Clara Imperatrice: From the 9to5 hustle of Buenos Aires to the laidback lifestyle living in Tulum

In this episode of Tulum magazine, the host engages in a candid conversation with Clara, a transplant to Tulum from Buenos Aires, Argentina. Clara shares her journey of falling in love with Tulum during a vacation in 2014, leading to her decision to quit her job and move there permanently. Despite initial fears and a lack of a concrete plan, Clara emphasizes the opportunities and community support in Tulum, making it a place where anyone with ideas and determination can succeed. She reflects on the transformation of Tulum, highlighting the dramatic changes in development and tourism after 2020, but also the preservation of the old, magical charm that initially captivated her. Clara’s story emphasizes the importance of taking risks, pursuing happiness, and embracing creativity, all within the unique and empowering environment of Tulum. The discussion also hints at the challenges and tests that come with such a significant life change but does not delve into specifics.

TRANSCRIPT:

well welcome back everybody this is Tulum magazine and it’s the episode where we talk to movers and shakers inTulum and today I have Clara imperetrice and I am so excited to chat with herabout her journey to Tulum so welcome thank you very much excited to be hereso Clara when did you first hear about Tulum are you originally from Mexico noI’m originally from Buenos Aires Argentina I first came here on vacation with mybest friend in 2014. okay it was pretty different yeah I fell in love with theplace I felt like it was so magical and so wild and natural and I came back toBuenos Aires and I just couldn’t stop thinking about it yes was in my head yeah so I woke up one dayand I was like why not so I bought a one-way ticket quit my job packed everything and I came to Saloonand what was it about Tulum that made you thinkI could live here well number one the obvious the place yeah likethe the nature the beauty of it the opportunities like this is I think oneof the very few places in the world where you can literally do anything you want like you have ideas you have twohands yeah you’re gonna succeed like that’s it there’s so many opportunities people areso nice everybody wants to work to help you out to create things to just levelthis place up yeah and it has everything to go to where we wanted to go and allthe resources and opportunities so I’m pretty sure that doesn’t happen anywhere else in the world so you land back hereyou’ve got a one-way ticket what did you what did you think you were gonna do Ihave no idea no idea the first week I was like let’s explore this is beautiful I fell in love with this and notice thepyramids the lagoons I did everything I went to the biosphere I was likeI’m in Paris taking it all in yes and then I was like what am I gonna do whatam I gonna do how I’m gonna pay my bills and panic yeah of course panic attackand I would say within the first month I already had like three different joboffers out of like going out and knowing people and like you’re talking to someone and they’redeveloper or their hotel owner or restaurant owner and you don’t even know because everybody here is like so laidback yeah so casual yeah so you first you meet the person making friends youmake friends yeah and everything starts just like falling into place and all the offersand that’s how it’s been my entire stay here my life in Tulum for the pastseven years it’s all about like knowing people and connecting and then just brainstorming and it’s like oh you havesomething that I need or something that I can help you with let’s just combine our energies and our ideas and let’s dosomething great yeah that’s when you start it sounds like you are a magnetic kindof person like that I think so yes you knowum a lot of people sort of discovered Tulum at least the masses after 2020 yesum can you tell people a little bit of what it was like in 2014.okay well it was very different yeah I meanum not better not worse just different right uh I would say it was a lot morelimited in some ways I would say after 2020 it got very much globalized andall eyes turn into Loom yeah so more investment more developed that’s good yeah but also like I have to say half ofmy heart yeah I fell in love with the old school tool but we still have it that’s the good news that’s the goodnews it’s still there um but yeah it was much more quieter yeah very few restaurant optionsnot even less like beach clubs yeah you would just have the hotels beach clubs and that was it yeah um there wasn’t asmuch as the party scene as we see it now yeah we had it always High season that’sthrough New Year’s Eve to January yeah the electronic music festivals are a bigword and still are yeah the biggest and but that was just like one month out ofthe year I would say the rest it was just like very connecting to Nature healthy yogaum more spiritual kind of Tourism yeah and uhyeah more enjoying maybe some day activities and like the lack of Wi-Fiyeah the lack of electricity I know that sounds horrible right now but back then people would think you could disconnectyeah yeah no AC um but it was beautiful because youwould literally just connect with whatever you would come here looking for you would get the answer