Up until recently and for the last nine years or so I’ve been here, there has been a predominance fairly low cost $5 to $6 stands and restaurants all along the beach that are quite similar to one another. In the last 12 months, however, we’ve had a couple of much higher end, more internationally flavored restaurant. We have G&G Gourmet which is fantastic at around $12 to $15 for a plate and then there is the Cervezaria which was opened by American guys, that does phenomenal food around $8 to $9. It’s a micro-brewery and it’s been extremely popular.
Restaurants in San Juan del Sur are still a pretty good value compared to restaurants in Canada or elsewhere in North America, which would charge about $20 a plate. The cost here in San Juan del Sur is about half and less. If you wanted, the real affordable cheap stuff is in the faster food, such as tacos and burritos. You can pick up a loaded chicken burrito for $2 or $3. Nicaraguan style fast food is really, really, really affordable: $2 to $3 for a great big burrito.
Still, we need more diversity. Anybody with ideas to open some nicer international Mediterranean restaurant would be great. We had a wonderful Mediterranean food restaurant that closed after 15 years or so that was highly, highly regarded.
We have an Indian food restaurant that opened recently. They have a small menu but they’re growing, so that’s exciting. We need a Chinese food place. We need a Thai food place. There’s room for a lot more international flavors in San Juan. Very often when you live here, you might drive an hour to Granada for a weekend or for one night, where you can enjoy a much bigger range in of restaurants than we do in San Juan del Sur.
(Diners at G&G Gourmet, San Juan del Sur, Nicaragua, pictured.)
One of the incredible things about Puerto Vallarta is that when you want to decorate your house, we’ve got a number of very good interior designers. You can grab your architectural digest and you can say, “That sofa looks great. Can I have that?” You can get it manufactured here for a fraction of what it would cost for you to purchase in the States, and the quality of the furniture manufactured here is incredible. You can come here and the handmade furniture...
If you are going to build a concrete house to American standards and the location is around San Pedro Town in Ambergris Caye, then that might cost around US $200 per square foot. If you are going to bring your materials by barge off the beach, you are going to add maybe another $20 per square foot. That would be a nice concrete house with nice tiled floors, granite countertops, mahogany cabinets, which are all up to American quality. Fixtures might also be included, such as fans.
There are some good expats in Panama and some bad ones. But there are more good people than people with bad manners. 
If you’re retired or a senior citizen, the cost to go to the movies in Portugal is €4 (about $4.20 / £2.80). If you are not a retired person, it would cost you €5 (about $5.30 / £3.50). 
Not even Goldilocks would have a problem with Ajijic. It’s “just right” and in the middle: not too cold, and not too hot. Ajijic is not too crowded, but with enough residents to have services: there’s a Wal-Mart close by, and dozens of great restaurants, day spas, etc. Guadalajara, at 40 minutes away by car, provides an international airport, high-end shopping, culture, first rate medical care, etc. just close enough to be convenient but not too close to be an...
The Mexican border agent took a quick look at our over-sized van and motioned me to pull over to a special inspection area. Then, he asked me to open the rear doors. What he saw next was a cargo area so fully stuffed that you would have a difficult time adding a tennis ball.
are three kinds of mangrove trees found on the property, which you see on the long wooded road to there, the road that never quite leads you to a view of the Pacific, but rather into an intimate place tucked into the nearness of fresh water and salt, land within the reach of sea, a four room structure of masculine sophistication, a boutique inn for surfers and beachcombers alike.
It is situated down the lane from a surf camp and...