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Ecuador is famous for its colorful festivals and every town in the country has its own traditional celebrations and events throughout the year. Here are our five favorite festivals, taking place over the next couple of months, where Ecuadorians celebrate in style with fireworks, drinking, music, and dancing.
In my mind, there's nothing better than watching a sunset in a beautiful location, drink in hand. Fortunately, in my new home of Costa Rica, there's plenty of opportunity to do just that. There's 780 miles of Pacific coast--prime sunset-watching territory, as well as several spots inland that give you a great view.
This life could be yours. Plenty of everyday people are choosing to live on the water full-time—in their retirement, no less. After a bit of training and hands-on experience at home, they're tying up beside mega-yachts in the Mediterranean...finding large floating communities of like-minded expat sailors in the Caribbean...and island hopping in the Gulf of Thailand, heading wherever their fancy takes them.
Costa Rica is famous worldwide for its flora and fauna. Thanks to a wide variety of climates, from steamy rain forest to moist cloud forest to dry plains to wetlands and more, it is one of the most biodiverse areas on the planet.
Most expats who consider moving to Belize dream of living near the Caribbean Sea on a beach. Fortunately for them, Belize offers several beach lifestyle options. Right now, the three most popular beach areas expats settle are Ambergris Caye, Caye Caulker, and the Placencia Peninsula. Here's a quick peek at each of these popular beach retreats... Ambergris Caye is the island that I've called home for the past six years—and I'm not the only one who has discovered its charms.
In many of the world’s best retirement havens, embracing a healthier lifestyle just comes naturally. And it’s easy to see why. With warm weather year-round, it’s easy to get out and about whenever you feel like it. Abundant fresh air fills your lungs with each breath. With everything you need within walking distance, many expats can get by just fine without a car. And those extra yards you walk each day add up to a shrinking waistline over time. Lower costs make it much easier to eat healthily, too.
Before you leave, work with the shipping company to make sure your car meets emissions standards. The test is done in the U.S. You should also consider whether your car will make a good match for Costa Rica. Although auto shops are common and labor inexpensive, the most common parts available are for Asian vehicles and every mechanic can fix them. It can be more difficult to repair an American or European vehicle.
When moving to Costa Rica, many expats wonder whether they should bring their car from home or buy something when they get down there. Well… it depends. As covered in this article, “Bringing a Car to Costa Rica,” importing a car from the U.S., while relatively easy, can be quite expensive. In fact, you could pay close to the value of the car in import duties and fees.
When moving to Costa Rica, many newly-arrived expats decide to forgo having their own car. In retirement on a limited budget they want to eliminate the added expense of maintenance and fuel for a vehicle. Cars can be expensive to purchase in country and import from North America too, so that's another reason to go car-less.
There I was, sipping a lovely white wine from grapes grown within 100 yards of where I stood at a community wine festival. You might think I’d gone off the beaten track to some remote corner of France where timeless traditions still hold sway... but I was in fact, right bang in the middle of one of Paris’ popular tourist areas—the bohemian quarter of Montmartre.