“I searched for years for the perfect place at the right price. I wanted a place on the beach that I could afford,” says Adele Aguirre. “For as long as I can remember I’ve wanted to speak Spanish and to be in a Spanish-speaking environment. But every time I found something, everyone else had found it, too, and prices had gone up. At first I had no intention of moving…only to vacation and get away from the stress of my business in the U.S.”

“One day, though, I learned about the beach area near Merida. I spent two months doing research and then decided to get on a plane and go. I fell in love with the area and bought a small beach house in San Crisanto. For two years I just went back and forth from New York every couple of months to the beach home,” she says.

But an idyllic Mexican beach house was not the only thing Adele found. She met Nic Lavroff at a social gathering in Merida and soon realized they had many mutual interests, including a love of art and architecture.

Nic, a former graphic designer and photographer from San Francisco, had different reasons for moving to Mexico, and for him it was an easy decision. “I had become disenchanted with the increasingly ugly political climate in the U.S. during the Bush years,” he says.

“The recession made it impossible to find work, and I decided to take an early retirement and live on my social security. Merida offered a high standard of living and a rich cosmopolitan atmosphere at an affordable price. The people are friendly here and I found lots of opportunities for personal advancement. Specifically, I wanted to concentrate on my art and catch up on my reading.”

As for Adele, she found herself spending more time in Merida itself. “I delayed my flight back on one of my trips and said I wasn’t going back without buying a home in Merida. I bought an old home in the Centro and a year later I started renovating it. But every time I had to go back to U.S. I was really sad. All I thought about while I was in New York was Merida. So eventually, instead of three months in New York and two weeks in Merida, I was spending two weeks in New York and three months in Merida.”

For fun Adele and Nic enjoyed looking at abandoned, broken down properties in Merida’s Centro downtown area. “That was fun to us. One day, we found a property in a prime location near the big hotels and close to Santa Ana Park. We thought it would make a great art gallery. So we bought it and started renovation with that goal in mind.”

In November of 2008, Nic and Adele opened SoHo Galleries. They focus on showcasing both local artists as well as those from other countries—most notably Cuba. They’ve made several trips to Cuba to meet with artists there…some who are young, talented, and just getting started and others who are very well-known, including the eccentric Jose Fuster.

“Shopping for art is fun,” says Adele. “Meeting the artists and being part of bringing their work ‘out’ is the one of the parts of this adventure I enjoy the most.”

“Opening the gallery has been more fun than work,” Nic says. “We both love art, and it’s exciting to discover young talent and promote their work.”

What advice would they give to anyone else looking to start a business in another country? “Just go for it,” Adele says. “And don’t listen to naysayers…there will be many. Some people asked how we could open a gallery without having owned one before…what did we know about it, after all? We just followed ours desires and instinct.”

Nic offers similar advice. “Find something you love to do, and do it,” he says. “And remember that in a place like Mexico you can do it for a lot less than almost anywhere else in the world.”

See here for more on Nic and Adele’s gallery.

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