Best Places In The World To Retire

I found this great article in “Travel and Leisure” that gives some of the history of San Miguel de Allende and how Americans came to be expats here as early as the late 1940’s when Stirling Dickinson made his discovery of the city. By the early 1950’s there were about 40 expats living here.
 
Now, according to reliable sources quoted by the author of the article, Simon Watson, out of the a population of about 80,000 in San Miguel de Allende, from...

I found this great article in “Travel and Leisure” that gives some of the history of San Miguel de Allende and how Americans came to be expats here as early as the late 1940’s when Stirling Dickinson made his discovery of the city. By the early 1950’s there were about 40 expats living here.
 
Now, according to reliable sources quoted by the author of the article, Simon Watson, out of the a population of about 80,000 in San Miguel de Allende, from 12,000 to 14,000 (15% tor more) are expats, and of those, roughly 70% are from the US. 
 
Watson described how the expats as a group have a very active life, owning and running all sorts of small businesses, including cafés, bakeries, guesthouses, clothing stores, art galleries, language schools, day spas, and bars.   They also teach and lead tours, write guides, and publish a newspaper, an art magazine, and a telephone directory for expatriates.  Watson’s overall assessment was that the expats have gradually transformed San Miguel de Allende into “a cosmopolitan center with more restaurants, nightlife, and good shops than in much larger cities in the United States.”

 

(Stirling Dickinson, an American expat who was one of the founding members of the artist community in San Miguel Allende, Mexico, pictured.)

We have three or four beautiful rivers that cross Portugal. Further south from Lisbon we have the Guadiana River, where I have rafted. Up north we have Mondego River and further north close to Porto we have Douro River, which is where the Porto Wine comes from. And this area Douro; the Douro River and the cliffs surrounding the Douro River, is where they plant the grapes to produce the world famous Porto Wine or “Port Wine” as you call it in America.  We do not have the...

We have three or four beautiful rivers that cross Portugal. Further south from Lisbon we have the Guadiana River, where I have rafted. Up north we have Mondego River and further north close to Porto we have Douro River, which is where the Porto Wine comes from. And this area Douro; the Douro River and the cliffs surrounding the Douro River, is where they plant the grapes to produce the world famous Porto Wine or “Port Wine” as you call it in America.  We do not have the very extreme classes of river rafting but we do have some mild intermediate class areas. People raft here in Portugal in the winter and spring. You can go in summer but the rivers are very low and it becomes a bit boring for people looking for some excitement. 
 
We have sea kayaking in Portugal.  I provide an excursion for my clients that is basically just a beautiful tour around our coastline around Cascais (near Lisbon) in a kayak.  There are two levels of sea kayaking. You have the sea kayaking just to wonder around and you have the surf sea kayaking, which is on waves, which is for another level of expertise. You have to have a lot of experience to do that. But for the first timer, you have to do the traditional sea kayak and you’re only allowed to go when the sea is really, really calm. Portugal is close by the Atlantic Ocean and the Atlantic Ocean is quite rough. So 80% throughout the year we have waves in Portugal. The only two months of the year with light waves are July and August. You can go out throughout the year but then you have to go to protected bays, of which there are many throughout the country.  The Algarve is the perfect place to do this because the Algarve gets the Mediterranean Sea so it doesn’t get as rough as it gets on the west coast, which faces the Atlantic. The southern coast is much more calmer than it is in the west coast.

 

(Sea kayaking provided by Blue Hostel and Suites, Cascais, Portugal, pictured.)

To find name-brand clothes in Nicaragua, you need to visit the shopping centers and malls in Managua.  Two of the malls are located on Carretera Masaya: MetroCentro is located next to the Intercontinental Hotel at Rotonda Ruben Dario and the Galeria is located a little farther toward Masaya at Rotonda Jean Paul Genie.  Centro Commercial is one of the original shopping centers of Managua and is located in the Altamira area; it has a large variety of stores. One of the newest...

To find name-brand clothes in Nicaragua, you need to visit the shopping centers and malls in Managua.  Two of the malls are located on Carretera Masaya: MetroCentro is located next to the Intercontinental Hotel at Rotonda Ruben Dario and the Galeria is located a little farther toward Masaya at Rotonda Jean Paul Genie.  Centro Commercial is one of the original shopping centers of Managua and is located in the Altamira area; it has a large variety of stores. One of the newest shopping malls is Multicentro Las Americas. This mall is away from the central tourist zone in the Bello Horizonte area - not too far from the airport.  Plaza Inter is located next to the Crowne Plaza Hotel in the Tiscapa area.

 

 

Although not known for fine clothing, the many local mercados (markets) have a large selection of items and come in all sizes and shapes.  You can get a real flavor of Nicaragua by visiting the mercados. In Managua one of the favorites of tourists is Mercado Roberto Huembes in the Altamira area and it is a good place to buy small gifts for friends and family back home.  You should avoid Mercado Oriental.  In Masaya visit the tourist market, not the local market.

 

Most small towns (pueblos) have a market and a visit can be an interesting experience. And as always, protect your personal belongings from pick-pockets when in the crowded markets.