Best Places In The World To Retire

Supposedly, the rainy season is in the summer in the Yucatan Peninsula, but that may not happen. To give you an example, this past summer, we went over 3 months without a drop. There were no rains at all. My wife, Theresa, had to go out and water the plants. 

 

The rainy season is not really a problem because it’s not really a rainy season. We don’t get a lot of rain here. It’s pretty similar to the dry season. We have perfect weather...

Supposedly, the rainy season is in the summer in the Yucatan Peninsula, but that may not happen. To give you an example, this past summer, we went over 3 months without a drop. There were no rains at all. My wife, Theresa, had to go out and water the plants. 

 

The rainy season is not really a problem because it’s not really a rainy season. We don’t get a lot of rain here. It’s pretty similar to the dry season. We have perfect weather here in the Yucatan. 

 

One of the reasons why myself and a lot of other people live here is because the weather here is basically always perfect. I don’t think it’s hot here but a lot of my clients have a hard time getting used to summer. 

 

May is the hottest month of the year here; it could be 100 degrees Fahrenheit easily. If you live in Merida (the city that’s inland about half an hour to an hour by car) instead of the beach areas, it’s a proven fact that the temperature in Merida is 12 degrees higher than in the beach areas. If it’s a 100 degrees here in Chelem (at the beach), when you go to Merida to go shopping, it would be 112 degrees. Humidity can be 90% to 100%. I’m not complaining about the weather because I have gotten used to it.  

 

(An amphibious vehicle explores the crater an asteroid made 65 million years ago in the Yucatan Peninsula, Mexico, pictured.)

There are plenty of trees and plants here in Coronado, Panama. If you have your own yard, you can plant whatever you want. It is fairly easy to plant whatever you like in your yard and it will grow there. There are lots of places that you can buy or rent that have a lot of space where you can plant whatever you like. 

 

If you want to see beautiful plants and trees in other close by places, you should go up to El Valle de Anton, which is about an hour...

There are plenty of trees and plants here in Coronado, Panama. If you have your own yard, you can plant whatever you want. It is fairly easy to plant whatever you like in your yard and it will grow there. There are lots of places that you can buy or rent that have a lot of space where you can plant whatever you like. 

 

If you want to see beautiful plants and trees in other close by places, you should go up to El Valle de Anton, which is about an hour away from Coronado. El Valle has a higher elevation so it is cooler up there. In El Valle, you will see lots of tropical flowers, plants, and trees. You will see veraneras, (bougainvillea) and other very diverse kinds of flowers. You will see colors everywhere.

 

(Bright pink bougainvillea  pictured.)    

As with any Caribbean tropical destination, mosquitoes and insects are always a concern here in Ambergris Caye. Mosquitoes and No-see-ums are a bit of an issue but one thing I always tell everybody is that there is a secret weapon to dealing with the bites-- use a hair dryer!

 

It sounds really ridiculous but what you do is you hold the hairdryer approximately 5 inches away from the bite and the hot air creates a convection heat effect that denatures the...

As with any Caribbean tropical destination, mosquitoes and insects are always a concern here in Ambergris Caye. Mosquitoes and No-see-ums are a bit of an issue but one thing I always tell everybody is that there is a secret weapon to dealing with the bites-- use a hair dryer!

 

It sounds really ridiculous but what you do is you hold the hairdryer approximately 5 inches away from the bite and the hot air creates a convection heat effect that denatures the proteins that cause the allergic reaction and basically stops the itch in its place. For me, bug bites used to be a major issue but ever since I started using the hair dryer, I don’t even care about bug bites anymore. You still get the same amount of bites but the itch is totally gone.  Some people are very allergic to insect bites. I am very allergic to them and now I don’t even care about them because I have a hair dryer.

 

I do tend to wear mosquito repellant during dusk. Dusk and dawn are the two worst times of the day to get mosquito or insect bites. If we have a lot of rain, mosquitoes multiply a bit more but the government on Ambergris Caye does a lot of different things in spraying for mosquitoes and people do as well in their properties and restaurants but mosquitoes are a fact of life pretty much everywhere you go in the Caribbean. It used to be so annoying for me that I just couldn’t take anymore until I discovered the hair dryer. One time I was showing a lot way up north, in a very desolate area, and I got around 150 mosquito bites. I just went home, blasted it with a hair dryer and I didn’t’ care anymore. 

 

I also hear different theories from people on how they get rid of mosquito bites such as putting a wet washcloth into the microwave or put a spoon in hot water but the problem with that is the degrading heat source, so you would never know exactly what temperature you are using on the bite, but with the hair dryer it is always the same temperature. I found out about the hair dryer from another expat who lives here and ever since that time, when someone tells me that they have mosquito bites or flea bites, I tell them to use a hair dryer and it takes care of the bite and the itch right away. 

 

(Early hair dryer, pictured.)

There are several specialty furniture stores in the Algarve. There are also furniture stores in the big malls but what you could also do in Algarve is order furniture from the northern part of Portugal, which is one of the best-known areas for the manufacture of furniture using local woods.

 

There is place in the north of Portugal called Paços de Ferreira, which is essentially the furniture capital of Portugal. Often, people who want furniture made...

There are several specialty furniture stores in the Algarve. There are also furniture stores in the big malls but what you could also do in Algarve is order furniture from the northern part of Portugal, which is one of the best-known areas for the manufacture of furniture using local woods.

 

There is place in the north of Portugal called Paços de Ferreira, which is essentially the furniture capital of Portugal. Often, people who want furniture made from certain types of woods would have pieces made to order from Paços de Ferreira and have them shipped down to the Algarve.

 

We have a good amount of quality furniture in Portugal. The quality is very good and the pricing is incredibly great compared to international standards. If I were in Latin America and getting some local hardwood made by a local person, I am pretty certain that I could get it cheaper there but if you were moving to a country and wanted local handmade furniture out of cherry or oak, you would find the price and quality very good here in Portugal.

 

If you want ready-made furniture from popular brands, we do have IKEA, which is being built near Loulé, so for all those who want a modern, Northern European look, they can go to IKEA. At the moment, the closest IKEA would be in Spain, in Seville or in Lisbon, which is the capital of Portugal. Aside from furniture, you would also find stores that sell rugs, carpets, and accessory stores. There is one accessory store that we like going to because it is high end but not excessively expensive. It’s called A Loja Gato Preto, which literally translates to “the shop of the black cat”. They have some very nice home décor pieces.

 

(Hampshire dressing table available at the Furniture Store, an English company with an outlet in the Algarve, Portugal, pictured.)