Best Places In The World To Retire

Shopping is actually quite good in Ambergris Caye because there is such a large variety of items here.
 
From a hardware standpoint, we have a half a dozen good large hardware stores, where you can buy anything from a TV to a stove to a fridge, to nuts and bolts, stainless steel, gardening supplies, plumbing and electric supplies, etc. Whether you need an electric panel or a fuse, all that is available here in Ambergris Caye. We have marine supply stores. We have at least half a...

Shopping is actually quite good in Ambergris Caye because there is such a large variety of items here.
 
From a hardware standpoint, we have a half a dozen good large hardware stores, where you can buy anything from a TV to a stove to a fridge, to nuts and bolts, stainless steel, gardening supplies, plumbing and electric supplies, etc. Whether you need an electric panel or a fuse, all that is available here in Ambergris Caye. We have marine supply stores. We have at least half a dozen large, good quality grocery stores. We have half a dozen stores where you can buy fruits and vegetables on a regular basis and they have a good selection.
 
One of the things that I tell people all the time is when you come here, one of the things that you need to pay attention to a little bit more frequently than you might back home is expiration dates. When you are buying products that have expiration dates, you have to make sure that you check the dates when you purchase those items.
 
There are also a couple of wine stores here in Ambergris Caye. I could walk down the street and get a fillet mignon or a bottle of Opus One that you might not be able to do quite as easily in the US. The selection of a lot of different things is very good here in Ambergris Caye. Recently, we had an egg shortage and so we couldn’t find eggs for about a week. There were only a few stores that had eggs but that is gone now.
 
One of the things that you get used to here in Ambergris Caye is seasonal fruit. You buy your fruit in season. It is not like in the US where they bring it in from wherever it has to come from so there is enough inventory on the shelves. Mangoes ripen at a certain time of the year here in Ambergris Caye. The rest of the year, we don’t get mangoes so it is something that you have to deal with. There are people here who put together recipes for things that you could always find in Ambergris Caye and there are some things that you couldn’t find occasionally. You can’t always get wild mushrooms. You can’t always get some things that as Americans or Canadians, we are used to being able to get all the time.  

 

(Mango coconut smoothie enjoyed in Ambergris Caye,  Belize, pictured.)

According to the U.S. Department of State Travel website:
 

Obtaining medical treatment and hospital care abroad can be expensive, and medical evacuation to the U.S. can cost more than $50,000. Note that U.S. medical insurance is generally not accepted outside the United States, nor do the Social Security Medicare and Medicaid programs provide coverage for hospital or medical costs outside the United States. 

 

There are health insurance policies...

According to the U.S. Department of State Travel website:
 

Obtaining medical treatment and hospital care abroad can be expensive, and medical evacuation to the U.S. can cost more than $50,000. Note that U.S. medical insurance is generally not accepted outside the United States, nor do the Social Security Medicare and Medicaid programs provide coverage for hospital or medical costs outside the United States. 

 

There are health insurance policies both for short term trips and longer stays abroad that you can purchase which will provide full coverage outside the US. 

Another holiday in El Valle is the Semana Del Campesino ("Week of the Working Folks"). There is a parade that has to do with that where the ladies put on their Polleras (traditional women’s dress in Panama) and the guys put on their Montuno outfits (this is a polo shirt with long sleeves and is worn during native dances). They’ll have some horse-drawn carts. This holiday is in celebration of the country-folk and the rural lifestyle.