Best Places In The World To Retire

The Spaniards came to Mexico and tried to take over our little area here. They were held off on Mezcala Island by a group of Mexicans who banded together and fought the Spaniards. The Spaniards finally gave up, backed off, and reached the treaty agreement with the Mexicans. The Spaniards thought if they started bringing in Catholicism into Mexico, the Mexicans would gradually accept Spanish rule. That’s basically what happened in Lake Chapala. Before that, there were a lot of...

The Spaniards came to Mexico and tried to take over our little area here. They were held off on Mezcala Island by a group of Mexicans who banded together and fought the Spaniards. The Spaniards finally gave up, backed off, and reached the treaty agreement with the Mexicans. The Spaniards thought if they started bringing in Catholicism into Mexico, the Mexicans would gradually accept Spanish rule. That’s basically what happened in Lake Chapala. Before that, there were a lot of indigenous Indians who spoke a bunch of different native languages, but weren’t speaking Spanish. 

 

Chapala has an old train station that was built in the 1920’s to bring people out from Guadalajara to visit Lake Chapala, which was during the heydays of Chapala. Ajijic at that time was a dirt street with twelve homes. 

 

Chapala was famous before Ajijic. Where we are right now in the general area of Ajijic is a municipality of Jocotepec. From further up the highway where the big sign is, you get into the municipality of Chapala, and that branches all the way to around the lake and covers a lot of areas. 

 

 

The major part of Mexico’s history is that Mexicans defended Mexico against the Spaniards and won. If you go into Mezcala Island (next to Scorpion Island, 30-40 minutes to the east from Chapala,) you will see some of the structures- the hospitals and the churches that the Spaniards built in the 1500’s – 1600’s. 

 

Mezcala Island a hidden treasure where a museum is being set up. You can rent a boat for 450 pesos and take 10 people out to Mezcala Island on a 15-minute boat ride. There are no professional tour guides to take you around Mezcala Island, but there’s a guy and a kid who will take you around and tell you their story on Mezcala Island. The history of Mezcala Island is just amazing because Mexico defended itself and all the Spaniards, with all their money, armature and equipment couldn’t get past the five leaders and 500 soldiers of the island. 

 

There’s a museum in Mezcala, too. If you get on to Mezcala Island, you’ll see plates with English and Spanish prints giving the history of Mezcala Island. Mezcala Island used to be a prison, a fortress, a hospital, and many other things.  

 

Chapala grew, and then the Mexicans built the old train station and had paddle wheelers on the lake, two of which were built in either Germany or Switzerland and were sent to Mexico and put together until they finally broke down. There were trains coming out of Guadalajara right to the old train station in Chapala. When the boom took off, wealthy Europeans and Americans lived in Chapala and Ajijic, and branched off over the years. 

 

The 50’s to the 60’s was when the laid-back gringos and hippies started coming to Chapala. People who loved artwork discovered this little town of Ajijic, and that was our beginning. Ajijic was all of three blocks this way and three blocks down towards the lake, and that was it. I came to Ajijic when I was 15 or 16 years old. At that time, I could drive any way I wanted to on any street at 400 miles an hour and nobody would say anything to me. The villagers were laid-back even at that time.

 

(The Fort or presidio of Mexcala Island, near Chapala, Mexico, pictured.)

 

 

Every now and again, you hear about a fisherman who finds what they call here a “square fish,” which is where a load of cocaine has been dumped off the ship and floats up on the shore. Every now and again, they capture drug leaders in...

Every now and again, you hear about a fisherman who finds what they call here a “square fish,” which is where a load of cocaine has been dumped off the ship and floats up on the shore. Every now and again, they capture drug leaders in Belize, but it’s never a big issue. Violence from drug traffic is non-existent as well.

 

The best places in the world to live are those in which you can seamlessly adapt to the culture, weather, people, can ultimately feel happy and can as quickly as possible call it home sweet home. Panama is a great exploratory ground and I highly recommend viewing as much of the country as possible. 

The best places in the world to live are those in which you can seamlessly adapt to the culture, weather, people, can ultimately feel happy and can as quickly as possible call it home sweet home. Panama is a great exploratory ground and I highly recommend viewing as much of the country as possible. 

If you are going to be in Casco Viejo, I would not recommend driving except to get in and out of Casco Viejo. Casco Viejo is a small place. You can walk around and you do not need a car. The streets of Casco Viejo are very narrow and it is very hard to find a parking place.

If you are going to be in Casco Viejo, I would not recommend driving except to get in and out of Casco Viejo. Casco Viejo is a small place. You can walk around and you do not need a car. The streets of Casco Viejo are very narrow and it is very hard to find a parking place.

I’ll tell you about remodeling in Granada, Nicaragua, a colonial city where I live that is trying to maintain its colonial flavor.
 
If you have a colonial house, you will have to keep the flavor of the house.  If you buy an old colonial home in Granada, Nicaragua, you’re going to find adobe walls and you’re going to find a house that was built anywhere from the 1700s to the 1800s, which is when the houses were built in the center of the city.
 
If...

I’ll tell you about remodeling in Granada, Nicaragua, a colonial city where I live that is trying to maintain its colonial flavor.
 
If you have a colonial house, you will have to keep the flavor of the house.  If you buy an old colonial home in Granada, Nicaragua, you’re going to find adobe walls and you’re going to find a house that was built anywhere from the 1700s to the 1800s, which is when the houses were built in the center of the city.
 
If you try to do modifications to improve a colonial house in Granada and perhaps to make it more modern in how it functions and contemporary in style, you need to submit the blueprints to the city.  City personnel will then check the property and see where its located, which helps to determine how restricted you will be in terms of how much you can do with it.  For instance, you cannot do a second story in front of the house.  If the facade of the house is colonial, you’ve got to keep it colonial.  You can change the color, the door, or make bigger windows and doors, and if you need a ramp for the garage and you have a living area that can function as a garage, you can do that.  You can also put a swimming pool inside the house, but it needs to be a long piece of property or if the house has two patios, you can put the swimming pool in the second patio, but not in the first one.  What you can do with the house depends on the shape of the house, what is its layout, and its distance from the main plaza.