Best Places In The World To Retire

The stores and shops and shopping in Bocas del Toro has gotten better. There are two different types of shopping. The Chinese have built lots of their local grocery stores. They sell basic food products and a lot of items that you would find in a regular supermarket in the United States. It’s not on the healthier or more gourmet side, but it’s more of the staples.

As far as shopping for women, all of a sudden there are lots more dress shops in Bocas del Toro. There are...

The stores and shops and shopping in Bocas del Toro has gotten better. There are two different types of shopping. The Chinese have built lots of their local grocery stores. They sell basic food products and a lot of items that you would find in a regular supermarket in the United States. It’s not on the healthier or more gourmet side, but it’s more of the staples.

As far as shopping for women, all of a sudden there are lots more dress shops in Bocas del Toro. There are more jewelry and beachwear stores. It’s actually at a point where there are more things for shoppers to see.

There are no malls in Bocas del Toro. There is a Chinese three-story building that we call a mini Wal-Mart and is mostly filled with Chinese products. We just got a new appliance store in Bocas Town. If you are looking for name brand appliances, you have to either go to David or Panama City. The transport will bring what you buy back to you. It is easy to get things back to Bocas del Toro. We just had our first larger appliance store two weeks ago.

We have plenty of hardware stores. The Chinese own all hardware stores and there are about five of them right now.

You learn to work around the fact that Bocas del Toro is similar to a very small town in the United States. There’s not a lot here. What I do, and what a lot of us do in Bocas del Toro, is we have a Mailbox Etc. down here. There is lots of online shopping in Bocas del Toro.  Just the other day, I ordered a new pair of flip-flops. Less than a week later, I got them. Online shopping is very big in Bocas del Toro and you can pretty easily get everything delivered here. 

 

(Flip-flops and a beach towel on a sandy beach, pictured.)

If you have an interest or signature authority over foreign financial accounts that have a total balance exceeding $10,000 at any point of the year, you are required to file the FBAR (Foreign Bank Account Report – Form TD F 90-22.1). The FBAR is separate from your income tax filing, and the due date for filing (starting in 2017) is April 15. To complete the FBAR, it is advisable to maintain records of your monthly account balances. Otherwise, the...

If you have an interest or signature authority over foreign financial accounts that have a total balance exceeding $10,000 at any point of the year, you are required to file the FBAR (Foreign Bank Account Report – Form TD F 90-22.1). The FBAR is separate from your income tax filing, and the due date for filing (starting in 2017) is April 15. To complete the FBAR, it is advisable to maintain records of your monthly account balances. Otherwise, the paperwork may become a difficult exercise. Account balances need to be converted to U.S. dollars, using the F/X rate as of the last day of the year. Failure to report (non-willful) carries a penalty up to $10,000. Willful non-compliance potentially raises the penalty up to $100,000 or 50% of the taxpayer’s foreign assets (whichever is greater).

 

As of July 1, 2013, the FBAR has gone electronic, and is now called FinCEN 114. BTW, the acronym FinCen stands for Financial Crime Enforcement Network. The information required to be submitted remains the same.

The Portuguese stew, called Cozido à Portuguesa, is a popular food in Portugal. It has all meat from pork, veal, and cow, and a lot of cabbage, carrots.  It’s a very rich and heavy meal that is a typical meal for winter in Portugal.
 
Not only women make this meal; everyone does. For example, in my house, I do it. People or families will make it slightly differently.
 
Then we have the barbecue fish, which we call Peixe na Grelha, which is basically just...

The Portuguese stew, called Cozido à Portuguesa, is a popular food in Portugal. It has all meat from pork, veal, and cow, and a lot of cabbage, carrots.  It’s a very rich and heavy meal that is a typical meal for winter in Portugal.
 
Not only women make this meal; everyone does. For example, in my house, I do it. People or families will make it slightly differently.
 
Then we have the barbecue fish, which we call Peixe na Grelha, which is basically just fresh fish on the barbecue. We just grill the fish, and it comes with stewed vegetables. We typically use sole fish, sardines, Rodalo. But the most famous is sardines, our grilled sardines.
 
And then we have another one, which is Arroz de Marisco, which is basically rice and seafood. This contains shrimp, lobster, octopus, calamares, and crab all mixed in a big pan and  cooked with wine, tomato, onions, and pepper; a lot of ingredients. And then the rice is cooked with the sauce of that stew. It’s a wonderful, shellfish rice.
 
The food is one of the main features in Portugal. We take it really, really seriously. If you cook something in a microwave in Portugal, people will get offended with you. There are restaurants in Portugal where you have to go by yourself in the kitchen and fetch cutlery and the plate and the cups and put it on the table. 
 
In Portugal we have Gourmet 3 Michelin Star restaurants and you have these restaurants where you feel at home that you walk into the kitchen, talk to the cook, choose fish, you tell him exactly what vegetables you want, you don’t want the ones that are in the menu, you choose them, and you bring your plates and your cups from the cupboard and you put it on top of your table. So we take food very seriously in Portugal. Not only that, we don’t have a meal in half an hour; we have a meal in two and a half hours… with a lot of wine and a lot of conversation.

 

(Salad menu at Blue Hostel and Suites, Cascais, Portugal, pictured.)

In the department of Managua you have different options for adventure activities. First, in the center of the city, located in the Tiscapa Lagoon, you can cross the lagoon and jungle on a zipline and enjoy what is considered one of the best viewpoints in the city. The entrance fee is between US $15 - $20.

 

Other possible options are easy walks and hiking around the nearest nature reserves: Montibelli and...

In the department of Managua you have different options for adventure activities. First, in the center of the city, located in the Tiscapa Lagoon, you can cross the lagoon and jungle on a zipline and enjoy what is considered one of the best viewpoints in the city. The entrance fee is between US $15 - $20.

 

Other possible options are easy walks and hiking around the nearest nature reserves: Montibelli and Chocoyero. They are located only 30 minutes away from the city center. Both reserves are great option for bird watching. 

 

If you prefer to have a more adventurous moment, you can go to our nearest beaches in the department of Managua. They are 45 minutes to 1 hour away from the capital city. Here you can surf all the time you want and rest in one of the close by hotels. 

The dress code in Corozal is shorts and either t-shirts or short-sleeved shirts. I only took a pair of slacks one time because I had a meeting scheduled with some people at the embassy. I just thought, just out of respect, I’d wear slacks. I certainly didn’t have a jacket or a tie.  At this meeting, there were others like me who were wearing slacks, but still others who were there in shorts.

 

The women in Corozal wear anything from sundresses to gym...

The dress code in Corozal is shorts and either t-shirts or short-sleeved shirts. I only took a pair of slacks one time because I had a meeting scheduled with some people at the embassy. I just thought, just out of respect, I’d wear slacks. I certainly didn’t have a jacket or a tie.  At this meeting, there were others like me who were wearing slacks, but still others who were there in shorts.

 

The women in Corozal wear anything from sundresses to gym shorts to khaki shorts, to blue jean shorts. If you would like, you could dress up in nice clothes.

 

I was kidding one of my buddies recently.  Here was our conversation.

 

“You shaved this morning, didn’t you?”

 

“Yeah.”

 

“Man, you’re going to stick out like a sore thumb.”

 

The dress code in Corozal is the epitome of casual. Certainly, there are places and occasions if one wanted to dress up a little, one could. A friend of ours took a sundress, and was comfortable.

 

("Welcome to Belize"  t-shirt designed by Jet Metier of Best Places of the World to Retire, pictured.)