There we were, my wife, two kids, and I, walking the trail through the forest, up the mountain. We were the only ones out there. It was quiet…peaceful. A blue-crowned mot mot landed on a nearby branch and then took off again. The small holes in the dirt walls lining the trail were probably home to tarantulas, but we didn't see any. Thanks to the elevation, it was actually a bit cool…low 70s.
I've booked my flight to Las Vegas for the Fast Track Your Retirement Overseas Conference in October. I'm looking forward to chatting with attendees, along with my compañera Jessica Ramesch, about life in Panama.
It was sports that first brought Jim to Panama in 2004. “I lived in Boston and was running a sports-marketing company for American football. I handled recreational events, tournaments, leagues, and celebrity events. “While coaching a start-up flag-football team here, I first met my wife Priscilla. We went back to the U.S. and worked together in sports marketing, but when we decided to start a family in 2009, we returned to Panama and made our new home in Las Tablas. We wanted to be near Priscilla’s family.”
I realized years ago that, by and large, happiness is a choice. I'll admit that there have been times when maintaining that choice has required significant, conscious effort. But, the choice is easier now that I'm retired and living on Mexico's Riviera Maya. Here it would take considerable, deliberate effort to be anything but happy.
When 52-year-old Michael Druillard first set foot on Panamanian soil, this sunny, Central American country won his heart. It was the perfect country for his needs. Besides the warm climate, it has a stable government, a low cost of living, and varied employment opportunities. Now his life in the warm beach town of Coronado is a world away from shovelling snow in his native Canada.
Until a few days ago my knowledge of coffee was as follows: buy a bag at the store once in a while and drink a couple of cups to get me going each day. I’ve just returned from an extremely interesting tour, organized by the owner of a local coffee shop here in Cuenca, Ecuador, with a new-found appreciation for my morning beverage.
My wife Ann and I moved to the Ecuadorian beach town of Salinas at the start of this year. We came for the wonderful weather and the low cost of living, and we have met some of the nicest people in the world—both Ecuadorians and expats.
My sister was shocked at the $2,000 she’d been quoted. But for a year’s worth of monthly housecleaning in Ohio, apparently that’s the going rate. While she recovered from her sticker shock, I did a bit of quick math.
After researching Costa Rica in the pages of International Living and seeing the country featured in real estate TV shows, Victoria, 67, and Larry Torley, 65, were ready to check it out for themselves. And it didn’t take long for them to find a new home.
I worked hard when I lived in the U.S. Not only did my husband and I have intense jobs, we also homeschooled our children and managed our 10 acres of land in northern Idaho. Additionally, because we'd built our off-grid cabin by hand, we had the pleasure of hauling, splitting, and stacking firewood along with pitching snow off the roof and out of the driveway come winter.
Believe it or not, I actually enjoyed much of the lifestyle, but there were days when I fantasized about pampering myself. A day of being spoiled at the spa followed by a gourmet meal prepared by someone other than myself was sure appealing. But, aside from the one massage that my husband bought me for my birthday, I never did indulge myself. Why not? Well the cost was a bit prohibitive and, while I probably could have afforded to spend the money on myself, I simply couldn't do it without a lot of guilt.