Retire Early and Open Your Own B&B in Paradise

Today we continue our Ultimate Escape Plan series. After 29 years helping readers retire early to find their ideal retirement havens, we've figured out a few shortcuts that can help you retire in the next 12 months--and we're sharing them with you this week. Yesterday we told you how to retire early at 38. Today, read on to learn how to own your own B&B in paradise…

Escape Plan #2: Retire Early and Open Your Own B&B in Paradise

Tropical plants of every size, shape, and color surround you, from orange birds of paradise to bright red gingers, purple ivy, and the tallest, greenest bamboo you’ve ever seen, rustling magically in the wind. The hummingbirds are buzzing, the parrots are cackling, and sprightly songbirds warble happily. You can smell the garden’s loamy richness. Unless, of course, Alfred is in the kitchen cooking…

Hotel Macan ché is just the kind of place Emily Navar and Alfred Rordame were looking for when they were thinking of making a life change, back in 2005. Living in Seattle at the time, they considered moving to New Zealand (too far) or Hawaii (too expensive) before they settled on Mexico.

Retire Early and Still Make a Living

They were looking for a way to make a living while exploring their personal interests. Emily is a yoga teacher and a licensed massage therapist. Both she and Alfred are students of the vedic arts--he leads meditation classes, sutra studies (yogic philosophy), performs kirtan (the call and response style of Indian music and chanting) and offers Jyotish readings.

Alfred is also known for his culinary skills. Intricate eight-course meals that last all day and into the night…

It was Alfred’s interest in the area’s centuries-old haciendas that brought them to the Yucatán and to Izamal, a small town of about 15,000, about an hour’s drive northeast from Mérida.

Izamal is one of Mexico’s Pueblos Magicos (Magic Towns), a town of historical or religious value. At Izamal, the Maya built the tallest pyramid in the Yucatan, a site rivaled only by Chichen Itzá, 40 miles east. During the Conquest, the Spanish built a city atop the existing Maya settlement and put a small Christian temple atop the great pyramid. They also built a large Franciscan Monastery with an atrium second in size only to that at the Vatican.

Izamal today is known as the “Yellow City” because its colonial buildings--the convent, market, municipal building, shops, and homes--are painted a bright egg-yolk yellow. It’s a tidy town, with cobblestone streets lined with iron lampposts. Calesas (horse-drawn carriages) clip clop about, carrying visitors on a tour or townspeople about their errands.

Alfred and Emily were enchanted by the pretty town and its gentle people, and even more so by the small hotel where they stayed. It was exactly what they were looking for and not too long after that first visit, Emily and Alfred were the owners of Macan ché, a 14-room bed and breakfast hotel in Izamal.

“We’ve been pretty lucky at how easy the business end has been for us,” says Alfred. “We expected that it would be difficult to accomplish things, but for the most part it has been very easy.” They’ve added four new rooms to the property and hosted many groups, retreats, and workshops…and many more are planned.

Retire Early to Paradise

They feel very fortunate to have found their piece of paradise here, Emily says. “Mexico is outside the U.S., but it’s not so far from family and friends. With today’s technology, it doesn’t seem like we’re very far apart at all…even though we’re in a small Mayan village in the middle of the Yucatan."

“All the pyramids, the Mayan people, the stone everywhere constantly reminds us of the great age of this place,” Alfred adds. “It’s funny how soon you get used to it, though. I wake up every day wondering if I’m going to feel like I’m living in an exotic foreign land, but it’s just home sweet home. And that’s just what we were looking for.”

Suzan Haskins
Latin America Editorial Director, International Living

Editor's note: Emily's and Alfred's escape plan led them to Izamal. Where will your escape plan lead you? The goal of the Ultimate Escape Plan is to help you retire in the next 12 months with a higher income and a better retirement than if you wait until the traditional "retirement" age. Whether that's running a B&B in Mexico...travel writing in Italy...taking photos in Ecuador...or diving in Belize...we've got an Ultimate Escape Plan that's perfect for you. If you'd like to read more about your own personal Ultimate Escape Plan, click here for our list of the best retirement and income combinations in the world today…but hurry--this link will remain "live" for just 3 more days.

To read more IL articles about retiring early, see:

Retire Early at 38

Can I Retire Early?