The Expat Lifestyle and Cost of Living in Oaxaca, Mexico

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Introduction: Welcome to Badass Digital Nomads, where we're pushing the boundaries of remote work and travel, all while staying grounded with a little bit of old school philosophy, self-development, and business advice from our guests.

Kristin Wilson, Host:    00:01:13    Hey there, Kristin, from traveling with Kristin here and welcome to episode 177 of Badass Digital Nomads. This is part one of a two-part episode with my guest Vangile Makwakwa, who is a multi-talented author, speaker, world traveler and entrepreneur. She is also the founder of Wealthy Money. She is a we coach and she's the host of two podcasts, the Money Magic Podcast and the Property Magician Podcast. So today we're talking all about her cost of living in Mexico and the general cost of living in Mexico, also comparing the cost of living in Mexico to her home country of South Africa. So very interesting and very practical and informational podcast for you today, especially for all the female entrepreneurs out there and for people who are from a non-Western country. And then in part two of our interview next week, it's all about making money online, how she's been able to make money online to support her lifestyle and how she coaches other people to be able to make money online and more importantly, move past and move beyond any money blocks that you might have, any abundance blocks. And she shares a lot of valuable information in that episode, including how she was able to get herself out of credit card debt and reverse her money mindset to go from being in debt to being an abundant and prosperous and successful online entrepreneur. Enjoy.

Podcast Interview:

Kristin: So, Hi everyone, Welcome back to Badass Digital Nomads and Welcome to my guest Vangile Makwakwa today. You're from South Africa, correct?  

Vangile:    00:03:09    Yes.  

Kristin:    00:03:10    Do you speak Spanish? You're in Mexico right now,  

Vangile:    00:03:13    <laugh> Yeah, I speak a little bit like my Spanish is coming along really well. Some days I get very, very lazy though cuz I'm just like, can I just not have to have my brain work? It's awful. But I do speak it  

Kristin:    00:03:27   It is so true. So yes, I always say that the reason why I haven't learned another language is because I learned Spanish when I was studying abroad in college and I could focus all of my time and energy on that. But then when you start working, it's like you only have so much brain power per day, especially when you're working for yourself. Sometimes it feels like when you have that free time instead of learning a language that you could be doing something for your business. So I can definitely relate to that. And also so many people speak English these days that it can be pretty easy to get by with speaking English.  

Vangile:    00:04:06    Except in Mexico <laugh>.  

Kristin:    00:04:08    Oh yeah. Well, which part of Mexico are you in?  

Vangile:    00:04:11    I'm now in Puerto Escondido, but I was in Oaxaca Central then I've been in Mexico City and I've been in Huatulco But yeah, Puerto now has a lot of foreigners. But like, I mean if you only speak Spanish then you're only gonna talk mainly to foreigners or people that lived abroad here, which is not my jam.  

Kristin:    00:04:31    Mm-hmm <affirmative>. And what brought you to Mexico?  

Vangile:    00:04:35    Mm, really and truly, I just had this feeling that I need to move. So I've been living in Sri Lanka and if people know what's happened with Sri Lanka, it's kind of crazy. But I was in Sri Lanka for the whole of 2020 and then until April, 2021. And I work a lot with ancestors and guides. So I've got this guidance to leave Sri Lanka and go back to South Africa. And I just assumed I would go back to Sri Lanka after a year or go back to Asia. But then I started getting guidance, then I was like, no, I'm gonna go to Turkey. And I was telling everyone I'm moving to Turkey. But then I started getting guidance to come to Mexico and I usually work with an astro photographer who is an astrologer that looks at your chart and how cities are going to be for you and how you're gonna react in different cities and the good things in each city. So I was like, I wanna go to a Oaxaca, Mexico. And she was like, I've never had a client be so specific about where they wanna go <laugh>. And we started looking into that and it just turned out that like my entire chart, my entire Astro photography chart agreed with Oaxaca. So I was like, Oaxaca it is.  

Kristin:    00:05:48    Wow. And how long were you there for?  

Vangile:    00:05:51    I'm still in Oaxaca as we're recording this, so I'm gonna be here for a full six months.  

Kristin:    00:05:56    Okay.  

Vangile:    00:05:57    Yeah. So this, so I've been here, this is my fourth month, so it's like three and a half months.  

Kristin:    00:06:04    And how have you found the environment there and the day-to-day life? I've actually never been there.  

