Expat Life in Mexico: Downsizing, Living, and Working as an American

Living and Thriving in Mexico: Expat Life and Running a Business

Expat Life in Mexico: Downsizing, Living, and Working as an American! Join co-hosts Dennis Day and Judy Gratton in this thrilling episode of 'Getting Your Edge: How to Downsize Your Life,' as they chat with Ashley Werter, an adventurous spirit who traded Seattle for the sunny shores of Puerto Vallarta, Mexico! Tune in as Ashley, a talented professional photographer, opens up about her exhilarating journey as an American expat. Discover her first impressions of life in Mexico, the vibrant local culture, the surprising cost of living, and her son's educational adventures. Ashley shares the ups and downs of her exciting new life, her connections with both expats and locals, and how she navigates finances and healthcare in a new land. Don't miss part two, where we dive into the thrilling world of running a business in Mexico as a foreigner! 

To View Ashley Werter's Professional Photography Website Click Here

00:00 Introduction and Welcome
00:17 Meet Ashley Werter: From Seattle to Puerto Vallarta
01:10 Life in Mexico: First Impressions and Daily Life
03:04 Language Barriers and Clientele
04:44 Cost of Living and Housing
10:03 Cultural Differences and Celebrations
13:42 Healthcare and Transportation
15:26 Residency and Legal Requirements
17:50 Social Life and Activities
30:46 Financial Tips and Banking
34:08 Final Thoughts and Advice

Transcript

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Introduction to Ashley's Mexican Journey

Dennis Day 0:01

Well , good day everyone . It's great to have you here . Thanks for joining . Getting your Edge how to Downsize your Life . I'm your co-host , dennis Day , and I'm here with Judy Gratton , our other co-host . Good day , judy . And our special guest today is Ashley Werder . She's a former Northwest and has moved to Mexico , puerto Vallarta specifically , and she's here to talk about two things One , what it's like to live in Mexico as an expat American , but also to own a business and run that business in Mexico , the differences and so forth . Little background Ashley is a professional photographer . She ran classes at Kenmore Camera , where I live real close , and I took some of her classes . She started a Facebook group which I have continued to maintain for now six years I can't believe it's been that long and she got up and took off and while we were disappointed , we were excited for her adventure . So , ashley , tell us a little bit about what you have done to leave the Northwest and move to Puerto Vallarta .

Ashley Werter 1:17

We were living in Seattle and I was just like working all the time and my son was really young at the time and I just felt like I didn't spend as much time with him as I would have liked , as having my first young child , and so I was just starting to think about what I could do differently with my life . And I have this aunt who came to Mexico in the 70s for a semester abroad and she just fell in love with it and my whole life the last 30 , 40 years she's been coming to Mexico every year almost , and she just always was coming back and saying go to Mexico , it's the best place on earth . And so I just thought maybe she's right . So I came down for a few days to check it out , see what it was like . I had never been to Mexico before . So I came to Puerto Vallarta for four days . I spent three days in San Pancho and just getting massages on the beach and eating lots of fresh shrimp , and I took a food tour in Puerto Vallarta and I , just at the end of the tour , was like man , that was great .

Ashley Werter 2:25

We went around the city , we saw eight or 10 different places and learned all about it and I just thought I could do this with photography . So I decided to pick up and move . So I started with my workshops . That's what was my main goal when I moved here and since then I've transitioned more into the weddings and portraits side because it's just , there's a lot more of a customer base , but I still enjoy doing both . I volunteer every week at the largest school for girls and I teach some photography classes also . We have little exhibitions , what I'm keeping myself busy . How exciting .

Dennis Day 3:04

You speak Spanish before you travel there ?

Ashley Werter 3:06

I did take Spanish in high school . I took two years of required Spanish and I lived in California right after high school . But I didn't really use much Spanish there and I lost it . So when I moved here , I just remember , senora Zamora taught me how to say to want , to have and to need and she said if you can conjugate these three verbs and know a little vocab , you'll do pretty good . And she was right . But I think a lot of it came back to me and I try to practice it every day .

