Transcription
Hello from Mexico! My name is Maddie and I've been living and traveling all over this country for about 6 years now. I'm currently living in the state of Queretaro in Queretaro City and today I'm taking you along as I show you what a day in my life in this city looks like. Also throughout this video, I'll be answering some of the burning questions you guys had for me on Facebook and YouTube.
So I always start out my day by making an iced latte with my espresso machine to get the day started with a little kick a caffeine. Usually after I make my coffee I do journaling but today I'm going to start off by going to my recording studio.
[Music] [Singing "Lasting Lover" by Sigala]
Well, you guys have been asking for more singing for quite a while now so I hope you enjoyed that little peek into my recording studio AKA shower. Now I'm going to do a little bit of makeup. And I literally do mean "little bit" because all I do is foundation and some blush. And yep, that's pretty much it: foundation and blush. I don't know why but if I put on any more makeup than this—well maybe mascara, but I usually just don't like taking that off—people go crazy in the comments. I put lipstick on one time and everybody just went nuts saying I shouldn't do that ever again. I was like what?
So I do have other things coming up today but I always like to start my day with journaling. This is something I've been doing for, I don't know, 4 years I think. Every single day. I really love this part of my routine. I just jot down really whatever comes to my mind whether that's like to-dos that I have for the day, dreams that I had the night before, things that have just been spinning in my mind that I want to get down on paper so I....Do you hear that...alarm? This has been happening since like 5:00 p.m. yesterday. It goes off for about 30 minutes at a time at 15minute intervals...all throughout the night too. Viva Mexico!
Anyway, yeah I just jot down whatever is tumbling around in my mind so that it's on paper and not adding unnecessary chaos to my brain. I can't even imagine my daily routine without journaling. So I don't know if you guys know this but I actually have superpowers when it comes to getting ready and I thought today I would show you. [fairy sounds] Tadaa! I'm just missing shoes. Dang it! It didn't work completely this time
I also posted about these on my Instagram @tangerinemaddie but I'm obsessed with these new mom shorts; high-waisted mom shorts that I got from American Eagle. They're so comfy I could live in these shorts.
So I took an Uber to arrive at my first stop of the day and that was about a 10-minute ride for I believe 57 pesos. The prices have gone down on Uber recently not entirely sure why but that is less than I've paid in the past which has been around 100 to 120 pesos but yep I'm here at my chiropractic office waiting to get some crack [laughs] okay I'm going to switch to English because the majority of the video is in English. This is Alberto my chiropractor for the past, what has it been, like 6 months? Yeah like six months, yeah. Who is super fluent in English so if you're looking for a chiropractor in Queretaro and you're kind of worried about the language barrier, he can help you out but yeah, thank you. [Alberto] Thank you so much. It will be a pleasure. [Maddie] Thanks, and yeah I've been getting some great alignment. I came in and my shoulders were all like this and I was like hunched over like Quasimoto. No, I'm just kidding. Not really but kind of
Going down. Yeah, I love this thing. Turn your head to the left. Now to the right. There you go. Keep your head there. This way? Yeah. Now facing to the middle. You have something in your neck. Yeah there's definitely been upper shoulder tightness It's up here, like kind of to the left side, right? Mmhmm, yeah. Okay, let's get you up.
And what happened with the car? Did you sell it, or? The car in Mexico? I just said no. I just said I wasn't going to buy it. Oh yeah, I should say...if you're uncomfortable with cracking noises then trigger warning now. Yeah the the noise is just gas. When the articulation goes like to the limit of the movement, it can release some of the gas that is in there. Between the joints? Yeah. Okay. It's not like the bones are snapping or anything like that.
And so what is this tool that you're using again? This is a Thermal Scanner tool which helps us see changes in the temperature and that shows us where there can be like pressure. So that's what we always trying to find like exactly where's there's—this is not about like cracking, but finding those spaces where there's really interference which can affect your health overall. That's what I like about your adjustments is it's not just a one-size-fits-all. Relax. There you go. A little more. There you go. There we go. And yeah, it's really really nice and easy. We even check a lot of kids and babies so this is super safe. Your legs, you have one shorter leg and now it's... Yeah that's what I was wondering because my hips and shoulders have kind of seen a little uneven. Okay, take a deep breath. Okay! Way better, eh? Yeah it feels like it. Yeah you really needed this. Yeah.
