Best Places In The World To Retire

The culture of Chapala and Ajijic is a mix of Mexican and North American culture. It also varies depending on your social circles. The expats tend to stay with the expats, so when you go to their parties or get-togethers, everything tends to be like they are in the US. I have an expat friend who socializes with a lot of the lawyers here and goes to a lot of their functions, so his experience tends to be quite Mexican, and his Spanish is very good. Socially and culturally, he is very...

The culture of Chapala and Ajijic is a mix of Mexican and North American culture. It also varies depending on your social circles. The expats tend to stay with the expats, so when you go to their parties or get-togethers, everything tends to be like they are in the US. I have an expat friend who socializes with a lot of the lawyers here and goes to a lot of their functions, so his experience tends to be quite Mexican, and his Spanish is very good. Socially and culturally, he is very Mexican.
 
In general, you can certainly choose what culture you want to be in. If you want to live in a North American culture you pretty much could. If you want to live in a Mexican culture you can do that as well. If you want to be a little bit of each, it is also possible.

 

(Dr. Santiago Hernandez socializing with other sophisticated locals and expats in Mexico, pictured.)

Living in Panama for my wife and me was an adjustment. I wanted to do it and she was very skeptical. There were lots of adjustments that we had to make, such as adjusting to the Panamanian thought process, the culture, etc. For me, being a type A person, I always thought I would slow down and be a little bit more tolerant. Fortunately, I have done that enough but it is still a work in progress and I think there is room for improvement, such as learning how to do basic things that we do...

Living in Panama for my wife and me was an adjustment. I wanted to do it and she was very skeptical. There were lots of adjustments that we had to make, such as adjusting to the Panamanian thought process, the culture, etc. For me, being a type A person, I always thought I would slow down and be a little bit more tolerant. Fortunately, I have done that enough but it is still a work in progress and I think there is room for improvement, such as learning how to do basic things that we do without thinking about them too much like getting a driver’s license or getting health insurance. Just dealing with day to day life that way is a little bit different from the way we do it, which could be summed up as “the way they do it is much slower than the way we do it.”
 
When I moved from Boston to Lake Tahoe, I was in my twenties.  When you’re young, you adapt much quicker and easier. Of course most of the people who I deal with who are moving to Panama are a bit older. They are retired or soon to retire. However, that is changing. The demographic of expats when I first got to Panama was much older people but now the expats who come here are getting younger. We are now seeing families with children moving to Panama, which is more indicative of the economic situation. Those are the people who come here for economics versus politics. They can afford to live in the United States but they cannot afford to raise their children with the same quality of life that they grew up on. I find that those people are coming into Panama now and it’s certainly a lot easier for them because the adjustment is much easier for younger people. The older people, of course, are more set in their ways. Depending on how motivated they are; if they’re moving to Panama because they can’t afford to stay in the United States, they tend to be more adaptable because they don’t have really that much choice.

 

(Michael Vuytowecz and wife, Panama, pictured.)

The history of Portugal is a very broad question, so I will address it just in summary form.
 
500 years ago, Portugal owned half of the world and 500 years later we are just a little small humble country of Europe, which can tell you quite a bit.  We were, 500 years ago, a very important country, responsible for controlling half of the goods produced of half of the world. Spain had the other half. And then came the Dutch, the English; the explorers, and they took over some...

The history of Portugal is a very broad question, so I will address it just in summary form.
 
500 years ago, Portugal owned half of the world and 500 years later we are just a little small humble country of Europe, which can tell you quite a bit.  We were, 500 years ago, a very important country, responsible for controlling half of the goods produced of half of the world. Spain had the other half. And then came the Dutch, the English; the explorers, and they took over some of the rich countries that we controlled.
 
The colonies we had like Brazil, Mozambique, and Angola, survived for the last 300 to 200 years. But as the world developed, it was no longer allowed for countries to have colonies so we released our last colony in 1999, which was Macau in China. We had various dynasties of kings and queens and mixtures of royalty with other European countries.
 
We’re a country of explorers, very brave and courageous because if you could just imagine, 500 years ago, with no conditions, with little wooden boats discovering and crossing oceans and discovering countries, that can tell us a bit of the Portuguese culture. So yes, it’s a very brave culture, and a very brave country. We discovered half of the world and today we’re just a little civilized country of Europe.  

 

(Duke of Vise, Henry the Navigator of Portugal considered the patron of exploration, pictured.)

No, you don’t need a four-wheel drive in Placencia because we have a fully paved road.

No, you don’t need a four-wheel drive in Placencia because we have a fully paved road.

You can receive your Social Security check benefits in Panama.  I feel the best way is through direct deposit into your Panama bank account.  It is easy, safe and reliable.  I can only receive Social security via direct deposit in Panama.  All other benefits need to come by wire transfer or a mailed check.  I use a mail service out of Miami, Florida which sends my mail to a location close to where I live.  Mail Boxes, etc. seems to be good...

You can receive your Social Security check benefits in Panama.  I feel the best way is through direct deposit into your Panama bank account.  It is easy, safe and reliable.  I can only receive Social security via direct deposit in Panama.  All other benefits need to come by wire transfer or a mailed check.  I use a mail service out of Miami, Florida which sends my mail to a location close to where I live.  Mail Boxes, etc. seems to be good and reliable in Panama.