The Magic Began in Mexico

[00:00:00] Back, your bags were on the move, Rhythm and Roam, coach a clash from coast to coast, misconceptions we chasing ghosts. You see them seniors in airports and in retail and Uber drivers and greeters at Walmart, you know, and I just didn't want to be 70 years old saying welcome to Walmart. Had I done that, I only would have been working to pay bills. Mm-hmm.

[00:00:26] See, there would be no weekend getaways. It wouldn't be any fine dining. It wouldn't be any concert. I would work, pay bills, work, pay bills. Then I would live substandardly because I wasn't working. See, and in that moment, the epithemy for me was that I didn't owe anyone or anything my life. I'm 52 years old. I'm teaching and I wanted to do three more years.

[00:00:52] I was going to do three more years and it would have, I would have been 55, 30 years teaching and I'm out, right? There is a large black expat community in the Lake Chapala area, mostly women, middle-aged women. I was the first, of course, the first black person that Jerry had interviewed and I tell you his, that particular episode just blew up. This is my last, this is my life's work. This is my legacy.

[00:01:20] Hello, everyone. Welcome back to another episode of Rhythm and Roam. My name is Benefshe. I'm here with Paul and Trisha. We have a lovely episode for you. We are speaking again with Queen and she just, we love her. And so we could just, maybe we should have her as like a weekly or a monthly guest. Seriously. But we have another fabulous episode where we're talking with her about her decision to move to Mexico.

[00:01:46] So before we get started, as always, if you like our content, please do subscribe to our channel on YouTube. Visit our website, www.rhythmandrome.com and share with your friends, your family, your coworkers, comment, like our episodes. We want to keep giving you this wonderful content. So let's get started.

[00:02:06] Many people of color are flocking outside of the United States for whatever purposes that be, whether political, retirement, money savings, whatever it is, a change of life. What can you tell us what you're thinking? You're thinking behind your move to Mexico and becoming a permanent resident.

[00:02:25] Okay. Well, I tell you, uh, here I am. I'm 50 at that time. This is, uh, in 2015, I'm primed 52 years old. I'm a, uh, retired elementary and middle school teacher. Uh, at the time I'm 52 years old. I'm teaching and I wanted to do three more years. I was going to do three more years and it would have, I would have been 55, 30 years teaching and I'm out.

[00:02:52] Right. But I tell you in 2015, those three years seemed like an eternity and I just, I just couldn't do it. So at 27 years I was out, I retired at 52 years old, 27 years in teaching. Now that first year after retiring, uh, I got my, uh, first pension check and I looked at it and I was like, Oh, okay.

[00:03:14] Yeah. I'm going to have to, I'm going to have to supplement that. And which it was cool because, uh, I did all kind of really cool stuff. Imagine I was one that was regulated by bills for 27 years, you know, a bill to start the day, a bill to eat lunch, a bill to end the day. So here I am supplementing my pension because it pretty much only paid my rent. And I was an Uber driver. I did some teaching online, you know, for China.

[00:03:44] I did some curriculum design remote. One of my favorite jobs. I was a shuttle driver for a transportation company that serviced the railroad. So I was taking engineers and conductors to and from their trains, you know, working on the yard, doing some over the road. And, and that was pretty cool. Um, Uber driver, Lyft driver, just kind of out there experiencing life in a different way, supplementing that pension for about a year.

[00:04:13] And then all of a sudden I said, Hey, wait a minute. I'm going to always have to do it. Yeah. I'm going to always have to supplement my pension, you know, and being out there in the streets. I knew that that's what it was going to be because I saw them everywhere. You see them seniors in airports and in retail and, and Uber drivers and greeters at Walmart, you know, and I just didn't want to be 70 years old saying, welcome to Walmart.

[00:04:43] Yeah. I'm supplementing my pension. Not even at 50. Right. Right. Absolutely. Where were you living at this time? Where in the United States? Great question. At that time, I, I, I was in Atlanta. I was in Atlanta. Is it expensive? I don't know. Is that kind of weird? And medium expensive, I say. Yeah. Like I said, my pension covered my rent, you know, but I mean, just living in the States, it's just everything else.

[00:05:10] I agree. It's utilities and food and car note and car insurance. Entertainment. Right. Everything. Before you even get to entertainment, Paul, like just basic. Yeah. Absolutely. Exactly. You're right. You're right. You're right. Exactly. Before you even get to entertainment. So I kind of felt, you know, like I could have, I could have stayed on that wheel. You know, I could have stayed on that wheel and, and, and, and just hustled.

