It reminds you US?
Jennifer: No, because it’s all, it’s always drug on drug. It’s not like in the US it’s just like someone coming into a school and shooting up innocent people or, or bank or whatever. Right. And here it’s not that you don’t get that you have, it’s, it’s targeted.
It was a targeted shooting. And I mean, not saying that’s okay or whatever, but you know, I mean, there are gradations of violence in the world and we just can’t control that. And so some of it makes you feel a little more confident than others.
So I guess that’s what I’m saying is that being here, I’m not likely to be a target of that. I’m not involved in the drug trade. You know, so therefore,
Emily: what about nightlife and I don’t mean, you know, have a night going out, but like restaurants, how you feel, you know, walking in the city and you’re walking probably sometimes,
Jennifer: yeah, well, I mean, these days, lately, it seems like we’re home early, but Yeah, I feel fine.
And if I’m out by myself, I mean, which is rare anymore cause I don’t seem to go anywhere these days lately on my own. But if I am I just, if someone can’t walk with me or I just can’t take a taxi, there’s usually always a taxi. But I know where I am. I know my surroundings and I’ll text Rick and let him know, okay, I’m leaving now.
So he can gauge when to expect me. Or he might come out and meet me on the street or whatever, it’s just like, you just, the same, you would take care of yourself anywhere. You’ve got to be aware of your surroundings, you just gotta be, you don’t know that, but that doesn’t matter where you are.
Emily: So you feel safer than in United States because I heard this response very often from Americans coming from particular places. Maybe not
Jennifer: yeah. And I think it depends on where you live in Mexico, obviously. I mean, there are parts of this country that are not safe. I mean, that’s, they’re very well known.
It’s easy to find out where they are, that they’re, you know, strongholds of drug trade right now, and those are not places you want to be. But that’s not where we’re talking about. We’re talking about an up and coming tourist location that is, filled with people of all different backgrounds and is quite vibrant.
Emily: And you know, presence of the gunned police, I know it disturbs sometimes people. I feel okay when I personally, when I see police with guns, maybe it’s me because I lived in Middle East. So I, I didn’t mind like I used to see people with a gun around. But I believe it. It’s what government trying to ensure safety for the tourists and
Jennifer: locals.
Oh, absolutely. I mean, periodically there’s a whole infiltration of like the Marines and so be the Marines and the police altogether. And look, they look intimidating. I mean, so when they really put on their gear, cause they’ll be in Kevlar and they have those machine guns and sometimes they covered their faces with like, you know, bandanas or something.
I mean, it’s kind of like. What? But but I mean, off as because they’re in the sun, they’re trying to protect their skin from, you know, because I got hoods and stuff. I mean, like, they must be 9000 degrees in there. I don’t know how they survive in those uniforms. But but yes, it’s a little off putting when you first see it because you’re not used to it.
But like everything else, you get accustomed to it over time. And now I don’t think twice. I’m like, Oh, so there’s 20 Marines walking because they will show up in mass. Pretty soon probably because the season is coming. So they want to make sure that the streets are clean and, that’s safe for people because if they come and sort of just show their might, then, then, you know, like sends the bad people away.
Emily: Have you heard about illegal refugees coming, like, in this area? Usually it’s not the route for the illegal refugees. They’re going, like, north to Texas. But I’ve seen, last time when I’ve seen, I’ve seen some kind of tents, tent camps.
Jennifer: I don’t know, you mean like the Guatemalans, the El Salvadorians?
Emily: Probably, I didn’t ask, but I’ve seen obviously there were kind of tents for refugees and actually this police, these people around probably were trying just to organize them as far as I understood, like to be in the tents and not to be on the city. But telling the truth, we have some tents now, not some, growing amount of tents in Toronto on the street.
And it might be our local
Jennifer: I understand there’s a group of people living in tents not too far away, but I don’t actually know who they are, where they came from.
