Where to be or not to be; that is the question.

On the other hand, if you start out with a negative attitude, you may be delightfully surprised. That seems to happen to a lot of people who come to Mexico. Perspective is personal and subject to change.

Ferret:

And that is the reason some people can be categorized as "glass half empty" while other are categorized as "glass half full".

We were just up in the U.S. for the first time in 7 months. Unlike many here we've never wanted to be full-time down here, but financially it's been the best option. If we could afford the snowbird option (as it would appear 7 or 8 out of 10 expats here can) we'd do it.

Where N.O.B.? Mostly a question of money. If we won the lottery San Luis Obispo, Berkeley Hills, maybe Ashland, Oregon with winters in Mexico or Guatemala would do; otherwise sunny and affordable (New Mexico mountains and do the snowbird thing or Tucson and sweatbird time in Mexico) sound appealing. There are lots of aspects of life NOB we don't miss, but hiking and biking, good cheap Asian food, beer and wine worth drinking and many other niceties still appeal, along with less petty stuff like some semblance of rule of law, etc. All that aside it's hard to beat the simplicity and ease of life down here, and the quality of the expat community here and ease of meeting good people has no NOB equivalent in our experience.

As for other Latin American options, I think Oaxaca (city) and San Cristobal de las Casas are our only backup locales at this point. Guatemala great to visit but not to live, no interest in Panama, Ecuador or Costa Rica.

CheenaGringo wrote:Ferret:

And that is the reason some people can be categorized as "glass half empty" while other are categorized as "glass half full".

I know a fella with Dyslexia... poor bastard keeps trying ta drink from the empty side of the glass!

Hocks:

That is how you get rid of the hiccups!

I would go souther. I would especially check out Costa Rica, because I stumbled upon two books about it that I just adore. They have mountains and climates like here, as well as sweltering coasts:

http://www.happierthanabillionaire.com/

merry wrote:I would go souther. I would especially check out Costa Rica, because I stumbled upon two books about it that I just adore. They have mountains and climates like here, as well as sweltering coasts:

http://www.happierthanabillionaire.com/

And US prices but if money no object it is a nice place.

Z

Well, as always it depends on how you live. Plus Costa Ricans have great health care (required for all residents, about $65 US/month) and are said to be the happiest people on earth.

"For sure you can live like a rock star in Costa Rica on $4,000 per month. Most expats, though, report that they are living quite happily and without sacrifices on a monthly budget of $1,500 to $2,500. That's for two people living in a mid-range, two-bedroom home, and includes rent, utilities, transportation and Internet."

One of many sources: http://www.huffingtonpost.com/suzan-haskins-and-dan-prescher/best-places-to-retire-why-costa-rica-remains_b_2583079.html

Merry

merry wrote:Well, as always it depends on how you live. Plus Costa Ricans have great health care (required for all residents, about $65 US/month) and are said to be the happiest people on earth.

"For sure you can live like a rock star in Costa Rica on $4,000 per month. Most expats, though, report that they are living quite happily and without sacrifices on a monthly budget of $1,500 to $2,500. That's for two people living in a mid-range, two-bedroom home, and includes rent, utilities, transportation and Internet."

One of many sources: http://www.huffingtonpost.com/suzan-haskins-and-dan-prescher/best-places-to-retire-why-costa-rica-remains_b_2583079.html

Merry

Price airfares? It scared us away. We found things to be very expensive compared to Mexico.

Z

Agreed! Lived, worked there for a year, many years ago. Would not even consider living there again, under any circumstance.

Agreed. Been there 3 times and it was our first choice for retirement, initially. As always, if you want to live like a rich gringo it will cost you but if you want to live like a middle class Tico it's not so bad. But, it has become even MORE expensive now, they say.

I'm glad I chose Mexico and wouldn't ever trade it for CR, even tho CR is a wonderful country in so many ways and Ticos are awesome - Mexico is better!

slainte39 wrote:Agreed! Lived, worked there for a year, many years ago. Would not even consider living there again, under any circumstance.

Any reasons why?

Merry

merry wrote:

slainte39 wrote:Agreed! Lived, worked there for a year, many years ago. Would not even consider living there again, under any circumstance.

Any reasons why?

Merry

Maybe because he lived in the Guanacaste province where very few Ticos would want to live either.

Oooh, I wouldn't want to live there either, too hot, got heat stroke just passing through.

HOWEVER, not too far away the Nicoya Peninsula was our first choice. Mal Pais, to be exact, at the tip of the Nicoya Peninsula.

I just moved to Georgia from St. Louis to be close to my daughter. I'm liking it!

Trailrunner wrote:Oooh, I wouldn't want to live there either, too hot, got heat stroke just passing through.

Apparently the central highlands are mountainous and temperate not unlike here, and are where most gringos settle.

