Our 5 favorite places to live or retire in Latin America

So, in this report, Chan and I would like to discuss our top favorite places to live or retire in Latin America. >> Yes, >> we've had our feet on the ground all over Latin America from Mexico all the way down to South America and Central America in between. And we've written hundreds of reports, hundreds of videos, and right now we're gonna focus on our top five. >> Yeah. My name is Dan. I'm with Vagabon Awake. I left the United States in 2007 and in that time I've been to 78 countries. >> My name is Chang and I'm from Hob Venture. I've been traveling with them for almost 10 year and I've been to 54 countries. >> I this morning I asked Chung Chung tell me your five favorite cities if you're going to live or retire in Latin America, but don't tell me what they are. And I did the same thing. We did this separately and they're not exactly lined up. So we'll cover each of our five. And there's a couple that match. We'll cover all of that for you today.

>> Chung's going to pick based on her perspective and I'm going to pick based on mine and they're different. >> Very different. So I choose on the city that I like to be uh retire is based on walkability and puppy transportations or Uber farmer market. I would like to go to get my fresh vegetable and fruit and also a decent supermarket as well and safety. >> We seem to tend to like cities in countries that have sort of like a very quaint feel to them. Interesting architecture. She mentioned walkability >> and history. Just a really nice feel to it. It's for me it's all about what's the whole thing feel like when I'm there. And you can't really tell that until you have your feet on the ground. And that's why we're only going to share places with you we where we've had our feet on the ground. >> So one of my favorite city in the Latin America they are not in order. The first one is Bolivia Laas. Oh my god that is surprise me so much when we are over there. The cost of living over there the restaurants and the you know supermarket and farmer market. Amazing. Like we I can go to a restaurant like you know two three time a week or maybe four five time a week because the cost of uh having a lunch over there in the local restaurant is about $2 to $3.50.

Amazing food and they have a farmer market around and I feel safe in Laas area. >> Yeah. >> But only one thing >> why >> La Pass is in the high altitude so you need time to adjusting about the altitude. The altitude is 13,000 feet. >> Yeah. >> The people of Le Paz are quite charming. Uh they reminded us a little bit of Peru that like the folks you see in Cusco or or Lima. And they're very friendly and helpful and just a lot of fun to be around. I really felt safe there. It's a charming place. If you're curious about cost of living, a frugal person could live there for around a thousand a month. Some could get under possibly, but more middle- range expats typically live there from around 1,200 a month to 2,200 a month. You can get a retirement visa there. Some agents say 500 a month. Others say you're more a little more success if you get closer to a,000 for a retirement visa. And there's a three-year path to citizenship. You can own your property there, you know, residential like your home or whatever.

The health care isn't the best in South America, but luckily you're nearby Colombia and Chile both have really good healthare. >> I would like to go back to visit Bolivia again to the another two place. The one is called Kotab Bamba. They have a feel like a Quanka. It's not too high, but it's cooling and another one is called Santa Cruz. >> Okay, here's my five. The first one, these aren't in order. Panama is a city of Bokeete. Oketi is at a higher elevation so it's cooler which is important in Panama because it can get warm. Gorgeous mountains, thousand-year-old trees. It's crazy and beautiful walking paths and it has it's like a slo it's what I call soft landing. has a lot of uh western restaurants and night life and like craft beer, but it also has a really strong panameanian feel to it with that food and and and and you're just right up the hill from a place called David, which is a traditional uh panameanian town. And so it has a lot of things to offer and we I really had a good time there. Felt really comfortable with it.

Um, in terms of cost of living, a really flu frugal person could probably live there for around 1,200 a month, but more typical middle- range expats live there for around 1,600 to 2500 per month. You need to show about a,000 a month for your retirement visa. It has a 5-year path to citizenship. You can own real estate there other than near the borders, and it's ranked 58th in the world in terms of healthcare, which is quite good. The next one in my list is Brazia. >> You pronounce it better or shop form is called FIA. >> Florifa. Yeah, >> I love it that because I can get a decent apartment over there in the center of the town and walking distance to the supermarket um and public market and also cost of the restaurant in Foripar is about two to three no I would say three to$5 US. There is a buffet lunch. So for a meat eater like me, you can get about $5 US. Eat whatever you can.

