Allow myself to introduce....myself.
(Tulum, Mexico)
Hola Steemit!
My name is Rich Wolfe. I love freedom. I am an ancap, my wife is a voluntarist, and our dog is a libertarian. The three of us recently left the frozen socialist tundra called Canada, to pursue a new life with more freedoms in a warmer climate. We were in our thirties and on a very limited budget, with no spanish skills, so we had to do our research.
(Lake Coatepeque, El Salvador)
After much deliberation, we decided Mexico was our first choice. We then flew from Canada to Tulum, which is an hour drive south of Cancun, on the Mayan Riviera. After six months there, we realized that it wasn't the place for us, so we bought a car and decided to drive to Panama two months later, which was plan B.
We were also interested in Costa Rica and Guatemala, so we stayed their extensively on the trip down, to get a good feel for the culture and lifestyle, cost of living, as well as test the business/economic opportunities, and of course the requirements to become legal residents. More on all of this later.
(Playa San Antonio, Costa Rica)
Life is super awesome now, we are so happy living in Panama. Panama is not neceassarily the best place for everyone though. This experience has filled us with an immense wealth of information on travelling with a dog and a vehicle, working and living in these countries. I am here to share that information with you. Stay tuned.
Go Steemit!
Pass my upvote along to the monkey :)
Glad to see you on here guys!
You pushed me over the fence Jeff, haha, congrats on your instant success. You absolutely deserve it. You inspired us to leave Canada and it was the best move of my life! Theres no way to properly repay you for that, I hope you realize how many people you help and how thankful we are.
Rich! I am glad to see that LIFE is treating the three of you so well down there Brother!! I hope that you will keep in touch and I will be looking into more of this system!! ( I am in the process of doing some reno's here and make a few DINARO!! (As is, I can double my property's value if I were to cash it out BUT after a few Canadian dollars into it, I am looking at tripling my original investment and then, maybe I will be able to join you down in the land of the sun and fill out my days!! ALL THE BEST TO YOU ALL RICH!!
Awesome! I think people should go where they are treated best. Good luck!
For us, it was where we could make a decent living, with the most amount of freedoms, in a warm place :)
Welcome to Steemit Rich!! I look forward to hanging out again with you guys really soon. Keep up the content!!
Thanks! We look forward to it as well. I will keep up the content, I have a lot to share, and I love this platform, it's my kind of people :)
Exactly that is why it will be successful. AnCaps are like trying to herd cats but if you give us a good reason to pursue a venture we will all get on board eventually.
Welcome to steemit. : ) I'm interested in your experience. In particular with Mexico. Planning on moving there soon and we were looking at the Tulum - Playa del Carmen area. Having dogs, cats, and a vehicle as well, I'm looking forward to hearing your story and what made you leave etc. Thanks for sharing.
I should have an in depth article on Mexico up in the next couple days. If you are planning to move there and work as a foreigner, you cannot do it legally until your are a permanent resident, which can take 4-5 years. This is why we left. I often don't care what is legal or not, but instant deportation is the punishment, which could probably be avoided with a hefty and recurring bribe, after all it's Mexico :) That area is beautiful, and we made some amazing life long friends there, but Mexico isn't as easy as it was 5 years ago, the laws have changed and they are cracking down.
Looking forward to more posts, travelling with the dog especially, couldn't imagine leaving Canada without mine!
If you plan to fly down here with your dog, and it is too large to fly in the cabin, be aware that most airlines wont fly your dog in the hot summer months. The ones that will are very expensive. $4000 for a 2 hour flight from Cancun to Panama city via Copa airlines, the only airline that would do it for us. Thats why why we bought a vehicle and drove instead. The dog would have been on a separate flight 12 hours apart from ours and we would have had to hire handlers and customs agents at both ends.
An idea: train him as a special assistance dog. There are many skills the dog can do, the important thing is to give him some training.. I think people really latch on to the idea that a dog has been specially trained. Might as well be honest: what is the best skill to bring you and your dog together and make it easy for people to understand why you can't be separated from your companion? Hint: moods like anxiety is a great reason to have a dog around. An animal can detect and stop a condition like this before it worsens into things like panic attacks. Don't think you have to pretend to be anxious though (I would never recommend that)... Far more subtle forms of mood enhancement are just as worthy of something more obvious. Finally, in most places they are not allowed to ask what the special need is, that is private health information..