I don’t know. I live in a bubble. I mean, I will admit it. You know, I work from home. I’m online all day with people like you, you know, I don’t, I don’t, you know, I go out, I go about my business and I don’t, I don’t, well, I think they don’t know.
Emily: But what is important you feel safe.
We started from safety and now it’s kind of segway to Mexican medical system.
I hope you’ve experienced
Jennifer: well, the Mexican medical system saved my partner’s life. Two years ago, his heart was stopping. And we didn’t, I mean, I just noticed over several months that he was acting tired and, you know, he’s taking more naps and he’s having a hard time coming up the stairs. And I was like, you’re not yourself and what’s going on?
And finally I got him to the doctor. It was just, you know, Oh yeah, I’ll do that. But I finally went to the doctor and. He had some, and the woman wanted to send him to a neurosurgeon. She thought it was maybe something mental. And fortunately actually there’s a woman who is a nurse who is Mexican and Canadian.
She splits her time and she, and he had been contact and she, his blood work came back and she looked at it. She was, no, you need to go see the cardiologist. Hold, give me five minutes. And so she messaged the cardiologist and got him an appointment for the same day. And so we went over there and cardiologist gives them a, what is it?
The ECG. When you lie down. Anyway, do the sensors. He says, Oh, I know exactly what’s wrong with you. And he helped him up very gently because I went with him an appointment. And he says there, the guy opens his drawer and he pulls out a pacemaker. He says, this is a pacemaker. Do you know what a pacemaker is?
Do you know what it does? And then he pulls out a piece of paper, he drew the whole pacemaker, and how it works with the heart, he explained how the whole process is and he was very detailed, and, and he’s like, we need to, you need a pacemaker, and you need it right now. I mean, that he was trying to be.
Not panic, you know how a doctor is, but you could tell the guy was concerned and so it was like, okay, and they told, and they were like, all right, well, well, how do we do this? He says, well, and, and we went to see someone who was here in Playa. He says, well, I work out of Cancun and he works out of a private hospital.
You mentioned earlier, the private versus public. So he has a private hospital called Galena, Galena in Cancun. and he was ready to schedule the, you know, surgery right away. So we went on Friday, the surgery. Now you pay, you have to pay right, right then. Yeah. we had to give him a credit card for deposit.
And then you pay the surgeon and his team separately from the hospital. So they’re like two separate fees. They run it through their own. I mean, I guess he’s like a contractor basically. So, but we had excellent service. We were the nicest hospital. We were overnight there. They even sent in an interpreter.
I mean, like a translator guy, even though we didn’t need it. Like, because the person who met at the front desk spoke to him, you know, Oh, you know, spoke to him. This is, Oh, can you sit down? I have printed out the papers for you in English and Spanish, which do you prefer? And he’s like, Oh, well, I’ll help you.
And then Rick didn’t even have his reading glasses on, so he couldn’t read. He’s just like, the guy’s like, I’ll help you. And he didn’t even have his Spanish. His English was perfect. We get into the room, they get us settled. And then they send in another, a guy says, I’m whatever his name was, you know, here’s my WhatsApp number.
If you need anything, I’m right down the hall. And his whole purpose in life there was to be a translator. And I just thought that is amazing.
Emily: So it’s kind of part of the team and let’s, I will resume whatever I’ve heard, like again, for people like the first care was applied in applied in carbon and it was private care because yes, I understand it was you’ve had some contact for private care and they quickly diagnosed what is the problem and found cardiologist, which made the required test.
And found the signs that date for the surgery and it was all kind of organized with translator his own stuff probably because it’s why he was just in cases because many people needed and there is separate team of caregivers, which is very important because doctorates, he does his job, but it’s very important.
You know, after surgery care, and I don’t know how long he was in the hospital.
Jennifer: Like, and we went in like nine o’clock in the morning. I think he was in surgery by 11. He was out by like two, maybe maybe less. Surgery was only a couple of hours and yeah, we were out the next morning. They just, they kept him overnight.
