Are there American-trained doctors in San Miguel de Allende?
SONIA DIAZ - Sonia Diaz
Yes, there are some American-trained doctors in San Miguel de Allende. Many of them are retired and in many cases, choose not to practice due to the long credentialing process. There are a few American doctors who practice though, some of whom speak not only English and Spanish, but a few other languages, as well. One of them is Dr. Robert Maxwell.
Dr. Maxwell is both American and Mexican. He can communicate well with English-speaking people, like Americans and Canadians.
A very...
Yes, there are some American-trained doctors in San Miguel de Allende. Many of them are retired and in many cases, choose not to practice due to the long credentialing process. There are a few American doctors who practice though, some of whom speak not only English and Spanish, but a few other languages, as well. One of them is Dr. Robert Maxwell.
Dr. Maxwell is both American and Mexican. He can communicate well with English-speaking people, like Americans and Canadians.
A very well-known doctor is Dra. Meslie Marie Flores. She was born in the U.S. and is Mexican. She speaks English, Spanish and French. Her patients in San Miguel, of which there are many see her totally through her coming to her patients’ home. These doctors have a fee of about 800 pesos. However, many walk-in clinics are 40 pesos per visit.
You do not have to be concerned that the training and standards in San Miguel de Allende are not up to that in the US and Canada. There are several here that meet this criterion. In addition, the much larger city of Queretaro, which is 45 minutes away, has large, excellent hospitals and doctors, as well.
(Pictured: Jacaranda in bloom on street in San Miguel de Allende.)
Sarah Booth - Panama Holiday Homes & Buyer's Consultant with My Panama Real Estate
The cost for food in Coronado, Panama depends on what you buy. Everyone will give you a different answer.
For example, if you’re going to eat like a Panamanian, with lots of fresh fish, chicken, and rice, the cost for food will be very inexpensive. If you eat imported foods, however, you’re going to pay more.
I buy both Panamanian food and imported food. I really love my fresh Panamanian produce and there are guys on the side of the road...
The cost for food in Coronado, Panama depends on what you buy. Everyone will give you a different answer.
For example, if you’re going to eat like a Panamanian, with lots of fresh fish, chicken, and rice, the cost for food will be very inexpensive. If you eat imported foods, however, you’re going to pay more.
I buy both Panamanian food and imported food. I really love my fresh Panamanian produce and there are guys on the side of the road who sell it, so I don’t even buy that in the grocery stores. Everything is very fresh, coming down from the mountains. (You can grow pretty much anything here.)
In addition to buying produce from the stalls on the side of the road, I buy fish right from the fishermen on the beach, right off their boats, which is always a great experience. There’s fish scales flying and the birds are coming in, just this bustle of activity. You know that you’re buying fish that just came right out of the ocean and it’s definitely less expensive. Additionally, they don’t discriminate between you and the Panamanians. The price is what it is, the same for everybody.
Relative to the grocery store specifically, I don’t know specific prices, but I can tell you that when I come out of the grocery store here in Coronado with a US $100 receipt, I’ve bought 8 bottles of wine and dinner for the next 5 nights and all kinds of snacks and different things, so I know its cheap. I don’t look at the individual prices of things, but I know that, overall, I’m spending at least a third less than what I was spending in Canada for the same items.
The golf in and around Algarve is a hole in one! It’s not per chance that the Algarve has been voted the best European Golf Destination several times by the World Travel Association. If my memory serves me right, I think the Algarve has been voted The World’s Best Golf Destination on more than one occasion.
Algarve has over forty golf courses and the quality of the golf courses is superb. Several of the golf courses in the Algarve are amongst...
The golf in and around Algarve is a hole in one! It’s not per chance that the Algarve has been voted the best European Golf Destination several times by the World Travel Association. If my memory serves me right, I think the Algarve has been voted The World’s Best Golf Destination on more than one occasion.
Algarve has over forty golf courses and the quality of the golf courses is superb. Several of the golf courses in the Algarve are amongst the Top 100 in the world. The quality of the greens and the fairways is fantastic.
There are different levels of difficulty across the golf courses in Algarve from the westernmost Parque da Floresta golf course, which is probably one of the most difficult golf courses in the Algarve, to the golf courses on the Spanish border like Castro Marim, which is one of the easier golf courses to play.
