Comment on A Few Decisions Away: Choosing the Rat Race, or opting out by wfgopack

Parent Post: A Few Decisions Away: Choosing the Rat Race, or opting out · In Reply To

wfgopack · 7/1/2026, 3:11:46 PM · permalink

Awesome story! My friend Phil wanted to do that motorcycle ride too. Would be an amazing ride but thats a lot of borders to cross. Looks like we grew up in the same parts. As a kid my family moved around NC, Alabama, Georgia and Tennessee before I went on my own.   
That sounds like a great life in Colorado, but probably gets a little lonely. Freedom is the most important thing. But you always have to keep the future in mind. I was almost 40 before I started to think about it. Thats why I decided to get married about 7 years ago and come down here to MX.   
You sound like the type that would love it here. Big problem for you and most people, and what would have been my same problem had I not gotten out of restaurant management, is earning as you go.  
I was already in MX whe the fake pandemic hit, crossing the border for work. Thats when I knew it was time to get out of managing minimum wage people, they were being paid by the government not to work, and I relied on them. I lucked into a plumbing dispatch job sitting at a desk. Couple years later my company was bought by a bigger company and I became a call center manager. Cutting out a big part of the story for brevity here I am a couple years later in southern Mexico managing a small plumbing company in San Diego.   
  
The main thing I wish Americans would listen to me about is the true ability to retire down here that many Americans are never going to get without a miracle. The cost of living is such that a couple hundred thousand dollars or a good steady check of some type would have anyone retired and living well forever. Money does at least double the work here that it does in the former USA. Problem is there is little to no income down here without starting your own successful business. Any week to week work here is taken, competitive and low paying.  
Most people live on just a few hundred dollars a month down here, but they grew up that way and it all makes sense for them, systems in place, or many here have family homes that were passed down, or still have grandparents and great grandparents living with them. Its a different world, a much better one in my opinion. Problem is the transition can be hard. I don't see how an American can do it without at least a small chunk of savings or a steady American check of some type.   
Honestly you sound like the type who would love the self suffiient life I'm trying to work towards. If you ever want to come for a visit and see what I'm talking about you are totally welcome. You just need a plane ticket to Puebla and a few hundred dollars. One thousand dollars easily gives you a weeks vacation or longer with flight included. I'd be happy to pick you up and do the driving. I'd invite you to stay here but my wife and dogs wouldn't approve. But there are plenty of places to stay for about 20USD a day. You can easily eat here for $5 a day or less if you needed or wanted to.

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j.k.harwood2 · 7/1/2026, 5:02:36 PM (edited) · permalink

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wfgopack · 7/1/2026, 5:42:40 PM · permalink

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j.k.harwood2 · 7/2/2026, 3:48:59 AM · permalink

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