Melanie Morales Courageous Canadian Girl pivots to a life in Tulum

Join us in this episode of Tulum magazine as we meet Melanie Morales, a courageous Canadian girl who made a life-changing decision to move to Tulum. In a captivating conversation with Yoli, Melanie shares her unique journey and the unexpected path that led her to this vibrant Mexican town. From her initial doubts to the intentional choices she made, Melanie’s story is filled with self-discovery and personal growth. She sheds light on the challenges of living in a vacation spot, the vibrant dating scene, and the spiritual atmosphere in Tulum. Melanie also provides valuable tips for anyone considering a move or visit to this remarkable destination. Get ready to be inspired and intrigued by Melanie’s transformative experience in Tulum. Watch the video to uncover the magic and allure of this enchanting place through Melanie’s eyes.

TRANSCRIPT:

So welcome everybody welcome back to Tulum magazine and I’m so excited for
this episode this episode is a series on courageous Canadian girls
especially those who have made a pivot in their life and today I want to introduce you to Melanie Morales who is a Canadian girl and she is courageous and we’re going to hear about her journey and how she found herself in Tulum so welcome Melanie thank you Julia for having me I am so excited to like
talk about my journey um because it’s definitely been uh it’s
definitely been the unique one I would say well let’s let’s hear about it so I
first met you when you came into the clubhouse yes you were one of the first people I ever met in Tulum literally and
you’re no one and I have watched you over the months like literally blossom
and so I would love to kind of take people back to the beginning
um what brought you here why to loom what was it that was like okay
what was happening at that moment where you’re like okay I’m gonna go I’m booking my ticket and I’m going girl not
much going on in my head there was not much there was no plan so
I was in Toronto and I was at a Crossroads where I was like okay I could either stay in Toronto and
do what I’m doing but I felt like the patterns that I was continuing to do yeah I was just like dying on the inside
and I knew that I had to make a massive change and so for whatever but the
reason sorry I swear I don’t know if you can swear it’s okay okay um the thought popped in my head like
moved to Tulum I don’t know whose voice what thought if it was a universe
I don’t know I literally do not know why Tulum the only thing I’ve known about
Tulum was that the previous job I used to have the manager he used to have a
bar here and he would just say that to him’s cool and that the cartel shut down
his bar those were the two things I knew and for whatever reason with that
um with that level of knowledge I made my choice to come here I feel like the biggest thing was knowing that
wherever I chose to go there was going to be like problems yeah but as long as you have I think a level of
self-confidence within yourself it doesn’t really matter where you go because it’s it’s what you make out of it so I knew it was gonna make it good
um but yeah so I came here and it was when I first came here I didn’t know
anything I don’t know where I was going to stay I was staying in an Airbnb and the one right down here I didn’t know I
was working a job you already know I hated that job it was
so sterile it was like sales I honestly had no idea what like what my journey in Tulum would look like all I knew was
that like I had a level of self-confidence Within Myself that like whatever life’s gonna throw at me I’m
gonna say yes and I’m gonna take it on you know yeah and so take me through that first month
oh my gosh the first month between Tulum like Saloon like some people can get
spat out there’s also this like Tulum will Haze you right so they’ll be like a
series of things that happen that might be good might be bad what was your experience like that first month I heard
so many people tell me about it like Tulum like either Tulum like tests you that was the big thing I heard is that
like it’ll test you my first month I think just like the excitement of coming somewhere in
you for the first week was the strongest emotion but after that where it’s down
you’re like oh like what did I do
um and so when you’re left in that moment I’m like oh you enter in the
space where you actually got to start creating yeah because it’s almost like a blank slate
and then in that moment I think my first month here I had to really be
intentional with how I wanted my other months to look like and how I wanted that to turn out because I think if I
wasn’t intentional with what I wanted from this I think I would have got so
easily swept up and because it is like a vacation town I looked out so easily swept up and like the parties yeah going
out and doing this so the first month was it wasn’t that like fun yeah like I
