It's been nearly 9 months, and this is our final week in Oaxaca, Mexico. As the days wind down, we are realizing each of the things we do will be for the last time. It's caused us to reflect on the things we will miss the most about this special place...and some of the things we won't mind leaving behind. What we'll miss the most about living in Oaxaca: The people, who are calm, friendly and polite. But namely the new friendships we formed here. Our landlords/neighbors Gaby a

There is a daily rhythm of life here, punctuated by various unique sounds... Early in the morning you'll hear birds chirping and pigeons cooing in the trees and bushes. It's a rather pleasant sound to wake up to. After that, the next major sound we hear is the sharp ring-a-ling-a-ling of a cowbell from the garbage collection trucks. Three days a week they drive slowly through the neighborhood, sounding the alarm that it's time to bring your trash and recycling outside. You ha

This post is aimed at foreigners planning a short- or long-term stay in Oaxaca de Juarez. We have generated a list of ten practical tips you may find helpful in daily life. We do not have experience with the Temporary Residency permits, because we utilized the 6-month U.S. citizen tourist visa, so we can't give advice on that. First, before traveling or moving to any new country or community, you should be asking yourself: Why do I want to do this, and how will my presence as

Oaxaca is a UNESCO heritage site, full of rich tradition, handicrafts and indigenous heritage. Aside from the colorful tapestry of buildings that populate the central core of the city, you'll find hundreds if not thousands of beautiful murals on homes and businesses throughout the city. The murals depict the region's history, traditions, and values, including social and political commentaries. Just a few common themes I have noticed include Dia de Muertos, Celebrating & Empow

When we started our digital nomad journey, my husband and I only planned to stay in the city of Oaxaca de Juarez for three months. Then we thought we would move on to another city in Mexico. But for many reasons, we decided to stay longer. Now that we have been renting a home in Oaxaca de Juarez for five months, I will share what we love most about this city. Hot, Mild, Weather I grew up in the Pacific Northwest and almost always felt too cold and damp. I describe myself like

Wedding festivities in Oaxaca are a unique and vibrant experience. The first time we happened upon a wedding procession here; it was a Friday afternoon in October, and we had just left our Spanish lesson at a cafe in the heart of central Oaxaca. We heard the music of horns and drums and as we rounded the corner, we discovered a scene like one I've never seen before. A large group of revelers were processing towards us on the pedestrian avenue near the Santo Domingo Cathedral.

After living in Oaxaca de Juarez for a few months, we thought we would explore life in a different environment within Mexico. In mining the travel blogs, we noticed a lot of rave reviews about Zihuatanejo. So we took a long weekend to check it out in January. THE PROS: Small Town Vibe Located on the Pacific coast, about halfway between Puerto Vallarta and Acapulco, and affectionately nicknamed "Zihua", this beach destination is known for maintaining is small town fishing vill

I realized yesterday that we've been living in Oaxaca for two months now and I've been completely remiss in not sharing a glimpse into our daily/weekly routines. On a typical weekday Duke wakes Trevor up around 5:30am, ready for breakfast. After feeding the kitties, Trevor does a live stream on his Twitch channel for a few hours. He does some daily games like Wordle and Connections, plays Grand Theft Auto, and tests out new games. To be perfectly honest, I'm usually sleeping

A few weeks ago, we hosted our first guests here in Oaxaca! Our prior neighbor from Washington and her friend stayed in our guest rooms for a full week. It was a fun change of pace from our usual routine of working from home during the day and alternating evening activities of going to Spanish lessons/the laundromat/or grocery store. They did a lot of research and made a detailed itinerary of their wish-list activities, and we got to tag along for much of the ride, as much as

Last week comprised a whole week of festive events for the Day of the Dead celebration. There was a full slate of daily events, including neighborhood processions (Comparsas), street fairs, concerts, and museum displays. And don't forget the daily fireworks at all hours! Before we moved here, we asked what to expect during this week and were told simply, "chaos". Luckily, we live about 30 minutes' walk from the center of the city, so it was relatively calm in our neighborhood

One thing I love to do when traveling is visit the local grocery stores and markets. Browsing the aisles and vendors can provide a lot of insight and sparks curiosity about the culture. It's also just fun to discover new products or versions of foods you've never seen before! In this edition, we'll highlight a few fun finds from a grocery store in the suburbs of Oaxaca, Mexico. The store itself was pretty big and reminded us of a blend of Target, Walmart and Costco, all in on

Oftentimes when we travel, we miss the foods, flavors, and comforts of home. But that longing can limit us from appreciating new and different things. Here are three things I'm loving right now in Mexico... Totopos corn chips: If you like "Hint of Lime" tortilla chips, you'd love these. They have an even stronger lime flavor atop a slightly thicker but still light and crunchy round chip. I picked them up on a whim on our first grocery trip and we keep going back for more beca

Just before bedtime on a Friday night, Sitah started displaying strange behaviors, visiting the litter box every few minutes and constantly licking her rear end. We knew right away from past experience that something was wrong. I didn't want to wait until morning to seek treatment because I knew her condition would only worsen in that time. Having only lived in Mexico for one week, we needed to find an emergency vet ASAP. Thank goodness for Whatsapp and Google Translate, whic

Our top three criteria for choosing a country to move to were: Safety Warm Climate Low Cost of Living Safety for obvious reasons; Warm Climate because I'm like a lizard- I'm always cold and feel the need to sun myself to warm up; and finally a Low Cost of Living since we didn't know what type of jobs we would get and how much they would pay. The point of moving abroad for us is to live a simpler and less stressful lifestyle, which means not having to work endless hours to mak

On a sunny but cool fall morning in October, Trevor's mom and stepdad drove us to the Seattle-Tacoma airport with our cats and luggage in tow. It had been a lot of work to prepare our house for sale, plan the move, and sell all of our belongings. So it felt really good to finally walk out the door for the last time and drive away towards a new chapter in life. Overall, we were blessed with a smooth trip from Seattle to Oaxaca, with a scheduled overnight layover in Dallas. The