“Kathleen, we’re really enjoying your material. My husband and I are very seriously investigating where we want to hang our hats. We’ve traveled to and/or lived in many locations (in Mexico, Brazil, Ecuador, France, and the Cayman Islands most recently), and we have our ‘gotta have this’ and ‘would like to have that’ lists. We’re heading to Central America soon for another exploratory trip.
“As you know so many places, I wonder if you might be able to answer this riddle.
“Where in the world can I:
- Be within a day’s journey of Denver, Los Angeles, and Boston (not all in the same day!)…
- Not need a car but not depend on local buses either. Easy availability of cheap taxis helps…
- Enjoy warmer than springtime weather with moderate rainfall…
- Enjoy abundant, high-quality food, especially produce…
- Enjoy yoga classes and alternative health practitioners…
- Enjoy living mostly outdoors with lots of nature around (small house with large patios and veranda living)…
- Live very inexpensively…
- Have excellent, reliable, reasonably priced Internet at home…
- Integrate with the local community as well as other expats…
- Enjoy a foreign culture and language (Spanish is a first choice)…
- A Caribbean beach nearby is a plus; other water nearby could be acceptable…
“Visa considerations, residency, and potential real estate investment opportunities fit into the mix, too, in the famous Five Flags strategy.
“So, where’re a girl and her guy to go?”
–Gail W., United States
The car thing is perhaps the most limiting. Keeping that in mind, along with all your other criteria, I’d say look at Panama City, Medellin, or Granada, Nicaragua. Medellin is farther from the Caribbean, but flights to and from Cartagena are daily. Also, the climate is cooler in Medellin than Panama City or Granada; some would say it is “spring-like” year-round.
Taking out the distance from the United States criteria, Buenos Aires could work, as well, though it’s become a more expensive option than either Panama City or Medellin. And it’s nowhere near the Caribbean, obviously, but it is on the water.
Buenos Aires is a real city. Medellin qualifies, as well. Panama City is really a big small town. And Granada is very small, very compact, very easy to get around.