Judy Gratton 3:37

Do you find that you speak Spanish more often than English now ?

Ashley Werter 3:41

Most of my customers are still English speakers . I have a lot of customers from California , texas , canada , so in my daily life I definitely still speak more English than I do Spanish , but every time I leave the house I'm going to be speaking some Spanish , for sure .

Judy Gratton 3:59

So are the majority of your clients then from these other countries , or do you also work within the people who actually are from Mexico ?

Ashley Werter 4:11

Yeah , I do both . A lot of my clients for weddings especially are destination weddings and so they're coming from California or something where it's just far more expensive to have a wedding . And a lot of my students as well , I would say , are from Canada and the United States . But I do have plenty of local clients and it's a really international city , so there are people here from the US , canada , argentina , germany . There's a lot of diversity in Puerto Vallarta , wow .

Judy Gratton 4:44

So how does the cost of living compare I chuckle about that with what it was like when you lived in the United .

Ashley Werter 4:51

States . It's been six and a half years , so I don't know what your guys' current living prices are . I know that every time I go back to visit it's a little bit more expensive each time , but I left in 2018 and I was renting an apartment in Seattle . It was about $2,100 a month and a parking space and it was only like 850 square feet . Living in Mexico , I have a three bedroom , three bathroom house and I pay $850 . Oh my goodness .

Judy Gratton 5:21

So I would guess that's allowed you to improve your lifestyle and that of your son with .

Ashley Werter 5:27

Yeah , definitely , definitely . My money goes a lot farther than it did in the US and I can have the ability to not work sometimes if I want a vacation with my son or take a week off , if he has time off . I don't feel as pressured to make . How old is your ?

Judy Gratton 5:47

son now I just turned eight , and so is he going to local schools .

Ashley Werter 5:52

a private , school or as foreigners . He's not allowed to go to a public school here . He has to go to a private school . It's in a private school , it's a Montessori school . It's actually about 50 feet from my house , oh wow , so that's the length and it's a bilingual school , so half of its classes

Cost of Living and Housing Differences

Ashley Werter 6:10

are in Spanish and half are in English and it's just a . Really I love the school . Its teachers are really kind and dedicated and they have so many celebrations and great activities . I really am happy with him there .

Judy Gratton 6:26

Wonderful . How did the homes compare to homes in the United States in terms of size , amenities ? I think affordability you just showed us . But in general , if someone wanted to either buy a home or rent a home , what differences would they see coming from the United States ?

Ashley Werter 6:48

This is one of the fastest growing cities in Latin America , so we are getting a lot of like new builds and those look a lot like your United States , like very nicely finished apartments and condos , pools , gyms , all that kind of thing . So there's plenty of those options . But if you're going for a more local area or just a build in general , there are certainly some differences . The infrastructure in Mexico is very different , so pretty much we all have like cisterns on our roof for water . We don't have gas lines , so they either deliver it in the tank on the roof or like in a cylinder . We definitely have some more architectural things that are different .

Ashley Werter 7:33

Sometimes the windows don't close all the way , or it's an open window with just an iron gate , something like that . Not every kitchen has a cabinet . Sometimes it's just going to be a bare counter and there might be shelves or something . But there's just going to be a bare counter and there might be shelves or something . But there's definitely going to be some differences . Maybe the power went out today or I don't have very good internet , or the water is running low or something . There's some adjustments to make with that . So when you buy , the water .

Judy Gratton 8:02

Is it water that you can drink , that is stored up there ?

Ashley Werter 8:05

or do you have to ? It depends . In the newer builds the cisterns are really impeccable and a lot of those people do drink the water because it's not really our water . That's the problem . It's the delivery systems , right . So some people do drink their water , but no . I use a water delivery service and I get three of those big garrafons of water for about 100 pesos , which is about five bucks . It lasts me for about 10 days of cooking and drinking my water , but for showering , brushing your teeth , the tap water is fine .

