What are the construction standards in Chapala and Ajijic, Mexico?
Luzma Grande - Ajijic Concierge Services
I don’t recommend constructing your own home in Chapala or Ajijic because most of the time, you will find that the materials that you would bring for your house are not the same as the materials that you would usually get in other parts of Mexico. There is no diversity in construction materials here in Chapala and Ajijic so you are very limited. If you buy a house from a developer, you will get more value for your money because they construct many houses here so they have the...
I don’t recommend constructing your own home in Chapala or Ajijic because most of the time, you will find that the materials that you would bring for your house are not the same as the materials that you would usually get in other parts of Mexico. There is no diversity in construction materials here in Chapala and Ajijic so you are very limited. If you buy a house from a developer, you will get more value for your money because they construct many houses here so they have the materials for them.
Another option is to buy a house that is already constructed and then modify it to your preference. The third option is to buy a lot but there are not a many available lots with good prices here. I don’t see a lot of people come and construct their own house here. I don’t see people construct a house of their dreams but they could already find the house of their dreams already constructed.
The houses here in Chapala and Ajijic are very well constructed but you should always have an inspector check the house to be sure. When you’re in Chapala and Ajijic, you really get to know “who is who” very quickly. There are real estate companies that are known by most people because they are very honest and you could trust them when they say that a certain house is not good for you. Even if they are selling that house, they would tell you if they have another one that better suits you. Relevant to construction, I haven’t heard anybody complain about a house falling down or a house that needs repairs unless if you buy a very cheap house that could mean that there is some fixing that needs to be done.
When I lived in London, I was in a boarding school and it was just an old construction. We had a terrible heating system. I was dying there because of the cold weather. I didn’t really like England. In Italy, we had the same problem because it was cold and the heating system used water like the old times. It was coming from a central heating system but it was water and not air so I felt cold again. I was thinking, “Oh my god, I need a warm place.” Then I went to Canada. Don’t ask me how I was able to survive Canada at -52 degrees in Edmonton. For some reason, I didn’t feel cold in Canada because they have central heating everywhere. When you go to church, it’s heated. You can go to the malls, and it’s heated. You can visit your friend and their house is heated. Your car has heating, too, so the only time you’ll feel cold in Canada is when you walk from house to your car or from your car to someplace else. If I compare all these three places to Ajijic, Ajijic is paradise. You won’t ever feel cold ever again in Ajijic. It is of course cooler in the winter but all you have to do is wear a sweater and you’re “good to go.” As a Mexican, I easily get cold compared to other people. People who come from Canada wear shorts in January when it’s coldest here and they are okay.
(Home with a pool near the village of Ajijic, Mexico, pictured.)
Is it safe to drink the water in Managua, Nicaragua?
Sergio Corrales - E. CASTILLO ADVISORS
Tap water in Managua is safe to drink. However, if you are not a native Nicaraguan you may get sick the first time you visit if you drink tap water. Nicaraguans drink (including myself) tap water all the time, but we always recommend tourists to not take chances and drink bottled water, which by the way is cheap compared to prices of bottled water in North America.
Tap water in Managua is safe to drink. However, if you are not a native Nicaraguan you may get sick the first time you visit if you drink tap water. Nicaraguans drink (including myself) tap water all the time, but we always recommend tourists to not take chances and drink bottled water, which by the way is cheap compared to prices of bottled water in North America.
Is there racial tension, acceptance or diversity in Panama?
Vannessa Solano
No, there are no racial problems in Panama at all. In Panama, people do not concern themselves with other people’s race.
In Panama, we have two names for the country of Panama and the people in it that reflect this. One is “Puente del mundo, corazon del universe”, which translates into English as “the center of the world and the heart of the universe”. The other is “Crisol de Razas”, which translates into...
No, there are no racial problems in Panama at all. In Panama, people do not concern themselves with other people’s race.
In Panama, we have two names for the country of Panama and the people in it that reflect this. One is “Puente del mundo, corazon del universe”, which translates into English as “the center of the world and the heart of the universe”. The other is “Crisol de Razas”, which translates into “mixture of races”.
We have many races here in Panama, from Black, Indian, White, and many others. We have a mixture of everything. We don’t have any racial tension at all.
Whether or not I need to own a car in Portugal depends first, the place where I live. In Estoril and Cascais (in the Lisbon area), you have everything at walking distance. If you want to go to the city center, you have a coastal train that’s a beautiful trip—the train goes always along the seafront from Cascais to the city center of Lisbon and it takes 25 minutes. The bus and taxi terminals are all over the place. So transportation in Portugal is very, very well...
Whether or not I need to own a car in Portugal depends first, the place where I live. In Estoril and Cascais (in the Lisbon area), you have everything at walking distance. If you want to go to the city center, you have a coastal train that’s a beautiful trip—the train goes always along the seafront from Cascais to the city center of Lisbon and it takes 25 minutes. The bus and taxi terminals are all over the place. So transportation in Portugal is very, very well developed. Not only that, we have various motorways that connect the north to the south of Portugal within 3 to 4 hours. So you can cross our country in 4 and a half hours from top to bottom, and from side to side, you can do it in 2 hours.
Personally, I have a car, and pretty much everybody, in middleclass and above has a car. In a family of five there’s five cars.
What’s the architecture like in Cayo, Belize, including San Ignacio and Belmopan?
Jaseth Bassaragh - The Alpha & Omega Group
When we refer to “The Cayo District”, we mean Belmopan (the capital city of Belize) and all the surrounding villages all the way up to Santa Elena. Within this area, the architecture is very diverse and different from one village to the other.
For example, in Belmopan, there are modern homes. On account of the US Embassy and most of the embassy houses being located in Belmopan, as well as the large number of diplomats and expats living there, you will see more...
When we refer to “The Cayo District”, we mean Belmopan (the capital city of Belize) and all the surrounding villages all the way up to Santa Elena. Within this area, the architecture is very diverse and different from one village to the other.
For example, in Belmopan, there are modern homes. On account of the US Embassy and most of the embassy houses being located in Belmopan, as well as the large number of diplomats and expats living there, you will see more upscale housing. As you travel from Belmopan through the different villages such as Roaring Creek, Camalotes, and Teakettle to the town of Santa Elena, all along the way, you're going to find a lot of wooden structures, with cement structures in dispersed sporadically.
(Pictured: Banana Bank Lodge, near Belmopan, Cayo District, Belize.)
One of the wonderful advantages of living in Panamá is the variety of lifestyles and environments in this small country. Think of California on a smaller scale. You can live in one of the Pacific Coast beach communities, in the cool highlands of El Valle or Boquete, the islands of Bocas del Toro on the Caribbean side, in a country home in the interior, or in one of the most cosmopolitan cities in Latin America. When my wife and I first moved...
We were walking around Casco Viejo in Panama City, Panama, looking for who knows what, having fun exploring, until, absorbed in our adventure, we became lost. I dug in my heels, refused to go any further and insisted that my husband consult the map. As we did, we must have been quarreling loudly, for a voice came from the balcony above, a woman busy with something, talking on her phone, working on the net, maybe combing out her hair, maybe all three, I can’t quite remember, but...
Robert and Isabelle Shahverdians found the place that eventually became La Rosa de Los Vientos in Pedasi, Panama after they had traveled Costa Rica and found it wanting. They then moved around Panama, to see if there was something better.
In the environs of Pedasi, they found a place where the road had few inhabitants and came to a bit of land that faced the Pacific, around a small bay lapped by quiet waves. It was there that they made their spot at the end of...