Best Places In The World To Retire

Americans and other expats in Puerto Vallarta are treated very well. Puerto Vallarta is a tourist community. A lot of the foreigners who come to Puerto Vallarta are tourists so they are attended to like invited guests. Mexicans want to make sure that tourists have a good time so that they will come back and bring others.

 

Tourism is the number one business in Mexico. People from other countries come to Mexico to learn how to do tourism because Mexico does...

Americans and other expats in Puerto Vallarta are treated very well. Puerto Vallarta is a tourist community. A lot of the foreigners who come to Puerto Vallarta are tourists so they are attended to like invited guests. Mexicans want to make sure that tourists have a good time so that they will come back and bring others.

 

Tourism is the number one business in Mexico. People from other countries come to Mexico to learn how to do tourism because Mexico does it so well. 

 

In Puerto Vallarta, tourism is a full package. They have anything that you would expect in any of the other tourist cities, whether on the coast or inland. Puerto Vallarta has everything in one place.  You've got the beach and ocean activities, but you also have the mountains and land nearby. There are the mariachi Mexican fiestas. There are also more adventurous activities like hang gliding, parachuting, zip lining, ATV driving, bungee jumping and horseback riding. 

 

 

 

Mexicans are very open and warm to foreigners. It's very common to find Americans and Mexicans bonding. People who moved to Puerto Vallarta or those who have been coming here year-after-year would have the same maid, gardener, or other people who would do odd jobs for them. These local employees have become family to these expats. Within a few years, the Americans or foreigners will say to the locals, "I want to help your son go to a good school, get a good career, and advance himself in life." This and happen all the time.

 

Puerto Vallarta has a wonderful community. The marriage between the cultures and languages is very good.  

 

(Downtown Puerto Vallarta, Mexico, pictured.)

The effect of illegal drug traffic in Nicaragua is very seldom experienced in the normal, day-to-day expat life.  Central America is definitely the gateway north for South American drug trafficking, however, Nicaragua boasts a "Zero Tolerance Policy" and has confiscated more illegal drugs than any other Central American country.

The effect of illegal drug traffic in Nicaragua is very seldom experienced in the normal, day-to-day expat life.  Central America is definitely the gateway north for South American drug trafficking, however, Nicaragua boasts a "Zero Tolerance Policy" and has confiscated more illegal drugs than any other Central American country.

I think a woman would be better placed to respond to how women and girls are treated in Portugal, but I suppose I can provide a perspective. Women are generally respected in Portugal and having lived abroad for so many years and observing Portugal, I see a fondness for matriarchs that is perhaps not present in many Western countries. A particular concern for those visiting the country is whether women are safe – in a sense related to a sense of how women may be perceived –...

I think a woman would be better placed to respond to how women and girls are treated in Portugal, but I suppose I can provide a perspective. Women are generally respected in Portugal and having lived abroad for so many years and observing Portugal, I see a fondness for matriarchs that is perhaps not present in many Western countries. A particular concern for those visiting the country is whether women are safe – in a sense related to a sense of how women may be perceived – when visiting Portugal. I would have to say that it is one of the safest countries with which I have been associated, and in particular women can freely walk at night without substantially greater fear than men.

 

Women have historically had very traditional roles in Portuguese culture, namely those associated with providing a core stability of the family unit. This has unfortunately meant that tasks such as cooking, raising children, and matters relating to managing a household, are automatically associated with the mother and therefore changing this has been difficult. However, my perception is that the biggest catalyst for change is the workplace. Despite the balance still being far in favour of males in senior positions, there are many talented women who have proved their worth by choosing careers where the glass ceiling is less in evidence. Medical careers, including nursing, physiotherapy, occupational therapy and medicine, pharmacy, life sciences and to a certain extent teaching, have propelled women into more senior roles in business, R&D and education, for example. This has not happened in engineering, politics or construction, which continue to be male-dominated. I would say however, that women are no more likely to be treated poorly in the workplace than are men, and ironically my perception is that supervision by the opposite sex often results in better people management in Portugal than being managed by someone of one’s own sex.

 

Of course, I am happy to admit that I may have it all wrong as regards how women are truly perceived in the workplace… what I can say is that most traditional corporate environments in Portugal still expect men to work long hours whenever necessary and place much less emphasis on the importance of a male family role than, for example, many Anglo-Saxonic countries.

 

(Women of two generations, Portugal, pictured.)