Best Places In The World To Retire

The weather here in Los Cabos and La Paz is just about the most perfect weather you could have all the time. Summers are hot but summers are hot anywhere anyway. It is very rare to get to 100 degree Fahrenheit or over here in Cabo unlike in Phoenix where it tops at about 125 degrees.

 

We have our wet monsoon season just like the southwest does, which starts around August and September. We have rains and sometimes we have big storms. We had a hurricane two...

The weather here in Los Cabos and La Paz is just about the most perfect weather you could have all the time. Summers are hot but summers are hot anywhere anyway. It is very rare to get to 100 degree Fahrenheit or over here in Cabo unlike in Phoenix where it tops at about 125 degrees.

 

We have our wet monsoon season just like the southwest does, which starts around August and September. We have rains and sometimes we have big storms. We had a hurricane two years ago. Because we are in the desert, any rain seems to be like a lot of rain to some people. When it rains, the humidity does go up but because we don’t have the high vegetation of a lot of trees, grass, or all those things that in the US would hold extra moisture in the ground.  The humidity comes and goes.  We also have these wonderful trade winds because we are in a peninsula between the Sea of Cortez and the Pacific Ocean.

 

In the winter, the temperature could be in the high 70s to low 80s and at night, like a traditional desert climate, the temperature drops down anywhere from 10 to 20 degrees. While you’re here and you’re just beginning to get acclimated to the weather, on a 60 or 70-degree day, you would see people wearing earmuffs and puffy ski jackets but the rest of us are still out there in t-shirts, swimming in the pool. It is not cold by any means. The winter weather really is a perfect climate here. In the summer, it really doesn’t start getting very hot until the end of May, which is about the same in the US, depending on where you’re located.

 

I grew up in the Midwest, outside of the Chicago area. I was at my mom’s house for 3 months a couple of years ago and I brought my bags back to Colorado where I live in the high desert country with no humidity whatsoever. I left my bags on the bed, and left. When I came back, my luggage was actually steaming from all the moisture that my clothes had absorbed in the Midwest. So here in Cabo, when have an 80% humidity day, which sounds like it would be really high, it’s just because we are surrounded by water, so unlike an 80% humidity day elsewhere, in Cabo, it is not hot and sticky. The humidity was just caused by the ocean around us. But generally, unless it is raining or there is a cloud cover, you wouldn’t even know that there is humidity here at all.

 

(Islands of Loreto off the Sea od Cortez, Baja California Sur, Mexico, pictured.)

Foreigners love that areas where you can go biking in Belize are so flexible. Nobody will look and think that you are funny or weird if you're riding a bicycle. You can rent a bike and you can go biking for the day.

 

There aren’t any bike rentals that I know about in Belize City, maybe because of too much traffic in that area. But the resorts have bikes and golf carts you can rent.

 

Most people in Belize do not go...

Foreigners love that areas where you can go biking in Belize are so flexible. Nobody will look and think that you are funny or weird if you're riding a bicycle. You can rent a bike and you can go biking for the day.

 

There aren’t any bike rentals that I know about in Belize City, maybe because of too much traffic in that area. But the resorts have bikes and golf carts you can rent.

 

Most people in Belize do not go mountain bike riding out on cliffs.

 

(Trailhead sign for La Milpita Ecolodge, pictured.)

Yes, there is bus service in Nicaragua. There are buses everywhere.

 

There are big buses (like "chicken buses" - old school buses; pictured to the left) and there are also minibuses that can seat 10 people or so. The buses here in Nicaragua are safe, I've found.
 
Buses cost about US $1 for a 20-mile or 20-25-minute ride from Leon to the beach. A $4 bus ride (approximately) can take you from Managua up north to the communities...

Yes, there is bus service in Nicaragua. There are buses everywhere.

 

There are big buses (like "chicken buses" - old school buses; pictured to the left) and there are also minibuses that can seat 10 people or so. The buses here in Nicaragua are safe, I've found.
 
Buses cost about US $1 for a 20-mile or 20-25-minute ride from Leon to the beach. A $4 bus ride (approximately) can take you from Managua up north to the communities there.

 

The common food in Panama is rice with vegetables and chicken, but you can also find food from everywhere in the world. There is Italian food, Asian food, etc. It all depends on what you want to eat.

 

Panamanian food is usually rice, vegetables, and chicken, which they eat any time of the day; whether it is breakfast, lunch, or dinner. It can be shocking for an expat, because rice meals are everywhere. Sometimes, Panamanians even make hot soup with rice,...

The common food in Panama is rice with vegetables and chicken, but you can also find food from everywhere in the world. There is Italian food, Asian food, etc. It all depends on what you want to eat.

 

Panamanian food is usually rice, vegetables, and chicken, which they eat any time of the day; whether it is breakfast, lunch, or dinner. It can be shocking for an expat, because rice meals are everywhere. Sometimes, Panamanians even make hot soup with rice, even if the weather is warm and they still feel comfortable.

The government of Portugal is very stable. Portugal has had the longest period to form a government of any government post the revolution in 1974. We currently have a slightly left of center socialist government, which took over from a slightly conservative government.

 

The government of Portugal is generally stable, although it may change partly left or slightly right of center. The politics as such doesn’t change significantly. There is still very...

The government of Portugal is very stable. Portugal has had the longest period to form a government of any government post the revolution in 1974. We currently have a slightly left of center socialist government, which took over from a slightly conservative government.

 

The government of Portugal is generally stable, although it may change partly left or slightly right of center. The politics as such doesn’t change significantly. There is still very much a central block of political view, opinion, and political management. We have had a lot of strikes but they do not tend to impact the economy much. The number of political parties has remained reasonably stable for the last 40 years. For the first time in many years, we have a new political party in parliament with one seat. Generally, politics is characterized by boring political stability.

 

(Portuguese Parliament building, pictured.)