Retire Early Lifestyle
Retirement; like your parents, but way cooler

In 1991 Billy and Akaisha Kaderli retired at the age of 38. Now, into their 4th decade of this financially independent lifestyle, they invite you to take advantage of their wisdom and experience.

Hotel Plaza Morelia

Morelia, Michoacan, Mexico

Billy and Akaisha Kaderli

We had a bit of a rough start getting to Morelia, what with our Uber driver breaking down on the highway from Chapala to Guadalajara. But once we boarded the upscale ETN double decker bus at the station, it took us three and a half hours to arrive in Morelia.

We grabbed a taxi right at the Morelia bus station and for 65Pesos and a 20Peso tip (about $4.75USD total), we arrived at our hotel.

Hotel Plaza Morelia

We searched for hotels online before we left Chapala, and received an internet quote of 469P (about $26USD) per night for this hotel. With its location, price and including breakfast, we decided to try it.

With it being Sunday, it was pretty quiet. But Oscar, the man at the desk asks us if we had a reservation. I take a look at the room price list, and the cheapest one for a double room begins at 700Pesos (about $39USD).

I say to Oscar, "Sir, I don't have a reservation, but my internet price is different than what you have listed here. Do you have rooms for 469Pesos?"

"Yes," he says, but we'll have to wait in the lounge for the maid to finish cleaning the room.

No problem. We can do that.

Our room with a balcony to the left

Since Oscar said it would be 30 minutes to an hour, I stayed with the luggage and my Kindle, while Billy went out exploring.

However, 20 minutes later our room was ready.

I message Billy, who arrives moments later and I go up to check the room. I like to be sure the mattress is firm, the bathroom is clean, and I always ask about internet, hot water in the shower and drinking water.

Noticing that we have a balcony window to the street below, I also ask if it's reasonably quiet at night.

Oscar grunts something off-handedly, which surprised me since he looked so professional, but I thought we'd take the chance. Going up and down the steps from the desk to our room and back, I notice that all the rooms look pretty much the same, regardless of price.

"We'll take it," I say.

Our bathroom and sink

The tiniest bathroom in the world is behind this door to the left. In fact, in order to get to the shower, one has to take the waste basket and place it outside the room. One must shut the door to enter the shower, and in order to shut the door, one must do gymnastic poses with the toilet.

It's ok.

The water was hot and had plenty of pressure, and we received a bar of soap and a small bottle of shampoo out on the sink.

Our view to the right from our balcony

Looking in this direction, we are not far from Jardin de las Rosas, a nice place to have coffee, a cold beer at happy hour, a snack or a small meal.

And we are not far from the Main Plaza with the gorgeous Cathedral, and all the amazing rooftop bars and restaurants.

From our balcony to the left

Little shops to purchase bottles of drinking water and other sundries are just down this way. Also, we found several wonderful local restaurants that served large portions of food for reasonable prices. These single meals were enough for 2 people to share! or to take home if you want to have One Meal a Day in your hotel room.

We made these restaurants our mainstay, allowing ourselves to splurge for wine in a garden, wine at a rooftop bar, and various coffee drinks and fresh coconut smoothies.

The Hotel Plaza Morelia "Restaurant"

I put restaurant in quotes, because we had the understanding that it would be open three meals a day with various selections from a menu. But as it turned out, it was only open for breakfast.

I'm sure I saw scrambled eggs, pancakes and bacon on some plates our first morning, but when we ordered our breakfast, we were told there were no eggs. Our choice was a plate of chilaquiles and beans.

For those of you who do not know what chilaquiles are, they a dish of fried tortilla strips typically topped with a spicy tomato or green sauce and grated cheese. These were served with a dollop of refried beans to the side, all included in the price of our room.

Certain days we could get a glass of orange juice, and coffee was always offered.

This meal got us started for the day.

Afterwards, we typically went walking around to places like the Callejon de Romance, to the Aqueduct, to the Main Plaza to see the Church and people-watch and stopped off to have a gourmet coffee drink or a fresh fruit and yogurt smoothie.

This hotel was clean, had a firm bed, decent internet and we were grateful for our terrific online price which was honored. 

Hotel Plaza Morelia

Calle Valentín Gómez Farias 278

Centro Histórico, 58000 Morelia, Michoacan

Tele: 01 443 312 3095

For more stories and photos of Mexico, click here

Retire Early Lifestyle appeals to a different kind of person – the person who prizes their independence, values their time, and who doesn’t want to mindlessly follow the crowd.

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