Best Places In The World To Retire

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Recently Answered Questions

What’s the cost of the Internet in Mexico?

Richard Kemper

street in Ajijic, Mexico – Best Places In The World To Retire – International Living

I am not sure about the cost of Internet by itself in Mexico. I have an Internet-TV-landline bundle so I am not sure what the breakdown is. For the entire bundle, I pay $32 USD a month. The Internet is probably $18 USD. The Internet is fast and clean enough that you can use Skype with video and it works fine.

(Street in Ajijic, Lake Chapala, Mexico, pictured.)

How much is it to build a house in Placencia, Belize?

Wayne Robbins - The Placencia

Master suite in La Placencia, Belize – Best Places In The World To Retire – International Living

The cost of the home in Placencia depends on the number of floors and the type of finishes. You can get a beautiful home for somewhere between $100 to $150 US per square foot in our development, without the lot. If the lots are included, the prices range from $100,000 to $800,000 USD. When we build our projects, we use concrete and rebar as well as travertine. These are optional in the United States.

Our developer-builder is the largest builder in...

What are the best and worst things about living and retiring in San Juan del Sur, Nicaragua?

Suyen Vargas - Aurora Vacation Rentals Nicaragua

kayaks Nicaragua – Best Places In The World To Retire – International Living

The best thing about living and retiring in San Juan del Sur is that it is a nice town with beaches all around. It is not only San Juan del Sur that has surrounding beaches. You can choose among ten beaches within only 30 minutes by car. It is very relaxed.

One of the worst things about living and retiring in San Juan del Sur is that there’s not much infrastructure. There are no hospitals. I think it will get better. Development is ongoing and continuing.

...

How are the rules of etiquette or customs different in Portugal?

Carol Bartlett Ribeiro - Carol Bartlett Ribeiro, Property Consultant

1836 sketches of women of Portugal – Best Places In The World To Retire – International Living

The Portuguese language is a very formal language, but like everything else in the world today it’s becoming more and more relaxed.

There is a generation of Portuguese who are “old school” who would stand up when elder people come in to a room, and that, in Portuguese would never refer to their mother or father using the informal of “you”, “tu.” Today, in general, young children today will be less formal but in certain levels in Portugal there are still very strict rules of who you are, where you are, where you’ve been, and how you live.

On average now it’s a lot easier going than it used to be. I was talking to a friend of mine today about the time when girls would go out there would always have to be chaperone because the parents wouldn’t let it be any other way. These days if you told a 12 year old they needed to have a chaperone, they would say, “Are you crazy?”

In America, even if you’re the president of the company, people would say to you, “Hi, Bob,” whereas here in Portugal it would always be “senior doctor” or “senior professor” or “mister engineer.” You would never use the more informal way of speaking; until you became friendly with them, there’s always that formality. So you would never say, for example, “Senior Bob” you would say “Senior Johnson,” you wouldn’t say the first name. So there are small things like that that would be a faux pas.

The Portuguese are really, really impatient when they get behind the wheel of a car. They drive like lunatics on the motorways and you wouldn’t think it was the same race of people that gets behind the wheels of their cars and they sit on your bumper or don’t let you in. For them, it’s “me first, me first,” which is odd, because they’re not like that we’re they’re chatting to you, but behind the wheels of their cars, you do have to be careful, or, alternatively, you just do what they do.

(1836 sketches of women of Portugal, pictured.)

What's the food like in the markets in Bocas Del Toro, Panama?

Anne-Michelle Wand - United Country Bocas del Toro

Deli section at Super Gourmet, Bocas del Toro, Panama – Best Places In The World To Retire – International Living There are several grocery stores in Bocas del Toro. The Chinese own 95% of them, and they are all very similar. They have a big stock of canned goods and a big stock of laundry soaps, household stuff, bleaches, a few dishes, and Tupperware. They have cake mixes and all kinds of non-perishable items. They also have the refrigerated section where you will find some meat, chicken pieces, and some dairy products. There are no juices and soda products. Some stores have meat counters, where you...

Generally, the grocery stores have potatoes and onions. If you want lettuce, broccoli and fresher things, you can go to the fruit and vegetable stands which are separate from the grocery stores. The fruits and vegetables get delivered twice a week. People here in Bocas know the days when the deliveries are done. You could go and stock up on some more perishable items like mangoes, lemons, and lettuce. Some of the grocery stores are trying to carry more and more items but I noticed that they are not as fresh when they carry it on the open-air market.

There is one gringo grocery store and it is called The Super Gourmet. It is the best grocery store in town. It is not very big but it has a lot of items imported from the US that you cannot get in any other store, so we like to shop there. They have the deli counter where you can get sliced meats, sliced cheese, and have a sandwich made. They also have cookies that are not in a package. They usually cook something for lunch like lasagna or roast chicken and will sell that for what is similar to the price in the States. The Chinese grocery stores do not have anything like that.

Many expats shop at The Super Gourmet but they do not hang out there. We know Organic Friday is when The Super Gourmet imports organic fruits and vegetables from Boquete. On Friday morning, you can see a lot of people at The Super Gourmet because they are all going together to get the same things.

(Deli section at Super Gourmet, Bocas del Toro, Panama, pictured.)

What are the things I'll be most happily surprised by when moving or retiring abroad?

By Edgington

Cartagena, Colombia – Best Places In The World To Retire – International Living

Sad to say, but for us the biggest surprise was how friendly, open and caring people are in both the countries that we've been expats in. Panama has some of the friendliest and most helpful people in the world, and Colombians are, if anything, even more so. If you're considering becoming an expat, give up the existential fear of other people, other cultures, and you'll feel a lot better, and fit in much faster. There are a lot of unfounded, stereotypical horror stories about hostile...

Recently Posted Expat Stories

Death and Life in Mexico

This is not a story about how Mexico celebrates its Día de los Muertos ritual, or how Americans come here to retire... then forget to die. The other day I came across the black-and-white details of how and where US citizens meet their maker in foreign lands. You see, the US State Department is required by law to report non-natural deaths by US citizens in foreign countries.

Anyone who’s explored beyond the comforts of Western Europe knows...

Jet Metier on the beach near fishermen in Baja California Sur – Best Places In The World To Retire – International Living

One of the great advantages of traveling, or better yet, living in a different country, is to see how others live their lives. If we are open to it, we can gain perspective and insight, not only into the human condition in general, but more pointedly, into our own condition.

I'll give you an example.

While on a road trip for Best Places in the World to Retire, we have traveled by car thousands of miles through Mexico, from the California border in...

Altos del Maria— Shangri-La Enchantment in Panama

One can look at a map of Panama and see it as would an early engineer, as an earth moving project. There, where the raised land is as narrow as a sandbar on the globe, and the two giant fraternal land masses balance on either side of the equator, Panama is like the stretched middle of a twisted water balloon, and anyone with an imagination tuned to navigation, would place an inland waterway there to connect the oceans, dug to accommodate the cargo of deep-hulled ships. But when one...

Best Places In The World To Retire

Recently Answered Questions

What’s the cost of the Internet in Mexico?

How much is it to build a house in Placencia, Belize?

What are the best and worst things about living and retiring in San Juan del Sur, Nicaragua?

How are the rules of etiquette or customs different in Portugal?

What's the food like in the markets in Bocas Del Toro, Panama?

What are the things I'll be most happily surprised by when moving or retiring abroad?

Recently Posted Expat Stories

Death and Life in Mexico

How Traveling and Living Abroad Gave Me a Better Perspective on Time and Happiness

Altos del Maria— Shangri-La Enchantment in Panama

Best Places In The World To Retire