Ashley Werter 8:37

I have an electronic water heater , but there are definitely a lot of like Mexican fixes . There's going to be a lot of jerry rigrigging things , or it just is what it is . Some of those things just aren't so important culturally . If you don't have air conditioning , you most definitely have a ceiling fan or open windows . There's a lot of turret buildings or some sort of part of the building that was made so that the hot air can be stored up there and keep the rest of it cool . Wow , it's a lot of concrete and brick and it's just a little bit different than the houses in the US where it's like wood and drywall and things like that . But we do have both options for sure .

Judy Gratton 9:20

Ah , okay , but you have to be flexible , would you say .

Ashley Werter 9:25

You should definitely come with an open mind and know that , just like the infrastructure is different and the attitude on fixing it is pretty laid back .

Judy Gratton 9:35

Moving to any country that you have to come with an open mind . Things are just . I noticed we watch a lot of British TV and I'm always amazed . We have this giant refrigerator and nobody has giant refrigerators . They have much smaller refrigerators , even in the TV shows . So flexibility would probably be like almost a requirement . If you want to make a move to Mexico , would you say Okay

Cultural Differences and Celebrations

Judy Gratton 10:03

?

Dennis Day 10:03

Ashley , let's talk about some cultural differences of living in a foreign country and living in Mexico specifically . What did you notice when you first moved there that was different culturally versus the United States ?

Ashley Werter 10:17

First of all , that people are so just like naturally kind and welcoming and really hospitable and it was like just surprising being a foreigner and just being like so welcome immediately and I think that's like a big misconception . One of my trips outside of Mexico since I've been here I went to New Orleans and the Uber driver was like shocked when he heard me say that the Mexican people were so nice . But they really genuinely are and there's just so much celebration in Mexico . There's all types of holidays and there's always parades and just like culturally it's very rich and in lots of color and celebrations . There's all dancers and it's just been a really fun experience and just little things like .

Ashley Werter 11:06

I feel like in the United States our idea of mariachi is like one person singing and when you see mariachis in like film or cartoons , it's one drunk guy singing La Cusaracha , right . But mariachis came from the state that I live in now here in Mexico and that's where they originated and it's so beautiful that there's usually 10 or 12 of them . They have just immaculate outfits and they play the most beautiful music and it's just so different than what I expected it to be and it's really such an art form and I feel like that's just how everything has been moving . To Mexico . The Day of the Dead is just like a week long celebration with so many flowers and ofrendas and just everyone celebrating , and it's just . They're just like a really festive culture .

Dennis Day 11:59

Now would you have you come across Americans who are saying , yeah , but we can't get anything done because they're always celebrating .

Ashley Werter 12:06

Yeah , there's definitely some grouches that I hear . I actually find and I thought this was funny because growing up in the United States , people would always say , oh , if you're going to travel , tell people that you're Canadian , because they like Canadians more . Canadians are nicer , right , when in Mexican culture they start at 10 pm and they'll finish at 7 am and there will be serenading and loud music and you'll probably still see that person at work the next day and it's just . It is what it is . But there are definitely a lot of people who complain about the noise because it's a very loud culture and it's upsetting to see because it's just .

Ashley Werter 12:50

I feel if you're going to move here or if you came here for the experience , that is that really laid back , loving lifestyle . Like one of my favorite things seeing when I moved here was that I could go into the pharmacy and my pharmacist has a baby on her hip and she's going to be that way all day and her family is her priority and they allow that to happen and that's not really something you would get to see in the United States and we move here for those certain things and then we complain about the things that we lost and there has to be a trade , a balance , and especially when it's something that's not malicious , like they don't play loud music just to keep you up all night . They're celebrating life with their family or whatever , and it's sad to see people get upset about things like that .

Judy Gratton 13:38

Yeah , Well , mentioning health care and pharmacies that like for you . How do you get health care ? How do you ?

Ashley Werter 13:46

Well , there's lots of private health care that you can get .

Ashley Werter 13:49

So I just have a private health care plan , and that's a big thing in Mexico is there's pharmacies on every corner and everywhere you can imagine .