[00:05:33] And like everybody else, you know, it looked like, you know, supplementing my pension. But here's the thing with that. Had I done that, I only would have been working to pay bills. Mm-hmm. There would be no weekend getaways. It wouldn't be any fine dining. It wouldn't be any concert. I would work, pay bills, work, pay bills.

[00:05:54] And then I would do that until I couldn't work any longer due to just age and, and, and health. Then I would live substandardly because I wasn't working. See, and in that moment, the epiphany for me was that I didn't owe anyone or anything my life. You better preach.

[00:06:16] You just, you just don't get it. You're not getting my, it's mine, you know, and it's just this epiphany I had. And then the universe is perfect. And right in that moment of thinking, I came across an article in International Living, top 10 places to retire. Now, mind you, this is 2016. And at the time, those places were Costa Rica, Mexico, Ecuador, Thailand, Colombia, Nicaragua, you know, those, those places.

[00:06:45] And I researched them all. And Mexico checked all the boxes for me, you know, and it was as it relates to location, climate, and expat community. Mexico has third states. And I moved to the state of Jalisco starts with a J, but you know, that whole H pronunciation. Yes. And Jalisco houses the largest freshwater lake in the country of Mexico. It's called Lake Chapala.

[00:07:12] Now surrounding that lake are little towns and villages, but on the North shore of that lake is the largest expat community in the country of Mexico. Interesting. Can I just ask this real quick? What about the black expat community? What is that large demographic there as well? It was, it was really, truly pretty small. I can count them on my hand when I first, you know, arrived lakeside.

[00:07:42] But I'm telling you, as of now today, that was in 2017. But as of now today, 2025, there is a large black expat community in the Lake Chapala area. Mostly women, middle-aged women, you know, retiree women, you know, and they got a few men.

[00:08:02] But, and I kind of like to think that I had a part to do with that because after getting there and after settling, I did write a book about my experience of moving from Atlanta to, um, to Mexico. It's called, uh, considerations, a guide for moving abroad, you know, and that brought in quite a bit of curiosity. There was a time when I was even doing some concierge work there lakeside as people were coming in, you know, based on what I was doing.

[00:08:32] Okay, Ms. Concierge. Okay, a little bit, you know. No, you actually, you actually kind of touched on what the next question I was actually thinking of, you know, going through and asking, which was your book. And you already touched on it. So if you don't mind, I would love to hear you expand a little bit more on that and the experience you had, you know, obviously moving away from, you know, Chick-fil-A and all those other places. You said Atlanta, so I have to say Chick-fil-A.

[00:09:02] Okay, so. Not the large chicken. That is hilarious. Okay, so one of the YouTube channels that I followed when I was researching and getting ready to move there was a guy called Jerry Brown. It was called Jerry Brown Travels. And Jerry Brown had video after video showing this, showing that. And I watched every last one of Jerry Brown videos. So here I am.

[00:09:31] I think I'm like four months in having moved there. I'm in a cell phone shop. And he walks past the cell phone shop. I said, oh, wait a minute. I ran outside. I was like, hey, I know you. You know, we had this conversation. We laughed. We talked. He said, hey, I would love to interview you. I said, yeah, sure. You know, so we had this interview. I was the first, of course, the first black person that Jerry had interviewed.

[00:09:59] And I tell you, that particular episode just blew up. I mean, they were questions, questions. And I was trying to answer all the questions. And I said, wait a minute. Man, I can just write a book and tell them what, you know. Okay. You know, this is wow. And that is how Considerations, A Guide for Moving Abroad, came to be. It's a 10-chapter book. And each chapter is a consideration. You know, consider visas.

[00:10:28] Consider downsizing. Consider transportation. Consider health care. You know, consider a recon visit. All of those things that one consider financing, health care, family and friends, communication. So 10 chapters, each chapter a consideration. Nice. And chapter number one is faith versus fear. You know, that's how we move into mindset. Exactly.

[00:10:57] Well, and one could use this for any country, right? Not just Mexico. And that's just it. Yes, this is my experience of moving to Mexico. But you can use this for anything. Apply it to anywhere else. It's just 10 considerations. Yeah. There's 10 things you really need to consider. You know. And where can they find? I'm definitely going to buy your book. Yeah, I was just going to say. Right on Amazon. Okay. Perfect. I think it's about five bucks. Between five and eight bucks. Yeah. Is it just on Amazon?