Emily: But after surgery, kind of some maintenance, I don’t know, check up, like, you were going back to doctor’s in Playa?
Jennifer: Oh yeah, so he went back to that doctor like a week later for the check up, he goes back for, you know, like, I think he’s… Christmas. He was there, which would have been a, you know, so yeah, every six months or so he goes back to that doctor.
And then we have a, you know, then we have a general practitioner here and and there’s lots of great medical care here.
Emily: But he didn’t have any heart condition before, like prior to it. So as far as I understand, you didn’t have insurance, medical insurance up front. It was all kind of out of your pocket.
And first of all, I’m interested why you didn’t think about health insurance because there are different opinions in this regard, and what was the price? If it’s not secret was a medical procedure because
Jennifer: it’s a big medical procedure is a pretty simple operation and it’s pretty magic that this little device like keeps your heart going.
Honestly. Yes, he had no heart problems and he just, it was just like slowing down and so he was at four beats a minute. Which is when he went to the emergency room and a healthy person is like 60 beats a minute. So yeah. So pricing wise, it was a roughly $9,000. Cash US and that included the overnight in the hospital that includes the surgeon and the team Included, you know the the device itself.
I mean it was everything and a friend of mine in the US Had her husband had one too and he had insurance and his co pay in the US Or as a doctor, I guess it was his co pay was $16,000
Emily: For similar type of the same surgery, even with copay and insurance. And what is your opinion now?
I don’t know if it makes sense, like for him to have insurance. I mean, probably it would be more expensive, but are you considering medical?
Jennifer: Well, I, I have insurance now. It’s mostly catastrophic insurance and they denied him because of the heart condition. So we’re still trying to figure out where he could, you know, where he can get insurance.
Emily: And I know there are different insurance company, but obviously like there is different acceptance criteria when person had such condition. But from other side it’s kind of a happy end story because it was all quickly dealt with in a professional way. And as far as I know, I’m not speaking about Canada.
Even in the United States, there are now waiting lists for some surgeries, for some procedures. later. So it was and
how you feel comfortable with you know, medical treatments. And if you’ve had maybe some others.
Jennifer: Oh, yes. I mean, he’s had a couple, he’s had at least one root canal here. Fortunately I haven’t knew anything major since we’ve been here.
I had a bunch of work done before we left the States. But yeah, we go to the dentist regularly here. It’s state of the art. It’s just clean. And a lot of doctors are educated in the US and Canada and then they come back and I mean, it’s everything you want it to be.
Emily: And even here, I found the kind of more caring, like authentically caring about your wellbeing.
They not like, you know, robot. Machine, like, quick, quick, quick.
Jennifer: Yeah, you’re not stuck to, you’re not on the seven minute insurance plan. They will actually talk to you, and they’ll be with you for an hour. And like, ask you questions, and if you happen to have old blood work, and because there are no HIPAA laws here, they’ll, you know, if you go to have blood work done in a lab, they’ll send it to you on your phone.
So now you’ve got it on your WhatsApp, your blood work, that you can then show to a doctor you might go to in six months. Oh, hey, I have some blood work here. Do you want to look at? Yes. Yes. I’ll see you. And then like, if I went to this guy here, he’s a, and he goes through everything. You feel like you’re getting a chemistry lesson.
I’m like, I didn’t know I was signing up for, you know, a graduate level science class here. I mean, cause he’s going through everything. He’s like, Oh, I look at this. He’s like, why does this matter? And then he launches into another thing, but he’s going through all the blood work. I mean, you would never get that in the US no doctors going through that with you.
Emily: I, I hear you even in Canada when we have kind of government, we have government medical system, but to get my own test results, it’s kind of like in, I’m asking for some military secrets, but no, I can see it, but it’s, it’s not working this this way. So it’s interesting.
Okay. Let’s speak about if you have maybe recommendation for some local restaurants, shops. Or what I’m looking for services, which are working for expats or maybe with expat. And what do I mean? I know that many expats open their own services like restaurants.