Ashley Werter 13:59

So the prices of medicine are less , the availability is more , and some of the most surprising things moving here were going into the doctor's office , because the doctor's offices are usually in the States . You walk in , there's a waiting room , you wait in the waiting room , you wait in the doctor's office , a few people come in and ask you a question and then you get to see the doctor and you have a few minutes with them and then they send you to the lab or whatever . But in Mexico , once you get past the waiting room , you're in the doctor's office . They have their exam room side of the office and their desk side of the office and they might have an assistant in there , but they're there with you the whole time . They do the whole exam and answer all your questions and it's just . You can expect to leave having paid $30 and whether it's your dentist or general doctor , but it's very surprising how good the healthcare is . Yeah , wow .

Dennis Day 14:59

That's great .

Judy Gratton 14:59

How do you get around ? Do you have a car or do you ?

Ashley Werter 15:03

I did have a car for a while . I don't right now , so I just use Uber , and it's between three or twelve dollars a ride , depending on how far I'm going . It's usually very affordable and the bus system is really great and it costs 10 pesos , which is about 50 cents , and you can get pretty much all over the city like that and , yeah , it's very accessible place .

Dennis Day 15:26

Can I get practicality ? In order to reside in Mexico , did you have to have a specific kind of visa , or can you just move down there ?

Ashley Werter 15:36

Those rules are always changing , so definitely you got to check with what the current requirements are . But there are some options for if you were to move into Mexico . If you want a permanent residency , there's requirements that you have to fill . You have to make a certain amount of money or have a certain amount of money , and for a temporary resident it's the same thing . When I went into that office the first time and said I wanted to move to Mexico back in Seattle and they were asking me oh , who do you know in Mexico ? What are you going to do there ? I was just like , so used to moving to different places . I was like , oh , I'm just going to go there and make it work . They , I think , were a little bit doubtful . That's how it was going to go and that I maybe wasn't so serious about it . They do want to see , they want to live and succeed in Mexico and not just come here and either bail or not contribute to what they're doing . But you do have options to be a tourist in Mexico for 100 days that's six months and then you can go and come back . But again , with the new administration those are changing and you should get those requirements .

Ashley Werter 16:44

But me personally . I came as a temporary resident . I got one year as a temporary resident and then , when that ended , I got to reapply for a three-year temporary resident and then at the end of the three years , I qualified to be a permanent resident . I applied to be permanent resident and now that's what I am . I'm a permanent resident . I , at five years , was eligible to apply for citizenship . But that comes with a whole bunch of tests and I need to get a little bit better at my Spanish before I try to perfect that one . But each stage comes with a process and some fines and some charges , but it's definitely doable .

Dennis Day 17:26

So when you were preparing for this in Seattle , were you speaking with the US consulate or were you speaking with the Mexican consulate in Seattle ?

Ashley Werter 17:35

We went to the US consulate in Seattle . I will say that the Boise one was far faster , so you might want to check where your options are , because Seattle had like months long waits . We canceled our appointment or something . There are options .

Judy Gratton 17:50

What about social life ? What do you do for fun ?

Ashley Werter 17:53

Vallarta is a really social city . There's always something going on here . Facebook is a huge way to get to do anything . In Mexico , facebook and WhatsApp are like our main things . Most people won't have a website , but they'll have the Facebook and there's groups for everything , and especially for cats or people who want to get to know new people and socialize . So there's always groups for karaoke or reading clubs or adventure adventure group or there's always events going on and something to do . So there's lots of live music and dancing and it's being like a beach city . It's also very active . There's lots of adventure . We have rainforests , there's hikes and waterfalls to go to , we have tons of beautiful beaches and working out is a huge thing . I train Muay Thai , so I do a lot of that , but there's really nothing for every Muay Thai . It's like kickboxing oh my goodness , wow .

Judy Gratton 18:52

Cool yeah .

Dennis Day 18:54

Are you interacting mostly with expats , or is it a mixture of both ?