There are certain golfing destinations in the Algarve that have reputations in their own right such as Vilamoura, which has five golf courses within that region or town alone and six if you consider Vila Sol.
The Algarve is a superb golfing destination. Our company, Algarve Senior Living, supports golfing associations, in particular for the senior market and people who sign up for these golfing associations are also able to play golf on a weekly basis at a discounted rate. For people who move here and have golf as a passion, there are many ways to play a huge range of courses and do so reasonably inexpensively. Having played in the US, I can tell that for a similar type of course, with the similar degree of difficulty, and the same quality of course, costs around 1/3 the price in the Algarve compared to the US.
( Golf course at Parque da Floresta Golf and Leisure Resort, Algarve, Portugal, pictured.)
With some of the fantastic deals available in foreign countries people really need to do their home work before deciding to live there.
Some countries are not foreign friendly in that there is political unrest, anti-American sentiment and difficult languages to deal with. Money exchanges add to the likelihood you can be taken advantage of.
Sometimes laws are at odds with a foreigner's comprehension. A person should do some homework to...
With some of the fantastic deals available in foreign countries people really need to do their home work before deciding to live there.
Some countries are not foreign friendly in that there is political unrest, anti-American sentiment and difficult languages to deal with. Money exchanges add to the likelihood you can be taken advantage of.
Sometimes laws are at odds with a foreigner's comprehension. A person should do some homework to make sure they enter a foreign country with the proper documents.
Climates and diseases are reasons one country is wonderful for retirees and tourists and others are not so popular. Safety is a concern on the minds of many people when they travel. Thinking about safety you want to make sure the country is not rife with political unrest; active volcanoes, has earthquakes, landslides, floods, hurricanes or typhoons. This covers a large number of the places that people often consider retiring in.
If you like cold you will find a place that is cold is often quite expensive to live. Often they are remote, heating is costly, clothing is expensive and unless you are extremely rugged it is not place people want to visit.
What makes say Brazil not as popular as Panama for most Americans it that, while it is beautiful, there is often political unrest. There are floods, landslides, and even resentment of Americans. A place to visit, not to live.
The cost of living is to high to afford Denmark, or many other European countries. America doesn't have any place I could find with the amenities, and comfort of Panama.
The worst places to live are places with extreme weather, high cost of living, too remote or have serious political unrest.
How many Americans and Canadians and other expats live in Cayo, Belize, including San Ignacio and Belmopan?
Franklin Syrowatka - Better Homes Belize
My estimate is that there are over a thousand expats in the Cayo District. There is a nice expat community in San Ignacio, where I live, so it’s quite common to run into an expat every day in town.
I find two behavioral patterns for expats here. You have the option of being secluded if you don’t want to be around people. You could have a property away from town and lead a very private life.
If you want to meet...
My estimate is that there are over a thousand expats in the Cayo District. There is a nice expat community in San Ignacio, where I live, so it’s quite common to run into an expat every day in town.
I find two behavioral patterns for expats here. You have the option of being secluded if you don’t want to be around people. You could have a property away from town and lead a very private life.
If you want to meet people, then you just go to town. If you want to meet other expats, it is no problem because most of them have a natural interest to find out who is the new arrival. Automatically, you will be invited to socialize. There is no lack of opportunity for meeting people here in Cayo. People meet either at home, where they have a potluck or they meet in a sports bar to have a beer together. You will not be isolated if you don’t want to be isolated.
Some people who come here don’t enjoy it because they do not go out and stay isolated. But I think this happens anywhere in the world.
(Canadian guests at Vanilla Hills Lodge treat other guests to an impromptu concert, Cayo, Belize, pictured.)
What's my best strategy for health insurance for retiring in Nicaragua?
Esmerelda Vargas - Schuvar Tours
There is insurance that you can buy so that if you go to any private hospital, you will just pay 20% of the total fee. For example, the insurance that I have for my family has an annual fee of US $1,000 and I can go any time I want to any doctor. I will just pay 20% of the total of the amount. That is $1,000 a year for myself, my husband, and my kids and this is insurance that will cover everything. I have a deductible of $100 per person. After that, they will reimburse 80% of...