Yes. Mostly open by people coming from different countries. But if there are some, you know, expats oriented businesses now, or there are travel businesses, because I know there is big newspaper like Playa del Carmen and there are some other media sources. What’s going on lately in this regard in Playa?
Jennifer: I don’t know.
Emily: And if you can name places you like,
Jennifer: I can certainly name some restaurants. Like one of our favorites is India Jones, that’s open last winter They were on their way to the US. And during the pandemic, they couldn’t go to the US straight from India. So they came here, fell in love. And now they’ve brought over three chefs from India and two tandoori ovens, which I think are like 400 kilos a piece of like They’re and they’re amazing restauranteurs and the food is incredible.
And so they’re they just open when we first moved to play we met a guy named Juan who opened the tying tiki hut and it’s now gone through name change. That’s the lost tiki But Juan is comes out of corporate hospitality. He worked for like I think hard rocker I don’t know anyway for like big, you know big outfits and and he runs this Fun little, little fusion like Asian Mexican kind of fusion place.
And yeah, I mean, there’s so many good places to go and you mentioned earlier, people places open and close a lot. Which is true. Like what is another favorite?
Emily: You have some art clubs, like you mentioned meetups. I know there are some galleries, there’s some. Not golf clubs, so there are golf clubs, I don’t, but I’ve seen some, which yoga classes, I know a lot of Spanish language classes, and I believe now not only Spanish, oh yeah, international, I mean,
Jennifer: because it’s an international town yeah, there’s Spanish language classes, there’s like a, Spanish, English meetup that happens every week where you go and practice your, your language.
The idea is you paired with someone else and, you know, you, you practice for a few minutes and then you change partners and there’s usually like a theme. Yeah, there’s a trivia night every week. I mean, the season that can almost have 200 people. I mean, that’s very, very popular. There’s lots of salsa dancing going on, salsa, bachata if you’re into a lot of dancing.
That’s every night of the week. I mean, a lot of the stuff is found out through WhatsApp chats. Like you have to figure out how to get into the right WhatsApp chat, which you can go onto the expat pages and ask for like, does anyone know? You know, and at one point there was a master google sheet of like 190 expat group supplier.
And I don’t know how, if that’s still updated. I’ve actually never looked at it, but you know, if that gives you
Emily: you mean on WhatsApp only because on Facebook,
there are tons of flyer groups.
Jennifer: So someone created a Google Sheet of 190 different WhatsApp groups, playa related.
Emily: So it’s kind of community, but with different interest groups inside. So it’s in real life.
Jennifer: Yes. It’s, you know, and it’s interesting because I see this trend happening across all of how we use the internet too, is, you know, 15 years ago, you had all these little splintered segments and then it kind of went into a free for all, and now it’s going back to these little, these little segments.
So, yeah, it’s really, it’s really kind of fascinating and I’ll just go back to that, you know, newsletters are, are, you know, resurging in popularity, the WhatsApp chat, I think is like a great you know, cause you might have 30 people or something in it, but super active, right? And some of them are huge. I mean, like, I don’t, there’s a cutoff point for WhatsApp groups, like however many you can have in there.
Sometimes they ask people to leave. If you’re not active, you’re no longer implied, please leave this group. Cause we don’t have enough room for new people. So but yeah.
Emily: How are you comparing your social life intensity, I would say, quality, back with what you’ve had in the US?
Jennifer: Well, we hardly have social life in the US I mean, everybody’s so busy there. It was work, you know, everybody has work and kids and where we live in Pennsylvania, everybody also has like a hundred family members all live within a mile of one another, it seems. So, you know, we, we weren’t from Pennsylvania, so we did not have, and we come from the South, so we actually had those kinds of social groups at home, but we, we didn’t live there anymore.
So, you know, it’s always your cousin, uncle’s, you know, birthday, and you got to be there on Saturday, and then on Sunday, it’s somebody else’s birthday, so it was all very family. You know, everybody’s doing all these family gatherings and well in Playa, everyone comes here with, without the family around, you know, you, you don’t have that connection.