didn’t go out I didn’t do much it was really just like building a strong foundation and um being intentional with
what I want my next ones to look like that way I have like just to like gratification yeah so you know there’s gonna be a lot of
um folks that young folks who are like maybe watching this on YouTube and
they’re thinking about traveling maybe they’ve never left their their state
their Province their country um had you traveled before
internationally yeah when I was 19 another crazy idea popped in my head I
was like I don’t want to go to university yeah I’m gonna move to Thailand yeah when I told my parents this like they like tried to stop me to
go I still went I was there for six months working as a teacher so I think through that experience I
learned that like I just gained such a a level of self-confidence Within Myself
yeah and I think for those if I could you know talk to 19
year old me before I went to Thailand um I think a lot of us forget how how
well we can actually manage situations yeah right but you’ll only know that by putting yourself in situations and by
putting yourself in moments that you didn’t think you could overcome but then overcoming them
and being like oh like oh wow I can actually do this so coming to Tulum and after being through so many trials and
tribulations um traveling previously it wasn’t yeah it wasn’t too stressful yeah and you
have made a pivot you know you mentioned when you came here you were initially like in a sales job yeah working remote
and there were some days you’d walk in here and you’d be like on a high and
then some days you’re like something I wasn’t sure you were gonna make it I’m
like oh she’s going back to Canada for sure she’s like goner this one’s a goner
oh so tell me tell me through how you worked through um you know
changing out of that position yeah and then finding your next sort of set of
work because you kind of buckled down oh you have to I had to because it’s
I’m like I’m alone here it’s just me like no one’s no one’s funding this trip like I do everything for myself I pay my
bills everything right um so just to like Trail back to the
beginning yeah so I was working on that sales job I absolutely hated it yeah and I would like to tell everyone I quit but
I will publicly go on record saying I got fired but not because I’m a bad employee not
because I um did anything wrong but because my energy was so low like
you can tell when someone doesn’t want to be there and when you’re keeping an employee there who doesn’t want to be
there like it’s just a negative energy for everyone I thought I was negative but there’s no life in my voice yeah like
none uh and so when I got fired and I told you this too I gave myself it was
on a Sunday I work on a Monday which is like whatever we won’t get into the fact that it was like less than 24 hours for my
shift but I most people would feel oh my God you just got fired you’re in the
middle of Tulum you should cry you should be stressed you should be this like this is like the conditioned kind
of like what should happen yeah um but for me I didn’t want that I actually
felt so relieved I started dancing I heard not music I gave my body a space I
was like if you want to be sad you could be sad but no I felt so free I felt so happy mainly I think because
um I had I knew that I would be okay
because I knew that anything that I did with like my heart and with
passion and that felt aligned was going to work out and that’s where I’m at right now
um I work as a freelancer now like I love marketing I’m a student I do copywriting content writing all
that stuff and that’s like actually what I enjoy and so yeah I had this theory that
because I feel so aligned with it it’s gonna work out and it’s a yeah but it was yeah it was scary a little bit it’s
so interesting because you know I talked to a few people and one of the patterns I noticed is when they come to Tulum
it’s kind of like they find themselves like you had said to me that writing was actually something that you wanted to do
yeah um walk me through kind of like your day-to-day routine into them
it’s weird because I feel like I have to be more disciplined now yeah but I’m like a freelancer now that like I have
my schedule in my hands um because if I wasn’t disciplined I
feel like it would all kind of like fall to the Wayside yeah and
do you mean in terms of partying in terms of like your Fitness like what are
the things that you like to do here okay so yeah I think my daily routine is really it’s really awesome because I
gotta wake up and I gotta choose like what I’m feeling some days I wake up and I’m like I want to go work by the beach
yeah or some days I wake up and I’m like I want to go work at Clubhouse yeah or I want to go work here right and so
I gotta choose what I want to do so I picked whatever cafe or whatever spot I want to work at yeah
um I work I meet people I meet people from all over the world in these places
