Making the Leap

Making the Leap

By Sharon Schwartz (wife of current sales manager)

February 14th, 2018

As I’m typing this I’m sitting on a beach chair in the sand half focused on writing this and half mesmerized by the waves going in and out in front of me. If I get too hot, I’ll put my iPhone into my beach bag and walk the 17 steps or so into the giant ocean in front of me that is the Bay of Banderas. Daily Vitamin Sea. My husband, Danny, is next to me.  We just ate jumbo shrimp on the beach, his butter garlic and lime. I ate spaghetti with shrimp in a white wine sauce.  This isn’t uncommon in high season.  One or two days a week we go to the beach for the day.  Danny has a few beers and I eat lots of deserts because I’m due with our first child in a few months.

This is the best lifestyle for me in all the past lives I’ve tried. I lived in Chicago, Miami, Los Angeles, New York, Milano and Auckland and traveled to a multitude of others for work. Every time I experience a new way of living a life I am intrigued and inspired to discover more. I always felt as if everyone around me really fit into their city and lifestyle. By my late 20’s, I was unsettled and unsure in Los Angeles, my home city for 6 years. I had a great career, lots of friends and was living in Los Feliz, making good money. But it didn’t feel right to me, and it wasn’t my forever home. I had been focused and working on this career since age 10 and now here I am 27 years old and screaming to get out of my career and current lifestyle.

Danny was working so many hours when we started dating, which was surprising as I got to know him.  He lived and worked in Southeast Asia and traveled a lot before he decided to get into the work force back in California full time.  Once he was in the rat race, there he was until we discovered the alternative.  He would leave before the sun came up and get home just after it would go down… sometimes later depending on traffic. I only got to see him maybe 1-2 hours each night and the weekends were torture because they had a quick end. On Saturday and Sunday we sat in a cove near our overcrowded rooftop pool next to real estate agents, photographers and artists all in their 30’s.  Music blasting from 3 different Bose speakers and drinks being shared by partiers in the water. I would help him with his work by reading assignments and details out loud for his upcoming work week.  Our life in LA was too much and not enough at the same time.  We packed up all of our stuff and moved to Mexico.

We arrived in Mexico July 4th 2015

When we arrived in Puerto Peñasco, a town on the coast of the Sea of Cortez.  We were given housing for 3 months.  Our housing included an outdoor pool with amazing views of the starry night from the rooftop. Peñasco in the summer has hot ocean water and lightning bolt skies. The sunsets are a mix between deep orange and red to cotton candy pink and purple blue. We met people at Vidanta from the UK, Canada, Venezuela and Guadalajara. Danny was home from work by 1 or 2 and we would spend the day walking the beach and swimming in the ocean.

Life in Mexico is so great. If you are looking to love your life and get much more out of it in a uniquely different way, THIS IS MOST DEFINITELY FOR YOU. If you like swimming, fishing, kiteboarding, surfing, snorkeling, sailing in the ocean, walking the beach, going horseback riding or reading a book in the sun, this lifestyle is for you.  If you want to be living in a big comfy house with your own pool for half of what you’re paying now than Mexico is for you. If you like sipping margaritas on the beach while sending work emails this is for you. Think of all the fun things you want to do on your tropical vacation you get only once a year for one or two weeks.  Now think about those same fun things, and being able to do them once a week for the entire year.

With the world getting smaller and more simple with technology, it’s so easy to live in another country!  I FaceTimed my mom today in Lagos, Nigeria. She’s there visiting my brother who’s wife just had a baby. I don’t feel like I’m in Mexico or that she’s in another country, we are seeing each other on a screen and speaking live.  It’s never been easier to live in another country and still feel connected. It’s Mexico, not Japan.  It’s a two hour flight to my husband’s family in LA and a five hour flight to my family in Wisconsin. If I can’t understand what someone is saying I have them speak or type into an application on my phone that translates to English. Every bar and restaurant has WiFi, if you choose to be connected here, you will be. Mexico is safe, the people are kind and the food is delicious.

I get to enjoy dinner with my husband 25 nights out of the month. He will see our children and be able to spend time with them every night. I’ll be able to both stay home with the kids and have a full-time nanny if I wish. Vidanta has afforded us such an amazing lifestyle. We eat fresh seafood feet in the sand multiple times per month, and swim in our pool at night pointing out the stars.

We’ve been to meetings with Vidanta in Vegas, Vancouver, Cancun.  Flowing drinks, delicious food and always a fun time with this eclectic group of people. It’s not a boring place to work, that is for sure! A private Cirque Du Soleil show in Cancun with acrobats and edible menus. Doom Buggying in the Vegas desert and meeting new, interesting people from the sister resorts.

Danny and I worked full time jobs in LA and never felt like we had enough time or money to explore anything outside of that. I could see what our life was going to be and it just wasn’t relaxing.  And it didn’t involve much traveling or surprises.  I dreamt about our babies growing up surfing and being able to identify species of birds and butterflies and speaking fluent Spanish, English and French.  They will have this in our new life in Mexico. I want them to be able to have a tutor every day if they need it and do all sports, activities and still have enough money to take them on vacations.  Since moving to Mexico we have had 15 weeks of vacation and stayed in the most beautiful resorts and hotels including the St Regis in Punta Mita, the Wynn in Vegas and Grand Hyatt in Playa Del Carmen.  Danny, as a manager, now gets over a month off of work each year, we have trips planned to Croatia, Italy and France for the upcoming year.

I’m writing this because we took a leap of faith from everything that was familiar.  It wasn’t easy or stress free, we had family that was very unhappy about our move, and have mixed emotions about our lifestyle change. Some people still do not understand how we live and that’s ok. It’s different. I feel as free as I did when I was a child, after all, we don’t have that many bills to pay.  Things here are simple and easy for the most part and every day I am so grateful for how we can live. Vidanta has done so much for our family, I cannot wait for our son to be born and to show him our colorFULL life.

I’m available to any wives or girlfriends, family members or friends who have fears, doubts or questions about making the move.  I always have time to speak to anyone interested.  I am here to help when you pull the trigger to your new life.

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