Vangile:    00:06:10    Oh, okay. I've heard on your podcast, especially when you're talking about Costa Rica, you did one of the Costa Rican episodes and you were talking about Mexico. So I don't know why I just made that gross assumption that you've been here <laugh>, so,  

Kristin:    00:06:24    Oh, I've been to Mexico, but it's such a big country that I haven't, yeah, been to Oaxaca. But yeah, I've been a lot through Mexico City and on both coastlines. So yeah. I'm just curious how your lifestyle has been there over this past few months and if it's met your expectations from feeling led to live there.  

Vangile:    00:06:45    Oh my gosh, I'm so, so grateful that I got led to come here. I didn't know that this is what I needed, but it is what I needed. The astro photographer said my sense of community and friendship is so high in Oaxaca and I just keep meeting people, I'm building community. And she was like, your business will do well there because when you're operating from there emotionally, everything is going to align for you. And I see such beautiful shifts in my business. And she was like, it's also a creative space for you because again, it's all about community and connecting with people and you like people. So what's been happening is exactly that. So what I do find though is there's a difference between Oaxaca, the city, Oaxaca City, the center and the coast, so Huatulco and Puerto Escondido, even Huatulco and Puerto Escondido are very different. So Oaxaca Central is unbelievable. It's one of the few cities in the world that I've actually considered not leaving.  

Kristin:    00:07:43    Wow.  

Vangile:    00:07:44    Because I'm not a city person apart from Cape Town, it's one of the few cities that I felt like that where I was like, I wanna say here. And the reason for that is I am very much about the arts and I'm a writer. So it's about creativity tapping into that everywhere you go there's, oh my gosh, this wall art, street art, artisan shops, oh my gosh. People are making <laugh> poetry, they sculpting. There's just so much creativity that is the best way to explain Oaxaca Central. The people are incredible and thank God they don't speak English because I learned Spanish within two months and people were like, I did a live video of me doing a cooking class and people were like, man, you speak Spanish. I was like, I have no option. Every place I go to people are speaking Spanish and I'm so, so grateful.  

Vangile:    00:08:36    So it just lovely, lovely people willing to tell me about the culture. I learned so much about the culture, the history. I felt welcomed into the community. I still love Oaxaca Central. In fact, I plan to keep coming back to Oaxaca every other year or every year, in fact, fact for a few months because I'm just loving it so much. Huatulco is a little bit more upscale, right? So you've got a lot of your upscale tourists, it really intrigued me because a lot of them go, they buy land and then they build villas and they villas are like really lovely. But then it's so far from the center and the actual people that it's so divorced from the actual experience of feeling like, listen up, I'm in Mexico, you know, because you're so far from the center often. So I was living in the center, loved Huatulco - met a Huatulcon man - who does my massages now and did my readings as you can tell, like I do a lot of spiritual stuff.  

Vangile:    00:09:36     I met like someone who has been on the Naked and Afraid show and she's traveling with her three kids. So it was just amazing. But then Puerto, oh my gosh, guys, <laugh>, I keep saying this, I imagine this is how the seventies and the flower children must have been before everything happened with capitalism and everything. It's a kind of ocean town where people greet each other. Your strangers, you pass by on the street, you greet each other, you make friends over, literally you're at a restaurant, someone asks you a question, next thing you know you're chilling the next night together you're having incredible conversations. This has happened so often. They have entrepreneurial meetups. I didn't even know about these meetups, but my neighbor upstairs from my apartment was like, you should go for an entrepreneur meetup. There's a kind of innocence to Puerto Escondido where energetically it feels like everyone here is here for love, is here to give, love is here because they just, they're about exploring, opening up their heart chakra and loving. So it has a very, very special place in my heart because of that.  

Kristin:    00:10:56    Wow. And here I just thought it was a surf town. Well I have heard a lot about Oaxaca, about the gastronomy, the art scene, the creativity. And it's been on my list for a long time. And I also used to be a surfer. So I've known about Puerto Escondido for a while, but I didn't realize it was so unique and that the people were particularly nice and welcoming and that it had this kind of spiritual underlying energy to it. So we'll definitely have to check that out. And I was going to ask how you've met so many people there, but I guess you just answered that by just pure chance just meeting people on the street and meetups and is there anything else that comes to mind?  