I get to know a lot of really cool business owners yeah pick their brains which is really cool
and when I’m working I actually lose track of time because it doesn’t really
feel like work work and life for me just kind of like meshes into one at this point yeah um and then yeah like
sometimes I’ll take breaks during work I’ll like walk around and there’s a lot of small little things here in Tulum to
do um on say they have like the little ice bath stuff so yeah go do that holistico
with the yoga and I could do it any time of the day so it’s really nice so yeah I don’t know my days it’s hard to tell you
what my days look like because every single day they’re all different but like bottom line wake up
ground myself work yeah so talk about the people that
you’ve met um they’re quite a few Canadians here right yeah yeah have you been able to connect with some of them
yeah the first it was so crazy so you were the first Canadian album you were
like the first person I ever met you were like the anchor to everything here God bless you
um and so you introduced me to like the digital Nomad chat which is really cool and then I made a little intro on there
so it’s like you know put it out there yeah and then I had these and this was maybe like my first week here and then
these two other Canadians the like Kyle and Damon yeah um they reached out and they he made a
group chat and he’s like hey she’s new to Tulum here’s a group chat I made of other Canadians from Toronto didn’t have
to do that like I just saw a stranger yeah who was alone and said hey come
here like like you’re almost like one of us it was so sweet and to this day like
I love Kyle still friends with him like just people who genuinely want to make
you feel like you belong and that’s one thing I was scared of I think everyone is scared of not
belonging right especially when you go somewhere not being accepted right and having maybe to twist and contort
yourself to be accepted yeah um but I think Tulum is so welcoming in
terms of like come as you are yeah there’s obviously I think that like
pocket of people who are very um uh like they have a very spiritual ego I
like to say where it’s all about that and you don’t feel welcomed with them because you don’t feel like
up to par with that yeah but I think that’s everywhere um
yeah I honestly the people here I think everyone’s
almost on the same page like everybody’s kind of like on a journey right so when
you walked in here today uh-huh you were like um because you’ve you’ve been here and
then gone back to Canada and then come back yes and tell tell the folks what
you were saying to me about your perspective this second time so when I first came here it was like
it was so abrupt it was so quick that sometimes you get doubts in your brain that it was like was this the right
choice yeah should I moved was this just a choice made on like impulse yeah right
and so I went back to Canada obviously see my friends family right and I came back and now
I don’t know what’s wedged while I was back in Canada I think too that without knowing how
much I’ve grown here I went to Canada and I saw my old life and then I saw and
I a part of me actually tried to like fit back into it but we were talking about like it’s it was like a shoe I
didn’t fit in and I kept trying to make myself fit into it it was so uncomfortable and when I came back here
I came back here with so much more confidence uh this is this is where I’m
supposed to be this wasn’t an Impulse choice this wasn’t um you know irresponsible choice now
comparing my life back home and here now like yeah wow like I want to be here you
know with all the respect to my previous life and all the routines back home it
just is not and it doesn’t like nurture me like being care and
reduce me I love that um you know a lot of people when they
think of Mexico you get the questions about safety you get the questions about uh the cartel and uh I mean what has
your experience been do you feel safe here yeah when I first came here I was
so scared yeah I was so scared I wouldn’t even walk out in the daytime yeah and it was based upon no reason
just like this this that no one questions this is just this um
stereotype that message it’s not safe right yeah and so what I started to
realize is I started seeing people walking outside I’m like maybe I should go outside
right now and so I started walking outside and now to this day I walk to
the literally I walked to the what is it what Kai A7 the pharmacy the
pharmacy right here about like 12. yeah like I don’t feel worried I think again a large portion of it comes back to like
confidence within yourself yeah um now I wouldn’t recommend everyone be
like oh you have Mexico super safe I’m gonna walk everywhere at night obviously practice caution yeah but I wouldn’t let
worry consume you and make choices out of fear I think not making choices out of fear
is probably the biggest thing so in terms of safety um it’s like anywhere yeah and don’t let