[00:11:28] Right on Amazon. Okay. You know. However, it's going to lead you to Amazon. So yeah. Yeah. It's on Amazon. And it's a printed book, correct? Yeah, it's a printed book. Mm-hmm. Awesome. Because I'm going to purchase one for my husband. Oh, e-book too. I think it's an e-book as well. Sure. On here. Now, this was back in, what? 2018? 2019? Yeah. Close to a COVID timeframe.

[00:11:58] Right, because like I said, I was there during COVID. You know? It sounds like we both was traveling during COVID, Queen. I left America in the height of COVID to move. Did you? Yeah, to move to Luxembourg City. So good call. Right. You're in a different place now, right? Where are you now in Mexico? Okay, now I'm in the state of Chiapas. In a lovely town called San Cristobal de la Casa. Oh, la la.

[00:12:28] However, comma, this is not my landing place. I'm actually beginning to look for, when I was lakeside, it was like, you know, Little America almost, I tell you. You know, expat haven, you don't even have to speak English. Now I've swung all the way on the other side where there's, you know, no English speaking. You know, I really had to take an interpreter with me to paint. Open up a bank. Oh, wow. That kind of thing. And it's harder here for me.

[00:12:58] You know, it's very hilly. You know, I wash my clothes, got to hang them out on the line. The kind of thing. It's just, okay. But I knew I was here for a certain time, for a certain purpose. I'm starting to feel a release. And now I'm going to swing right back. And now I'm going to get in the middle. I'm going to get in that soft space. And I'm starting to look at actually heading back to the state of Jalisco to maybe Nuevo,

[00:13:26] wait a minute, Puerto Vallarta. Oh, Puerto Vallarta. Puerto Vallarta. But not Puerto Vallarta. It's Nuevo Vallarta. Kind of like down the street. That's a little bit more set up for like retirees. Guys, I am. I'm retired. Amen. Act like it. Act like it. And you know, I'm not into the nightlife and all that kind of stuff. But I kind of want to be. I'm quiet.

[00:13:54] When was the last time you were in America? This past July. I moved here May 31st from America. See, I went back to Detroit and cared for my mom and pop. I became their caregiver. After living in Lake Chapala for four years, went back to Detroit and was there for three and a half years and four consecutive women. Mom and pop passed in 2022. And then I stayed on. I had a huge project.

[00:14:22] I created a mindfulness curriculum for middle and high school students. But if. And I. Oh, lovely. I love that. Yeah. That's amazing. Yeah, I piloted that curriculum in two middle schools there and learned something extremely important. Two things with piloting that curriculum. Number one, unconscious can't teach consciousness. Yes. Number two, I needed to integrate AI into the curriculum in order for it to be consumable and marketable.

[00:14:51] You know, in this time space. And that was really my understanding when I moved here. And now I'm, I took a course in learning how to integrate AI. And, and now I'm going to the beginning of the year, work with a platform and adaptive learning to integrate AI into the curriculum and then pilot it again. Right. Online. You know, getting data in everything as it relates to the curriculum.

[00:15:19] And then I'll be looking at selling it. I envision the top ed tech companies, Holfin, Mifflin, Pearson, or maybe an SEL, you know, social, emotional learning platform bidding for this curriculum because it's gold and, and it's so needed, especially for generation alpha. And then, you know, like I said, I'm retired. This is my last, this is my life's work. This is my legacy. Right. Your legacy. It's my legacy.

[00:15:48] For GN Alpha, a top curriculum. That's my legacy. Thank you again for tuning in. It was wonderful to talk to Queen and we will make sure to leave the links to her books in the show notes for you. And please do, again, if you have any questions on the show, go to our website. You can always reach us there. We would love to hear from you and also just to hear your experiences about moving abroad.

[00:16:16] If you have moved abroad and would like to share with us, we would love that. We would love to hear from you. So anything you guys would like to say or yes, I almost forgot. If you do like our content, please do show us some love at buymeacoffee.com forward slash rhythm and roam. We appreciate everything that you donate to us. Yeah. And don't forget, we have a newsletter that comes out every month. Yes, the newsletter. Yeah.

[00:16:45] And you don't want to miss this because we're sharing like interesting things that we're not sharing anywhere else. That's right. Need to know bases. That's right. Yeah. Yeah. Pack your bags, we're on the move. Rhythm and roam got nothing to lose. Culture clash from coast to coast. Misconceptions, we chasing ghosts.