Oh I have a little bit of gossip. Oh? Should I turn this off then? Yeah. You guys can't be here for the "chismecito."
So I totally forgot to mention this place is called Centro Quiropractico Los Arcos because it is right by Los Arcos. And a visit is 550 pesos or if you buy some bundles, like if you buy them in advance, it gets a little cheaper than that and I'm super happy with it. I've noticed a grand Improvement in my spinal alignment and spinal health and Alberto is just a really cool person in general too so if you're looking for a chiropractor like I said, recommend it! [holds thumb up]
Now I'm taking about a 10-minute walk to the breakfast place that I picked out but since I'm walking by the beautiful Los Aros, the aqueduct of Queretaro, I just want to mention that this famous landmark which has been so well preserved so that it's still standing today was built in the 1700s and definitely one of my favorite features of the city I mean look at how pretty it is.
While I'm waiting for a table, figured I'd start answering some of the questions that you guys had for me one of which, a really popular one, is what is going to happen to my permanent residency once I move out of Mexico? And I actually wasn't sure about that either but I found this result from Mexperience. "Once permanent residency is granted, your residency card never expires and you do not have to renew your residency status." So I sincerely hope that's the case. If it is not, if that's wrong, or things have changed, please let me know in the comments because it was such an ordeal to get permanent residency in the first place. I certainly don't want to lose it.
So I decided to go to a restaurant called Cafe Amadeus. [repeats name] Hopefully I said that right. This is a very popular place in Queretaro and it's been around since 1986 with a beautiful view of the aqueduct which is behind me. And it's known for having traditional Mexican Cuisine but also I believe with a German twist. They have German influence? German dishes?
I decided to start off with a cappuccino. Sadly, I have to say no to the sweet bread because I'm gluten-free but I will happily take this cinnamony foam on top of this cappuccino. [restaurant noise]
So I was trying to decide whether I wanted Enchiladas Queretanas which are similar if not the exact same thing as Enchiladas Mineras from Guanajuato but I ended up going with Enchiladas Verdes green enchiladas a classic dish in Mexico one of my favorites, one of my go-to's, and these have chicken on the inside. Oh that is a good green sauce. I love when it's like limey. Almost forgot to mention that these were 139 pesos, which yes might be a little bit on the high side for the price of enchiladas, the average price that I've seen in Mexico, but they're very high quality.
One thing I do want to go back to is the fact that Queretaro is a lot of amazing things I picked the city to live in and returned for a reason. One thing it unfortunately does not have is a lot of typical food. Even the enchiladas Queretanas, or Queretaro's enchiladas, are so similar to enchiladas from Guanajuato that I'm like, are they even really original or typical food to here? So I would love to hear in the comments if anybody knows why this is that Queretaro doesn't have a lot of typical food.
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So I just took another Uber ride home and that ended up being 59 pesos. I wish I'd recorded the conversation back though but I got so into it. We ended up talking about typical food of Queretaro. I was just talking about this so I thought it was so interesting that he brought it up. He's from Mexico City and I was saying how much more I like the food in Mexico City and how sadly Queretaro just doesn't have that like most other states. He was saying that's partly because it was a poor state and not known for the different types of industry, or didn't revolve around certain industry, like other states have that have brought influences from other places. And there is some typical food and Queretaro that I did not know about, one of which...I had to write this down because I'd never heard of it. "Prickly pear nopal." And he described it as: you take a larger, much larger nopal cactus and he said you scrape out a little bit of the middle, add meat onion, salsa I think he said, and some other things, and then fry it up. Hopefully I described that well. But that and Gorditas Quebradas. And that's different from gorditas in, for instance, Mexico City or other places because instead of finely grinding the corn to where it's like a super fine powder which can be turned into Masa and then cooked, it's only ground one time so it's thicker pieces. So I thought that was super fascinating.
Anyway okay going to continue on with my day. Please don't land on me giant flying bug. No no no! No no. Oh my gosh open! Oh my gosh, what the—. That was the biggest most scary black flying ant wasp thing I've ever seen. I'm not really one that's that afraid of bugs, but that one looked really ominous.