Merry

Have spent a lot of time in Costa Rica (and Guatemala, El Salvador, Nicaragua) during my years as a coffee buyer. There's much to love about all of these countries, but regarding Costa Rica as a place to live:

1. The rainy season (and this is equally true in the other C. American countries I mentioned) is nothing like here. Think torrential downpours May through October with a month not seeing the sun not at all uncommon. Mudslides and closed roads. If you choose Panama, add in mist and spitting rain year round in places like Boquette where expats live.

2. Bland food. Now Jalisco is about as bland as it gets in Mexico, but we still have chiles and easy access to the mole pastes and other ingredients necessary to prepare great Mexican food. Anywhere else in C. America it's black beans, rice and tortillas, stringy chicken and even tougher steak, with no chile, no salsas, nada. It might not sound like an issue, but between lack of spice and nowhere near the kind of access to NOB foods we have here thanks to Super Lake it could be a real issue for many over time.

3. The need to go native. In Costa Rica it's either congregate in one of the expat enclaves of San Jose or live in a primarily seasonal locale near the beaches OR have the Spanish and the interests to go native in someplace with few expats. I don't think many folks 65 and over have the skills or appetite for that on a year-round basis.

4. Costs: more than here, closer to San Miguel, in my experience, in Costa Rica and Panama. Guatemala about 20% cheaper than here for Antigua and environs, maybe 25% less at Lake Atitlan but you are knee-deep in an opaque indigenous culture that though wonderful doesn't want you there just like they don't want the Spanish-descended ruling class there! Lots and lots of crime - forget hiking alone or going out alone at night, ever.

5. Cultural blandness. It's not just the food. Costa Rica and Panama have killed off or exiled most of their indigenous culture, and with that you lose the good food, the art and much else. Guatemala is the opposite: mostly indigenous but with huge gulf between the poor truly native majority and the ruling class that runs the place. Mexico to me, especially states like Chiapas and Oaxaca, is the perfect balance between rich culture and infrastructure, safety and danger.

Wow! Pulitzer Prize-winning post, CafeChico. You are so right on.

Those were my exact observations on every single point you made, which makes this the best place for us to live for now - and maybe forever.

"CafeChico"! Thank you for the post. Helpful and well written (as always).
And, Trailrunner, again we agree. Right here for now--and maybe forever.

Unless something changes drastically, it will be a case of their hauling my ash outta here. I know when I'm well off.

gringal wrote:Unless something changes drastically, it will be a case of their hauling my ash outta here. I know when I'm well off.

Wow that lends a whole new (geriatric and very clever) meaning to "getting ones ashes hauled" gringal. I love it!

Ms Mac wrote:I just moved to Georgia from St. Louis to be close to my daughter. I'm liking it!

I'm in the mountain area. It's nice!

viajero wrote:

merry wrote:

slainte39 wrote:Agreed! Lived, worked there for a year, many years ago. Would not even consider living there again, under any circumstance.

Any reasons why?

Merry

Maybe because he lived in the Guanacaste province where very few Ticos would want to live either.

You got that right....Guanacaste, just south of Liberia, near Caña.
I agree with everything CoffeeGuy said plus:
1...All the foreign population was enclaved around San Jose, except for some Quakers up at Monteverde and some Bahá'is around Liberia.
2...Half the foreign population were some kind of scam artists, charletans, investments scheme promoters....you name it. The big fish in the water in those days was Robert Vesco.

3...Everything was expensive, as CR manufactures zip. Plenty of coffee and bananas
4...I had to drive 3 to 4 hours every weekend to San Jose to find any "life" that even came close to Ajijic.
5...Food was despicable...aguardiente even worse. Black beans and scrambled eggs is the only breakfast, (and lunch, and dinner) they know. Just kidding, but you get it a lot.
6...There was a 3 way civil war going on then up in Nicaragua between the Somocistas, The Sandinistas, and Comandante Cero....and no good roads to Panama.....so you were "rock bound" on a piece of land 200 miles long and a 100 miles wide.
7...SJ had more pickpockets, pursesnatchers, and petty thieves than there are hairs on a dog's back.
8...Price of gasoline out of sight as they have NO petroleum and got subsidized imports from Mexico as they felt sorry them...I guess.

I could fill pages of why I wouldn't want to return to CR to live, but this enough.

Yes yes yes, totally right.

The food. . .well, to be kind, is uninspiring. We did have many great meals on the beach at Mar Azul in Mal Pais, but they were specially ordered and prepared with seafood or at the local pizza place, but the meal of the day is beans, fried plantains, rice, a piece of meat, a hard boiled egg, and a few little vegetables. Day in and day out with little variance.

What about car thieves!!! omg Also, if you want to import your car it's something like a 100% value tax.

I don't want to trash CR, I loved it there and the people are fine folks. Mexico is better in every way. For me, anyway.

What little I learned about CR when I visited San Jose was that the country was OK but, most everything seemed much better here in Mexico.