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Mexico/Central America retirement
- Thread starter tsenn
- Start date
no idea what the situation will be like with my kids and grandkids but I could see my wife and I renting our place our 1/2 the year and just living in different spots. that way we can more around and not be locked into one location.
Sounds like Hawaii.
My town is like a carousel of transplants who move here then leave a few years later. They come to the realization that going on vacation to a place and making it your permanent residence is very different.
My wife is from the Philippines. One night we were at our friend's house where the wife is from Central America. The two of them got to talking about holidays like Halloween and celebrations and surprisingly one of them would say something and the other would say "We do that too". It was like they grew up in the same town in different places. But both places were under Spanish rule and I was thinking that it was almost like franchises around the world wherever the Spanish went.
Tagalog, the language of the Philippines is a native and Spanish language hybrid with a ton of Spanish words in it and it's adapting again with English words in it. Filipino schooling and textbooks are all English at least since the mid sixties when my wife started school. The Filipino movies of the 90's were all Tagalog (and by Tagalog I mean the native/Spanish blend) but the movies and TV shows since the mid-2000's are like, as they speak, "Tagalog, Tagalog, Tagalog, Tagalog, English, Tagalog, English, English". So I was hearing their shows and my wife speaking on the phone also and I started to wonder if their was a logic to the Tagalog/English switching so I asked my wife and she couldn't say. A couple of weeks later she said she had figured it it out. She thinks that they say each thing in the language that can express it in the smallest number of words, which makes a lot of sense.
I think that with their Latin based language and English language training Filipinos are generally fairly easy to communicate with, I think their humor and joke telling timing is also similar to ours. The Indian call center people were sometimes hard to communicate with, and I think that part of it was just timing, but a lot of that work has moved to Manila where the call center people sound off just a little, like Canada maybe. I realized how they do that though - my daughter was talking to her cousin in the Philippines on speakerphone once and I thought it was one of her classmates here, there was no accent. She goes to an International school in Manila where they have to speak English everywhere, even in the ladies room.
Someone mentioned Vietnam. I watch a couple of guys on YouTube, Serpentza, they ride around China, Taiwan and Vietnam and talk about stuff. They said that Vietnam drinks coffee and girls drink beer in the street, that its more open in a lot of ways than China. I was thinking that Vietnam, with its French European influence might also be an easier place to live than some other places in Asia.
When I was there someone said, "This is a patriarchy but the women aren't afraid to look you in the eye."
They cruise around on their scooters all cocky, pretty much doing what they want. And GTF out of their way.
So fun drinking beer on the side walk in those little squat stools.
Me and a friend had night where we just good hammered on the sidewalk, drinking beer watching the throng of Vietnamese people going by on foot and on their scooters the ocean right across the street. You fall off your stool and the ground is right there. I got so drunk, I had a hard time getting back to the hotel. I never get that drunk. But it was fun.
I've been four times.
I keep going back.
When I first went their were no europeans.
Now it's a backpacker trail.
But there are still adventures to be had!
And some times there is surf!
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What a f*cking lame response Casa Mugurienta - reeks of Trump Murica! Bullsh!t. To anyone reading this post - that is considering moving to another country - the language barrier -should be the least of your concerns .... from experience - making the effort to learn the language and the responses from locals understanding that you are making the attempt has been one of the most rewarding experiences I've ever had. As an example - there is a little pizza joint in town - i'll go in and order a pizza - and have a Tona while waiting - the owner of the joint will typically come out and engage in a psuedo conversation - Spanish lesson while i wait ... through this we've developed a friendship - and i've had similar experiences with other shop owners in town as well. The language barrier should be the least of your worries ... i can say that after 3 years of retiring and moving to Nicaragua - the only problems we've ever encountered - have been with other American ex-pats - typically Turmp loving @ssholes - who seem to forget that they are no longer in the USA.
Cool...before you and Casa get into it, anything else you can add? Do you own your place? Rent? Lease? Anything else? Local attitudes? Food!?
Thanks!
He’s got it dialed. What worked for us 25 years ago is much different than today. I’d listen to anything he had to say.
El OG. He has done his duties. He has made his place. He is El Ogro.
You just can't rock up and expect to do the same. This is not an option for 99.9% of the people looking for an option...
Love, Steak.
You just can't rock up and expect to do the same. This is not an option for 99.9% of the people looking for an option...
Love, Steak.
part time ex pat in indo/thailand over the years
now been hear for 1.5 years straight
enjoy being an outsider and not really involved - like flying solo
some things that have worked for me over the decades of floating around se asia
speak the local language first no matter how bad it is
dont drink more than a few beers with the "local crew" bc things get weird after 9 pm
dont offer your opinion on local ways
smile and laugh
drop an extra dollar or two at the local bar/restaurant
now been hear for 1.5 years straight
enjoy being an outsider and not really involved - like flying solo
some things that have worked for me over the decades of floating around se asia
speak the local language first no matter how bad it is
dont drink more than a few beers with the "local crew" bc things get weird after 9 pm
dont offer your opinion on local ways
smile and laugh
drop an extra dollar or two at the local bar/restaurant
Uhhhh, so in essence you're saying what I'm saying:
You're not in the USA anymore.
If you're going to live there learn the fcking language.
Not learning the language = typical American a-hole
BTW, my understanding is you live in a gated community with a lot of Americans/English speakers running around?
Outside these sorts of communities not knowing the local language can be extremely isolating.
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He’s doing it. Get back to us when you’re doing it. Especially the surfing part. He’s gonna log more days of good surf in a week than you do in a year where you live.