Vangile:    00:11:38    Just that - honestly, like I met my friend, Lavi and right before there was a hurricane warning, we went to the Mercado to go get food. We get there and like my friend Laurie was here from Boston visiting me. We meet this girl, we keep passing this woman. Eventually we stop, we talk to her like within five hours. She was planning a trip to go stay with me in Huatulco to go shelter in place at my apartment. Cuz I'd had two places cuz I couldn't decide where I wanted to live because everyone was like, Huatulco is a place, Puerto is too hectic. But my spirit was like, but then my friend Laurie was like, Puerto, that's where I wanna go. I don't wanna see Huatulco, cause she does a lot of research whenever we do travels. And so I was like wow, this is great.  

Vangile:    00:12:24    Let's go. So this is exactly what happened. This is how I ended up in Puerto. And then I meet Lavi at the Mercado. And then since then we have been friends. She stayed for five days at my place in Huatulco. So much have happened. It feels like we've lived a lifetime. She's introduced me to other people. I'm putting together a retreat here in Mexico at the end of August. And she knew cuz she'd been here three months before me, she's introduced me to chefs, to bakers. When I was in Huatulco. I then met someone at the fast stop. They introduced me to hairdressers for my hair. It was really, really, really incredible.  

Kristin:    00:13:05    Wow. Yeah. That's the kind of connection that I feel like is so common when you're traveling. And that's probably been one of the biggest gaps that I felt in coming back to the US is that somehow I don't make those kind of connections where you just meet somebody and you're just like moving in together or hanging out so often. And I saw your house on the video and it looks so nice. Can you share some information? since you are a wealth expert, can you share some information about your cost of living in that area and your rent, utilities, food, things like that?  

Vangile:    00:13:47    Okay. So let me preface this by saying that Puerto Escondido and Huatulco are very unique to any other country that I've traveled in terms of accommodation. In that all of us are complaining about the price of accommodation. It's cheap for Americans, I guess. Cuz if you're getting quoted like a little one bedroom place that doesn't have anything and it's a thousand dollars if you're coming from Los Angeles or New York, it feels like wow this is so, so affordable. My accommodation, it's not the usual words in terms of like when I've traveled, cuz I couldn't get a one-bedroom apartment. So usually two-bedroom apartments and studios are common. I wasn't really excited about a studio, especially because the studio was about 17,000, 18,000 pesos a month. So that is about 900 US dollars a month. So I was like, no, especially with the amenities that you get. And then they were also quoting when I was in Huatulco they quoted me 1,650 US dollars for a studio. But that studio had all the amenities, your microwaves, your everything. So I was like, okay, this is not for me.  

Kristin:    00:14:59    That's really expensive.  

Vangile:    00:15:01    It is. So I won't lie, it depends on what you want. So also Puerto Escondido and Huatulco, you guys can research then highly, highly famous for terrible internet. I can do basic work in my apartment actually. I do all my work in my apartment. Kristin, I will say it's not always the greatest wifi service, but it's also not terrible. So in the groups, people are always like, how do I do this? So I was looking for a place that had good apartment, good wifi, and was close to the beach. So I'm two minutes from the beach and it's a two bedroom, so it's 25,000 pesos, which is about 1,250 US dollars a month.  I'm happy with this because it's really, really challenging to find something with the amenities and to have a place that has decent internet where I can watch Netflix, where I can receive things where like literally my friends, like - I invite them over when they're like, I wanna go to a co-working space.  

Vangile:    00:15:57    I'm like, you know, my place is available and I've got an extra key. So my friend Lavi was able to use the space. But in terms of food, it is extremely, extremely affordable. Again, this is coming from my experience having lived in other countries. But when I talk to a lot of Mexican people, the price of food has doubled since I've been here.

Kristin: Wow.

Vangile: So I know it is expensive for the locals. So I want to just acknowledge that - that it, this is also coming from a space of when you've lived in different countries then you're comparing countries across certain things. But yeah, the rent kind of takes up a lot. So food, I think on food I'm spending about, literally, let me see, I'm spending about 1,500 pesos a week, which is about $70 a week on fresh fruit and vegetables. And they're really, really fresh to the point where like they will go off in the fridge.  