that ruin your trip like that’s the worst thing totally the days are spent inside where I could have like got water
or something it’s like um Tomatoes like the Uber here yeah it’s
like tomato food because I was too scared to leave my apartment I’m like girl like what were you doing hello
right but you I think you learn yeah like and everywhere I think that first
is going to be scary I think it’s a given so let’s let’s spill the tea what is the
dating scene like here because you’d be always telling me about one
so you have been outside okay
so you know you’re a young beautiful girls traveling on your own
what’s the dancing in life it’s it’s kind of tricky there’s two
like kids there’s two dating scenes yeah it’s one portion of it’s really tricky
and frustrating because a lot of people here are on vacation yeah so you’ll meet someone you’ll connect with them but
they’re gone next week right so it’s really hard and it gets really exhausting because for me in any relations I have like I I want
there to be connection but that’s built over time yeah and it gets very exhausting to continuously building
connection with this person and this person and this person right so I would say it’s definitely like a con tooth
living somewhere that is more of a vacation spot yeah um but for the people who I found here who maybe live here
like longer term it’s actually been um
it’s been good because a lot of people are in that same place of Life yeah where back home
I want to travel I want to see the world you’re the anomaly back home yeah right
and that can all that could cause like friction in a relationship back home because that’s a good people don’t
understand that need to explore the world but here you don’t need to explain yourself yeah yeah I’ve never had to
explain my my um my want to go explore and travel and and see the world because
everyone here obviously that’s why they’re here believes in the same thing so that’s been good
um yeah where do you think that came from like do you have a lot of Travelers in
your family no no where did you get that from I think I think maybe because I
didn’t yeah um I’ve always been driven to just
like have I guess like experience the most
like widest range of things in my Human Experience because I know my Human Experience is so limited that I want to
feel everything on my skin yeah um and I want to expose myself to so much and to people into the world into
ideas and it’s this constant drive that
um that I think pushes me to travel yeah just to feel everything on my skin and that means pain as well right that also
means like challenges that means fear because a lot of people they think you
know just the good stuff I just want to feel everything good but the human experiences everything yeah yeah well I
like that you have shared kind of like both sides you know the great stuff and
also kind of the challenging stuff um for somebody who is thinking about
coming to Tulum maybe even moving to Duluth you know what would be two or
three you know tips hmm
I would say be intentional okay that was my biggest one when I came here and I’m happy because I was intentional yeah
about what I wanted it to look like what I wanted my life to really look like because if you don’t know what you want your life to look like Tulum is so
diverse yeah like different pockets of like any of your spiritual community and your travel community of your work
Community right yeah so you have to be intentional with what you want who you want to surround yourself with what kind
of experiences you want yeah uh my second one would be
allow yourself to like shed your old identity and the things that may have
been working for you back home give yourself the grace to let them go
because a lot of things hold us back and a lot of things will work here yeah right
um if you feel like you’re someone who labels yourself as shy here’s a really
great opportunity to just let that go because that is something I feel like will hold you back here yeah
um anywhere really yeah and so allowing yourself to shut and I think the third
one is and this baby goes hand in hand with the second one but
um questioning like your your worldview yeah questioning how you think the world should run how you should see the world
I learned this really like traveling in Thailand it was like huge culture shock yeah do you think the world should be
one way you think houses should look one way you think oh my God if you guys can see the streets here
no but that doesn’t make it like wrong or right and so like dropping like what you
think things should look like I think would be the third one because if you hold on to what things should look like
yeah in terms of like what they look like back home yeah you’re going to be in constant resistance uh with
everything going on here because things move on to loom time totally and that seems to be a theme here in terms of