>> Yeah. >> And also they are very vegetarian friendly. You can get it about $4. Eat all you can. So the restaurant is amazing. >> And then I can take a public transportation to the beach. It is so easy. We did it many time. And also Uber is cheap over there. So sometime I can take Uber as well if I didn't get a public transportation. >> Yeah. Now, Florinopoulos is is known as the safest state in Brazil, and we felt quite safe there. This is an island, and there must be 20 beaches there. At least, we saw at least four or five, maybe six of them. >> Yes. >> Gorgeous water, sand, and it's not as hot as as, you know, some places around the world when you start talking about gorgeous white sands and and and uh so it has cooler time of year. It's more seasonal. Uh but it never snows there or anything like that. In terms of cost of living, a frugal person uh could live there for around 1,200, but middle- range expats typically live on around 1,600 to 2500. You need to show about 2,000 a month for uh retirement visa or pensionado type visa, and there's a 3-year path to citizenship. You can own land there with some limitations, and it's ranked 83rd in the world for health care. It also though taxes you on worldwide income, which can be a trouble for some of you. Okay, my next one is in Paraguay called Asentium. It's the capital of Paraguay. It has a beautiful soft landing with malls and restaurants and stuff you can get from home, but it

also has traditional Paraguay cuisine and neighborhoods. It has an amazing public market. I had a really good time there. In terms of frugal person there, you could probably live there starting around a,000 a month, but more middle range uh expats live on about 12 to 2500 a month. Outside of the capital, it can be much cheaper. Now, you need to show a pension of about a,000 a month to get the retirement visa there. And there's a 5-year path to citizenship. You can own real estate, just not near the border, and it's ranked 88th in the world for healthcare, which is pretty good. US is 69. US doesn't rank well internationally because most many of the citizens can't really afford it. >> My next one is Mexico. Marida I love it so much because that is have so much thing to see over there in Marida they have cenote they have pink saw lake also I enjoying the food over there is in the town's area and everything is walkable and also is the about like 20 minute or 30 minute take a bus to go down to the beach so you have everything over there >> by the way Mexico is one we both pick she picked Mara and I picked caret and I'll talk about that in a minute But Miranda is amazing because it's it's on the beach. It's an old colonial city that had a, you know, all of those gorgeous mansions and cobblestone streets. It has the center, the zoko and the it has the cathedral and all that.

So, it's a very traditional Mexican village that you're on the Gulf of Mexico. Quite nice. for a frugal person around 1,300 a month. But more middle- range expats you typically run into, they spend somewhere around 1,500 to 2500 a month. Mexico has increased its uh retirement visa. But if you do a temp to permanent, you can start with a pension of about 4,400 per month US or you can show that you have 74,000 US in a US bank account and you can leave it in your US bank and it could be the equivalent if you're European in your bank account. There's a 5-year tap path to citizenship. You can buy a home except uh near the coast and it's 20th in the world for healthcare. So, it's quite good healthcare. >> So, why is your choice in Mexico? >> For me, I pick Cortoro. Cortoro is not on the beach. It's a little bit inland, a little bit higher elevation. It's a little bit cooler and it it's a gorgeous colonial Irish city with the same stuff, the city center, all those walkable cobblestone streets and restaurants. And it's a silicone valley of Mexico. It's a lot of electronic companies there. So, it has a higher per capita income than many other parts of Mexico and it's relatively safe and so it's my pick. The cost of living in Cetro is about the same as Mora cuz they're both such great spots and they both are what I would call soft landing. Honestly, they have a lot of restaurant choices and they have a lot of international people living there. So, >> the last two we are both pick the same choice.

