Best Places In The World To Retire

Yes, you can get a good caregiver in Portugal. But the way to do it in Portugal is not to just put an advert and wait for people to knock on your door and expect someone who is brilliant. You have to to have references like any other country in the world. Even in America, if you want a babysitter, you want references. You want someone who knows that person and that’s exactly the same here in Portugal.
 
In Portugal there’s no difficulty in finding in people because...

Yes, you can get a good caregiver in Portugal. But the way to do it in Portugal is not to just put an advert and wait for people to knock on your door and expect someone who is brilliant. You have to to have references like any other country in the world. Even in America, if you want a babysitter, you want references. You want someone who knows that person and that’s exactly the same here in Portugal.
 
In Portugal there’s no difficulty in finding in people because the unemployment rate in Portugal at the moment is 18%. So a lot of people, the unemployed, when they cannot find jobs, they apply for either taking care of children or elder people, so it’s actually quite easy to find that sort of help. You get people who would really take care, bathe the elder people, cook them a proper meal, all of this. But if the elder gets sick or has a stroke or something, they would not be prepared to help them medically. They would have to call 112, which is our version of 911. 
 
You can hire more sophisticated help such as nurses, but then the price increases a lot. You can have an average healthcare worker with no medical experience full-time working for you for €700 to €800 (US $780 to $890) a month. A live- in person would cost around $1,000 a month.  If it’s a person with medical expertise and a degree, it will cost you triple.
 

 

(Portuguese women at work, pictured.)

The language that is most spoken in Coronado Panama is Spanish, but you can get buy just speaking English. 

 

In Coronado there is a big expat community, most of them from the United States. The Panamanians who have a house in Coronado and go there on weekends and holidays are most likely to also speak English.  Panamanians who work in Coronado will have a basic English speaking level.

 

I do recommend to learn Spanish,...

The language that is most spoken in Coronado Panama is Spanish, but you can get buy just speaking English. 

 

In Coronado there is a big expat community, most of them from the United States. The Panamanians who have a house in Coronado and go there on weekends and holidays are most likely to also speak English.  Panamanians who work in Coronado will have a basic English speaking level.

 

I do recommend to learn Spanish, specially if you decide to live in a Spanish speaking country because all your bills and legal paper work will be in Spanish. 

Sad to say, but for us the biggest surprise was how friendly, open and caring people are in both the countries that we've been expats in. Panama has some of the friendliest and most helpful people in the world, and Colombians are, if anything, even more so. If you're considering becoming an expat, give up the existential fear of other people, other cultures, and you'll feel a lot better, and fit in much faster. There are a lot of unfounded, stereotypical horror stories about hostile...

Sad to say, but for us the biggest surprise was how friendly, open and caring people are in both the countries that we've been expats in. Panama has some of the friendliest and most helpful people in the world, and Colombians are, if anything, even more so. If you're considering becoming an expat, give up the existential fear of other people, other cultures, and you'll feel a lot better, and fit in much faster. There are a lot of unfounded, stereotypical horror stories about hostile native people, and gringo bashing episodes, but the vast majority of them are fabrications, Sure, there are criminals and malcontents everywhere, but in our experience, the rest of the population, in Panama and again in Colombia more than make up for the bad actors.

 

One more thing: If you show a real effort to learn the local language, people tend to be even more friendly and helpful. Go for it.

 

BE Medellin

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(Cartagena, Colombia, pictured.)

When we moved to Belize, I drove down my truck loaded with stuff, and a neighbor donating a small bus to Belize allowed me to use some of the bus for bringing a few extra things, probably a small trailer's worth. In the few years leading up to the full time move, we brought down suitcases jammed. We brought the following: dishes, pots and pans, limited artwork and pictures, computer, tools, Honda mower, cordless tools, a few select pieces of furniture, TV, sound dock, digital...

When we moved to Belize, I drove down my truck loaded with stuff, and a neighbor donating a small bus to Belize allowed me to use some of the bus for bringing a few extra things, probably a small trailer's worth. In the few years leading up to the full time move, we brought down suitcases jammed. We brought the following: dishes, pots and pans, limited artwork and pictures, computer, tools, Honda mower, cordless tools, a few select pieces of furniture, TV, sound dock, digital music, a set of 6 stackable faux wicker chairs, a few lamps, clothes, and our five cats (on the airline w/ my wife). I missed a few things, since replaced (small compressor, pressure washer, etc.). But, we did it mostly right, for us.

 

Things have changed a lot. There are shippers who can bring down everything from individual boxes to container loads. We had basically all of our furniture built here by a local cabinet maker. We are convinced it was the right call.  We try to help people with resources for these decisions. We now use a very competent and reasonable shipper in the US for purchases on Amazon to Walmart, etc., to buy other "stuff." It's a very individualized question.  For us it worked. Our goal was to simplify our life moving to Belize. That meant letting go of a lot of "stuff". You will figure it out!

 

(The Walmart in Mexico across the bay from Corozal, Belize, pictured.)