Where else?

Our second choice was Bulgaria. No, I'm serious. In fact it still isn't off the table.

Four season climate, affordable living, plenty of old world culture, a functional medical system that is affordable, locally sourced food supply, and traveling to all sorts of other interesting places is within easy reach. It also helps that I read Cyrillic, which really isn't that hard to learn anyway.

I have a good British friend who is very well traveled and has lived in Varna for 4 years and absolutely loves it.

As I recall looking into Bulgaria previously, they have a very easy to qualify for retirement visa, which is a top priority for us.

What I can say about Peru is that Peru is much cheaper than Ecuador, they don't have dolars and many Peruvians come to Ecuador to work.
But basic services, infraestructure is not as good as in Ecuador, even they have many beaches the water is cold and most of the country is dry. In Lima rains once every one, two years.

Consider that Peru is the 2nd largest exporter of Cocoa and I'd proceed cautiously with an eye on the associated in country and out of country issues.

Based on what I've read about Bulgaria, it would interest me greatly -- if I were a European. One of my objections to the Philippines is the distance from home (the US), which is also a problem, though to a lesser extent, in the Balkans. I want to be able to get home quickly in a family emergency, which I think limits me to the Americas.

vinny66 wrote:

What I can say about Peru is that Peru is much cheaper than Ecuador, they don't have dolars and many Peruvians come to Ecuador to work.
But basic services, infraestructure is not as good as in Ecuador, even they have many beaches the water is cold and most of the country is dry. In Lima rains once every one, two years.

It's amazing that Lima can have such high humidity (Wikipedia says it averages 83%) but have practically no rain. I'm planning on the mountains, though, whether in Ecuador or Peru -- Lima, Guayaquil, etc are not on my radar.

I'll have to research the infrastructure more, but of course I like hearing that it's cheaper.

Thanks for the warning about coca -- I'll keep it in mind. But my approach wherever I am is to figure out where the bad guys are and not go there.

BobH wrote:

Based on what I've read about Bulgaria, it would interest me greatly -- if I were a European. One of my objections to the Philippines is the distance from home (the US), which is also a problem, though to a lesser extent, in the Balkans. I want to be able to get home quickly in a family emergency, which I think limits me to the Americas.

Yes, I agree, the proximity of south America is what tipped us in that direction as well. And after a month long visit to Ecuador we decided it could definitely be our new life.

But really my first choice if distance and timezones weren't such an issue, would be Bulgaria. I love eastern Europe, although I haven't been to Bulgaria, I'm sure if I went I would love it and never want to leave. The 11 hour time difference and two days travel to to the US though, is a killer.

*sigh*

Yes we make concessions and adjustments and choices that are practical and acceptable, because compromise is the way of life. You just have to try to choose your compromises wisely.

Last fall, we had a month of paid vacation coming and had been saving money for 5 years to make our pre-retirement expedition. I had narrowed the focus to Bulgaria and south America. We knew we'd never be able to get a month vacation off again (company policy changes), and that it would take another 5 years to save the same amount of money all over again, so it was a do-or-die decision as to where to go.

Originally in south America I was more interested in Uruguay. Which might be up your alley, I don't know.

Uruguay has a vary large European and expat population, and an extremely easy retirement visa, one needs only prove income of $500 per month for an individual. The government is very 'progressive' the climate very Mediterranean, and is an easy tip to Rio and Buenos Aries. Very appealing stuff. But the thing that ultimately put me off was the difficult health care situation for unrich expats. Uruguay has a rather convoluted arrangement of medicinias which are connected, yet not in a system. Health care for older foreigners is very difficult to access and private insurance is through the roof--if you can get it at all.

Bob, Uruguay might be just what you're looking for if you don't have any particular health concerns and you are under 60. You really might want to look into it.

gardener1 wrote:

Bob, Uruguay might be just what you're looking for if you don't have any particular health concerns and you are under 60. You really might want to look into it.

Thanks, but I'm 66. My health is good (you couldn't see me, but I just knocked on wood) but at my age we have to be realistic and assume things may go south at any time (another good reason to stay in proximity to home base).

Ecuador and Peru seem the best bets with Guatemala and Mexico good contenders (except for the violence). I may take another look at Bolivia as well.

Mexico might be a little problem.

In November 2012 they revamped all of their permanent residency permit requirements. Now you have to document a monthly income of $1,950 PER PERSON to qualify for a pensioners permit, up from the previous $800 (way up). Plenty of American retiree dreams crushed there. Or you can get residency permit through investment, minimum $195,000. I hear there are still plenty of people doing the tourist visa turnaround by crossing the border every 180 days, but how long would someone want to keep that up....

Mexico just got grumpy.

I wasn't aware of those changes in Mexico. I can still qualify, but they sure priced a heck of a lot of people out of their country. I wonder why they did that? Seems rather counter-productive.

And I'd hate to have to do frequent border runs in Mexico, given that the roads in the north are the most dangerous area. I was thinking about Oaxaca or maybe Xalapa there.

Just out of curiosity, once you have a pensioner's permit and are living in Mexico, are you grandfathered in, or do people living there now have to receive a minimum income of $1,950 per person?

