Best Places In The World To Retire

The typical Mexican desserts that we find in this area (Yucatan Peninsula) are mostly bread-based and usually extremely sweet. One example is the three milk cake, which is quite moist and very sweet, and is one of the more popular desserts here in Mexico. Other popular desserts here include a loaf of very sweet bread with some fruits and nuts and one made of pudding with lots of sugar. Every dessert here has massive amounts of refined sugar!
 
The typical desserts in northern...

The typical Mexican desserts that we find in this area (Yucatan Peninsula) are mostly bread-based and usually extremely sweet. One example is the three milk cake, which is quite moist and very sweet, and is one of the more popular desserts here in Mexico. Other popular desserts here include a loaf of very sweet bread with some fruits and nuts and one made of pudding with lots of sugar. Every dessert here has massive amounts of refined sugar!
 
The typical desserts in northern Mexico are a little bit closer to what you would find in the US, with the exception that they don’t make the deep chocolate cakes that you will find in US. The cakes you find in Mexico are made of lighter chocolate. 
 
(Tres leches, or three milks cake, pictured.)

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.)

I have first hand experience with the medical centers and hospitals here in Panama and I have only positive things to say about them.

 

I was living in Panama less than 6 months when an accident had me in need of an emergency back surgery.  Being an American I knew very little Spanish and was really worried about my ability to communicate my needs in this critical situation.  I was so surprised that every one of my doctors spoke great English.  I would...

I have first hand experience with the medical centers and hospitals here in Panama and I have only positive things to say about them.

 

I was living in Panama less than 6 months when an accident had me in need of an emergency back surgery.  Being an American I knew very little Spanish and was really worried about my ability to communicate my needs in this critical situation.  I was so surprised that every one of my doctors spoke great English.  I would say that about 50% of the nurses spoke English, but there always seemed to be a nurse on duty eho did speak English when my Spanish fell short.

 

The hospitals had state of the art equipment.  I felt very well taken care of and had an extremely positive experience in a very stressful situation.  There are several large hospitals to choose from in Panama.  Some are close together and others are spread out.  There is also a new state of the art clinic in Coronado that offers office days with specialist doctors eho travel from the Panama City once a week.

We have bougainvillea, which is popular in the US and that blooms everywhere here. Many people with larger...

We have bougainvillea, which is popular in the US and that blooms everywhere here. Many people with larger homes have areas in their homes that are designated for flowers and their palm trees. My wife, Amy, always has a vase of flowers here which brings fragrance into our home.

We have our Social Security and other retirement money deposited in an international investment banking corporation. I won't mention which one, but it's world wide, established, reliable, well funded and safe. We have credit cards that were issued from the institution that are usable at any ATM world wide, and the company remits fees from those transactions back to us, so we never have to pay anything to access our cash. We have no bank account (yet) in Medellin, nor do we...

We have our Social Security and other retirement money deposited in an international investment banking corporation. I won't mention which one, but it's world wide, established, reliable, well funded and safe. We have credit cards that were issued from the institution that are usable at any ATM world wide, and the company remits fees from those transactions back to us, so we never have to pay anything to access our cash. We have no bank account (yet) in Medellin, nor do we feel we'll need one, since we have that international account.

In order to establish a bank account, at least in Colombia, it's necessary to have a visa/cedula. We're in the process of acquiring those, so it will be a while.

 

BE Medellin

​

(Commemorative photo of Citibank celebrating 100 years in the country of Columbia, pictured.)