Gas Shortage in Mexico Could Affect Our Drive

A friend of mine recently reached out about a friend of hers who was driving through Mexico on his motorcycle and ran out of gas due to the gas shortage in Mexico happening now. Since Keith and I plan to drive for 4 days through Mexico I started searching for way to know who does and does not have gas on our route. 

Thankfully, Google to the rescue. It seems Google has added a feature to their maps where you just type in “¿Dónde hay gasolina?,” “¿dónde no hay gasolina?” and it will show you who does or does not have gas. I tried it and it's pretty cool!

There are also 4 apps that can also help with this and this article tells you all about it - I downloaded two of the 4 (Gasoapp and Gasolina MX), so here's hoping that we don't run into any issues along the way. Keep us in your thoughts and prayers as we are a bit nervous of the unknown.

Our Last Lol-Ha Happy Hour for Awhile

We have only one week before we take off for our big road trip - we are very excited and nervous! 

Since last night was Friday, we decided to visit one of our favorite hangouts, Lol-Ha, for happy hour with many of our expat friends. It was great to see so many familiar faces so we could say good bye for now and not for good.

It was a beautiful night and we opted to have dinner with our friends, Dave and Randi, at Lol-Ha. 

We are really going to miss everyone but we feel this little getaway will be good for us and just make us miss Mexico. Hasta luego, Mexico!

House Hunters International - Adios to the Daily Grind

House Hunters International filmed us at La Buena Vida

Tomorrow is the BIG DAY - our episode of House Hunters International, "Adios to the Daily Grind", airs at 10:30pm EST on HGTV. 
We have 20+ friends coming over to watch it with us tomorrow night. Check back for pictures, our commentary/thoughts and I'll share the video a few days after it airs.

They wouldn't let me wear my t-shirts so I hope I get a few shout outs to my business, The Sweetest Tee. Fingers crossed!

Let us know what you think of the show :)

Our First Trip to the Movies

Keith and I used to go to the movies a lot more but since moving to Mexico over a year ago, we haven't gone at all. We have been trying to do more things that we don't normally do. 

So, on a Sunday afternoon we jumped in the car, drove to Playa Del Carmen and headed to Cinépolis Las Américas. They show movies in English with Spanish subtitles or movies dubbed in Spanish. We weren't really sure how to read the board to see which was which so I had to message a friend for help. Sadly we missed the movie we wanted to see due to the very long lines. So, we opted for the Fantastic Beast movie.

One thing we didn't take into account was the fact that Sunday's tend to be the day all the Mexican families are out and about - the beaches are packed, stores are full and apparently so are the movie theaters. The odd thing was there was another line but it was empty. I didn't pay much attention to it until it was too late. It appears you can join their movie club for $46 pesos ($2.25 USD for the year). I kid you not, we stood in line for 1 hour to get tickets and then 45 for popcorn... Not sure why we opted to do that but I think we figured we are here, might as well. I did try and but the movie pass while in line but was having issues with my signal. Anyways, next time I will be prepared with the membership as those lines only had a few people in them...

As for food, we tried a new place to us - Celia Taco's. We both enjoyed al pastor tacos, a cheese and chorizo appetizers and plenty of sauces to choose from. The food was really good and the restaurant had a really cool hip vibe to it. On the way out they had a Bart Simpson as El Chappo (El Barto) and a Make Playa Great Again sign - it gave me a chuckle. My kinda place!!

Happy Thanksgiving from Mexico

We have now celebrated Thanksgiving #2 in Mexico with friends. This Thanksgiving we enjoyed dinner at our friends, Randi and Dave's. 

Our local restaurant/beach club, Jungle Fish, made our turkey and we all brought our own sides. We actually had the opportunity to go a week before and try the turkey. They were kind enough to make two for us to try. We went with the traditional with white wine gravy but both were great! Tony is an amazing chef and comes up with great recipes.

I was in charge of bringing two desserts (brownies and a keto pumpkin cheesecake), but sadly, one (cheesecake) just didn't turn out as I had expected so Keith ran to the store and bought a cake. He's a life saver!

The night was a lot of fun! We ate and drank so much we left feeling happy yet overly full. It was a great day with friends and I am thankful to have been a part of fun a fun celebration! Hope you had a happy Thanksgiving too!

The Sunsets Here are Spectacular

House Hunters International

We FINALLY have an air date for our House Hunters International episode and we are very excited (and nervous) to see it.