because thatwas a common thing of all these different people around the world yeah that number one you would have never metif it wasn’t for this place yeah and just to hear the stories I would say the the meeting point from everybody it wasjust like they would come here either to heal yeah or to find some answers but they are important like life crisis orpurpose they will always find it here so that I I think it’s very interesting aboutTulum like the energy of this place undeniable you know I talked to a lot of people and they they say that there’ssomething about this place that is magical it’s it’s so yeah how would youdescribe like why is it special why is like the spiritual side especially Imean my personal story um and I’ve shared it with a lot ofpeople and I’ve heard this multiple times but the way I lived it also like when I first came here I was goingthrough like very hard breakup yeah and like I was working at Finance I was making a lot of money supposedly verysuccessful and happy at a young age and I was just like what am I doing I was just like crossing the days for theweekend yeah working a lot of hours very stressed and then I came here and without even trying I was happy yeah Ifelt at peace I could actually sleep at night without anything just the thesound of the ocean and uh without the noise the noise of the city the noise ofthe internet the noise of Instagram Facebook and I I was forced to connect withmyself I had no other choice and it actually worked out a lot I I couldn’tremember the last time that I was that happy yeah and that I could be myself like walk down the beach with no makeupno high heels no anything and you would just feel beautiful and gorgeous and go to parties and meet interesting peoplewithout all the other things that we tend to to use or to throw on ourselves tocreate a disguise maybe in the big cities no one cared here as I was saying you could be speaking with a millionaireand there would be barefoot with nothing maybe looking yeah homeless you would say but yeah no and very interestingpeople and yeah I couldn’t get off of that feeling of happinessso that’s when when I came back to Buenos Aires I was like but why am I giving this up like this islife I should be living happy this is my happy place let’s do this rightwhat did your family say you know a lot of young people might be watching this and thinking to themselves you know Iwanna I wanna be able to do that but you know you are my parents might saywhat am I doing what am I thinking my partner might say everybody’s gonna saythat your parents your friends your colleagues or from college yeah you nameit everybody thought that I was crazy yeah they wanted to talk to my therapist and like my therapist was the first oneto be on board like yes we’re born by the kids together this is the smartest thing that I’ve heard you say for thepast year and actually I just did it like I I didn’t talk it through with anyone elsebecause I knew that they would try to talk me out yeah so I just did it yeah becauseyoung people you need to listen to this but yeah it’s your life yeah literally it’s your life and years go by so fastlike for me it was like yesterday when I came here and it isn’t it’s in seven years yeah it’s a whole life and I neverfor one second regret my decision if anything I celebrated because I thinkI was able to change my life yeah and I have friends from school friends from collegeor not friends people that maybe don’t like me that much and they were even like sending me messages on Instagramlike hey just wanted to say like we look up to you we admire you so much like thecourage that you have and I feel people make it bigger than it is they see you as a superhero I’m notmore special I’m not more Brave or anything you just have to do it yeah doit buy that plane your house will be there your parents will be there your country will be there we will be thereat the office from nine to five will be there right get that ticket goso let’s talk about uh leaving the nine to five behind but it looks and sounds like you’veestablished a different career here maybe talk a little bit about thatthink that’s one of the best things of Tulum and why instead of having a lot ofpeople leaving we have a lot of people coming especially after the pandemic yeah I think the number one well not thenumber one but one of the number one lessons that the pandemic taught us is that there’s no need for us to keep onworking until this um under this traditional structures yeah it’s like you can do it you can doco-working spaces remote uh just with the power of the internet yeahand um here I actually discovered that likeyour creativity number one it’s way more exploited here like I went to businessschool yeah and I have a side of me like a little bit artistic and stuff but I was never able to explore it I didn’teven want to explore it because I was not getting to make money yeah I need to make my my family proud I went to college and also because I felt like youcannot make money any other way yeah going to the office yeah shocker you canmake ten times more money if you’re not doing the night with all due respect butit’s like here there’s so many business opportunities and when I say business is not from thetraditional yeah way it’s whatever you want to do whatever is your