Speaking of bugs though, this apartment...I have never encountered so many scorpions in my entire life and I've seen probably like 25 in this place to the point that now I keep my shoes in this little container because I'm worried they're going to crawl in my shoes and sting my feet. Thankfully I haven't had any crawl to bed with me because as much as I like cuddles, not with scorpions. And people are like why don't you spray? Why don't you put something underneath your door? I do use essential oils but I'm not a huge fan of unnecessary chemicals and like, bug-bombing my house is a lot of chemicals. So just going to have to live with them and continue addressing them as they make their appearance. The last one was hiding under my vacuum and so, well, that one just met the dust bunnies.
A while back I also told you guys I would give you a tour of my "partment." My "partment?" My apartment, a tour of my apartment, which is a two bed, 2 and 1 half bath, two-story...lots of twos. This place costs 11,000 pesos base that includes 1,000 pesos of maintenance, for like Landscaping the pool, security, and all that. I would say in total I'm probably paying maybe 12,500 with internet, which is 850 pesos a month, electric, and water. And gas I also paid separately it was 800 and something pesos to fill up the tank on the roof and it's not even half done. Not even half gone after 6 months.
So here is the view from the front door showing the living room, dining area, kitchen, and stairs. This was a furnished apartment, but I did buy a couple things, the couch for instance because I didn't like the one that it came with. This is like one of the couches that it came with also those little stool seat things, so I'm sure you can see why I bought my own. I also bought this TV and TV stand, but most of the furniture you see here came with the place. I do love the kitchen. Oven, microwave, medium-ish refrigerator. And then outside here, please excuse some of the stuff I have everywhere, there's a washer and then I air dry my clothes. We have the half bathroom, guest bathroom downstairs. And then going on upstairs. Hello, hello to all of my plants. You are looking ravishing today. One of my favorite things about this place is that there are windows and skylights for lots of natural light.
So here is the primary bedroom and bathroom, again with the skylight. I also got these nightstands because there were none. And yep. Here is this bedroom. Overhead fan, always nice. And then the second bedroom AKA guest room, with a bunch of my crap that I will be getting rid of when I move. It's pretty nice, and then each of these has its own bathroom which is super cool. Overall I have been really really happy in this place, it's got a nice cross breeze so that makes it to where the lack of AC isn't a huge deal even in the summer. My only big complaints are that they're building a strip mall kind of nearby so it's like—in Mexico and maybe anywhere—you just cannot escape the construction. But it's not as bad as the place that I was living in Ajijic he where the construction was like 10 ft outside my bedroom window. And also, for some reason, I don't know if it's just this area or if it's all of Queretaro this year, but there have been so many power outages. Like constantly I'm dealing with the power going out which can be particularly annoying if I'm in the shower for instance because it's an electric water pump and an electric water heater.
Maybe this is going to be a little cheesy but I kind of want to do a walk-through of all my little plant babies because when I move back to the US, unfortunately I will not be able to take them with me because of Border Protection / agricultural laws. So all the water babies in my house came from this beautiful prolific Mama Bear plant. Every time I look at this, there's new leaves popping up everywhere. Like, that's a brand new one right there. Two leaves coming out of the out of here and two also on this leaf. So what I'll do to propagate them is I cut off at a node so you can see I did that here and there's a leaf growing out. I do not know why there's another one here but see this when I mean about freaking prolific Mama Bear. And then I take any type of bottle, this was an old Hendrick's bottle, Perrier, some other type of soda, oil and vinegar bottle, and then I put it in water. And then within a couple weeks, roots will just start growing out of there, like you see here. And I've had some people tell me that no, you can't leave Pothos in water forever. And I don't know if I just love them the right way or what but some of these have been like...this has been in this bottle for a year and a half, going on 2 years now they seem super happy. They are thriving. And I just keep making more and more and more cuttings, so here's all the ones I have on the stairs. And over there, and in the kitchen, and on top of the refrigerator, and these, which I have my little bunnies tending to them. But I mean oh my gosh, look it, they're so healthy and beautiful and lovely. Maybe this is cringe, but I'm going to miss my plants. They brought a lot of joy to my life and I still can't believe that I paid 60 pesos for that Mama Bear and she's given me all of these. There are over 40 in my apartment. In fact, there was even more yesterday but I gave six of them to my landlord and the property manager. I gave them each two because I'm trying to find homes for them and like, just hope that they're well taken care of when I leave.
