Disclaimer: This is not your mom's travel blog. This is an ancap travel blog. We dislike pointless rules, but we understand that it's rational to follow them, sometimes. None of this is legal advice. None of this is illegal advice either. I will tell you what the laws say to the best of my knowledge, but always check with at least two lawyers before selling everything and moving abroad. Governments change laws everyday. It's ideal if you can visit your destination before committing to moving there, the longer you can visit, the better.
Pro tip #1: When making rental reservations in Mexico/Central America: Make sure the rental property actually exists.
Hola Steemies, Steemians and Steemers!
Have you ever dreamed of leaving the rat race, and designing your own life? In the mountains or near the ocean? Perhaps in Mexico, Guatemala, Costa Rica or Panama? Why do people wait for retirement to live the good life in paradise?
There are many answers to that last one. Family, friends, career, lack of language skills, lack of savings, fear of the unknown, where would you work? The list goes on.
This is a story, and to some extent a tutorial about how my wife and I, as well as our doge (dog) , took that very plunge. We sold everything and left Canada in search of more freedom and beautiful weather, but it had to be somewhere that we could continue working, as our savings were not going to last us very long. But let's start from the beginning.
Canada sucks for freedom lovers
My wife was born in Poland but spent most of her life in Ontario, Canada, where she worked with special needs children and elderly. Ontario is also where I was born, became an electrician and lived there until we made this move. Ontario is the proud owner of the worlds largest non-nation debt, with only around half of the population of California. You can guess what the taxation is like, and where it is going. The government was bloated beyond our belief, yet the general public was, and still is begging for more.
We were tired of that, we were tired of working so hard, with little or nothing to show for it. We were tired of almost nobody caring that their freedoms were being taken from them constantly. - There had to be something better than this.
We discovered Bitcoin together in October 2013, and decided to invest. What a ride! But just as importantly, we were introduced to a new like-minded community which we jumped right into. We are not very technical when it comes to computers, but the economic idea of Bitcoin thrilled us.
The bitcoin community is freedom lovers, with great ideas, changing the world one innovation at a time. It was really inspiring to see what the people in and around bitcoin were doing, and it still excites me to hear new blockchain ideas, such as this exact platform, of course. Go STEEMIT!
It was very liberating to hear the Andreas' and Vitaliks of the world talk about bitcoin, but then we came across a guy named Jeff Berwick - The Dollar Vigilante. He was an ex-canadian, with a hell of a story. We dipped more and more into his stuff, and one saturday afternoon we had that life-changing moment while watching this speech by Jeff , where we both looked at each other with that same look in our eye - we both knew what the other was thinking - It's time to get out of here.....but where, and how? Could we really design our own life? A life that we didnt need a vacation from?
Conquering the FUD (Fear, uncertainty, doubt)
Everything you fear about leaving can be easily releived with the proper research. You must first decide your priorities. If friends and family are most important, perhaps you choose a place that is only a short flight away, easy and cheap to get to. If working is most important, and you do not work online, perhaps you choose the place easiest to get a work permit. (but who needs that with Steemit, amirite?) Perhaps freedom is most important, perhaps crime statistics and security, or maybe being near other expats. You can conquer most of the FUD just by choosing the right place. This will take a lot of research, but I'm here to help with that, particularly if you are looking at Mexico, Guatemala, Costa Rica or Panama.
Mexico: The right place for us?
Our top priorities were the ability to work legally at our trades, freedom, weather and cost/quality of living. Our list started with almost every country in Central and South America and Mexico. We eventually widdled it down to this. Mexico, Panama, Costa Rica and Chile. Guatemala was later added after living in Mexico and hearing from friends how beautiful and cheap it was there.
Alas, Mexico was the first choice. Berwick had a big part in that, I am sure. We were interested in Acapulco because of the awesome anarchist/voluntarist community that is growing there, but we were also very curious about the beautiful Mayan Riviera, so we took a 10 day trip to Cancun to visit the area.