dream therewill be a way here let’s just talk about it connect with the right people and theresources will come there’s so many things and we’re at this point where Tulum it’s blowing up yeah but there’sstill so many things that we’re lacking off in comparison to play Carmen or Cancun that yeah the closest cities ifyou want to say so so that’s where the opportunity lands here yeah like this is a time weneed a lot of things we need a lot of creative people we need a lot of people with energy and good spirits and youjust can combine both you can build your Empire yeah I’ve seen all of my friendsthey’re my age or younger and they already bought land they’re built in their houses that’s running restaurantsyeah yeah yes yes and I I don’t see that very often anywhere else in the worldyeah what do you think it is it’s because you know is it a combination ofthe place being relatively affordable even though Tulum is not that cheapcompared to the other countries other cities in in Mexico yeahum is it just that people explore their creativity more 100 yeah 100 becauseum many many people I think their story is similar to mine it’s like maybe you’renot um a fashion designer or you’re not a restaurantowner or anything and you just end up doing that and you discover that you’revery good at it for me it happened like I ended up working in hospitality and I had no idea and ended up like runningmultiple restaurants and then traveling the world and going to Michelin stars and learning and I was like I just Ilove to go out and have dinner A Whole New World who knew that could be acareer the amount of information and the topquality of professionals that you will find yeah so you’re going to get the tools to navigate all over the world andI mean like top level top level it’s just that hear whatever you have it in you and youwere afraid to explore it maybe in your country your hometown or whatever you will be challenged that’s the thing itwill happen yeah maybe in the first month maybe after the first year but trust me if you come here you’re notleaving without exploring being tested oh yes let’s let’s talk about thatbecause a lot of people you know I I want to show the challengesas well as the good stuff we’ve talked about the good stuff let’s talk about some of the challengesbecause you’re out here you’re on your ownvalleys paintings so many oh my God I remember the first time my parentsvisited my mom was crying my dad was like what are you doing herelike hot water and I’m like it’s 200 degrees I don’t need hot water I’m okayum yes of course there are many things like on the daily basis yeah we’re used to like yeahwe think that our priorities like for example just you even your example oflike it’s hot water like is it really a priority in this contextI swear to God I mean you appreciate what you had but then it’s likeI’d rather be without AC and hot water and literally I’m driving my beautifulscooter on my way to work smelling the ocean yes watching the waves and thenlike full moon once it happened I was coming back from work and I had to stop and I was started crying and I was likethis is my road to work every day how lucky am I but I mean the struggleis real yeah not gonna lie yeah sometimes you’re just like especially if you go to visit the states and then youcome like you’re like okay you know maybe it’s notcivilization all the way maybe the streets streets need to be paid yeswhen we have the hurricane season the power goes off a lot you go to thechitterawi which is our supermarket and you can buy half of the things that you needand yeah I mean if you need something fixed aurita [Music]like maybe in one year but you’ll get it fixed eventually yes but I also feellike those those things are also the ones that filter the people that are meant tobe here trust me you’re gonna have the bestsummer you will get to enjoy the benefits the real benefits of Tulum I really feel that tooum let’s talk about the spiritual side you know people watch um look at people’s Instagrams and theysee them taking pictures and the restaurants you know all the lovely restaurants turning up but there’s alsoa spiritual side of of Tulum um have what has your experience been itfeels like there’s almost any kind of practice any kind of modality you canyou can explore um what has your experience been I agreeI agree it took me a while I was a little bit septic is that the word skepticalskeptical yes skeptical at the beginning um but I mean it’s always been it wasactually the the main reason yes like first it was a spiritual holistic destination yes and Iwas very like nope I’ve never done yoga in my life this is not for me what I mean feathers shamans singingfull moon ceremonies that’s the only full moon that Iunderstood but another thing it doesn’t matter how hard you try to escape from that it’sgonna catch it’s gonna it’s gonna catch something something it’s like becauseit is real it gets to a point as we were saying it’s not always easy and especially as an expat and it willget that day where you feel like overwhelmed lonely homesick maybenothing like turned out the way it was supposed to and then something happens with your rent and it chaos completechaos and you’re just like you need to yeah and this is the right place that I triedthe de Mezcal yeah maybe it wasn’t the