We spent 5 days in May filming it here in Akumal. We also weighed 20lbs more than we do now and we couldn't change clothes for pretty much that whole time... Seriously though, this show is what made us realize how over weight we had gotten. We kept seeing ourselves and saying "OMG, we are going to be on TV looking like this". Then the following week we went to a friends wedding and saw pictures of us and were sure we needed to make a change.

Anyways, back on topic... On December 4th and 5th our episode will air on HGTV. They have called it 'Adios to the Daily Grind' - will you be watching?

I just hope we don't look like total jerks....

More About Our Lake Ozark Side Trip

Keith and I have been talking for awhile about buying a place in the States since we no longer have a home in our home country. My parents have been very kind in letting us stay with them every time we come visit. We wanted to find a place on a lake, ideally.

Fast forward a few months and we have been watching the Netflix show, Ozark. It's a great show if you haven't seen it. Jason Bateman and cast do an amazing job. Oddly enough it's about a guy who moves to the Ozarks to clean money for the Mexican Cartel. Being that we live in Mexico you'll see the connection shortly...

When we were in the US recently, we made a side trip to Lake Ozark to look at some properties as we were intrigued by the area. According to Google, "The lake runs 92 miles end to end. At roughly 1,150 miles, the total shoreline of the Lake of the Ozarks is longer than the coastline of California." It wasn't a lie, the lake is HUGE and there are tons of lake front opportunities, most of which are still somewhat affordable. The housing market appears to be on the rise, which is good.

Our realtor showed us 10 places - I think she got a kick out of the fact we live in Mexico as she mentioned the show. We NOT work for the cartel and we aren't cleaning money.

We had originally wanted a house but ended up finding a condo we really liked. All of the homes we looked at needed work that we didn't have the budget for... :( Being that we retired early and live on a budget, it had to be something we could make work. We are hoping to rent it on Airbnb when we aren't using it and have it paid off in less than 6 years. We see this place as being a lovely retreat for us and our family.

As it stands right now everything is pending until all the loan information clears and all documents are signed. We have a closing date of early November and plan to fly back to be there for the closing. The condo comes furnished so we only need to buy a few items to get it ready.

In honor of the show, we will be calling the condo the Blue Cat condo. We'd like to honor the show since we'll be in the area!

Tarah's Ketosis Experiment - Fat Burning Machine

Keith and I started following a Keto diet on May 31, 2018. To date we have both lost over 20lbs and are still moving forward with our weight loss. We are not strict Keto as we do have some days where we eat carbohydrates, but honestly it's not often. We try and keep our carbs to around 20 grams a day. 

On a daily basis we drink Pruvit, which is a drink mix that has pure therapeutic ketones it and helps put our body into a state of Ketosis so we are burning fat as energy instead of carbohydrates. "Ketosis is a normal metabolic process. When the body does not have enough glucose for energy, it burns stored fats..."

Today I did an experiment to see if my body was in Ketosis. At 9:45am I tool my blood glucose levels and it was at 0.6. I then drank my Pruvit at 9:50am. At 10:50am I check again and I was at 1.8, I'm officially in ketosis! 5 minutes later I did it again and I was at 1.9. So as you can see, I was still climbing. I am literally a fat burning machine!!

Woohoo!!! Burn fat, burn! If you are interested in ordering a 10 day sample pack to see if it's a product that will work for you, shoot us an email!

We Made a Video

Our YouTube Channel

If you weren't aware, we have a YouTube channel where we upload all of our videos of our travels, family, our Keto journey and more... 

Check it out - maybe you'll find something of interest. Please subscribe!

Our First Mexico Independence Day

Keith, Carlos, Ernesto & Tony

Most people think May 5th is Mexico Independence Day, that would be false. It is actually begins September 16th. In honor of this, we went to one of our favorite establishments in Mexico to celebrate with them. 

La Palapa is an amazing restaurant run by brothers Tony, Carlos and Ernesto. They really are the kindest people we have met. 

Many of our friends and neighbors were also there so to say it was a quiet party would be a lie - it was a full night of music, dancing, drinking and eating. 

Here's a great video to show just how much fun Keith had that night. (Don't worry, I drove us home) ;)

Learning Spanish in Mexico

We have had some frustrations in Mexico and we have found a lot of them revolve around not speaking the language. I know what most of you are thinking, "how is it you live in Mexico and don't speak Spanish?"

Well, we do know some Spanish (elementary level) but not enough to mail a package or talk to a carpenter. We decided we were at our wits end and feeling stressed out by it. We decided to take classes to try and improve our communication. Clearly it won't be fixed in a day but at least we are trying to expand our knowledge. 