ActionMgt wrote:

Just out of curiosity, once you have a pensioner's permit and are living in Mexico, are you grandfathered in, or do people living there now have to receive a minimum income of $1,950 per person?

Good question -- I hadn't thought of that. It could be really nasty for people who are settled in and maybe own a home, to be told to get out.

I suppose they could switch to tourist visa and make border runs twice a year.

Hello all:)
Hope this post goes in the right place, as this is my first post, and never really join forums.

Had some questions regarding parts of Ecuador when I fell upon this post. While am not qualified to respond to some of the countries mentioned, there are several others I'm familiar with.

Have lived in Costa Erica, Dominican Republic, and Panama, and currently own land in Panama as well.

My opinion, and only my opinion based on personal experience in those countries are as follows.

Costa Rica- A beautiful country, but it's better days are behind it. Expat population, cost of living, and crime, especially violent crime have really risen over the last 5+ years. In addition the infrastructure has only improved modestly. Still a great place to visit, but in terms of living there is probably better choices.

Dominican Republic- Fairly popular place amongst Canadians, and Europeans. Cost of living is pretty cheap. Infrastructure is poor at best. Though haven't been there in about a year, as far as I know they still have daily scheduled blackouts of power, which goes for three hours, but realistically often lasts much longer. If you like the mountains, and cooler temps, then Jarabacoa is a very nice place. Never personally had any problems with crime there, but the crime statistics aren't exactly low there.

Panama- Panama City is extremely over priced. The infrastructure while much better than the rest of Central America is still pretty poor. Outside of the city there are some pretty nice places to visit, and live at pretty reasonable prices. Personally bought land, because am familiar and comfortable living in Central America, but if had it to do all over, think I would have focused more heavily on South America, as I believe those countries have much more going for them, and better long term potential than the above mentioned countries.

On a side note, and not sure where the poster is at financially, but probably my favorite place is New Zealand, absolutely wonderful place.

j600rr wrote:

On a side note, and not sure where the poster is at financially, but probably my favorite place is New Zealand, absolutely wonderful place.

Thanks, great info on all those countries.

Re NZ: I've been hearing great things about it for forty years now. However, I'm currently in the Philippines and one of my goals is to relocate closer to home -- which eliminates NZ, regardless of cost of living.

Re Panama: I got an email from International Living last week saying that real estate prices are way down (at least in Boquete). Naturally, they pitched it as 'great time to buy!' on behalf of their real estate sponsors (without acknowledging that they were pitching it the same way several years ago).

Ah yes the famous or infamous I.L.
Boquete is a very nice place. Seeing as how you mentioned mountains, that could be a possible good fit.

Take everything pitched with a grain of salt that I.L. says. Boquete is probably the most expensive place outside of Panama City, and probably has the most expensive real estate in country, again outside of the city. Possible exceptions could be the Coronado, and Bocas Del Toronto areas which may be a bit more, but you get the point, I wouldn't really consider Boquete cheap, or a good buy real estate wise. Do think it would be a good place for you to visit, and look around. There are many other areas outside of Boquete quite nice, and much more affordable.

Also bear in mind real estate/rentals in Panama have no rhyme or reason. One piece of land could be x price, and the lot next to it could be 4x as much, and the same with rentals. Buyer beware kind of applies to Panama as much as it does to any thirld world country.

Thanks again for the info (and believe me, I put very little faith in anything I read from IL). For whatever reason, Panama has never appealed to me much (though I should probably give it a look). If I were to settle in Central America, I'm pretty sure it would be Guatemala.

Lovin all the posts . I have to admit we did not consider Europe or Asia or Islands.  We wanted to be in South America. Did lots of research on Central America also.  For many of the same reasons above in other posts such as infrastructure an costs of land and housing escalating so high, we chose Ecuador.  Still highly recommend visit and check out before you commit to any where.  Each place is not for everyone.  Not everyone embraces the  Latin Culture like we do for example.  Espanol can be very difficult for some of us older folks to learn.  The  poverty of the locals troubles some.  Remember it is great to have so many choices isn't it?  Still no matter where you choose, it is less costly and you can live much better than you could on lower (retirement) income. While enjoying the wonderful adventure of a new life overseas, and the fun of learning a new culture.  Ecuador has some of the friendliest people we have found anywhere.  So sad to hear about Mexicos new visa rules.  Gees how many Mexicans earn that much? Enjoy wherever you are and hope you find a cool place to hang out.  Charlie

Very true points wandering bear.

Odd how many people will move to a Latin American country based on nothing more than an article that tells them what they want to hear. I've always enjoyed the culture. That doesn't mean I have never shook my head, or gotten extremely frustrated iving in Latin America. Despite what any publication, or article promotes, pretty much all Latin American Countries have had a checkered past with many problems. Many now seem to be moving in the right direction (I'm my opinion). That doesn't mean there won't be a lot of growing pains, because there will be. Life can certainly be wonderful, but if you come from a first world country, and think moving to any Latin Country, will be like what you are used to, then am sorry, but you are deceiving yourselves. There are pros and cons. An individual just needs to decide if pros outweigh cons, or vice versa.