Richard Anderson wrote a novel by the name of Smoking Mirror which is available on Amazon. The historical adventure allows Orlando d Bolonia off the steamy coast of Vera Cruz ten years after the Conquest as he walks around Mexico as a Franciscan friar. It’s a bit of a fantasy, but the author does a fair job of trying to identify native structures along the rim of the lake as Bolonia built the church in town and the small building atop the hill. There are other novels focusing on...
In my opinion, retirement in El Valle de Anton may be different for each person. If you ask fifty retirees here, they will each give you a different answer. However, for me, I am retired from my full time work as a builder but I still have a business, so I am active that way. I am also active with sports; I am very athletic. I cycle about 120 miles per week. I join bike races in Panama City and because of these activities, I find retirement here fascinating. For other people who are not...
There is not a lot going on here in El Valle. We are close to the equator so it is dark here at 6:30 PM and it is very common for people to go to sleep at 8 PM, then wake up at 4 AM the following day. There is nothing much to do here at night because the stores and restaurants are closed later at night. It is really an ideal life for people who get up early and have physical activities.
For the most part, Medicare cannot be used outside the US by permanent expats. There is some travel coverage with the Medicare policy, but it is not a significant coverage level. As far as US expats are concerned, Medicare is really designed for coverage when you go back to the US and have routine checkups or you have a condition that you want to be treated for in the US. Medicare is not designed for coverage in another country. 
The adventure travel and activities in and around Ambergris Caye usually include water sports such as snorkeling, scuba diving, fishing and sailing (pictured). We have a parasailing company, so it is easy to just go parasailing when you want to. There is a dock right in front of the Blue Tang Inn, where you can go parasailing. You go out on a boat and from the boat, you lift off, spend about 10 to 15 minutes in the air, and come right back on the boat 
The term “land” and the term “lot” mean two different things in the Algarve and Portugal in general. “Land” would be a piece of land somewhere in the interior of the province of the Algarve, where there is a good amount of space. “Lot” would tend to refer to a smaller piece of land in a subdivision or urbanisation. I love Boquete Mornings!
Boquete mornings greet us with cool, fresh air. Except during the rainy season the morning clouds melt away fast and the sky becomes a beautiful jewel tone blue.
The little humming birds come to greet us as we sip coffee in the cool morning air on our patio.
The little humming birds come to greet us as we sip coffee in the cool morning air on our patio. 
Our patio is private and it is our sanctuary from stress. It is almost always 72 degrees, offers shade, keeps the rain and mist off us as we sit there during the prettiest part of the...
.jpg)
I was born in Santo Thomas Hospital in Panama City. My parents & grandparents worked for the Panama Canal Company & we lived on the Canal Zone. From birth to age 5 (1944 - 50) we lived in the Balboa Gavlin area on Cacao Street (in the days before the bridge to our house was on Panamá Bay).