(upbeat music)
(speaking in foreign language)
- My name is Chrystal Smith,
and this is my daughter, Isabella.
We are here in beautiful Merida, Yucatan, Mexico.
I'm just about to walk my daughter to school.
- [Isabella] I'm walking next to the grass.
- Okay, I just dropped off my daughter at school.
It's about 81 degrees out and it's 9:00 AM,
so I had to quickly change my clothes
and get ready to go to work online.
But first I wanted to finish my intro.
I am originally from the Seattle area, and my daughter
and I have been in Merida since July of 2021
going on about five months.
After doing a lot of research
on where to go, and where to travel to,
I chose Merida because it is family-friendly,
it's very safe, low cost of living.
Anything you wanna do with your kids, from preschool
to gymnastics class, to dance classes,
is accessible for a solo mom traveler like me.
Also, there's tons of other moms
that are traveling with their children.
They're doing world schooling, homeschooling,
and so when touching ground here,
we immediately had community.
If you are a mom who's looking to go abroad,
even just temporarily, give me a shout out,
I'll lead you to some resources.
Facebook is amazing for connecting women
and families together.
When you go abroad, almost anywhere that you go,
you're going to find a community,
you just have to search a little bit.
So give me a shout out if you want more information.
Right now, I am working online with Cambly.
Cambly pays $10 an hour.
I usually work between, I would say 18 to 25 hours a week.
Sometimes more, sometimes less depending.
And I started with Cambly in 2018 as a second source
of income while living in the United States.
And now, living in a place with low cost of living,
it is a great source of income.
I got TEFL-certified with ITA Costa Rica onsite
in September, 2015.
Shout out to Melanie and Luke in ITA Costa Rica,
thank you for the wonderful experience.
I lived and worked in Costa Rica, teaching English
for about a year before going back to the States.
Here is the living room.
Scooter for my daughter, a hammock.
Here's the kitchen.
There is no stove, but we have a hot plate
and electric toaster oven right there too.
And in this room, there is a washer and dryer in one,
just great and comes in handy.
The washer comes out steamed,
so you do have to hang them dry.
Either way, it's still convenient and saves a lot of money.
Storage, microwave.
Now we're going into the bedroom.
I got a nice bathroom here with hot water.
Here's our king size bed, perfect for my kiddo and I.
And a little flavor of Mexico.
TV.
- Okay, that's all for today.
I hope you enjoyed my takeover from Merida, Yucatan, Mexico.
I will leave my Instagram handle on this video.
Feel free to contact me with any questions,
especially moms out there who wanna travel,
let's get in touch and talk.
All right, adios.
- Adios.
(upbeat music)