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That's about how we are. Quite comfortable with basic conversations, getting directions, price haggling, etc. but miss a lot of what is said between locals at normal conversation pace. It sounds like "blah blah blah already went to blah blah because later blah Jorge blah blah three times blah."
When we finish traveling in Asia we're going to Central/South America for awhile, planning on starting with a two month immersion course in Guatemala to (hopefully) get ramped up to near fluency. It'll be a bit of a grind two of us with one instructor four hours morning then two hours conversation practice in the afternoon, but we haven't had much structure since going perpetual traveler mode after retirement so might be a good thing.
You might also give the Pimsleur language course a try (for conversation - not writing).
My husband has used it successfully for several languages. Not Spanish though. He used Spanish in his business - and took intensive 1 on 1 private lessons for months to get up to speed.
Note that there are almost as many flavors of Spanish as there are Spanish speaking countries. Some are very pure/clear - spoken relatively slowly - and are easy to understand. Others are muddled - spoken at high speed - and are difficult to understand (even for some native Spanish speakers from other countries). Guatemala seems to have its own separate flavor (although I don't recall ever speaking to someone from Guatemala - so I don't know how hard it is to understand):
It's a big gated community with several hundred bungalow type houses, assisted living apartments, hospice center. They have several restaurants, two clubhouses and everyone rides around in golf carts. He paid about 250k to build his two bedroom bungalow, pays maybe $3500 a month for his utilities,20 meals in the restaurant, Gardner, housekeeper and a nurse that comes in a few times a week to give him a shower, cut his toenails etc.
If you want to go to church, grocery store, lunch etc he just calls a driver and they take you wherever you want to go. The hospital is a less than a mile away and they provide a little to much care. My father is never sick, but falls down frequently and is constantly being sent to the hospital overnight for tests.
Lima is a sprawling city like Los Angeles and most expats live in two or three of the wealthy districts. Everything you need is pretty much walk-able. You see older people accompanied by nurses walking down the Avenues or sitting on the park benches all day long. All super markets and restaurants deliver for free and if you need to go to the embassy or are just tired of walking, you push a button on your smart phone and a private taxi shows up wherever you are in 3-5 minutes and many times less.
Wonder what place that is? Doesn't sound like anywhere in the JAX metro area - or The Villages either.
Your father sounds somewhat like my father. In good health but - despite his best efforts - he falls down once in a while. He/you/another family member might look into things like beefing up the house (with more grab bars/hand rails) - mobility devices (electric wheelchair/scooter/very sturdy walker) - etc. If you haven't done so already. My father would fall down more than he does without all of these things.
All senior facilities have had issues with food the last couple of years as food costs have continued to go up (a lot). It's also hard to accommodate various dietary needs/wants. One problem is that you tend to lose your sense of taste when you get really old - so expert seasoning (which is hard to get in an institutional type dining environment) becomes more important.
I know my father would go nuts in a place like Lima (or a similar place anywhere in the world). Sitting on a park bench is not for him. Nor is being accompanied by a nurse or attendant. He's a very independent kind of guy. He'd be lost without his 340 stations on Comcast - his football and other sports events - his Netflix - and his current events course at our local OLLI program. I assume that high speed internet access in Lima is good ---> excellent. But don't know. He couldn't live without that either.
When it comes to health care - it's impossible to know what it's really like anywhere unless and until you have a big need for it. My housekeeper and her family came from Miraflores. And - when her elderly mother in Miraflores needed some big deal heart surgery - she and other family members brought her here to JAX and paid $150k out of pocket (over time) so she could have the surgery here. This led me to believe that the health care at the higher levels in Lima isn't the greatest. But I obviously don't know for sure. When it comes to my father - he had a life-threatening incident last year. In most places (including many parts of the US) - he would have been dead. Mayo here did a very exotic emergency procedure (biliary duct stent) and got him up and running in a few days.
Sounds to me like a lot of people on this thread who are considering or doing this may be retired or close to retirement - but they're still pretty young for the most part. Is anyone here who is considering or actually doing this over 70? Robyn
But it's different than what we have in Florida. Because we have a cap on annual increases - and this seems to be a cap on total taxes. Best I can figure out - the Washington cap is 1% of assessed valuation. So your cap means your property is assessed at $1.3 million. Or am I reading this wrong? Washington doesn't have an income tax either - so it would seem to be a pretty "tax-friendly" state.
