Best Places In The World To Retire

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No, with some rare exceptions, you can’t buy good clothes to buy here in San Juan Del Sur. If you are looking for clothing and you are in San Juan, I recommend going to Auric and Turquesa.
 
Turquesa is a local little boutique whose clothing a local girl named Yaosca Jimenez designs and that has really good clothes. The other company called Auric, which was started by two British fashion designers, who came up with a really cool line of clothing. Those small boutiques sell...

No, with some rare exceptions, you can’t buy good clothes to buy here in San Juan Del Sur. If you are looking for clothing and you are in San Juan, I recommend going to Auric and Turquesa.
 
Turquesa is a local little boutique whose clothing a local girl named Yaosca Jimenez designs and that has really good clothes. The other company called Auric, which was started by two British fashion designers, who came up with a really cool line of clothing. Those small boutiques sell clothes that were designed and custom made here in Nicaragua but these are specialty stores, so you will pay full retail prices for the items.
 
I am a bargain shopper when it comes to clothes so I do my clothing shopping when I go to the States, where I like to find sales. Here in Nicaragua, especially in San Juan Del Sur, most of the little boutiques have poor quality fabric that is made in China that you end up paying full price for even though they are not really that well-made. That is why I don’t do my clothing shopping here except for going to Auric and Turquesa.
 
You could also go to Managua and do your shopping at the malls there, which are similar to some of the malls in the US. You will find a Benetton and a Lacoste store there but there is rarely anything on sale in the malls in Managua. You will pay a little bit more than the retail price in the States. Being a parent and a school director, I am always looking for toys, and I have found it hard to find toys like Melissa and Doug that are of high quality. I pay more than retail price for them and half the time, once I get home and take the toy out of the box, it’s a missing a piece or it’s already broken.  As a result, I came to the realization that because there is no return policy in Nicaragua, these big corporations send their defective items down here. You buy it for full price and you can’t return it when you get home even if it’s already broken. Once you buy it and take it out of the store, it is yours. It’s really frustrating for me and has happened about a dozen times. 

 

(Turquesa Boutique, San Juan del Sur, Nicaragua, pictured.)

 

There are two markets in Placencia in particular that opened up within the last 5 years that have a very nice inventory of goods. Anything from toiletries, to all your different fruits and drinks; they have it. Sometimes, you won't find the brands that you're looking for, so even though they have nice inventory, it’s not like a giant supermarket-type arrangement. It’s more like a large market but not a supermarket. They won't have a bakery department, but they'll just...

There are two markets in Placencia in particular that opened up within the last 5 years that have a very nice inventory of goods. Anything from toiletries, to all your different fruits and drinks; they have it. Sometimes, you won't find the brands that you're looking for, so even though they have nice inventory, it’s not like a giant supermarket-type arrangement. It’s more like a large market but not a supermarket. They won't have a bakery department, but they'll just have aisles and aisles with everything you could need, but just not the variety of what we're used to here in the US and oftentimes not a particular brand that you might be expecting to see.
 
Milk products come in two forms. We have the refrigerated kind, but my preference is to buy the milk that's not refrigerated. Meats are not as available here as they are in the US. Chicken a bit more available.  They eat a lot of chicken there; it's pretty much a staple and part of their diet. But it's hard to find decent red meat there. 
 
Fish is usually purchased at the fish cooperative or from the fisherman you meet when they come in with their catch for the day and we just buy fresh from them. They don't usually have fish in the traditional markets.   While Placencia Village is traditionally a fishing village, not as many people can make a living out of just fishing any more, but some do. Even the ones who don't make a living out of it will go out fishing and sometimes bring back their fish to a co-op, which is where they can sell their fish to what is sort of a government entity. And then that government entity re-sells it to people who walk in. Most of the restaurants already have their connections with fisherman.  The fishermen would come in and call out to the restaurants, "This is what I have for you tonight."
 
Vegetables and fruits are mostly sold on roadside stands. The most surprising thing to a lot of Americans when they go down to Placencia is the eggs are not refrigerated.  They're stacked up on the shelf and you buy the eggs by the quantity of eggs you want. They're not packaged or sitting there in bulk; you just buy as many as you want. Those are the general differences.  In general, they have everything that you can possibly need. It's the whole downsizing mentality, too, you just get used to living with fewer options.
 
Anything that comes out of the sea would be fresh for you to purchase. Lobsters are a huge staple down there except in the winter. Our lobster season closes in February and re-opens in June, by order of the government. Lobsters are very prevalent down there. Meats are not that easy to get and the fruits and vegetables tend to be on the truck for a long drive. It is difficult to find vegetables that do not have a rotten spot on it.  The challenge to get good quality fruits and vegetables was more than I was expecting since they do grow so many fruits in the country. But they ship most of it out, so in the village it's more of a challenge to find the good stuff.

 

(Pictured: man gathering bananas for sale in Belize.)
 

I don’t want to sound snobby but this is a pretty good indicator of how safe it is here in Marbella, Panama. I bring a wallet, I ride a motorbike, and I drive a convertible. I have been as flashy all my life without getting into any trouble because I know that can go out and it is safe.
 
I am not saying that you go out in public and pull out a whole bunch of bills in the middle of the street and think that nobody is going to pay attention. My point is that, it is very...

I don’t want to sound snobby but this is a pretty good indicator of how safe it is here in Marbella, Panama. I bring a wallet, I ride a motorbike, and I drive a convertible. I have been as flashy all my life without getting into any trouble because I know that can go out and it is safe.
 
I am not saying that you go out in public and pull out a whole bunch of bills in the middle of the street and think that nobody is going to pay attention. My point is that, it is very unlikely that somebody is going to do something bad because there is a lot of police presence around, to the extent that I personally think it is too much. I like to have a little bit of freedom and not be as a good citizen as I should but there is a police officer in every corner.
 
Police stations are in key locations where they can keep everything under control. There are also tourist police and their main job is to help and protect tourists. They are focused in making tourists’ lives easier so if they are not used to our culture, they can go to a tourist police and for sure, they will be assisted.

We have a one acre property in the countryside 30 minutes from Lisbon. We pay our local gardening team 10 Euros per person per hour (about US $11).  Usually two of them come for two to three hours once a month throughout the year.

 

(Alentejo, Portugal, pictured.)

We have a one acre property in the countryside 30 minutes from Lisbon. We pay our local gardening team 10 Euros per person per hour (about US $11).  Usually two of them come for two to three hours once a month throughout the year.

 

(Alentejo, Portugal, pictured.)