Can I see beautiful flowers, plants and trees in or around Los Cabos - La Paz, Mexico?
Jimena Malagamba
Yes, you can see beautiful flowers, plants in trees in Baja Sur. Usually in downtown Cabo, La Paz, Todos Santos, etc. there are nice big trees that have been there for over 30 to 40 years. The gardens are well kept and most people here really like plants and gardens. Everybody from any socioeconomic level has their little garden that they’re proud of.
We don’t get a lot of rain and our water sometimes can be a little salty so not all the...
Yes, you can see beautiful flowers, plants in trees in Baja Sur. Usually in downtown Cabo, La Paz, Todos Santos, etc. there are nice big trees that have been there for over 30 to 40 years. The gardens are well kept and most people here really like plants and gardens. Everybody from any socioeconomic level has their little garden that they’re proud of.
We don’t get a lot of rain and our water sometimes can be a little salty so not all the plants might survive. The heat is very strong, also. So some tropical species may not do very well but you make your little microclimates and you can adjust any plant to it. Bougainvillea is probably the one we’re most famous for, with beautiful purple, white, orange flowers. There’s the flamboyant tree that has red flowers that’s known as Tabachin. We have lots of palms, which thrive here. And we have beautiful desert gardens of native plants.
The native plants are mostly spiny. Some have leaves only and blooms only in the summer when it rains. So if we have droughts our plants will be a little brown and gray, but after the first rain, every single plant in the desert comes alive and it flourishes and it’s green and it’s lush. There are yellow, pink, and red flowers everywhere. It’s like magic. We have beautiful cardones, which are the big cactus trees similar to a saguaro that you would see in the American southwest. We have lots of those.
We have Palo Verdes. We have Mexican fan palms and date palms, neither of which are native. The missionaries brought the date palms. But you could say now that they’re native because they do very well here.
We have coconut plants that I don’t think are native, either. We have, however, a blue palm that it is native and you can only find in certain areas that are beautiful. And there’s another one that we call Taquito, which is a fan palm which is native and you can find them all over in the arroyos and streams.
The native plants provide food for many birds and lizards and it is important to keep them in your yard if you want to have some natural biodiversity.
(Home with a cardones cactus growing through the deck, La Paz, Mexico, pictured.)
How's the standard of living in San Juan del Sur, Nicaragua?
Gordon MacKay - InNicaNow.com
The standard of living in San Juan del Sur depends on who you are. Some of the people who are working for minimum wage have a pretty low standard of living. Many of them live in a family home where a dozen other people live. Some of them of have jobs and are contributing and doing what they can to get by, so no one’s starving, but there aren’t a lot of extras. There are lots of Nicaraguans as well who have jobs in tourism and make some tips, or have jobs that pay a...
The standard of living in San Juan del Sur depends on who you are. Some of the people who are working for minimum wage have a pretty low standard of living. Many of them live in a family home where a dozen other people live. Some of them of have jobs and are contributing and doing what they can to get by, so no one’s starving, but there aren’t a lot of extras. There are lots of Nicaraguans as well who have jobs in tourism and make some tips, or have jobs that pay a little better, so they are more affluent.
For the average expat living in San Juan del Sur, if you want to bring your American life to San Juan del Sur, it isn’t going to be that much cheaper because you’ll be buying imported items, and you’re going to want the things that you have to import to San Juan del Sur.
If you want to come to San Juan del Sur and have an amazing life that’s a little simpler- to get your fruits and vegetables at the market, your meat at the butcher, cooking at home and visiting friends, it’s very inexpensive and you can live like a king- at least for me that’s what it feels like.
I have a beautiful home, we have a shared pool, I’m a close five-minute walk to the beach and 10-minute walk to town, and I eat amazingly. All the food that I eat was in the ground or on the tree two days ago. I live amazingly.
(Fruits and vegetables delivered to Gordon MacKay's door, San Juan del Sur, Mexico, pictured.)
Are taxis readily available in Boquete, Panama, and what do taxis cost in Boquete, Panama?
Gilberto Barria Vallarino - BodyMind Dojo
In Boquete you can find taxis as early as 7 AM for sure most days. Usually there are two options. The least expensive option is to ride in a collective with as many as four more persons. Depending on how far you go from downtown Boquete (the park) a collective can cost you anywhere from 50 cents to one dollar. If you find a taxi that is empty and ask for a "carrera" (a private ride) you can pay around US $1.50 up to $4.00 or $5.00, depending how...
In Boquete you can find taxis as early as 7 AM for sure most days. Usually there are two options. The least expensive option is to ride in a collective with as many as four more persons. Depending on how far you go from downtown Boquete (the park) a collective can cost you anywhere from 50 cents to one dollar. If you find a taxi that is empty and ask for a "carrera" (a private ride) you can pay around US $1.50 up to $4.00 or $5.00, depending how far you are going. The farthest you will usually want to go is David's airport and that can cost you around $25.00 to $30.00. One final note, after 8 PM or 9 PM and sometimes 7 PM, it is very hard to find a cabbie, specially on rainy days.