Vangile:    00:16:53    So like I don't like  -- that's organic, right? And in most countries I'd be spending double, triple that like way more than that for the amount of stuff that I get. And then I also go out quite a bit and I spend about maybe 2000 pesos. I'm just going out having drinks with friends. I'm not much of a drinker so I'll be spending more. But vegan food globally in general, if you're just eating veggies and just really good freshly made food, it tends to be more affordable. So I should preface that as well that I'm vegan, so I'm buying from farmer's markets, I'm going to vegan restaurants that are catering to be more inclusive to everybody. So that's something to consider. And then it's a thousand pesos for my yoga, which is $50 a month for yoga, which is not at all bad. Like, I'm very happy with that. And then I have my monthly massages and then I put aside 5,000 pesos for massages here. Cuz for me that's really key to help me regulate my nervous system. Really feel centered, grounded. And that's 250 US dollars a month.  

Kristin:    00:18:03    So that's how many per week?  

Vangile:    00:18:04    I'm getting one a week. Okay. It's actually about 1,300 pesos for one and a half hour massage every week.  

Kristin:    00:18:14    Okay.  

Vangile:    00:18:15    So it's actually about 5,600 pesos, which is just a little more.

Kristin:    00:18:20    So that's about $60.  

Vangile:    00:18:23    Yeah.  

Kristin:    00:18:24    Okay. And then you said your cleaning lady was just there. How much does she charge for cleaning?  

Vangile:    00:18:30    So she charges me 300 pesos a week. She comes in once a week cause I really, really have a thing about needing my space to be clean and I'm also using the opportunity to learn Spanish and get to know her. Yeah. So that's about.. 

Kristin:    00:18:46    $15,  

Vangile:    00:18:47    $15 a week. So Puerto, Huatulco, the coastal areas in Oaxaca become super, super affordable if you figure out accommodation. And I've been thinking of certain ways to do that because I really, really love this place because even in South Africa I would not be paying this much for a two-bedroom apartment. Certain amenities would be included. Like I don't have an electric cattle so I boil my water with pots. I don't have like a microwave. But overall - so what is on offer in Puerto Escondido in the price point, I tell you, me and almost everyone in this building, which just like kissing the ground because the way that things, because Puerto Escondido just kind of became popular recently. So in the last few months there are shops that have never been there, houses are been built. And mass, when you come here you just see buildings, buildings, buildings. Because word - word is getting around that it's the next big town. Like we're talking about it that it looks like it's the next Tulum.  

Kristin:    00:19:49    Uh oh  

Vangile:    00:19:50  Right now because supply is so high, demand is so low. So people are charging all sorts of crazy prices for rent and it's causing a lot of issues between the locals and foreigners.  

Kristin:    00:20:03    Or vice versa.  

Vangile:    00:20:04    Yeah. It's causing a lot of tension. Cabs are refusing to pick up a locals because they know that they can charge more with foreigners. We don't know the original pricing, all of that stuff.

Kristin: What?

Vangile: Yes, it's a mess. It's not okay. So I'm also not okay about rampant tourism when I came here, this is not what I expected. It's also why I considered Huatulco. But there's a reason why this town is growing so fast - word is spreading. People are starting to tell each other, it's wild. It's really, really intense. But the third thing is that it's affecting the locals. So there's also that. So I often don't mind paying a little extra if I'm a foreigner because I feel like there can be local prices and foreign prices and I often have had that experience on my travels. And I do feel like that is actually fair because most foreigners are traveling on a different currency and often it's a stronger currency. Although the South African rand is almost one-to-one with the Mexican peso. So, so hmm. <laugh>, my experience is very, very different. <laugh>.  

Kristin:    00:21:11    Would you say that the tension between the foreigners and the locals, is this related to tourism just regular tourism or is it foreign residents and digital nomads having more of an effect?  

Vangile:    00:21:26    Luckily it's not an overt tension, right? But it's like small things that like the price of stuff is going up. Because again, when someone comes here and someone charges quotes them a one bedroom for 10,000 pesos, if you are just coming from a whole different location, you are gonna be like, that is amazing. It's so affordable because that's $500 a month for one bedroom. So you're making your decision based on that. And so that just automatically increases pricing.  

Kristin:    00:21:55    Yes. I remember when I first got to Bansko, Bulgaria, my friend Johnny and I were looking at apartments and we thought at first that 500 per month was a really good deal. And then we found out that the actual price for locals was more like a hundred to 200 euro per month. Yeah. And then through a local, we were able to find apartments for like 150 to 250 per month. And so it's all perception. And I don't know as foreigners if we are necessarily entitled to those prices <laugh>, but it's like a double-edged sword because then you know, if we pay more it increases the prices for everyone.   

