A Hair Colorist Jumps Off the Treadmill
Kimberley and her husband moved to Huatulco from Edmonton, Alberta in 2010. “When he retired, Randy decided it would be cheaper to live in Mexico than in Canada.” The three things that made them choose Huatulco were, the climate, the cleanliness, and the safety. She loves her new lifestyle here, “I’m off the hamster wheel. It’s so tranquil and it’s not so consumer orientated.”
Kimberley is someone who likes a certain amount of structure in her day. “My mornings I reserve from myself, meditation, prayer and workouts. During the winter, I have clients in the afternoons. In the evening, we enjoy salsa dancing and pool time. During the off season, we have more pool time and more dancing.”
The couple did a small renovation to the bungalow they bought. This allowed her to continue doing something she was passionate about after moving to Mexico. They converted one of their three bedrooms into a hairdressing studio. With her expertise in coloring, she keeps busy with a handful of loyal clients, especially during the winter months when so many snowbirds come down. Kimberly explains that Huatulco has good hairdressers but, “The texture of European hair is distinctly different from most of the locals.”
One thing she finds frustrating about living in Mexico is the bureaucracy and red tape. “They need a ton of paper and it still takes forever to get anything done. For example, I applied for a discount card to buy hairdressing supplies as a licensed hairdresser. The number of documents they required, in triplicate, was unbelievable. Once I compiled all my documents and photocopied everything, I drove two hours down to Salina Cruz. After I waiting for 2 hours for my turn, their computer system went down, and I was told to come back another day. This is not an isolated incident, just one example. It’s not be a big deal but it gets frustrating.”
When Kimberley arrived she spoke no Spanish, she has been working on it and estimates it’s at about fifty present now. She thinks that everything in a foreign culture can be a surprise, “But what did surprise me was how quickly I adapted to everything.”
She advises anyone contemplating moving to Mexico to rent first. “Don’t just jump in and buy something. There are a lot of small that things you don’t think of until you have been living here for a while. These things can be different for each person so it’s not as if someone can print off a list."