best decision for me because I’m close for four weeks I don’t know if peopleknow what I think but you go into a teeny tiny Igloo I haven’t tried that yet tall people and it’s hot I heardit’s really it’s really hot it’s like volcanic stones that they put inside and then they throw water it’s a wholeexperience but I actually loved it because the first part I was crying like I thought I wasgoing to die I was having a panic attack I wanted to get out and people were like you cannot like we need to start thistogether and finish it together and I just what is this no and then everybody came out and explained to me theimportance and the spiritual side of it and then I saw a seven-year-old walking outside of the temascaraand I was like if a seven-year-old can do this I can do this and she came and she was like everything’s gonna be okayokay let me surrender I had two women when I came back completely differentexperience I actually heard what the shaman was saying I connected with myself I was crying like a baby butbecause of my emotions yeah I already knew that I wasn’t gonna die yeah and then when I finished I was so proud ofmyself for even going through that that was that was my biggest fear yeah and once again I neverthought that I was going to be facing my claustrophobia which is very challenging for me in my day-to-day life yeahbecause it’s hard for me to get on an airplane it’s hard for me to get an elevator yeah on a train it’s very hardso this was like okay I need to address this and it just happened in a very spontaneous way yeah you know so throughvery hard times like the coven when everything was shut down and we we hereof course it happened with everyone else but we couldn’t go back home but we also didn’t have the resources to do anythingelse with about tourism so we couldn’t work from home so it was very mentally challenging foryour mental health yeah Beach was blogs like literally you couldn’t do anything yeah and I feel like that’s when alsoeverybody started exploring and Ayahuasca too but then the Campbell yeahthe frogs are just clean and detox sound healing cacao ceremonies guidedmeditation you just need to try whatever works for you yeah and of course findserious responsible people because yeah it’s a journey yeah and I feel that’sthe good thing of Tulum you have this Two Worlds and you can choose yeah and you cancombine they’re not exclusive yeah so you can be partying and reading throughall January and then just go to holistica have your smoothie detox andfabric detox in in Balance yeah yeah it’s it’s ait is about balance isn’t it you know um so tell me you know there’s a fewpeople that might be watching this who are like we’re just gonna come vacation what are some of your favorite spotslet’s do some shout outs [Music] a little bit of everything I always liketo combine town and Beach Road I don’t know if people know about Tulum it’sdivided in two we have downtown yeah where people actually live and then theBeach Road which is the hotel Zone which are exclusively hotels yeah and restaurants uh maybe a few airbnbs butthat’s not very common on the beach clubs yeah that’s it ah I always feel like number one dependson the time of the year that you will come yeah High season I feel the prices can get a little bit crazyuh I would do an Airbnb if it was me because there are so many beautiful things being built and way moreaffordable especially if you’re coming with a large group yeah it’s gonna be more comfortable yeah it’s like rentingherbiv in town maybe here yeah umand then I would do both I would do two days ofgoing out like beach club you have the party Beach Clubs yeahum they are intense they’re like Miami style like yeah I don’t party yeah so ifyou want a party party that’s it yeah but if you want something more laid back more chill like music or some DJ but notfull-on like loud music sparklers bottle service we also have like the communitySundays that they do some hotels all the time like Panamera yeah I love thearchitecture the design they have a pool yeah just in case there’s seaweed normally normal is one of the first andmost traditional hotels they are a hundred percent old school Talon Vibes yeah magical and sometimes they havelike live music and some ceremonies especially with full moon with the shaman and the fire the grill is bornthe leg is very very beautiful and laid back I’m trying to give like these areyeah opposite options but like if you want to party or you want to relax yeah and uh and you you can give a shout outto some of your places I should tell you when I the first time I came to TulumI I happen to come the week that Bach opened oh my God yeah and I was likewhat is this place the decor the the service it was lovely it was mygirlfriend’s birthday and we decided to choose back and and uh and so it’salways got a special place in my heart it’s the memories and the food and thequality service yes yes because that’s like yeah because I mean those were my options for daytime before night timeyeah restaurant wise yeah it’s not because I I work with them it’s because I genuinely love them like I was themost regular client before I got scouted so uh those it’s from Anderson’s groupand absence group we’ve been on the market for like more than 80 years with approximately 125 restaurants all overMexico