Ashley Werter 18:59

I would say a mixture of both . There are definitely a lot of expats to come here or move here and stick with mostly English speaking groups and friends , but I would say mine is about 50-50 . My Spanish allows me to be able to communicate with both . Yeah , I have like a lot of activities that I do , like my Muay Thai , for example , is they're all Mexicans in there and so I have a lot of friends from that activity that only speak Spanish . But then there's lots of friends who come here and have businesses also . So , like I have some friends who own a bar , so we do lots of events and things there . So it's definitely a mix .

Dennis Day 19:41

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Navigating Healthcare and Transportation

Dennis Day 19:43

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Judy Gratton 20:16

Are there any ? What do I want to call it ? Does the United States ? Do they reach out to you ? Do they have any requirements from you as someone living in another country ?

Ashley Werter 20:28

No , not really . I really don't have any contact with that kind of thing at all .

Judy Gratton 20:34

Do you pay into Social Security or do you pay taxes or anything like that ?

Ashley Werter 20:39

to the United States . I pay Mexican taxes . My business operates in Mexico , so I pay Mexican taxes . I pay Mexican taxes . My business operates in Mexico , so I pay Mexican taxes . And if I do make US money I file for those taxes , but primarily it's just Mexican taxes . We file every other month .

Ashley Werter 20:54

There's a lot of options for entrepreneurs in Mexico because it is such a culture of nobody just asks you for money . There's very few people who are just like asking for change for no reason . They'll get on the bus and sing and maybe people give them change , or they will sell candies or they'll open doors or you know . Everybody's really like hardworking and really willing to work for their money . And there are so many people that have a cart and sell churros on the street or have any type of business , buying Costco pies and selling them at markets , Like really they're just very entrepreneurial and their system allows them to be that way . And the regime that I am in as a small business owner was like the first year I paid 10% of what I should have paid in taxes and then each year it increases 10% until 10 years in and then I'm finally just like paying normal taxes . But I feel like that really was a supportive move and is like wanting their people to succeed and be able to profit and have a good business , and I really appreciated that .

Dennis Day 22:07

Good way to grow a small business .

Judy Gratton 22:09

What would you say has been the most challenging thing for you about making the move ? What was the

Legal Requirements and Business Taxes

Judy Gratton 22:15

biggest ?

Ashley Werter 22:16

how to climb over there was definitely a lot of confusing situations . That , when we first moved here , was how do we buy the foot garbons with water ? Because the people were telling us so we can only sell you the water , not the bottle or just little things like that , and it was just trying to figure out how to work in all of their systems and how they do things and definitely learning the language as a a foreigner , I very often look like a tourist . When I get into an Uber or something , or if I'm walking the Malacombe , I look like a tourist and everybody speaks to me as if I am one , and then if I can converse back with them , it's always surprised , like , oh , your Spanish is so good and I'm like it's not really that good .

Ashley Werter 23:03

But compared to all the tourists who come and don't speak English , they're like oh , your Spanish is so good and I'm like it's not really that good . But compared to all the tourists who come and don't speak English , they're like , and they're always just as Senora Zamora in high school promised me that they would be . They are always extremely grateful that I have learned some language and can converse with them , because typically the exchange would be oh , I don't speak English , you have to speak Spanish . And then you speak Spanish and they realize how terrible your Spanish is and suddenly they speak English because they're like oh , I don't speak very good English , but then their English is way better than your Spanish , so they just help you out . But there's a lot of English speaking Mexicans and I feel like it's definitely survivable if you don't learn the language , but I feel like the gesture of learning some and just how helpful that is , it goes a long way .

Judy Gratton 23:54

I've noticed that I've traveled in other places where I don't speak the language and just trying People appreciate it . Right , they do .

Ashley Werter 24:02

Mexicans have a lot with their hands also , so it's a little easier to get points across because they're very demonstrative already . And what are some of the things that you've just thoroughly's at school , he's safe means a lot to me to be prepared for disasters that are not earthquakes and things like that . Like my son has earthquake drills but he doesn't have to do lockdown hide from an active shooter drill because that's just not something that happens in Mexico . A lot of people , when I said I wanted to move to Mexico , told me hideous things oh , your child's going to be abducted or molested or you're going to get shot or that cartel and certainly there are cartel problems .

