Best Places In The World To Retire

Violent crime is very low in Nicaragua, while theft is a little bit higher.
 
Nicaragua is a Third World Country and like any other Third World Country, theft can be used to enhance family income.  What I refer to as “theft” not only comes from physically stealing from somebody, but it might be raising taxi fares and saying that a ride costs 20 cordobas instead of 10.
 
Minor crime is an issue in Nicaragua but violent crime is not an issue at all. Minor...

Violent crime is very low in Nicaragua, while theft is a little bit higher.
 
Nicaragua is a Third World Country and like any other Third World Country, theft can be used to enhance family income.  What I refer to as “theft” not only comes from physically stealing from somebody, but it might be raising taxi fares and saying that a ride costs 20 cordobas instead of 10.
 
Minor crime is an issue in Nicaragua but violent crime is not an issue at all. Minor crime can be irritating since it comes in so many different ways. I can give you two examples.
 
The first example is when I asked a cab driver how much it would cost to take to take me from Matagalpa to Managua, because I needed to get there in a hurry.  I was quoted US $200, which was ridiculous. 
 
My second example is when I hired a local woman under the agreement that I pay her 200 cordobas (around $15) to come and teach me how to make naca tamales (nacatamal). Her way of theft was to tell me that we needed double the amount of ingredients we really did and then to use money I gave her to buy the ingredients and to take home half of what she helped me cook in order to feed her family, all without telling me.
 
What I am about to write next is not an excuse for such behavior but it does put perspective on it. The home that this woman lived in was a small dwelling, which would have been appropriate for a small family, but there were ten family members, and her sons sleep in the same bed as her in a double bed.  So I understand how she was feeding her family by cheating me, but it still can put be off putting.

 

(Pictured: restaurant in Matagalpa, Nicaragua.)

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I often meet expats who made the move and are now finding it is not working for them.  Some of the most common reasons are the following:

I often meet expats who made the move and are now finding it is not working for them.  Some of the most common reasons are the following:

If you are looking for new adventures and a totally new way of life then the tropics will work for you.  If you can adapt and go with it you will find you feel younger and more alive.  If you are going to fight the system and try to change it you will not enjoy Panama and you may want to consider a country with more a more North American lifestyle but that always comes at a higher price tag.

El  Valle de Antón is located about 2.5 hours from the main city, Panamá.  After you cross the Panama Canal bridge (there are 2 bridges: The Centennial and The Américas), there is a highway called the "Interamericana" that goes all the way through Costa Rica, and beyond.  From there there is a second road that has lots of curves that passes by beautiful mountains, villages and hills and that goes to El...

El  Valle de Antón is located about 2.5 hours from the main city, Panamá.  After you cross the Panama Canal bridge (there are 2 bridges: The Centennial and The Américas), there is a highway called the "Interamericana" that goes all the way through Costa Rica, and beyond.  From there there is a second road that has lots of curves that passes by beautiful mountains, villages and hills and that goes to El Valle.

 

Traditionally, Panamanians inherited houses in El Valle from generation to generation, which is one of the reasons why everyone knows each other, and gets together on weekends and holidays, especially on church on Sunday.  They´ve always taken pride in their houses.

 

Because of the excellent weather all year around, El Valle is very pleasant, and it is customary to have beautiful plants, little bridges through hand made little lakes, or a gap.

 

Lately, more and more foreigners are looking into El Valle for retirement, which is the reason why it has become more of a sophisticated town, with top hotels, thermal water spas, restaurants and villas, even though it still remains a small town.

 

There are no apartment buildings or condos; only single family homes, and prices are a phenomenon, meaning you do not find low cost properties anymore, by Panamanian standards.

 

In the 25 minutes it takes you to drive the road from the main highway to El Valle, you will see many little country villages, very rustic where you can still find some pieces of land to purchase, but you need to investigate carefully regarding noise and infrastructure.

 

Inside El Valle there is a small health center, hotels, restaurants, Catholic church, bakeries, general store, and public market.  Some foreigners are enchanted by this town.  The people who live in El Valle are mainly only locals, some of them farmers, and some retirees live there.  The rest, especially the million dollars house owners, only come for weekends or holidays.

For most of the civilized countries, Portugal is really, really cheap. The minimum wage salary in Portugal by law is €450 (US $669) so that’s what you get paid if you work at McDonald’s or in a toll shop in the motorway or in a restaurant or something like that. So therefore, properties to rent have to be within budget for people like these; they have to afford an apartment for €200 (US $223). But this is normally in the worst areas a long way out from the city center...

For most of the civilized countries, Portugal is really, really cheap. The minimum wage salary in Portugal by law is €450 (US $669) so that’s what you get paid if you work at McDonald’s or in a toll shop in the motorway or in a restaurant or something like that. So therefore, properties to rent have to be within budget for people like these; they have to afford an apartment for €200 (US $223). But this is normally in the worst areas a long way out from the city center or the main area.
 
The place where I live, in Cascais (a suburb of Lisbon) is one of the most expensive in Portugal.  Cascais is the Beverly Hills of Portugal. To rent a 3-bedroom apartment in a condominium here with a swimming pool and garden and gym and all these infrastructures, will be about €2,000 (US $2,233). 
 
The Portuguese have a few bad habits. One of them is coffee. During the day they go 4 or 5 times for coffee; they interrupt their work to have coffee 6 times.   They go to the coffee shop to have an espresso.
 
In Portugal we don’t drink the coffee with milk. You know those big buckets you drink in America? Here, it’s espresso. The Portuguese are addicted to espresso coffee. Most of them interrupt their work during the day 4 or 5 times or more just to have an espresso, which affects their productivity.
 
And not only that.  Companies normally give you an hour or an hour and a half for lunch, but if you own your business or you have a high position in your company, your lunch will take 2 and a half hours. That is a must. And some Portuguese might even do the siesta after the lunch, which is sleeping for half and hour in the couch. But then, they don’t really leave the office at 5 o’clock. We leave the office at 7, 8 or 9 in the evening.  To justify the times you went for coffee and a long lunch meal you had and then after you finish working and you leave at 9 o’clock, you go for a beer and you go for some Portuguese tapas (small plates). 
 
And then you go to the restaurant at 10:30 PM and that’s when you start having your dinner at 10:30. If you’re young, you go out at night, and the nightlife starts very late in Portugal. That’s another bad habit we have. It starts very late. The club or the disco opens at midnight or 1 o’clock and may not close until 7 in the morning the following day. So you actually see a lot of youngsters leaving the clubs at 7 in the morning, putting on a tie, and going straight in the office. Maybe that’s why they need 2 coffees or 5 or 10.
 
As a culture, we spend a lot of time out of the house, in the outdoors, in the open air places. We love open-air places. All the coffee shops and all the restaurants have tables and chairs to sit outside because the weather is always good. We like to talk, we like to drink, and we like to eat.  

 

(Coffee house in Portugal, pictured.)