Vangile:    00:22:37    I was about to say, so at first I wanna pay more, I wanna pay more. And then my friends started to explain that because people are paying more so willingly, it then has the cab issue. Right? Which is that, well we know you're gonna wanna pay the proper pricing but the foreigner's not gonna know so we can charge them the pricing that we're now charging. So Huatulco and Puerto Escondido are slightly different. Huatulco has a standardized cab pricing, it's standardized. So that means that everyone is paying the same price and we all know what the pricing is. So there are ways to get around this  --Puerto Escondido, literally, you'll finding like an entire neighborhood being built in a month, two, three months, new shops. Like I'm always walking by new shops in La Punta and all sorts of things. So it's not a bad thing. It's creating an industry's creating tourism.  

Vangile:    00:23:28    And I think because it's just starting out, I do feel like as supply increases and demand is also increasing, the pricing will find a medium point. But as it is right now, it's a little wild. Even for someone who has traveled like me and has lived in over 15 different countries, it's like, but why am I paying this much for this? Cause in other countries this is what I get for this much. And I've had to just learn to be like, okay, breathe through it and then you're gonna have to find a solution because right now you just moved here, you didn't understand the dynamics and the tension. So it's okay, just forgive yourself for not knowing and then just do better next time. And I am renting from a local so that actually makes me happy. And like I said, I am very, very happy with my accommodation. So I don't regret paying what I pay, I don't regret moving here.  

Kristin:    00:24:21    Yeah. And it did look nice in the video. And then how is that compared to your cost of living in South Africa? So that's a country that I've never been to. But in Cape Town, for example, the last time that you lived there, what would you say being a local that your cost of living was compared to some of your friends who were moving there from other countries?  

Vangile:    00:24:44    So for me it's way cheaper in terms of rent in Cape Town. I'm like looking because there's a lot of supply, right? That's the other thing because Cape Town has so many incredible beautiful apartments. So supply also comes into play. So obviously from what I'm paying here, I would probably be paying something like maybe 15,000 random month, but I wouldn't be near the beach. But I would've been able to find a studio apartment and have maybe negotiated something like $600 a month for maximum to pay. So there's always options. I won't lie. Like when I look at my budget for South Africa and I look at my budget for Mexico, my budget for Mexico was slightly higher. But only just because of accommodation, not because of the food things. Food is more expensive in South Africa. I'll be paying a bit more for yoga in South Africa, I would be paying okay, maybe the same amount for massages, paying a bit more for my cleaning lady.  

Vangile:    00:25:46    It's lower, but only because of the accommodation issue. And honestly, I could have chosen to stay in a different location and had like the same kind of budget. But again, like I run an online business. So there's very, very specific things for me when I'm looking at a place to rent, right? We're talking about you looking at the background of my apartment, like I'm talking about money, I'm talking about a certain way of travel. So I'm always looking into how does this make me feel? WillI get a lot of work done here cause I always teach my clients as well that sometimes we penny pinch, but we pay in pounds. You penny pinch on the accommodation. But then you are never available at the hostel because it feels icky. You have to do everything at the co-working space. And when you look at over time the expenses that you're spending in terms of co-working space, the food, working there, like all these things, taking a cab to get there, getting a scooter to get there, all that ends up being so, so expensive in the long run and it starts to add up.  

Vangile:    00:26:51    So I'm a big believer in just paying for what would make me comfortable and then everything else I'll be able to save because I'm able to cook at home. I have incredible cutlery, I'm able to host dinner parties, I'm able to do so much. I'm not out buying rounds of drinks, doing all those. There's nothing wrong with that. But it's also about a lifestyle choice.  

Kristin:    00:27:12    Mm-hmm <affirmative>. Yeah, you make a really good point. Having worked from home for so long and having traveled as a nomad for so long, I pay so much attention to the accommodations because you really want to feel comfortable, you want to feel inspired, you want to feel productive because this is a place that is your adopted home, but it's also your temporary office. And it's just, I'm always looking at the workspace, I'm looking at the lighting because I know I've stayed in so many bad places around the world and sometimes it was when I wasn't working or you know, it just depended on what kind of trip I was going on. And there's certain conditions where you just don't feel motivated to work and you don't feel comfortable to work. I can remember being in a really nice house in a vineyard in Montenegro, but we didn't have internet or staying in a hotel in Bosnia that didn't have a desk and it just had really dingy furniture and the lighting was bad and the only place I would work was outside under a tree. But then you've got like dust on your laptop and it's loud and there's music and there's people, those sorts of things. You know, you really need to pay attention. Speaking of which, what is your internet speed at your house?  