Ashley Werter 25:09

But as a person living in Seattle you don't really worry about the crimes happening in Chicago , right , and in Seattle I had a lot more run-ins with crime than I do here in Mexico . It's mostly just petty theft , like if you leave your wallet you might not see it again , kind of things . But definitely my number one is just knowing that when I take my son to school he's going to be safe there and then just honestly , just the people that I've met and being able to do what I love and be really accepted by my community . I try to be really active in it . I volunteer and I am involved in my son's school and I do a lot of events around town and it's just so nice to be so welcomed .

Dennis Day 25:57

Sounds fabulous to me .

Judy Gratton 25:58

Is there anything you really miss about the United ?

Ashley Werter 26:00

States . My family certainly my family all lives in Washington with the cousins getting it about . It's definitely the people . But there are a lot of conveniences like oh man , I miss bathtubs . We don't have bathtubs .

Ashley Werter 26:14

It's extremely rare , I love that there's little things like that I miss and those are also the little things that when my son visits the US carpeting everywhere and night light switches and drinking fountains those are all things that make him go wow , my God , this place is amazing and there are little comforts like that I miss for sure . In like newer hotels or condos , you might get a bathtub . We have like outdoor bathtubs A lot of people do like ice baths here but it's like not plastic , but like a plastic-ish . It's going to be in your house some porcelain bathtub , unless you have a new build and you put that in your request because it's just not a thing that they do . But the things that I gained versus what I lost , it was definitely worth it .

Dennis Day 27:03

Are you renting now ?

Ashley Werter 27:04

I do , I rent .

Dennis Day 27:06

So let's ask would there ever be the opportunity for you to buy a home in Mexico ?

Ashley Werter 27:10

There's definitely lots of affordable homes in Mexico for people of all different price ranges . And then there's just like some I don't I'm not familiar with all of them , but there are some requirements like foreigners can't own property within a certain distance from the ocean . They don't want ocean property to go to foreigners . But that , when it comes to if you're going to build an entire condo building , I'm sure that would be a little different , but there's little rules like that and there's definitely some processes to go through . But it's definitely options to buy Mexico

Safety, Family, and Quality of Life

Ashley Werter 27:44

, absolutely to go through .

Dennis Day 27:44

But it's definitely options to buy Mexico , absolutely . You live in a tourist , let me say a tourist venue , a city that's based on tourism . Do you feel like this is more expensive than other parts of Mexico ? Have you traveled to maybe some places ?

Ashley Werter 28:01

Okay , my area is still pretty affordable . It definitely has been going up every year because it is growing so fast . We're getting a new cruise ship dock , we're getting a new airport dock , we're getting condos popping up all over the place . It's really a growing city , but in other places in Mexico it's absolutely much cheaper . There's some mountain towns a few hours from here . I just went there for my son's birthday and we spent the weekend there and Even just a little thing like the convenience store we bought for the three of us some snacks and some drinks and what I ended up paying , I was like , wow , that would have gotten me one snack in Mexico . That would be helpful to those of us who are not there but are considering moving to Mexico . It doesn't necessarily mean tomorrow , but it means not today .

Ashley Werter 29:16

Now it's something to get used to , because I'm very entrepreneurial and I'm always doing something and I'm like ready to get it done now and I had to curb that a little bit . So my washing machine needs repaired and I've been waiting for four tomorrows , and it is what it is To understand that the flexibility of those people didn't follow through on their commitments because they prioritized something else , like their family or whatever it was , and that I also had that ability and that I could not be so structured and tight into my routines and my ways and that I can like okay , I don't have to get this all done today , we can take our time . Like it is what it is .

Judy Gratton 30:03

And your stress level . To look at life that way .

