Mexico is home to different kinds of lifestyles. If you want to be a beach bum and just sit on the beach, have fun and enjoy the ocean, you can do that. Mexico has miles and miles of beach you can enjoy. If you want to be involved in animal rescue, orphanages and whatever you desire, you can definitely get involved in those activities.
Here in Mexico, what matters is what you really want to do. If you want to sit down and read a book, that’s fine. I love doing activities with animals, so that’s what occupies my time. Some people like to be with children or going to the church and that’s what they do.
In Canada, to a certain extent you can do anything you like, too, but it’s not as easy as it is in Mexico. In Canada, everyone has their own home and people usually stay at home unless they go to special occasions and meet other people. Here in Mazatlán, we expats and snowbirds all know each other so everybody ends up talking to each other. We’re a community more so than in Canada because everybody knows each other, and people do a lot of things in groups.
I was in the military for 21 years. I had a very bad parachute accident that injured my spine. I broke my neck during the accident, and I was in a very bad shape for many years. I soon suffered from arthritis that affected my entire body- from my nose down to my toes.
I started coming to Mexico because of my health. I was so sick in Canada and had to take morphine and lots of painkillers. When my family and I started coming to Mexico roughly fifteen years ago, I started feeling so much better. I spoke to my doctor who said I should come back to Mexico, and that’s why I kept coming back. I would come to Mexico once, twice or thrice a month, and eventually because of coming to Mexico I was able to get off all of my painkillers, and I was able to relax. I can enjoy life so much better now.
Life is so much better in Mexico because the temperature is much more stable compared to Canada. In Canada, you can have four seasons in a single day. That’s one of the things that makes a big difference for me.
(Yvon Marier enjoying the beach with his dog and a friend, Mexico, pictured.)
Portugal has come a very, very long way in the past 40 years (this seems a long time, but in fact from then to now it is so different). 
Nicaragua. It is the largest city in the department but there are several other cities within a 30 minute drive of Granada. The "White Towns" of Diria, Diriomo and Catarina are at a higher altitude and tend to be a bit cooler. There are not many ex- pats in these small towns at this time but people are starting to look in that direction. 
When considering the worst places in the world to retire, I would definitely not include Panama in whatever list I come up with. 
straw that breaks the camel’s back and people say, “Okay, I’ve had enough of this” and they rebel. You certainly don’t want to get in the way of that sort of thing either, because we want to retire in a place that is peaceful. 
Such beauty and wonder everywhere! 
