Many of us here in the La Paz – Los Cabos area have a very active lifestyle. We go hiking, we ride bicycles, we live right by the ocean, and so we swim and snorkel. We like to do wind sports here. There is a lot of fishing, too. There are a lot of great bike trails that you can go to if you are into that kind of activity. On the other hand, there are also people who are not as active and who like to have dinner and have a get together with friends.
The weather is always very pleasant here so that makes for a different style of living because you have a lot more outdoors living and patio living. We have gorgeous scenery here. We have the mountains, the ocean, and everybody’s yards have the opportunity of lush planting of palm trees and bougainvillea, etc. It is just a different feeling to be here.
Almost everything is just within walking distance. You can walk to the store, the restaurant, or down to the beach. We have a more free type of living because we don’t have the constriction of having to bundle up and get into your car. You don’t have issues with traffic here. We don’t have weather issues where you have to plan everything based on the weather because it is warm and sunny here most of the time. There is a time during summer when it gets hot and a lot of people want to spend that time going north and visiting other friends and family but you could also just stick it out and be in the air-conditioning more. But generally, throughout the rest of the year, the climate here has always been ideal.
In my opinion, Cabo is more a more tourist-oriented and foreign-oriented city. I am sure that the real estate prices and the bulk of people that are migrating to Cabo is a lot greater than it is in the towns because Cabo is more popular and there are lots of gorgeous homes and tons of great restaurants there, too. Cabo has tons of golf courses and they have wonderful marinas. There are lots of opportunities to go fishing and sightseeing. Cruise ships go there. Cabo has a lot of hotel resorts that offer all kinds of amenities but for someone like me, I don’t feel like Cabo is a real city as much as it is a foreign-generated lifestyle.
When you go to La Paz, which is a major city in Mexico and the capital of Baja California Sur, it is an industrial city that is not really geared towards tourist living. So that is what makes the difference. There are a lot of theaters in La Paz. There is also a lot of nice restaurants and there are courses to be taken and art festivals that you can go to. There are many things going on in La Paz that are not usually tourist-oriented but they are geared towards the ordinary Mexican people. There are also nice resorts, golf courses, and sightseeing opportunities in La Paz but it has more of the commerce feel than a tourist feel.
La Ventana is a small beachfront community where I live about 40 minutes from La Paz and about two hours from the Cabo San Lucas area. When you go to La Ventana, it is a different thing altogether because it is a small community. Most of our communities are on dirt roads. We have a health center in La Ventana but if you have a major health concern, you can certainly drive into La Paz for medical attention. We don’t have a bank or a bank machine yet here in La Ventana. We have a couple of grocery stores but we don’t have a major chain. The only major chains that we have here is a gas station and an Oxxo, which is similar to 7-eleven. The restaurants are local businesses here. We have a lot of resorts in La Ventana and we are the number one kite boarding destination in the world right now. We also have a lot of wind surfing, spear fishing, scuba diving, mountain biking, and hiking. Living in La Ventana gives you a very outdoorsy style of living. There are also people here who are active but they do not do all those extreme sports and who nonetheless enjoy the society and they are just out and about in the community.
(Pictured: Wind surfing in La Ventana Bay, La Ventana, Baja Mexico Sur, Mexico.)
You can definitely get by in Portugal with just English. I know several expats who have been here for years and still do not speak a word in Portuguese and they get by well.
vary greatly depending on the size of the house, the location and the amenities. Prices can range from US $350 - $1,800 a week for a fully furnished and equipped house. There are small apartments for as little as $350 a week and large, six bedroom houses for $1,800 a week. Most vacation rental properties include maid service, internet, cable TV, air conditioned bedrooms and fully equipped kitchens. 
To me, retirement in Cayo means living a healthy lifestyle in a safe, beautiful home with our favorite pets. I can drive around safely and afford to have household and yard work done for me. If I get stuck on the road and have a flat tire, there always someone who comes to help change my flat tire for me, who charges around $25 Belize (US $12.50). Retirement here is much better than in the States because the cost of living is low. Property taxes are very low and...
The best reason to retire overseas is to improve and change your lifestyle.
The care I received for my cardiac event at Medellin’s Pablo Tobón Uribe hospital was excellent, with world-class attention, state of the art equipment, and highly professional staff. Tobón Uribe is a Joint Commission accredited institution, ranked as one of the best hospitals in Latin America. Indeed, my only complaint concerning the four days I was embedded there was about the mediocre meals. Hospitals must have been in competition with the airlines for worst food, and the airlines....JPG)
vegetable trays, cheese and...