Ashley Werter 30:07

I'm still always hustling . I have to , I have to make all of my own work , I have to tell people when they need to hire me . But as far as a case of life , absolutely , it's nice to be like , yeah , you know what , and take off the evening and go watch the sunset on the beach , and it doesn't matter if I'm 20 minutes late , they're not going to start yet anyways , because I have spent a lot of time showing up early , which to me is on time and then it starts two hours later and it's just , it's just more laid back , and so it will force you to be more laid back also .

Judy Gratton 30:44

How about financial things like banking or anything along those lines that you would

Banking, Money, and Final Advice

Judy Gratton 30:51

you have any information on or would care think that ?

Ashley Werter 30:54

I'm not sure how it would work for a tourist to have a bank account , but as a temporary and permanent resident , I was able to make a bank account for myself easily . I have my Mexican bank accounts that I use for debit cards and daily usings and paying people I work with or whatever it is . And then I have my US bank accounts and I just use WISE . I use TransferWise to pay myself money and I can do it in minutes . You want to be a little tech savvy on that app , askbank to come down here , because I did just see somebody post in one of the groups that like , oh , as usual , they did a wire transfer and this time the money didn't show up and they never had a problem with that before . And we're asking for advice and I don't have to do any of that . I can transfer money to myself at any point no matter where I am , it's wise .

Ashley Werter 31:49

There are lots of options . There's probably 10 different financial apps like that where you can transfer money , but it's extremely helpful and I definitely would recommend being up to date on that , because there are mistakes and different systems .

Judy Gratton 32:08

I know my brother had real issues getting money from the States and I think it was being wired . I don't think he was looking at apps , the idea of using apps putting it in an American account and then using an app to transfer it into his Mexican account .

Ashley Werter 32:27

It takes a lot of time and stress .

Dennis Day 32:30

The United States has really become almost a cashless society . If people ask me for money on the street , I don't have cash in my pocket anymore . How is it ? Is it a cashless society in Mexico , or is it still a mix of both ?

Ashley Werter 32:44

It's definitely not a cashless society . There are plenty of places that don't accept credit cards and you can only pay in cash , even if you're like , oh , this is a big , popular restaurant , why don't you take cards ? And I'm going to just assume that that has some tax reasons , but you definitely want to be able to have pesos here . You can spend dollars , but you're not going to get a good conversion rate if you do spend dollars . I get paid in dollars quite often from clients and I usually just spend that at Costco , honestly , because they have a really good conversion rate . So if I just save my dollars , usually just spend that at Costco , honestly , because they have a really good conversion rate . So if I just save my dollars , I'll spend them at Costco and that works for me .

Ashley Werter 33:23

Office Depot also has a really good one , but for the most part they're going to give you several dollars less for the exchange rate than normal , even if you go to an exchange , a bank or something . You can go to a bank to do it as just like a foreigner without an account , definitely , but the exchange rate is not going to be the official exchange rate because they're always in a . A lot of people always ask should I bring dollars or pesos ? You should definitely bring pesos and you should have the ability to get pesos while you're here , but the ATMs will take your US cards and give you pesos . You just have to make sure you choose the right option and you're picking a thousand pesos and not a thousand dollars kind of thing , but because that's a big difference .

Dennis Day 34:08

Ashley , this has been a wealth of information for somebody who's contemplating , Even as a tourist . I would think you're going to spend an extended time . We really appreciate you coming on . Have you got any final words for anybody who's considering coming to Mexico for an extended or long-term stay ?

Ashley Werter 34:31

Yeah , I would just say have an open mind , learn a few phrases in Spanish and have a good time , because we have so much to offer in Mexico the people and the food , and the culture , and the beaches and the mountains it's really you can't not have a good time . But you should also just not expect it to be the same as the United States , and then it's going to be great .

Dennis Day 34:53

Thank you so much , really appreciate this . We're going to do part two about running a business in Mexico , which is very different than just living there off , say , social Security or something , and we really want to find that information . So that'll be . Our next podcast is running a business in Mexico as a foreigner . Thanks for attending . We wish you the best and thanks for watching Getting your Edge how to Downsize your Home and Life . Thanks again , take care , bye .