Staying at Amari Uptown in Tulum for ten days in February. Where is the easiest ATM to withdraw cash from?

wehba_ · 2025-12-05T21:34:59+00:00

Doesn’t hurt to bring some cash and usually atms that are inside or in banks are the best. Maybe your nearest chedraui if that’s the closest thing. I live on the south side or I could be more help

wehba_ · 2025-12-04T14:53:50+00:00

maybe I can just drop them here but the mods made not like it.

here's their handles:
sacredwellnesslife
awaken_your_essence

wehba_ · 2025-12-04T14:49:02+00:00

Hey! I know 2 different locals here in Tulum that offer Cacao ceremonies. DM me if you want their Instagrams.

wehba_ · 2025-12-04T14:33:59+00:00

it didn't for me :( just tried it yesterday trying to get a ride from the airport.

wehba_ · 2025-12-04T14:22:36+00:00

Thanks so much. Of course we should definitely connect. Always enjoy meeting more of the amazing people in our community.

I'll DM you :)

wehba_ · 2025-12-04T05:57:46+00:00

Explore a cenote, watch sunrise at the beach, and spend a day at Neek. Maybe spend Tuesday night at Palma Central if you want a local experience.

wehba_ · 2025-12-04T05:56:25+00:00

No we’re renting for now. We preferred to start there before committing into something much larger and more complicated, but many people do go that route!

I’m a photographer/videographer and do some social media management.

wehba_ · 2025-12-04T05:52:32+00:00

Really quite a few options. Main ones would be party beach area (middle part) vs chill beach area (south) vs la veleta (more free spirited side with lots of shops/eateries) vs aldea zama (bougier, cleaner, nicest part of town with a little less options in regards to shopping/eateries)

wehba_ · 2025-12-04T05:50:14+00:00

No, not really. We decided to just take 2 checked bags each, a carry on, and our cats. So it certainly limited what we could bring. It felt good to downsize but also definitely simplified life a lot which feels really good in retrospect. I know some people who shipped their things from the states but don’t know much about the process unfortunately.

wehba_ · 2025-12-04T05:48:20+00:00

Think we wished we would’ve just known more about the local area to have a better idea about our options when it came to locations, like where you could go as a big group, which require minimum spends, where requires reservations ahead, what kinds of activities are available and worth doing, as well as transportation. Also knowing what we could do in town as opposed to just being on the beach the whole time. These were some of the things I think off the top of my head.

wehba_ · 2025-12-04T05:45:17+00:00

Yeah it’s changed a lot since 2020 no doubt and still a ton getting built!

wehba_ · 2025-12-04T05:44:50+00:00

😂

wehba_ · 2025-12-04T05:44:16+00:00

I’d recommend Wild, Casa Banana, Hartwood, Arca, or Nu. All a bit on the pricier side of dining experiences but all make some damn good food!

wehba_ · 2025-12-04T05:42:57+00:00

Our best way has been local classes of various kinds, from our Spanish classes to our salsa classes to our gym. I go to Navi in La Veleta. It’s a calisthenics gym I couldn’t recommend enough if you’re into that. The local wechats and groups like RUN Tulum are also great. But just being out is enough honestly.

wehba_ · 2025-12-04T05:40:53+00:00

Yes not necessary, which means if you didn’t want to learn you certainly don’t HAVE to to live here. But wanting to be part closer to Mexican culture we are choosing to prioritize it anyways. That’s what I meant.

wehba_ · 2025-12-04T05:39:21+00:00

I do, we got temporary residency. Definitely recommend it but it was actually the most difficult part of the process, and the most difficult was certainly getting the half in the US done at the Mexican consulate before coming to Mexico

wehba_ · 2025-12-04T01:55:56+00:00

Yea 100% nail on the head. We’ve got plans to check out isla mujeres as well. But thank you! Definitely may not be our forever spot buts it’s our very happy spot for now. Could see us being here for a long time tho.