We have opted to use El Camino Language School in Tulum and so far so good. We would recommend them to anyone who asks. Check them out if you, too, are interested in learning a new language.

FYI, my new favorite Spanish word I learned in class: cacahuate (as in crema de cacahuate). It means Peanut. ;)

Keto on a Cruise - Can We Do It?

We leave for a 12 night cruise in a few days and are planning to stay Keto while traveling. It might be a bit tough as Italy has many stops along the way... Oh the pizza...

We did call ahead and request no carbs/sugar free meals. They were more than willing to accommodate our dietary needs. We learned about this on the last Royal Caribbean cruise we took with some friends. Our friend Dawn has some strict dietary needs and they went out of their way to make sure she had the food she needed and wanted. We were really impressed by their willing to go out of their way. Honestly, I am a huge fan of Royal Caribbean. This will be my 6th cruise with them. This is just one of the many reasons why I love them!

If you know me, then you know I am not a fan of Princess/Carnival - especially after our last fiasco that happened in January... We won't ever cruise with them again. They just don't have the level of customer appreciation that RC has.

We are hoping to book another cruise on Royal Caribbean during this trip but we aren't sure where yet. Maybe we will try Fiji again... Where would you go?

We'll post about our trip once we get back. Wish us luck!!

Keith's 45th Birthday Celebration

Keith has been wanting to go swim with the whale sharks since we first visited the Riviera Maya. June - August are the most popular months as they are here feeding. So, yesterday, for his birthday, I wanted to make sure he got exactly what he wanted. (We stopped buying gifts a few years ago and just do experiences.)

On the Monday we met with 12 friends for dinner and drinks at one of our favorite locations, the Jungle Fish Beach Club. We love the guys who run it and were thrilled to be able to support them for Keith's birthday dinner. As always, they were amazing to us and we had a great meal. Keith was offered the largest lobster I have ever seen. He ate the hell out of that thing!

As for the whale sharks, I was excited to be able to find 6 friends willing to go with us - trust me, when you say "swimming" and "sharks" in the same sentence people tend to back away.

Rob, Kris, Annette, Vince, Chris (it was also his b'day), Jodi, myself and Keith got up super early to grab our 5:20am shuttle to Cancun.

After a quick briefing, some snacks and water we headed out on the boat for about an hour. The area where the whale sharks are feeding was really busy with other boats and people. You are only allowed 2 people per boat at a time but it was still a bit chaotic. The whale sharks are spectacular and very large - they are just eating plankton and minding their own business. You basically jump in, swim around them, don't touch them or swim under them and then you are back in the boat. Everyone had 2 jumps - I opted for one but Keith did both of his and each time was just in awe of these animals. 

After we were done snorkeling, we headed over to Isla Mujeres for some lunch and swimming. 

It's definitely a birthday he will remember!



Rob put together a video of all of our footage - enjoy!! :)

Keto Couple in the Riviera Maya

Not a photo we like...

So, a lot has happened in just a short week. Keith and I decided we have gained more weight that we care to admit, so it was time to make a change. After seeing several friends who are succeeding on the keto diet we decided to give it a try. In doing so we came across Prüvit and Keith started doing a lot of research about it, fell in love with it and signed up to be a distributor. Now he is nose deep learning all he can about keto and Prüvit. 

We have changed the way we are eating and actually getting out to exercise a bit more. We are posting about our journey in a few places, if you are interested in joining us or just following us. You can join our FB group Let's Keto Together, where we post recipes, talk about ideas, meet others, etc. We also have a Pruvit Riviera Maya page where Keith posts updates, videos and promos on products. We also have two Instagram accounts - one for Prüvit and one about our journey being Keto in the Riviera Maya.

Our Keto Breakfast

We are 6 days in and we have already been seeing great weight loss results. I have lost 4lbs and Keith is down 4.6lbs. We are planning our days out with MyFitnessPal, watching our macros and making sure we work together to get the results we both want. 

If you are interested in losing weight, join us! Motivation and community are a wonderful thing - let's do this!! 

Our first visit to the Veterinarian

Well, we've been in Mexico for 6 months and able to avoid a trip to the veterinarian's office; that was until this week. Chance, our little one, thought it would be a wise choice to stand in an ant pile while going pee. Let me tell you, he was one lucky pup. We must have pulled at least 2 dozen ants out of his fur and he didn't get a single bite. Just to make sure we didn't miss any of the little buggers, we decided to give Chance a late night bath. 