There is insurance that you can buy so that if you go to any private hospital, you will just pay 20% of the total fee. For example, the insurance that I have for my family has an annual fee of US $1,000 and I can go any time I want to any doctor. I will just pay 20% of the total of the amount. That is $1,000 a year for myself, my husband, and my kids and this is insurance that will cover everything. I have a deductible of $100 per person. After that, they will reimburse 80% of what I have spent. Normally, going to the doctor here, the appointment for one visit can go between $30 and $45. The insurance will pay everything for the first appointment and then you pay 20% of the difference.
With this insurance, we can see any doctor. The total amount the insurance company will pay out in one year is $25,000. With this insurance, you can go wherever you want. You can go to the hospital or to the private doctors. You just need to pay and the insurance will partially refund you the amount you paid, as per the policy I just described.
If you need a knee operation, for example, it would be very expensive, and would cause you to go over the $25,000 per year total amount the insurance company is liable to pay. In order to deal with this situation, I have insurance in the US, for which I pay $5,000 a year. As per this insurance plan, I have to pay the first $5,000; that’s a deductible. Then I have $1 million limit the insurance company will pay out in one year. I just have that for the US and I use it only on big emergencies but for not very serious illnesses, I use the other insurance we have in Nicaragua. Not serious illnesses would include going to the doctor if you have a cold or if you have general problems like a stomachache.
(The logo for Hospital Bautista, a private hospital in Managua, Nicaragua, pictured.)
My wife and I bought our first home in Chelem, Yucatan, Mexico in 2002. Our plans when we bought our house were to use it for our retirement, which at that time, was still years down the road. The more we visited our home, however, the more we fell in love with the Yucatan, so by the end of 2003 we moved to Mexico full-time. We worked and traveled throughout the Yucatan Peninsula, including Playa Del Carmen, Cozumel and Mahahual (in the state of Quintana Roo), and while they...
Most people think that the most important Spanish phrase you could learn is “Dónde está el baño?” (Where’s the bathroom?), “Cuánto cuesta este?” (How much is this?) or even, “Camarero, dos margaritas más, por favor (Bartender, two more margaritas, please). While all these are very good to know in appropriate circumstances, my view is that the most important phrase to learn while driving south from San Felipe through Baja on Highway 5 (pretty much the only road you...
Before we moved to Panama, we spent 18 months to 2 years researching where in the world we wanted to relocate to, Panama was not even on our radar!
We, like most people who relocate, had a long list of criteria, This list included things like: The county must have a growing economy (we were coming here to work and sadly couldn't afford to retire yet!), a good infrastructure, good education (we have school age children), good healthcare, good weather, including safe...
Yes, there are some American-trained doctors in San Miguel de Allende. Many of them are retired and in many cases, choose not to practice due to the long credentialing process. There are a few American doctors who practice though, some of whom speak not only English and Spanish, but a few other languages, as well. One of them is Dr. Robert Maxwell..jpg)
The golf in and around Algarve is a hole in one! It’s not per chance that the Algarve has been voted the best European Golf Destination several times by the World Travel Association. If my memory serves me right, I think the Algarve has been voted The World’s Best Golf Destination on more than one occasion. 
America doesn't have any place I could find with the amenities, and comfort of Panama. 
My estimate is that there are over a thousand expats in the Cayo District. There is a nice expat community in San Ignacio, where I live, so it’s quite common to run into an expat every day in town. 
There is insurance that you can buy so that if you go to any private hospital, you will just pay 20% of the total fee. For example, the insurance that I have for my family has an annual fee of US $1,000 and I can go any time I want to any doctor. I will just pay 20% of the total of the amount. That is $1,000 a year for myself, my husband, and my kids and this is insurance that will cover everything. I have a deductible of $100 per person. After that, they will reimburse 80% of...
My wife and I bought our first home in Chelem, Yucatan, Mexico in 2002. Our plans when we bought our house were to use it for our retirement, which at that time, was still years down the road. The more we visited our home, however, the more we fell in love with the Yucatan, so by the end of 2003 we moved to Mexico full-time. We worked and traveled throughout the Yucatan Peninsula, including Playa Del Carmen, Cozumel and Mahahual (in the state of Quintana Roo), and while they...
Most people think that the most important Spanish phrase you could learn is “Dónde está el baño?” (Where’s the bathroom?), “Cuánto cuesta este?” (How much is this?) or even, “Camarero, dos margaritas más, por favor (Bartender, two more margaritas, please). While all these are very good to know in appropriate circumstances, my view is that the most important phrase to learn while driving south from San Felipe through Baja on Highway 5 (pretty much the only road you...