Living on a Dollar a Day

Staying in Mexico for a while has shown me what poverty really looks like.

I’ve walked by people’s homes that had no electricity and where they cooked dinner over an open flame. It looks like an abandoned lot, but an entire family is living there.

And across the street is a nice new restaurant. The neighborhood is scaling up because people like me are living here.

My penthouse condo is a 10 minute walk away.

Coming from the USA where we had a Mercedes, a convertible, and a five-bedroom home, I personally feel like we upscaled to a two-bedroom penthouse with a roof terrace. But when I see people without electricity cooking every day over an open fire, I really feel I upscaled.

With the growth of the resort town I’m living in, I know these families may be months away from cashing out and moving themselves up, but it does make you pause when you walk by.

Then I watched the documentary Living On One Dollar on Netflix, which showed me real poverty. Families making a dollar a day per person, and how hard that is.

A dollar a day in a country like Guatemala is a completely different story. You get sick, you can’t afford the medicine, and you die.

Knowing about poverty, seeing it on a screen and then walking by it in our own town is another thing.

I’m very grateful for this experience and I’m very grateful for my high living conditions.