So you’re making connections with, with people nearby and you don’t have, Oh, you know, you don’t, you don’t have as much of that. It’s much easier to get together with people.
Emily: So in Playa, do you think people are more active because they actually don’t have the like big families and old circle of friends and, but they trying to connect and to create new life?
Jennifer: Yes. Exactly. Because if you want to come here, you’re eager to create a new life and you have some vision of what that new life is going to be and it’s going to be different for everyone. But you have some vision of what that’s going to be. And so then you come here and you want to, you want to meet other people and you want to, you know, enact that vision.
And so that’s, you know, in your, because you show up here, you don’t, you don’t know anyone, or maybe, you know, two people or something. You aren’t like confined by whatever your old life was because everything is new now. Everything. How do you get water delivered to your house? Where do you go to the supermarket?
Everything is brand new. Do you have to pay for your rent in cash? That used to be a thing. Sometimes still is. I mean like all kinds of things are new. And so you’re just like on hyperdrive trying to figure it all out and you’re, you’re eager. And you get plugged into the expat community because these are your guides.
These are the people who will help you figure out the answer to that next thing. So you see like somebody’s posting a lunch get together somewhere. You’re like, which you see sometimes the groups, Hey, I’m new to town. I’d like to like, let’s get together and have lunch at, you know, whatever restaurant. And then 10 or 15 people will show up.
Those are the people who are eager to meet you or eager to like trade information. I mean, like that’s. That’s, that’s how you meet people is you have to show up and go to the things and ask questions and be, you know, but every one of us has had someone who’s given us some little tidbit of information.
It’s been super helpful.
Emily: It’s what I like about expat communities. That’s why I’m really kind of learning and trying to be involved. Obviously, it’s hard to be a part of many different expat communities, and I’m not always in Mexico.
My question, listening to you, do you feel that you became a different person and after years living in Mexico and that actually your experience brought you to the different level of understanding or, you know, personal growth as a, as a result?
Jennifer: Yes, because I can go back on this and go, wow, I’ve accomplished what I’ve wanted to do for decades. And that’s sort of astonishing and, and gratifying, you know, it’s like I’m doing it. I’m living the life that I wanted to live. Like I, that’s amazing, and it hasn’t been easy, but I’ve done it and now I’m like, okay, great.
Now, now what, what’s next?
Emily: Okay, so we’re going to the next and I believe maybe last question. I can enjoy speaking with you. And with all this enriching experience and I believe really active life in many regards, like professional life, personal life, social life.
Traveling and actually opportunities to travel. Mexico is a huge country. You still can go back home but you feel your home now in Playa del Carmen. What you would recommend to new expats or people considering to be On this, you know, life changing, really drastic life changing events, and I’m more concerned about people after 50 because, you know, it’s really hard to uproot yourself in this age range, specifically when you have family like back home, or you still have home in US and Canada.
So what you would recommend. Just like, honestly, good sides, maybe mentioning something to be prepared for, you know, some I would say downfalls, which is part of the journey.
Jennifer: Yes, I’d say don’t expect it to be like the place you left. Yeah. people do that. And it’s wild to say that, you know, people come and then they complain about how it’s not like it was back home.
Well then go back home if that’s what you want, because people also create fantasies in their head and don’t take on to experience what it’s really going to be like. And I think the people who do best, Moving abroad or moving to a new new place. It doesn’t even have to be outside of your country. Are the people who are willing to take the new and accept things and just sort of go, okay, this is going to be different.
You take the expectation. It’s going to be different. And then you can decide, if that difference is going to work for you or not. But if you kind of go into it with an open mind and a sense of adventure, I think that’s the most important thing is come with a sense of adventure.