Vangile:    00:28:33    I don't know actually. I don't really know how to check internet speed. My thing, the way I operate is like can I get Netflix? Can I do Zoom? If I can do a zoom call, get Netflix, record a podcast.  

Kristin:    00:28:46    And you're on your hotspot now, right?  

Vangile:    00:28:49    No, actually today it's behaving really differently. I just switched off, I logged off of everything, and I'm on my Wi-Fi.  

Kristin:    00:28:56    Oh okay.  

Vangile:    00:28:57    Because my hotspot was behaving weirdly.  

Kristin:    00:29:00    Well girl, I've been giving you some tips on this <laugh>. Yesterday when we talked I was telling you about the recording software I use. Which if anyone needs recording software, I use Audacity. But this is like a digital nomad must have to download the speed test app on your phone to check the speed on your mobile internet. But then you can also check it on the website. But the thing is, is if you run the test while you're processing an application, like while we're on this zoom meeting or while you're downloading files or something, it can interrupt the speed that you're using in that moment. So it's not really good to check later. But uh, well when we hang up you can check your speed and let me know what it is. I'll add it to the show notes cuz I'm really curious, I know that the speeds in Mexico have gotten a lot better over the years and there's now fiber optic internet available. But I doubt that they have it where you are  

Vangile:    00:29:57    Not even close,  

Kristin:    00:29:58    But yeah, we'll see. And so it sounds like your cost of living might be around 2,500 per month in Mexico, not counting your business expenses.  

Vangile:    00:30:08    Oh yeah. The business expenses are way more, but those are always constant because I have a team so my team's uh, salary doesn't go up or down. It stays constant when I'm traveling. So those are my fixed expenses.  

Kristin:    00:30:21    Right. So yeah, your fixed living expenses in Mexico versus when you lived in South Africa, what would you say?  

Vangile:    00:30:29    Oh definitely. South Africa was about $1,500. I know those because I keep a very strong spreadsheet. But one of the things that I will also say is that in South Africa I haven't added my investments that I do ETF investments every month that I'm putting money aside for retirement, annuities, all these things are part of expenses. So I just haven't spoken about that.  

Kristin:    00:30:52    Yes. This would just be the living expenses.  

Vangile:    00:30:54    Yeah. So I actually always have three budgets by the way you guys, the business has its own business account at all times. Then the business pays me a salary cuz I pay taxes in South Africa and my accountant does all the work with that. And then my salary budgets, my personal investments, personal whatever. And then my personal living expenses in whatever country I'm in. So when I'm in South Africa, those personal expenses are under the South African budget. And I just look at that when I'm, uh, traveling. It's under the budget of whatever country I'm in, and then I just budget accordingly. Right. And then the business expenses, like whatever the business makes is what the business make, uh, makes. I work for the business. Then my core business also funds my property investing business to put down, down payments for properties and all that so that I can build real estate portfolio as I travel.  

Vangile:    00:31:48    I'm not a big believer in, you only live once, so do everything that you can. You can't give that advice to people. It can be a blanket statement for someone who doesn't want kids, who doesn't care about certain things. It's not --Yeah. You don't have anything to worry about. You don't have aging parents, you don't have children. So the personal finance guidance that you get to when it comes to traveling completely different to someone who's thinking of planning a family, in a relationship, has aging parents. Like I do all that. So you are always thinking about that. So I'm not just like, you live once - yolo, you'll never be young again. <laugh>. Cause I'm also thinking about my parents and helping them out as they get older. So this is a conversation that is really like interesting because this is not what I was thinking about 10 years ago when I started traveling. But now circumstances have changed. So how I travel is also changing. The investments I'm making are changing, the decisions I'm making financially and in the business are definitely changing constantly according to my changing external environment.

Kristin:    00:32:56    Well, that's a great opportunity for us to rewind a little bit as to how you got started in business. So, uh, can you bring us back to what you were doing more than 10 years ago before you started traveling? And what was your career then? And then when did you have the idea to go into business for yourself? I hope you enjoyed part one of my conversation with Vangile today. Make sure to tune in next week for part two where we're talking all about money and how to make it online. And if you know someone who is thinking of traveling or moving to Mexico soon, then make sure to share this episode with them too.