My birthday is on the 4th of April, and normally on the week of my birthday my present is to go fishing for a week. Last year, I caught a 200-kilo (441 pounds) tuna. In Portuguese we call the fish I caught the atum rabillo but in English I think it’s bluefin tuna. So an amateur like me caught a fish like that, which gives you an idea of how rich our waters are.
If you go fishing in the main cities—Lisbon or...
There is excellent fishing in Portugal.
My birthday is on the 4th of April, and normally on the week of my birthday my present is to go fishing for a week. Last year, I caught a 200-kilo (441 pounds) tuna. In Portuguese we call the fish I caught the atum rabillo but in English I think it’s bluefin tuna. So an amateur like me caught a fish like that, which gives you an idea of how rich our waters are.
If you go fishing in the main cities—Lisbon or Porto—you will see a lot of recreational fishing. There are a lot of little boats, which tend to scare the bigger fish but you always catch fish in Portugal.
Portugal is really well known for two things: soccer and fish. The fish we get is very, very good fish and very fresh fish. All the restaurants provide very, very fresh fish. Portugal is a really beautiful place to go fishing; very beautiful.
Do I need to renounce or relinquish my US citizenship or get a dual citizenship to move or live abroad?
RICH Novak - RE/MAX Beaches & City! INC.
To answer the question directly, it is not necessary for you to relinquish your citizenship or even get a dual citizenship in order to live in Panama. You can be a perpetual tourist, if you follow the rules, or you can get one of the different visas available.
When you come to Panama, you can come as a tourist or a visitor, and stay for 180 days, but then you have to leave the country for 72 hours. Then you can come back again. There are people who are stay in...
To answer the question directly, it is not necessary for you to relinquish your citizenship or even get a dual citizenship in order to live in Panama. You can be a perpetual tourist, if you follow the rules, or you can get one of the different visas available.
When you come to Panama, you can come as a tourist or a visitor, and stay for 180 days, but then you have to leave the country for 72 hours. Then you can come back again. There are people who are stay in Panama indefinitely as perpetual tourists.
By law a Pensionado in Panama does not need a passport and possible Panamanian citizenship, but the government of Panama recently changed that rule, so that now, after a person’s has legally been here for five years, you can apply for citizenship. Nobody that I know has ever become a citizen and received a Panamanian passport that I know of, though, so it is absolutely not necessary in order to stay in Panama.
There are programs like the one they have in Saint Kitts, where you could start with an investment of US $350,000 and receive citizenship. To renounce your citizenship is a gray area. You may want to renounce your citizenship or you may not.
I know a Canadian guy who says that he has done everything to become a citizen of Panama, but the president of Panama needs to approve his application to become a citizen. That is the only thing he is says he needs, and I am waiting to see if that happens.
I am a US citizen and because I am a US citizen living overseas, I have to put up with some crazy laws. Because I am a citizen of the United States, I have to send in a report to Detroit telling the government what money I have in foreign bank accounts, and if I do not tell them, the penalty is 50% per year. So just because you already live in another country, does not relieve you of taxes and some other legal obligations in the US, because you are still a US citizen.
What’s the price of a home, condo or apartment in Belize?
Belize Bobbi - Belize Paradise Tours
The price of a home, condo, or apartment in Belize is a very general question with a very broad answer.
It's like asking you what it would cost to buy a home, apartment or condo where you live. Just as in other countries, Belize has low-priced homes and high-priced homes.
We do visit different types of properties with our tours, depending on the price range and preferences of the tour guests. I've seen properties as low as US $50,000...
The price of a home, condo, or apartment in Belize is a very general question with a very broad answer.
It's like asking you what it would cost to buy a home, apartment or condo where you live. Just as in other countries, Belize has low-priced homes and high-priced homes.
We do visit different types of properties with our tours, depending on the price range and preferences of the tour guests. I've seen properties as low as US $50,000 and as high as $3,000,000. There are surely even more properties below and above these prices, too. Just like other areas of the world, beach properties are more expensive than those in rural areas.
The pictures I've uploaded with this answer show homes from the low end, to mdi-range, to high end.
You can't rely on pictures on the internet, either. Until you get your feet on the ground and see the landscape, the area, the part of the country it's in - you can't decide if a property is for you.
This phrase works all over the world - "Location, location, location" !
Matt Ouellette – “The Canadian Renaissance Man: Family, Music, Business, and Sports”
Matt Ouellette came to Mexico as a vacationer and real estate investor and fell in love with the area. Originally from the west coast of Canada, Matt found a Spanish beauty in British Columbia and the two of them were married in Spain. After years of rainy cold weather in Vancouver, Matt and his wife decided they would like to explore living in a warm tropical climate so in 2000 they...
Are you still entitled to consider yourself an American if you choose to live abroad?
As Vice President of Business Development for Best Places in the World to Retire, I have been told by many people living abroad that they have been told (let’s say, by their sister-in-law, Betty) that, because of their decision to live abroad, they were no longer “American”. A month and a half ago, my wife and I crossed over the US – Mexico border into Mexico and...
Note: If you would like to watch me read this essay, click on the YouTube below. However, be warned, I am quite amateur; I stammer, I mispronounce words, and apparently, I suffer from chapped lips. But I hope you'll be encouraged to tell your experience and impressions to the camera, for that is an intimate way to tell your tale to others on Best Places. ...