Wow! Cancun is gorgeous. White sand beaches and super clear aqua blue water. We got a rental car and explored the area. Playa del Carmen seemed even better than Cancun for our needs and lifestyle, and then we just fell in love with a magical little town further down the coast called Tulum. Bylaws don't allow builders to develop anything higher than three stories there, which gives Tulum that small town appeal that we were craving. We had made our decision, Tulum is where we were starting our new life.
Now it was time to set a date, finish renovations on the house and sell it. We had to sell everything else too, or donate it. To the shock of many of our friends and family, we were actually doing this! We set our departure date nearly a year away, and made it "real" by buying one way tickets from Canado to Mexico for November 15, 2014.... now we had to get to work!
We worked hard that year, and spent very little. We finished renovating, but only got the house up for sale one week before our depatarture. It was a stressful time, but we were fueled by the excitement of designing our own life and being our own bosses in paradise, so nothing could get us down. Our house sold shortly after arriving in Mexico, and between our bitcoin and our home sale profits, we were Peso millionaires! Which meant we had about $70 000 CDN or $50 000 USD. You won't need nearly this much. We didn't even need it and we took a year off work and travelled seven countries before finding our permanent home. The idea here is that you learn from our experiences and mistakes, so your move is more efficient and affordable.
Doge on a plane!
Our beautiful dog and best friend "Marley" is 13 now, so she was almost 12 when we started this journey. She had never been in a crate before, and has generally gotten very anxious when left alone in a strange place. She's been like that her whole life. She has destroyed or somehow opened many doors when I had to leave her alone somewhere that wasn't her home. Putting her in a crate, and on a plane was going to be stressful for all of us. She is very healthy for her age, but I was still concerned for her safety as many pets sadly die during flights and others escape down the runway when the doors open.
Different airlines rules can vary, but typically if your dog is larger than 15 kgs, or around 25 lbs, it cannot ride in the cabin and must ride in the checked luggage area. This cannot be done in the summer months, so plan your flight accordingly. Some airlines may fly your dog in the summer months, but our experience was that only one would go from Cancun to Panama (Copa), and it was nearly $4000 just for the dog to fly. You must hire handlers and customs agents as well. More on that later.
Requirements to fly with your dog, and import your dog into Mexico:
Governments change rules all the time. Check with your airline for thier specific flight requirements. Also check with the destination country on the rules to import an animal. HERE ARE MEXICOS RULES
Whether flying or driving, there are basic things you will need, to bring your pet across Mexican or Central American borders. They include:
An international health certificate filled out by a certified veteranarian from the departing country, stating that the pet is clinically healthy, within 10 days of crossing the Mexican border. The number of days changes with some countries, be sure you know the time periods that they accept. This document must be notarized or apostiled in most countries also, including Mexico.
Documentation of Rabies vaccinations and deworming within the last 12 months, but more than one month from entry date for Mexico, these dates may vary in other countries.
There is no cost to bring your pet into Mexico, but you will pay pet import fees when entering Panama, Costa Rica and Belize.
That's it. You don't need a pet passport or any of that other nonsense that people will try to sell you. If you are flying, you will need a good crate(check airline size regulations), some zipties, and a way to keep some water in the crate on the flight. I duct taped the bowls to the inside of the crate and leaving water bottles in the crate is also a good idea, as you may not have immediate access to clean water when you land. I know our girl needed it desparately. I'm really proud of her, she did great. Mexico turned out to be very hot and hard for her to get used to, but more on that later.
In Closing
Please upvote and follow me if you are interested in more information on moving to Mexico. In my next blog, or perhaps two, I intend to cover the quality/cost of living in Tulum and the surrounding area, gaining residency vs. making border runs, working legally vs. illegally, driving in Mexico and bribes, culture, infrastructure, food, avoiding trouble in general, and all the great things to do on the Mayan Riviera and Yucatan, accompanied with some great photos and videos. Here is a teaser.