It was also a good time to trim the hair around his face and eyes. Upon doing so, we found a small sore on his muzzle. It was pretty red and irritated and showed signs of bleeding.

We immediately reached out to a local veterinarian that some of our friends have used. I think I should take a moment to mention that getting in touch with medical and veterinarian professionals in our area is super simple and kinda funny in my opinion...Facebook Messenger or WhatsApp. We received a prompt response and had an appointment setup in no time.

As you can see from the photo, Chance was not a big fan of the car ride to the vet. 

I was amazed at how friendly and thorough the staff was. Everyone I interacted with spoke very good English, which is a huge plus for us as our Spanish is elementary at best. The Vet made Chance and I very comfortable. She cleaned up his sore and conducted the lab work in the office while we waited. We were happy to find out that it was just a small bacterial infection. She gave Chance a shot of antibiotics and prescribed a pain medication and topical cream. The entire visit lasted about 30-45 minutes, including the less than 5 minute wait in the lobby. Best of all, it only cost $1000 pesos ($50.50 usd) total!

In the end, we have our happy little puppy on the mend and a great local veterinarian we can trust with both our fur-babies.

Retirement Isn't Easy For Everyone...

Don't get me wrong, I am thrilled to have retired at 40. It's a dream come true! However, it is not easy for me to sit still for very long. Have you met me?

When we first decided to do this I knew I would have to have something to do in my free time. I can sit at the beach or by the pool and be quite content but those hours in the morning or late at night tend to need to be filled for me... So, I started my own little website, The Sweetest Tee, where I sell things I like, in hopes others will find them and like them too. It's not a huge money maker but it does give me a little extra cash to put in savings. It's been rather rewarding for me to have something that I built and maintain. I am always trying to shamelessly plug it in hopes to get more traffic, sales, likes, etc... 

Keith and I wear our tees ALL THE TIME and are constantly stopped and asked about them. We come up with funny sayings, friends send us sayings and we search for unique sayings online. Then we put them on our tees. We are always looking for more ideas so please send them over if you have any.

I have tried adding more items to the site (beauty, home goods, electronics, etc...) but the tees are by far the most fun for me to make and add. The other items are things I find interesting and think maybe someone else may like as well. I would love feedback on the site, especially if it will help make it better. I am always open to suggestions.

If you haven't tried it yet, use code FIRSTTIME10 for 10% off to give it a try. 

Our Experience with Medical in Mexico

For those of you who are unaware, we have been spending a bit of time in the local hospital as I (Tarah) have a tumor that I need to get removed. It's nothing major but it's something that has to be taken care of... It seems I have a teratoma tumor which is removed by laparoscopic surgery. I will be staying one night in the hospital. The surgery was scheduled for April 18th but ended up being moved to the 27th due to the scope needing to be repaired.

The reason for this post is to share with you how the medical has been for us in Mexico. First off, my Dr. is amazing. When I first met her she gave me her personal WhatsApp number and her personal email. Now you may be thinking, sure she did, but no, really... I have texted her several times and she actually responds. She answers questions and has even sent me lab results via text.

We have Mexican health insurance and US health insurance. Thankfully our Mexican insurance is going to cover the surgery 100%. Our US insurance would have only covered 75% so we are thankful we decided to get the extra coverage. It only cost us around $166 a month for the two of us to be covered.

The hospital we go to tends to deal with a lot of expats and vacationers so they give you all of your records to go. I have had two chest X-Rays, an EKG, CT Scan, blood work, and several ultra sounds. Seeing the doctor tends to be around $45 USD and none of the other tests have been over $150. In total, I think we have spent maybe $800 on EVERYTHING and thankfully insurance should reimburse us. Since I haven't had the surgery yet I can't comment on how that will be but I plan to once it's over.

So far, the experience has been good. Most everyone speaks English so that has been helpful as my limited Spanish does not include hospital visits... I can be polite and talk about number 1-10 and colors but when it comes to EKG's and such I am at a loss... The only negative has been just not always understanding what is supposed to happen next. However, all I have to do is send my Dr. a text and she lets me know.

So... check back for updates on how the surgery went and my experience on staying in the hospital and the after care.

A quick video of our home and why we love it here.

Mexico has been an amazing experience thus far. Sometimes it's hard to explain to people what life is like here and why we chose to leave a nice home, good jobs, and our friends and family back in the old country. So, Tarah and I have recently made a short video describing what we love, and give you a quick tour of our home. We also made this video as an application for House Hunters International. Hopefully we get picked. Wish us luck.

https://youtu.be/hyz9g6NFWUk