Rob Kaplan & Diane Mak-Kaplan
Status: Couple
Employed or Retired: Retired
Where are you living now / where are you from: We currently live in Chiang Mai, Thailand. We previously lived in Penang, Malaysia which is where we first moved when we became early retirees. We made the decision to retire after an unexpected job loss. I’m American, born and raised in Brooklyn but spent my adult life in The San Francisco Bay Area. Diane is a Canadian form Edmonton, Alberta
Timeframe for a move: Summer 2019 or 2020 depending on how bad the “haze season” gets in polluted Chaing Mai where they burn everything
Where else are you considering: Nowhere for now although we have visited Ecuador and Costa Rica during our working years to look at the possibilities for the future
Why Vallarta: We’ve visited the Eastern side of Mexico and don’t like it. PV appears to be vibrant enough with great food and a large expat community for making friends. It’s a bit hot for us especially in summer but after living in the tropics for three years it’s certainly not any worse and lacks the never ending burning of everything from trash to crops they do in Southeast Asia.The coast is similar to California’s and we want to try a beach environment that’s not dumpy and undeveloped like Penang.
How can ExPats in Vallarta assist you: We’re unclear what area to live and are hoping to find some like minded expats that are not quite at “standard retirement age” yet.
Hello Rob and Diane,
We would like to introduce ourselves, Louise and Jojo Solacito. We are retired couple living in Vancouver BC. We are also your “not quite at standard retirement age” yet :-).
Our family first fell in love with PV when we started vacationing there in the early 80’s. Four years ago, we made PV our “second home away from home” by purchasing a condominium in the Cinco de Diciembre area (Centro Vallarta) and are very happy with it. It is six blocks from Los Camarones beach, and a 10-minute walk to the Malecon and 5-minute walk to Ley’s grocery store. We generally spend 6 – 8 months in Vancouver and the rest of the time in PV or traveling (Asia and Europe).
We have been members with PV Expats since 2014 and have made many new friends these past few years through the various Expat’s Vallarta groups/events. We regularly attend the ExPats events like the weekly Happy Hour, Dinners with fellow ExPats, or morning get togethers at Starbucks. We also join other PV activities like volunteering, yoga, SUP yoga, hiking, and of course also enjoy hanging out at the beach and sharing stories.
We would love to connect via email and in person someday.
Louise and Jojo Solacito
Casa del SOL:
https://goo.gl/photos/X7d7quNi9YrE82b48