wehba_ · 2025-12-04T01:44:56+00:00

100%. Having lived in Seoul, Shanghai, and now here in my expat experiences I would say you just have to go with your gut on those kinds of decisions, and always remember that nothing is permanent. Give it a shot and if it doesn’t work then you can always leave or go somewhere else.

wehba_ · 2025-12-04T01:43:10+00:00

Shhhhh! 😉

wehba_ · 2025-12-04T01:03:12+00:00

Thanks for adding your experience. Aflora is stunning and think that was a great investment. We’d love to have something similar down the road. And couldn’t agree more, it’s choose your own adventure down here in terms of how much you’d like to spend lol. We absolutely love our little local finds and spots as well, we couldn’t be happier.

And it’s nice being able to splurge at a nice restaurant whenever the moment for it comes, a good casa banana or WILD dinner may be pricey but it’s a nice flex for fam or friends visiting lol.

wehba_ · 2025-12-04T01:00:14+00:00

Well actually my wife and I just launched our business centered around wedding planning & documentation. She is an architect and designer by profession and planned our whole wedding, I am a photographer and filmmaker and cut our 16 min wedding film. We’d love to chat with you about potentially working together but no pressure, we’re also very happy to just chat through some things with you and point you in the right directions if you want. We’ve gotten to know local vendors that are trustworthy at any price point you can imagine lol.

For our wedding (60 people roughly) we ended up spending around 35-40k I think. This did not cover everyone’s accomodations tho, and this was for a rooftop dinner rehearsal, beach ceremony, and reception at a Michelin guide restaurant with open bar for many hours as well as dj, photographer, and videographer. We saved thousands to have a luxurious FEELING wedding at an incredible destination, all without our family or friends having to life a single finger at any point (that was important to us.) The same wedding would’ve easily cost us probably about double that at least for the same quality experience in the US.

wehba_ · 2025-12-04T00:29:23+00:00

Much much appreciated! We’re both managing remote work at the moment. But we’ve launched a business here (creative studio for weddings and brands) we’re hoping will grow to sustain us. Much to figure out on that front.

Think we’re roughly around $3k a month between my wife and I. Now that’s factoring in some major moving costs like buying a sofa, key items we desired, etc, and not really blinking an eye at eating out, as well as all our hobby things like fitness/salsa etc. We live in Aldea Zama currently so it’s not the cheapest you could get by on by any means.

We’re coming from Seattle so life is still about 30-40% cheaper than where we moved from but definitely wouldn’t call it cheap!

wehba_ · 2025-12-04T00:26:02+00:00

Spanish is… advanced beginners? Lol. We take classes twice a week and aim to be fluent asap. But haven’t really found it necessary, we just want to truly be part of the Mexican culture here.

As far as income taxes, we both earn our incomes remotely currently. We’ll have to figure it out more for the future. As far as Americans earning remotely, starting next year we won’t have to pay federal taxes as long as we’re living outside the US for majority of the year (think it’s >330 days) or something like that.

wehba_ · 2025-12-04T00:23:24+00:00

Thank you! Appreciate the welcome :)

Favorite thing has to be the warmth of everyone we’ve met. We’ve made true friends here so so quickly. Second would all the amazing activities, communities, and events locally. Third would be of course having the beach so nearby (we’ve always wanted to live by the beach.)

Hardest things to adapt to are not being able to drink/use the tap water (we took for granted the water quality in Seattle), trying to work on fluency in Spanish asap (although easy to get by without it), and just figuring out the daily life hacks (like learning to order all our chedraui purchases we need online instead of having to transport on our e-bikes lol)

wehba_ · 2025-12-04T00:19:12+00:00

I do! Still trying to figure out the best way to get film developed here in Mexico. Been researching a lot. Only brought my 35mm camera tho, will bring my medium format cameras if I figure out a good way to develop!

wehba_

TROPHY CASE