just like um having an open mind like a lot of the people I meet here they all
are kind of in that vein where they either had to to um change their mindset um
you know one of the things that folks may or may not know about Tulum is they
say it’s an energy Vortex um you’ve kind of alluded a little bit to the fact that there is a spiritual
Community here um you know we’ve just come out of like
pandemic which is a crazy time [Music] um a lot of people now are more
open to talking about mental health and understanding things
that might not be sort of traditional how how do you sort of fit in that
equation you know there’s a lot of people who come here for the spiritual and wellness side
um you know you talk about being open-minded
how do you feel about do you think Tulum has a spiritual component to it or do
you think that’s just a myth I think um that’s such a good question and I
and I really haven’t really pondered it like super deeply yeah how I feel I
guess when I first came here because I like before I came to June I was always into like metaphysical yeah and stuff
like that so it wasn’t um it wasn’t new to you something new when I came here what I saw a lot that
actually like I didn’t really like yeah but this baby was like my own ego and like well I think things should or
shouldn’t look like yeah was a lot of people like parading around wearing this
like mask of like look at me I’m pure on this but maybe like again like maybe
this is just me like maybe no like that’s real talk yeah like there is a
lot of okay good I’m just trying to be like as possible yeah but um just like
yeah the spiritual ego and it’s a lot of people masquerading around but
not really when you talk to them they don’t there’s no presence within them they don’t actually you don’t feel you
don’t feel good around them that is like a key tell sign like
if someone makes you feel underminded yeah and like you know less it’s usually
because they have their own internal things inside of them right right
um but in terms of having energy Vortex they’re really understood what that
meant well uh so so what I’ve understood is that there’s places like Egypt yeah
people places like um I think in Arizona [Music]
where just from a scientific standpoint there’s like a stronger
[Music] and energy frequencies are detected more strongly
um but anyways I don’t know you know they’re it’s interesting because there seems to be a certain commonality
between the kinds of people who find themselves here yeah so that’s just something I feel like
I feel like yes and no I feel like yeah so I feel like there’s that portion yeah and then I do feel like because I’ve had
like really like the most profound spiritual experiences here more than anywhere and not even just not in a
ceremony not like you know doing Ayahuasca literally in my room meditating yeah on the floor yeah right
um just so profound and I don’t know why right but
it’s such a hard answer it is because I don’t know I can’t say yes or no well
it’s like so you know some people talk about like I haven’t done any of the ceremonies I haven’t done anything I
haven’t done nothing either right I haven’t done any of the medicine but it’s interesting that you
you decided to come to Tulum right you know they talk about Tulum like you’ve
been called to do right and then you you kind of made just a different
chapter in your life here so it’s interesting So Stories still to be told right I’m sure you know it’ll be
interesting to kind of analyze and look back and see you know um
what your Tulum chapter was like you know I’m so excited it’s but it you know
I like now thinking about how it was like how I just picked a loom out of nowhere and how things so divinely
worked out yeah like not even funny how things so perfectly worked out just so happened I
booked the Airbnb here like like um two minute walk from here yeah and then
that’s how I got introduced here if I was never introduced to clubhouse remember what I’m at you never would have met this person this person this
person never would have never would have been sitting here yeah right so it’s something kind of because it’s like so
divinely I never had a bad moment into them either like there’s not like one moment where I don’t have a story where
I was like oh my God this was like a really scary moment yeah not like that has not happened to me I don’t think
it’ll happen yes to call that into your life anyway
it’s it was yeah everything has been so like divinely perfect here it’s crazy so
Melanie for the tourists okay what are some of your favorite places or things
to do in Tulum I’m like the worst person come on
give me one or two um okay depends what you’re coming here for
if you’re a spiritual tourist and you’re like you’re like wanting to come here and do like all the you know all like
the Tulum stuff holistica okay love holistic oh they got the yoga the sound
boss they got like Wim Hof um breathing and the ice bath as well uh