>> Yeah. Both both the same country and the city. >> Yeah. The next one is Guatemala, Antigua. What I love, so beautiful in the Antigua area and I feel safe to walk around in Antigo area. I love the farmer market over there. Oh my god, I love the foods and they have a decent supermarket for me to pick out something that I want and I can take like, you know, uh transportation to go to Lake Artilla to enjoying in the lake. So that's what I love about Antigo. Yeah, Antigo was the capital of for Central America when it when all of Central America was uh colonial province of Spain and so a lot of money went into that area. The architecture is interesting. The restaurants are diverse both for international and local foods. Uh and it also has some fun stuff to do around the city. Hiking like we hiked up this volcano. >> Oh yes. >> Yeah. And uh so it's quite a nice place. Santigua is quite charming. It's fun just to walk around. For a for a frugal person, you could live there for around 1,200 per month, but more typically expats live on somewhere between around 1,800 and 2400 per month. The pension visa, you need to have around 1,200 a month, and there's a 5-year path to citizenship. Yes, you can own real estate, just not on the coast. And it's 125th in the world in terms of healthcare. when I doing research in Latin America, which country have the

lower cost uh to learn about Spanish and Guatemala is that so I was learned my Spanish language in Antigo. >> The next one that we have in common is in Ecuador. It's called Quanka. And Quanka is probably one of the most wellpreserved colonial era center parts of a city in all of Latin America. Frankly, these buildings are just breathtaking and they're just in the central part of the city is just gorgeous. It has a zoko and cathedral and I would say it's has a little bit more of a local feel than some than many other soft landings, but it's still kind of a soft landing. You have great local food. You have some international food there. It has a nice night life. We felt safe there. There's beautiful river running through the city. Cost of living is reasonable. So, it was quite nice. I think there's one thing is people love about Quanka is in a supermarket you are easy to find a lot of the wine from home you know ch so there's a lot of American over there I see and farmer market which is public market also is easy for you to go out and buying stuff so it's so nice to be there >> yeah and there's nice little villages around and you can grab a bus to or whatever no a frugal person would need around 1,100 a month to live there but more typical middle- range expats that you uh lived there from like 1,600 to 2,200 per month. You need to show about 1,400 a month for your pension uh for your retirement visa and there's a 5-year path to citizenship. You can own

real estate there, just not near the borders and it's ranked 72nd in the world for healthcare. >> So that is all our choices, my choices and your choices. >> Yeah. Now you probably want more detail about each one of these cities and so I'm going to show you all the resources we have uh for free that you can get from China. >> My channel is Vagabon Awake. If you come to YouTube and you Google Vagabon awake, this is where you'll come. My channel down here. If you click playlist, you can go through our playlist which I have each of the countries we talked about in Latin America, Europe, and Southeast Asia and you can watch all the videos for each country. Now these are feet on the ground videos. The video we took while we were there. There's also one for comparing countries. Whenever I compare, we compare countries. All the videos we made by category are here. Then at the bottom right, we have binge all videos. You can watch all the videos. Similarly, here on Hog Ventures, which is Chung's channel, you can click playlist and you can see that she has uh countries listed. El Salvador, Bolivia, Chile. We both have them by country and you can watch all the videos in each country include the cities we discussed today. And then if you'd like to see the written reports, you come to Vagabond Buddha and scroll down and you'll see Asia. Today we're talking about Latin America. And then there's Europe down here. You just pick whatever country you're interested in. Like we talked about Mexico. And you just click that

country name. Chung mentioned Mora. That's the report from Mara here. And I mentioned Cortoro. Scroll down until you see Coretro. There's Coretto, the one I mentioned. But all the reports are there. Now, Bagaban Buddha is a membership. If you're curious, the YouTube stuff's all free. But if you're curious about our membership, which has a uh how to retire course uh and how to make money online course. Just go under here and click memberships. >> If you wonder how we live in Foripa or everything in Brazil, check the video out here. And if you'd like to have a little more monthly income before you retire overseas, watch this video over here. >> Thank you so much for watching and we will see you in the next one. Bye-bye.