Our first length of stay came at Barra de Navidad, a quiet beach town known to the few gringos who live there. The beach had waves for surfing and a calm lagoon behind it that created a safe haven for swimming. Luckily, it still felt like Mexico, with fisherman casting their nets amongst a few luxury condominiums and hotels. The first lesson we learned is that we had arrived just within off-season, so family-owned hotels sat empty waiting for us to bargain.
Mexico is not cheap, and according to local Mexicans, we have our exported dollars to thank for that. A reasonable hotel room with a bathroom and attached kitchenette ran around $30 USD a night. But when we explained that we were here to work, and would stay for at least a week, the woman let us have the room for $20 USD. Second lesson learned: it paid to be professionals who could stay still for some time.
Our room was split halfway between the bedroom and kitchenette by a short partitioned wall. My boyfriend made his office with a stool and the tiled bar that faced the kitchen, while I set up mine over the wall with a plastic table and chair borrowed from the hotel. We had created the only kind of cubicles that would ever work for us; in a hotel room, in a foreign country, and a mere block from the beach.
Next, we found how to access the internet and scheduled our time around work. My boyfriend needed high-speed to send large files, which was easy to find in now modern-day Mexico. I just needed something to feed my addiction for checking email. With the wall between us, we were able to work for four hours each morning. We occasionally took breaks to chat over the wall about what town we wanted to work and live in next, but for the most part, we stuck to task. Then, after a trip to one of the four internet cafes near our hotel to “Send and Receive,” we had the afternoon left to swim in the Pacific, have an hour-long siesta cuddling session, and visit the market to get guacamole fixings and ice cold Corona for sunset.