have you done all of those things no I just know they have it
outside what do you do sit at the cafe and holistic no because it’s so hard I
went one day with my laptop to like go I’m like this is perfect I’m gonna go do yoga and study are you kidding me have
you ever tried working without AC it is the worst thing ever disgusting y’all
need to come to the clubhouse we have AC okay I’m spoiled at the clubhouse I’m like that’s holistic I’m like I feel
disgusting I need to be a clubhouse right now um
um have you done any cenotes no oh my God
okay we gotta we got we’re gonna we are going to take you on we’re gonna take you out of this house
I live at Clubhouse because what did you do you came to Tulum to work period girl yeah to get my
together hey hey you can say I got my life together no better place no like I I do go out I
lied I actually went to a Cenote I went to a Sonoma yeah but it was like we went right by closing so it wasn’t really
like a whole day there yeah I’m so holistica if you want to party and you like kind of like you like want to
celebrate with everyone the beach like anywhere on the beach is a lot of fun they got Beach Clubs
um I’ve only ever been to one again because I don’t really go out and they have like some nightlife there I went to
this one restaurant I don’t remember what it’s called I think it’s right by ilios oh it is
maybe but it was so crazy did they have a live show yeah oh and I didn’t know
they did live shows was it one of those like with the fire yeah yeah it was probably back because I was just eating
and all the I don’t like they don’t really advertise I don’t know if it’s no I don’t think it’s Bach but
they don’t advertise they’re doing a show all of a sudden I’m eating like I think we’re in a restaurant we had a beach day we were not planning to go out
and like have a crazy day we’re hungry yeah all of a sudden sparklers and dancers and it turns into a nightclub I
haven’t even finished my meal yet what’s going on but it was so cool so I recommend that
place um not exactly what a culture that’s funny uh
yeah I know I know those places well it’s either Bach or alios and is uh and they have a bunch of them
um there’s a whole Restaurant Group I will not mention but anyway
fun down by the beach you know if you’re in the mood what else so how do you get
around Tulum [Laughter] so you’re not part of the scooter
I don’t know I don’t even know how to drive back in Canada let alone in Mexico okay yeah all right you’re like me I’m
like biking around that’s it I walk like I haven’t even
rented a bike like um not a bike but like bicycle yeah not even a bicycle I
should um I don’t feel the need to because everything’s so close yeah and walking’s
nice like you’re in Walking maybe back home and you know in Toronto it’s like
nearby tree and I can buy um not trees you’re by like skyscrapers and people
and cars and it’s not nice but here it’s it’s called a nice Walk On By trees yeah like nature I actually enjoy walking
here yeah me too me too and I’ve lost a ton of weight how do you feel about your
health here your health and eating and let’s just talk Lifestyle
the funniest thing is people when they hear them living in Mexico they’re like oh my gosh the food must be so healthy
no I mean yes but like what are you sweet tacos tacos street
tacos and like burritos a lot of a lot of the stuff here is like
just like anywhere in terms of health if you want to be healthy you’ll be healthy if you want to be on healthy you’ll be
unhealthy there’s unhealthy here unhealthy food here healthy food here the one that I do have to say is
healthier food is easier to access here yeah than it is in Canada yeah um yeah we hear that yeah all the time
it’s like if you want to get up have fruit have fruit juices have fresh yeah
you can totally access that so so much more easily and add much more affordably
yeah yeah whereas it’s very Niche and somewhere in Canada
and so yeah in terms of Lifestyle it’s because I I’ve always been like obviously about
health and fitness you know like always trying to take care of myself yeah so I didn’t find coming here there was any
um I didn’t struggle yeah to find like a yoga place I didn’t struggle to find a gym I didn’t struggle to find vegan food
I’m not vegan but yeah I don’t eat meat um so yeah I think I think for those people
who are conscious about their health and like that kind of Lifestyle they’ll go in so easy to Tulum and then those
people who are like don’t care I love see me I’d like to eat unhealthy you’re good here too yeah yeah
all right well miss Melanie Morales if people want to hire a fabulous writer
digital marketer extraordinaire how can they connect with you they can connect
with me on LinkedIn okay uh
it’s quite long um but yeah like I’m on Instagram that’s more like my personal life but what’s
your handle m-e-l-l-i
Morales but it’s spelled
m-e-l-l-i-m-o-r-a-l-e-s-a okay yes all right well thank you for joining us thank you for having me