Yes, because it’s going to be different than you think. I don’t care how much time you spend here. Living here full time is a very different matter. So here or anywhere, you know, but like, I mean, once you, because when people come on vacation, we, we have a good friend who does this you know, they, they come on vacation a lot and they’ve been coming here for 20 years, but then when COVID hit, they stayed.
And then that was like a whole different life. I mean, obviously it was COVID, you know, lockdown, everybody had that, but, but as things came out of that, it was just like, and then when they come back, they’re like, Oh, you like, you know, people like you go to things you have. I’m like, yeah, this is what it’s like.
I mean, you knew it was during these tiny little, you know, a few months, but it’s really no, this is a vibrant place and but it’s nothing like where you left.
Emily: It’s what I say. First of all, don’t confuse vacations with relocation. And secondly, it’s not for everyone. And you need to be of certain adventure spirit.
But with all this, you need to be prepared. And it’s very hard because… You don’t know what you don’t know it’s and it’s one of the reasons why actually I set up my business and I am offering my consultation and soon to be small courses to, to prepare people, to give them a glimpse of new life. And at the same time some mental preparation should start even before you going to the new place because it’s what I found people have unrealistic expectations and they disappointed after then or they really heartbroken sometimes maybe because they selected place which is not going together with their personality or they would be back from other type of place and Mexico is offering Many different lifestyles for different budget for different type of people.
So there are many different components even in our personality and preparation, which will define our success and actually enjoyment of life after relocation, because we all enjoy our life. And in your case, it’s really a work beautifully. And I feel your smile. I always, I didn’t know you before, but probably you were always optimistic person, but you say that it’s your home and it’s very important, you know?
Jennifer: Yeah. Yes. I mean, I love it here and I do see that I encourage everyone who wants thinking about moving abroad to make a list of what they want their lives to be like and seek the, you know, the match for them in that way.
Emily: Yeah, but sometimes people specifically, if they don’t have a long experience traveling or, or living in other cultural place because even moving from state to state in United States or Canada, it’s different, but it’s the same country, mostly the same language, the same type of, you know economical relationship and system.
Here you have kind of, In one glass, all new different things, but with all this. As far as I know, feel, and can assure, Mexico is the most close to us, I mean, Americans and Canadians, culturally. I, I mean in regards to shops we used to have, business culture slowly, Because there are many Americans and Canadians are working now and kind of influence the business culture in Mexico as well.
And a lot of Mexicans learn or working up north. So Mexico is North America. It’s part of our continent. And I think together we mingle pretty good.
Jennifer: Oh, we do. Yes. And you don’t realize until you get here how much, how fluid the borders are.
Emily: Yes. And I believe it was a very exciting and interesting for me conversation and thank you for sharing with us your story, your personal perspective.
And I wish you the best enjoy your life, professional success continue to explore Mexico and maybe other country. And okay. I would like to add, and it’s important to know for everyone, if you’re planning to live for a long time in any country and specifically in Mexico, you need to have a residence, you need to start with residency.
So you feel really as local. And you, you became part of society, which is important
Experienced Content Strategist with 8+ years of experience in online marketing, storytelling, and strategic business development. Skilled at interviewing SMEs, SEO, interpreting data, crafting purposeful content tied to business objectives, guiding B2B clients, and being a self-starter
Have you ever dreamed of living in a tropical paradise? Where the ocean is your backyard, the culture is your playground, and the vacation never ends? That’s what many expats have found in Playa del Carmen, Mexico, a coastal town that has everything you need to enjoy life to the fullest. In this article, you’ll hear from one of the expats, Jennifer Phillips April, a B2B copywriter, ghostwriter, and content strategist who relocated from Canada to Playa del Carmen. She’ll tell you how she found love, happiness, and success in this beautiful town.
Some people might think that living in Playa del Carmen means you’re always on vacation. But that’s not true. Expats here work hard, just like they would anywhere else. The difference is that they also have fun, a lot of fun. And they do it while enjoying the stunning scenery of the Mexican Caribbean.