Since I'm moving, I can't take a lot of the big things like this beautiful couch behind me, wooden TV stand, flat screen TV, full length mirror, ceramic water filter, and some other things, storage totes, etc etc. So if you're in Queretaro, looking to furnish an apartment, and wanting to buy some of these things, please drop me a comment so we can connect. And as a little bonus, I'll also include some of my water babies.
And now I'm moving on to what might be considered the boring part of my day AKA my work: sitting down, getting things done like video editing, bookkeeping, taxes, communications, social media, all the little nitty-gritty things that it takes to run a YouTube channel. I do get the question pretty frequently of like, "What is your real job?" Or, "What do you do for actual work?" As if the videos record themselves, edit themselves, upload themselves, and run the whole show. And that's actually not the case. There's a lot of work that goes into running a YouTube channel. Although I will take it as the biggest of compliments that it seems so seamless and so effortless that there couldn't possibly be any work behind it. Thank you.
So since I travel between the United States and Mexico when I'm working, sometimes I need access to US websites when I'm in Mexico and Mexican websites when I'm in the US. And the way that I get around this is using a VPN. It's a super simple solution to a kind of pain in the butt problem. And essentially you can locate yourself anywhere you want so that in the case especially when sometimes websites don't offer the ability to change the language or the currency or sometimes you can't even get access to the website without actually being in the country, you can essentially virtually be there with a VPN and do the things that you need to do. So if this sounds like something that would be useful to you, you can get 86% off plus three months free using my affiliate link. That's surfshark.deals/maddiegold.
Something else I like to incorporate into my day is a stretching routine. I'm a former gymnast and like to maintain my flexibility but it's also really great because after sitting for many hours at a desk or table or wherever I'm hunched over a computer, it's nice to open up my shoulders and my hips and everything else and make sure I'm staying limber. [Music]
So when I'm not traveling, my days are generally more so spent at home doing things like taking care of the dishes, my stretching routines, crochet, watching shows that I want to catch up on, and things like that because believe it or not travel does require a lot of time and energy so it's nice to kind of come home and have my sanctuary placed to recharge my battery.
So I'm going to continue answering some of those questions. I had a lot regarding health. For instance, Marsha asks "Maddie how did you detox Mercury and heavy metals from your body?" And then Alyssa says, "I would love a focus on health video." How I found my doctor, how it felt to adjust to my new plan, how long it took to feel an effect. And then Connie also asks, "How did you find out you have mercury poisoning? Do I I know how I contracted it and did others in my family also get mercury poisoning?" So I'm thinking that it will probably be a better topic for a dedicated video. But let me know in the comments if you would be interested in that and if you have any more specific questions you'd like me to answer.
Now Debbie is asking the important questions here. Am I getting a dog? The short answer is yes the longer answer is yes but no, not until I get a car. And since the whole car situation did not work out here in Mexico...and if you don't know what I'm talking about I'm going to link this video about the nightmare I have had trying to buy a car in Mexico...but once I get a car then I will feel comfortable getting a dog because I don't want to be in a position where if it has a medical emergency I'm kind of in a pickle as to how to get it to the vet.
And Gillian asks, "What are some things I'm really looking forward to about moving back to the US?" And there's a pretty long list. I actually made a Pros/Cons list when I was trying to decide should I stay in Mexico or should I go back to the US, and the list of Pros is like 30 long and the Cons were maybe 11. Which just probably shows how hard of a time I've been having. But that's not the question. What am I looking forward to going back? To be honest, one big thing is just speaking my native language all the time. Speaking English all the time, whenever I want to, super easily. I'm thankful that I've gotten to a point where speaking Spanish is not very difficult for me anymore and I can think of what I want to say without even really having to think about it, but there's something to be said for speaking your native language that's so comfortable and I can be more witty and punny and make jokes and I understand cultural references. That's just a hurdle when you're speaking Spanish. Some other things would be gluten-free things are more available and easy to find and listed on menus and stuff. Of course, I am so looking forward to being around my family again and getting to see them more often. I've also really missed hiking. There's tons of amazing hiking in Phoenix and I just haven't really gotten to do much of that in Mexico. It's not as common of a thing slash, I've heard it's kind of unsafe especially if I were to go by myself. That is a big no-no. What else, what else? Let me consult this Pro/Con's list and that will tell you my big ones.
