April 21, 2010
Jurançon Countryside, Southwest France
PLUS:
- There's A Hornbill On My Breakfast Table!...
- "I've Bought In Egypt...Did I Make A Mistake?"...
- Honduras Versus Panama Versus Nicaragua...
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Dear Live and Invest Overseas Reader,
"Sometimes, when the sun shines, you just have to drop everything and get outside!" writes
France Correspondent Lucy Culpepper.
"This morning I dropped the children at school, then set off on my road bike into the Jurançon countryside in the southwest of France. This is rolling wine country. The vine growers use traditional grapes, such as Lauzet, Petit and Grand Mansengs, and Courbu. The vines are just starting to turn from woody looking sticks to the leafy boughs that will soon bear the fruit for both the golden sweet and the dry clear green Jurançon wines.
"Wine has been grown in this area since the Roman times, but Jurançon did not become nationally famous until it was used for the baptism of King Henri IV in 1553. The infant Prince had his lips rubbed with garlic and moistened with Jurançon wine. It was said that the wine gave him ‘a vigor and ardent spirit that never left him.'
"Everywhere I explored on my bicycle this morning was bathed in the sweet smell of spring. At almost every turn there was a sign for a
chambre d'hôte (bed and breakfast) or a
gîte (a self-catered house or cottage), and I can easily understand why. This really is the most beautiful place to visit. Pretty villages with bakeries bursting with breads and pastries, streets lined with blossoming fruit and nut trees, towering ancient churches ringing out their bells, rivers and streams in full flow from the melting Pyrenean snow and the glorious mountains, with just a little snow hanging on, towering up in the distance.
"I took a break at a small farm offering samples of homemade goat's cheese, a delicious nutty, creamy variety made on the farm. The owner proudly showed me his flock, grazing in the valley below. I passed on the glass of Jurançon offered, not wanting to wobble off into the distance on my two wheels.
"This is France at its best."
Kathleen Peddicord
Editor's Note: We're nearly ready to unveil final details of the
Live & Invest in France Conference program we're putting together for July 22-23 in Paris. France Correspondent Lucy Culpepper will join us, along with more than a dozen other key contacts, resources, and experts from Paris and elsewhere in this beautiful country. This is your last chance to get your name on the list for special pre-registration discounts before details of the program are released.
We invite you to do that here now.
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"Kathleen, Vicki and I are on an island off the west coast of
Malaysia," writes Intrepid Correspondent Paul Terhorst.
"Magnificent hornbills flock in our area every morning and evening.
One joined us on the balcony for our morning coffee, and I snapped a photo..."
"Kathleen, I am an American, and I have recently purchased a three-bedroom flat as my primary abode in Sinai
Egypt. I am wondering what you think of the investment climate in this country (maybe it is too late to ask!).
"I was able to get residency easily as a property owner, but there is always the worry when one invests so much of one's savings. Have I done the right thing?
"But I needed a home, and this was the easiest place I found to buy to live. Your comments would be greatly appreciated."
-- J.H.G., Egypt
As you've made the purchase as a primary residence, you should put worries over whether or not it was a wise investment aside.
Every real estate purchase should be assessed within the context of the driving agenda behind making it. If you've bought for investment, then you consider the success (or otherwise) of the purchase based on return (capital appreciation and/or yield) and how it contributes to your investment portfolio overall.
If, though, you've made the purchase for personal use, then that's the context in which to assess the wisdom of the buy. Are you enjoying the life that the home is affording you? Are you comfortable spending time there? These are the questions that matter, and, if the answers are yes, then you've made a good buy, potential for appreciation or quantifiable yields notwithstanding.
That said, Egypt offers interesting investment opportunities right now, as the middle class is growing and more Europeans are seeking cheaper beach destination options. The Red Sea resorts, in particular, are reported to be doing well.
"Kathleen, I am considering retiring in
Honduras, Panama, or
Nicaragua, spending six months minimum per year in one of these countries. I'm writing to ask your opinion as to which place offers the most interesting culture and the cheapest living?"
-- Frances C., United States
It's impossible to talk about the cost of living in Honduras, Panama, Nicaragua, or any country as a whole. The cost of living in Panama City is nothing like that in the little beach town of Las Tablas on this country's Azuero Coast...and your monthly expenses will be higher in Granada, Nicaragua, than in Leon.
That said, of the three countries you name, Nicaragua could be generally considered the cheapest.
Read more about the good life on a budget in this country here.
Most interesting culture? That's truly impossible to say. What's interesting to me may be deadly dull to you.
I like colonial cities, architecture, and history. You'll find these things in both Granada and Leon, Nicaragua, and in Casco Viejo, Panama.
If your idea of interesting, on the other hand, is sea, sand, and sun, note that all three countries serve up these pleasures in abundance.
