Best Places In The World To Retire

Kayaking in Ambergris Caye is absolutely amazing. It is endless. You will be on see-through, turquois water. The water is very clear because when you are inside the reef, there are no waves so you will see stingrays, dolphins, pelicans, and everything around you. There is nothing better for me than going kayaking with my dog, Shaggy (pictured)!

 

You can also kayaking outside the reef. The advantage of being on Ambergris Caye is that the reef is fairly close. The...

Kayaking in Ambergris Caye is absolutely amazing. It is endless. You will be on see-through, turquois water. The water is very clear because when you are inside the reef, there are no waves so you will see stingrays, dolphins, pelicans, and everything around you. There is nothing better for me than going kayaking with my dog, Shaggy (pictured)!

 

You can also kayaking outside the reef. The advantage of being on Ambergris Caye is that the reef is fairly close. The reef is only about half a kilometer so it is easy to go kayaking outside of the reef if you want to. There is an opening to the reef right in front of Gran Baymen and Exotic Caye and once you are on the reef, you will get the bigger swells and the big blue ocean. The reef here is a spur and groove formation. There are fingers of coral that reach out into the sea so you still have about 40 feet under you and then, it drops down anywhere from 500 to 1,000 feet, which is the shelf. So it’s spectacular.

 

If you are adventurous person, like myself, I will go out on the reef on a day when the waves are not too big and enjoy big rollers and it is a lot of fun. If you can surf the waves, that will be even more fun. We have stand up paddleboards to enjoy. If you are a little bit more into the cruising, then you can stay inside the reef and it is fantastic. You will be paddling around docks and you will see other water enthusiasts like wind surfers or kite boarders, other kayakers or swimmers out in the water with you. It is a lot of fun.

 

And about the safety, the waters of Ambergris Caye is absolutely safe. It is safer to be in the water than in the bars!

 

There are also rivers and mangrove areas, but they are behind the island. You can also go in there if you want to. Rafting is also available here out in the San Ignacio area. We used to run a lot of white-water trips on the Belmopan River. The mouth of the Belmopan River is in Guatemala and it travels from Guatemala, through Belize, and out to the ocean. That is where they run an exciting race every year called La Ruta Maya. This event has brought a lot of Belizean people into the sport of river paddling. I am very fond of it. I competed in that race about 10 years ago. I was actually one of the only women teams in the race, and my girlfriend and myself won it.

Move to Panama and you will discover that:

 

It is not necessary to be frantically busy 18 hours a day. There are places like Panama where people learn to slow down, relax and smell the roses. You can still be a valuable human being even if you no longer get 400 phone calls and email messages a day. Slow down! Enjoy life!

 

That new BMW? You don't need it. And no one here cares, anyway. Buy an old SUV with 4 wheel drive and spend the money you...

Move to Panama and you will discover that:

 

It is not necessary to be frantically busy 18 hours a day. There are places like Panama where people learn to slow down, relax and smell the roses. You can still be a valuable human being even if you no longer get 400 phone calls and email messages a day. Slow down! Enjoy life!

 

That new BMW? You don't need it. And no one here cares, anyway. Buy an old SUV with 4 wheel drive and spend the money you save on trips around this beautiful country. 

 

Sunshine is good for the soul. Panama has lots of it. Places like London, Vancouver

and Portland don't. Leave your miserable weather behind and come to Panama, where there is always lots of sun (except in October).

 

Coronado, Panama is located in an area that is known as the Dry Arch. Even though Panama City will have rain normally from April to December, in the area of Coronado, it will rain mostly from August to mid-December. In Panama City it may rain daily for about an hour or so, but in Coronado it will rain for 45 minutes or less.

 

The reason for this is the change of wind direction at this part of the year. Basically, rain clouds are driven from the...

Coronado, Panama is located in an area that is known as the Dry Arch. Even though Panama City will have rain normally from April to December, in the area of Coronado, it will rain mostly from August to mid-December. In Panama City it may rain daily for about an hour or so, but in Coronado it will rain for 45 minutes or less.

 

The reason for this is the change of wind direction at this part of the year. Basically, rain clouds are driven from the Caribbean Coast to the mountains located at the Continental Divide, which runs down the middle of Panama. These clouds will drop rain over the Caribbean Coast but by the time they reach the Pacific (where Coronado is located), they have less rain in them than earlier. This condition exists during most of a normal rainy season.

There never used to be any racial tension in Portugal, but there is a little bit now. In general, however, compared to a lot of other countries, even though some racial tension exists, it is very minimal.

 

There’s no discrimination like we have in South Africa but sometimes there are comments.  The issues we have here are cultural.  Portugal used to have colonies in Mozambique and Angola, so you would hear people asking why certain people do things...

There never used to be any racial tension in Portugal, but there is a little bit now. In general, however, compared to a lot of other countries, even though some racial tension exists, it is very minimal.

 

There’s no discrimination like we have in South Africa but sometimes there are comments.  The issues we have here are cultural.  Portugal used to have colonies in Mozambique and Angola, so you would hear people asking why certain people do things certain ways.   We’ve had lots black clients from the US embassy, however, and we’ve never ever had problems. 

 

We can also have economic issues.  For example, there was a time when the less wealthy Brazilians were migrating and taking jobs as maids or gardeners that the Portuguese would have wanted, so here was some resentment there.   But now the level of Brazilians who are coming into the country are the wealthy Brazilians who want to get out of Brazil because of the corruption and because of the criminalities. Well, criminalities always been in Brazil but it’s a lot worse now, so that’s why the wealthy Brazilians are getting out. So it all have to do with what level of people are migrating and if they’re competing for jobs.   

 

(Portuguese air force during the 1960's in Luanda Air Base, Angola, pictured.)