So some of my others on this list are that I would feel safer as a single female. Yes, there are dangers in the US just like there's dangers anywhere, but I definitely don't have to think so much about what am I wearing, is somebody staring at me for too long. And even on that note, not getting stared at so often will be a lovely thing. Another thing would be the ease of driving. Anyone who's driven in Mexico can attest to the fact that it is a whole other Beast driving here and you really really really have to pay attention. It is not as easy that you can go and autopilot like you can in the US. And then there's other random things that I have on here, like being able to return things easily. It's not like you can't return things that you bought here in Mexico but they certainly question you on it a lot more. And anytime you have to deal with customer service it's been my experience that that it is so difficult here in Mexico, whereas customer service is just on-point for the majority of companies in the US. Another random one is that I won't get sunburned as easily Being in Mexico, so many places are higher elevation, plus it's closer to the Equator so I get sunburned like no other—so, so easily. So anyway that's a kind of long list, long-winded answer for that question.
J. Edwards asked the question, "What are three places I would like to go back to in Mexico?" And I love this because I find it so difficult to answer like "top three favorite places" but for some reason where I would go back to, like where is calling me again is something completely different. And that would be Laguna de Catemaco in Veracruz because it was completely magical and like the most fairy tale rainforest that I'd ever seen before. Second place would be Bacalar. I've been there many times and would happily go back anytime I got the opportunity because once again, super magical. And Oaxaca City. Again, I've been there a handful of times but I never get tired of the culture, handicrafts, chocolate, coffee, amazing food, the celebrations, everything about Oaxaca City. And really, Oaxaca the state never disappoints.
Vanessa also asked a question which is somewhat related to this. "Where have I spent Day of the Dead and where is my favorite?" So the three places I've been are Oaxaca City, actually four places, Oaxaca City, Mexico City, Aguascalientes, and Merida. I missed a couple years because of the pandemic. Of all of those, Oaxaca City is definitely, definitely, definitely my favorite and I tried, I was going to try to go back again this year but you really have to plan to go there months in advance. I would say if you want to go, 6 months in advance at least because I was looking 3 months in advance and everything was booked. Mexico City though comes in a close second.
So for dinner, I was thinking of going to my favorite pozole place which is...[gets tongue tied] Pozoleria La Querencia. I looked on Uber and it was 100 pesos there and 100 pesos back and I was like, there's no way I can justify spending 200 pesos in just getting there, so instead I just got it off of UberEats. For a giant pozole and tacos dorados which are like giant taquitos, it was 238 pesos. So this, I love how they do this. It's all deconstructed so that when it gets to you it's not mushy. But you have the giant tacos dorados or, what do they even call them? Flautas, yeah they call them flautas. And then they put what's on top on the side, so lettuce, cheese, avocado, tomato, and then you can drown these son bi**es in salsa if you so desire. But the main event is the pozole. This is by far the best pozole rojo that I've tried in all of Queretaro and they even figure out how to get it to you without it spilling everywhere. How to get it off, that's another story, Okay time for scissors.
But see this is the problem that I've been having without a car is that I end up not going a lot of places unless I've made a trip. Unless I'm traveling, I don't go anywhere because it's like well, it's just cheaper to order it in, even for groceries too. I barely go get my groceries anymore. I just get it off of UberEats and stuff because it's cheaper than spending Ubers there and back, and my time. So, oh my gosh, this is a mess. I forgot a spoon. But if it sounds like I'm complaining, I'm really not. I'm just saying this is the situation. This is what it's like to not have a car. This is not a city that I would recommend not having a car. It's possible, I've done it, but it certainly makes life a lot more difficult.
Look at this pozole, this has maciza in it, which, to be honest, I don't really understand what type of meat that is. But it's usually really tender. Oh, how am I going to do this? Here, come here. Come here so you can see this disaster happening. Okay, lower down. I feel like this is not going to go One, two, three! Okay, oh yeah. Deliciousness. You really can't tell but this is just the most... the most flavorful. But I do like to put lime. And I also like to put creamy cheese. This is my crema, so don't judge me for licking a spoon and then putting it in here. Mmm-hmmmm. And then get a nice big bite. Oh that's especially good today. Mmmm.
Well I think that's going to do it for this video. I hope you enjoyed an inside look at what a day in my life in Queretaro is like. If so, hit that subscribe button to see more videos from me. On the screen is one of my favorite videos that I have made in Mexico to date of some celebrations in Oaxaca. And one more thing before you go. GONG that Bell so you get notified the next time I release a new video and I hope to see you there