and we are expanding uh to the States this year in Florida now we’re also going to open in Barcelona Spainand more destinations to confirm yeah but yeah in Tulum specifically we haveBuck which we’re lucky enough to have you uh Prime Steakhouse and Robert thenwe have ilios Mediterranean food and then we have portfolios the Mexican foodthe three are very different as far as the menu but the same exact quality it’sExcellence we work with the best our steak as you know fabulous we have allthe certification uh the cuts are like we work with USDA USA Prime black onyxand Kobe we’re one of the few yeah in the world with the Kobe certification from Japan and uh and also what we tryto do with the three of them is to create their own Vibes so it’s likeyou get there at eight and it’s like I’m not leaving till one and you’re there and you go through like all the stageslike dinner dessert and then you want to dance a little bit yes especially if you’re celebrating a friend BacheloretteBachelor birthday you name it it’s ideal and also they’re so different that if you comelike for four days yeah it’s great because you just try and if it’s an Eclectic group we have options foreveryone yeah I I really really love it and I always am telling people okay areyou ready to splurge a little bit you wanna like you know show your lady a good time I got the spot for you 100also I must say that like our staff their own point on point like as I saidI’ve been here for seven years I’ve worked with the best I was lucky enough to also do ARCA and like 50 bestrestaurants and travel all over the world with that yeah the fine dining industry which I love and adore with allmy heart yeah but also with this and in Tulum it’s like it’s that whole other experience that is so much fun and sodetail orientated that was shocked I’m gonna say it was a little bit harderyeah working here than working on the other places because they’re like so onpoint yeah like the quality standards it shows insane insane so we’ve hadproposals birthdays special requests we got you and the bread is on point hiokay that’s when you know when the breadcomes out in the bread’s on point that’s when you know oh okay it’s about to be I need to I need to especially tell thewaiters don’t bring me the bread they’re like but we have to no no that it’s alittle piece of heaven it’s like a cloud yes going into your mouth yesI’ll work out tomorrow yes Okay sowhat advice do you have for that young lady who is watching this and who isthinking okay I think I want to travel maybe they’ve never traveled outside theircountry or their state um what are some tips you know there’s there’s always this stereotype about isMexico safe tell them how do you think about it 100yeah yeah well number one I would say go for it go right now open Google and startlooking for flights number one number two um I understand stereotype butwe always say two things I’m not sure if it’s a good thing or a bad thing but we always say Tulum is not Mexico in theway of we are a tourist town yeah and the way it was built and the localcommunity that we have it’s very different from anywhere else in the countryum it’s insanely safe in comparison to anywhere else and that was actuallysomething that surprised me when I got here yeah I was like how come it’s midnight or something and I can walkfrom the bar to my house it’s very hot here lately so like me with like some jean shorts and stuff like I wouldn’teven dare to do that daytime in Argentina but he was like all good yeah I mean as anywhere else in the world youneed to take care of yourself the basics but like in all these years I’ve neverheard of like any robbery gunpoint uh harassment abuse nothing nothing the wayit’s built and as I say like the local community and it’s still a small town weall kind of know each other yeah and uh I feel that provides moremore safety yeah and if you come as a woman we also have like local groups ofwomen yeah for whatever you want yeah yeah for like I used to have like this personal defense scores and then likesome different chats and talks if you’re into the ride share right yes yes partytogether there’s a party you have the party you have the holistic one you have the one for jobs you haveanother one it that helps single moms you have another one if you need to like sell things from your wardrobe becauselike me who live here and that’s it the clothes will get ruined hereum so I would say it doesn’t matter if you come by yourself it’s such a supportive Community yeah you’re gonnahave friends week number one and another important thing is that we’re all expats heremost of us so we understand that feeling so we’re all willing to help and we areour own family here yeah and trust me everybody has that in them it doesn’t matter if they’re Mexican AmericansEuropean because even the Mexicans here they weren’t born and raised in Tulum yeah so we are our own support systemand always more than open and welcomingit will happen for sure so take that Clara thank you so much for joining uson Tulum magazine it was always a delight to talk to you my pleasure andhopefully maybe we can catch up again maybe just before High season you can tell us what’s happening that’s gonna bea good one that’s be ready be ready okay I’ll come with the list yeah thank youthank you very much