‘Real Expats’ is a real series in Yucatán

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Courtesy: “Real Expats in the Yucatán”

A television concept that two years ago we had imagined as an April Fool’s prank on our readers is an actual thing in 2017.

No tables are toppled over in a rage — at least not in the first two episodes. The series depicts honest conflicts, but no ginned-up dramas. It’s an earnest look at expat life and friendships in the Yucatán.

The expats — Linda Ahvenniemi, Karen Ray, Roxanne Conway, Cherie McClellan, Gloria Cauley and Kelley Conway — are a mix of personalities and temperaments. 

“This is how real women act, especially women in their freakin’ 40s and 50s,” says Conway, an expat from Texas who is also executive producer.

Linda Ahvenniemi and her friends get wiggy with it. Courtesy: “Real Expats in the Yucatán”

Subscribers to the YouTube series will discover bonus videos with advice for would-be expats. 

“We’re just trying to share our experiences,” Kelley tells the camera in another video. “Watching this series can give you a little bit of insight and maybe give you some contacts of people you connect with.”

The series is shot and edited by Richard Lakin, a media producer from Baltimore who moved here in semi-retirement.

“From immigration to Internet, water and electricity or lack thereof, spiders, snakes and scorpions, construction and housing, ocean and beach, food, drink, entertainment and music recommendations, Mexican holidays and fiestas, the real cost of living and aging parents and millennial children, new grandchildren, the expats cover the real truth what daily life is in the Yucatán,” says Lakin.

Most of the scenes so far are filmed at the fishing villages of Chelem and Chuburná, where the expats live, but cameras will also roam into Mérida, says Lakin. The first episode shows the women cutting loose at the state fair at Xmatkuil.

New episodes will post approximately every two weeks, depending on the schedule of various events, with 13 episodes per season.

Yucatán Magazine
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