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Originally Posted by Yippeekayay
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I researched this stuff for years.
First of all International Living magazine from which some of this info is taken , how shall we say this, "has a vested interest" in people believing what they say about these countries. They make money off selling real estate, and so on in at least some of these countries.
Nicaragua? I've been there several times. It's downright scary and dirty in many parts. You couldn't pay me to live there!
Thailand? I've heard good things but the language is a real difficult one imho, not like Spanish which most anyone with a will can learn. My friends who've been there say the people are very nice. The cities like Bangkok are pretty dirty, dirtier than most big U.S. cities for example. And auto traffic is said to be horrendous in parts, like India.
Costa Rica - almost all the info they give on this one is just plain wrong. It is a good place for some to retire; I'll give them that, but the info they give here shows they don't know their butt from a hole in the ground about it. Some gringos love it, I'll say that, as I know some who live there.
Malaysia? A woman I know's family went there, then left there for the USA because they hated it so much, Muslims all over the place and according to her, they were not making it a pleasant place to live. I know nothing about it but I do know she left and why she told me she left.YMMV.
Spain - if you smoke or don't mind smoking it might work for you (and if you can afford it). My friends go there every year for a month or two at a time and love visiting but they say the smokers are hard to deal with, they smoke EVERYwhere even in elevators and on buses etc. Otherwise I must say it looks very nice if you can afford it.
Malta - I know nothing about it.
Ecuador - International Living has been pushing this for years but a friend of mine went there to see about retiring, and he said it was quite expensive. If you do have enough $ you might like it, but it's not for those on a low budget. The prices given in this article are not really realistic at all from what I've been told by people who've been there. Also it's quite cold in many places in the mountains!
Mexico - Are you kidding me?! The narcos are so bad now they pretty much control the government. Think in terms of Colombia when controlled by Pablo Escobar etc.! Kidnappings are common now even in places they never were before like Guadalajara. I used to go there every year. Now I won't go at all!
Portugal - I know nothing of this one.
Panama - Went there myself a few years back. It is okay I guess. Good roads, very American influenced both money wise and infrastructure. People were mostly friendly. One thing I hated about it was that they have men with machine guns along the roads (ostensibly looking for drugs)(or bribes, as was the our case)... and stops along the major highways where you have to show your passport/ID etc. routinely (again, ostensibly due to the narco influences). They have a good program for retirees and all in all it's not too bad but I wouldn't move there even though I speak Spanish.
All in all I'd say this is a very bad list.
Of these the only ones I'd truly consider - of the ones I know anything about - are Costa Rica, Thailand, Spain and Panama.
I've heard great things about Germany, France and Italy BUT I think they cost a lot more
and are not friendly towards immigrants (i.e. they make it hard to immigrate).