Perhaps the people you knew in Austria had the benefit of a "Save Our Stately Homes" amendment . Robyn
But it's different than what we have in Florida. Because we have a cap on annual increases - and this seems to be a cap on total taxes. Best I can figure out - the Washington cap is 1% of assessed valuation. So your cap means your property is assessed at $1.3 million. Or am I reading this wrong? Washington doesn't have an income tax either - so it would seem to be a pretty "tax-friendly" state.
Perhaps the people you knew in Austria had the benefit of a "Save Our Stately Homes" amendment . Robyn
I paid 680k for the 1977 home/land and 18 months later the county valued it at 1,225,000 which is insane.
I was not the only one hit as were all of my neighbors... it was based on a nearby tract of raw land setting a new record price in the county with a developer having plans to subdivide into 30 parcels... he tried for years and then went bankrupt... most of the land was in a wetland setback... and not buildable... this did not matter to the county...
It is because of this I really came to appreciate California Prop 13... each parcel stands alone... matters not what you neighbor does... it doesn't affect you.
It is true the legislature did enact in special session a cap... but it was different in that it put a cap on the entire aggregate tax roll for the community... so yes... overall from one year to the next there is a cap... individually it does not apply...
Here is where it gets real... the home is rented and it take almost 8 months rent to pay the taxes... another month for insurance and another month for property management.
So 10 months rent just to cover taxes, insurance and management... nothing for mortgage and maintenance unless the home is never vacant...
I have never been blindsided like this... did all my research... was transferring from the Bay Area to Washington and did my projections... never did I ever imagine an 80% increase in one swoop and 18 months after I bought it for assessed value.
Stealth Rabbit can share similar experiences on a home he built...
Austria is just normal people in old homes or homes they have built... property tax is very low... sales tax very high... income tax similar to California
Like they say - if you enjoyed the 70's - you really can't remember what went on then . I am kind of in that category . Best I can recall - there was a lot of price inflation in real estate in Florida in the 70's and then there was the bust in the early 80's - and then there was more price inflation in the 90's. The Save Our Homes Amendment in Florida went into effect in Florida in 1995 (after voters passed a constitutional amendment in 1992).
$680k was a lot to pay in 1977. What did you get for that? We bought our first place in 1973 - a 2 bedroom 1500 sf oceanfront condo on Key Biscayne (Miami) for $67k. Was a lot of money for us at the time (we ran out of money for closing costs and had to borrow a few bucks short term from our parents). Robyn
$680k was a lot to pay in 1977. What did you get for that? We bought our first place in 1973 - a 2 bedroom 1500 sf oceanfront condo on Key Biscayne (Miami) for $67k. Was a lot of money for us at the time (we ran out of money for closing costs and had to borrow a few bucks short term from our parents). Robyn
The house was built in 1977. Ultrarunner bought the house 18 months before I-747 was overturned in 2007 so probably in 2005.
You might also give the Pimsleur language course a try (for conversation - not writing).
Hah hah = that is exactly how we originally studied Spanish enough to get around traveling. We did all 90 and then 10 Spanish Plus, along with some college textbooks at same time. Had no problems running around in Panama, Costa Rica, Peru, etc.
You won't get anywhere near fluent with that program but will get a great feel for the spoken language. However you end up sorely lacking in vocabulary so is best used along with something structured with verb drills and useful noun vocab lists.
It is also way $$$ so best acquired used or while wearing an eye patch.
Like they say - if you enjoyed the 70's - you really can't remember what went on then . I am kind of in that category . Best I can recall - there was a lot of price inflation in real estate in Florida in the 70's and then there was the bust in the early 80's - and then there was more price inflation in the 90's. The Save Our Homes Amendment in Florida went into effect in Florida in 1995 (after voters passed a constitutional amendment in 1992).
$680k was a lot to pay in 1977. What did you get for that? We bought our first place in 1973 - a 2 bedroom 1500 sf oceanfront condo on Key Biscayne (Miami) for $67k. Was a lot of money for us at the time (we ran out of money for closing costs and had to borrow a few bucks short term from our parents). Robyn
The home was built in 1977.
I bought the home for 680k in January 2006
In 2007 I-747 was tossed out
Shorty after that my taxable value went to $1,225,000
I paid 11,500 for my first home and saved it from the wrecking ball.
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. Robyn
. I am kind of in that category 
. Best I can recall - there was a lot of price inflation in real estate in Florida in the 70's and then there was the bust in the early 80's - and then there was more price inflation in the 90's. The Save Our Homes Amendment in Florida went into effect in Florida in 1995 (after voters passed a constitutional amendment in 1992).