“You have to find a balance between work and fun,” says Jennifer. “With a laptop, it’s easy to get distracted by the beach or the parties.” Jennifer works as a freelance writer for various clients, mostly in the B2B niche.
Expats in Playa del Carmen have the freedom to manage their time as they please. They can work from home, from a coworking space, or from a cafe. They can also take breaks and enjoy the activities that the town offers, such as swimming, snorkeling, diving, golfing, or shopping. Expats in Playa del Carmen have the best of both worlds: they can work hard and play hard.
What makes Playa del Carmen special for expats? Two things: the people and the ocean. These are the two factors that attract and keep expats in this coastal town. They are the two things that make Playa del Carmen more than just a place to live; they make it a place to love.
“The people here are amazing,” says Jennifer. “They are so diverse, so friendly, so open-minded.” Playa del Carmen is a melting pot of cultures, with expats coming from South America, Europe, Canada, and the U.S. The town has a welcoming vibe that makes it easy to meet and mingle with people from different backgrounds and walks of life. You never know who you’ll meet or what you’ll learn. You might end up having drinks with an expat from India, a local from Argentina, and a Russian restaurant owner who just moved to Playa del Carmen.
Jennifer says that she has made many friends in Playa del Carmen, both locals and expats. She says that the expat community is very supportive and helpful. “If you need anything, you can always find someone who can help you. Whether it’s finding a place to stay, a doctor, a lawyer, or a plumber, there’s always someone who knows someone.”
One of the best things about living in Playa del Carmen is the expat community. It’s a vibrant and diverse group of people who share a common passion for this town. They support each other, they socialize with each other, and they have fun with each other. They are more than just neighbors; they are friends.
“How to join the expat community? Just go out and talk to people,” says Jennifer. “It’s that easy.” The expat community in Playa del Carmen is very active and friendly. There are many events and activities that bring expats together, such as trivia nights, dance parties, art gallery visits, and more. These events are organized by groups like “Mexpats”, which aim to connect Mexicans and internationals in a fun and relaxed way. These events are a great way to meet new people, make friends, and experience the local culture.
The expat community in Playa del Carmen is also very diverse. It includes digital nomads, retirees, and entrepreneurs, among others. It also includes professionals who work remotely or run businesses locally. This diversity adds to the richness and dynamism of the community. It also creates opportunities for learning and collaboration among expats.
Another great thing about living in Playa del Carmen is the opportunity to connect with the locals. The locals are the people who make this town what it is. They are the people who know the best places to eat, to shop, to party. They are the people who can teach you about the culture, the language, the history. They are the people who can make you feel at home.
“It’s easy to connect with the locals here,” she says. “They are very curious and friendly.” The locals in Playa del Carmen are used to seeing tourists and expats in their town. They are not shy or reserved. They are open and interested in other cultures. They are happy to chat with you, to help you, to invite you. They are also fun and easy-going. They know how to enjoy life and make you enjoy it too.
Living in Playa del Carmen is an adventure. It’s a chance to experience something new and different. It’s a chance to challenge yourself and grow as a person. It’s a chance to live your best life. But it’s also a challenge. It’s not the same as living in your home country. It’s not always easy or comfortable. It’s not for everyone.
“Before you move here, you have to be realistic,” says one expat. “Playa del Carmen is not perfect. It has its pros and cons. You have to be ready to adapt and embrace the change.” Moving to Playa del Carmen means leaving behind your familiar surroundings, your routine, and your comfort zone. It means facing a new environment, a new language, and a new culture. It means dealing with some inconveniences, such as traffic, noise, or bugs. It means learning to appreciate the differences, and not to complain about them.
But it also means discovering a new world, a new perspective, a new you. It means enjoying the beauty, the diversity, and the excitement of this town. It means making new friends, new memories, new stories. It means living an adventure that you’ll never forget.
Location: Toronto, ON, Canada, Email: info@emilybron.com
Fill in your details and download the E-Book “Your Action Plan to Retire”
