I have never been to any Latin country that would compare with Florida, actually there are few countries in the world that would. If you can afford a nice house, insurance, medical costs, etc., in Florida why would you consider anyplace else?

If I could afford the cost of living in Florida, I might live there, too.

But I can’t, so I looked elsewhere for a place I could afford.

Just prior to moving here to Margarita Island, I got fed-up with living on the Gulf Coast because I couldn’t afford to run my boat. It was only a 24’ boat with twin 135 hp. Yamaha outboards. It cost me around $200 per day to go out to where the big fish are just because of fuel prices. Not to mention gas for my truck to pull the boat and insurance for the truck and boat. After a day of fishing I figured the fish was costing me about $32 a pound!

Here, a day of running a 50 ft. yacht is maybe $40 maximum. However, the marinas are not up to U.S. standards. There is no yacht club--no Bahia Mar or Pier 66--just very basic services.

The last article I read about Margarita Island (Escape From America website) was written by an American who had been here for a week. It was a good article about vacationing here. The one prior to that was written by someone who was here for 10 days. Personally, I don’t think anyone can make an informed decision about where they want to retire and/or invest in that short amount of time.

For instance-

The Climate  If you were here in March or April, the weather was great! Tradewinds up to 20 mph. and temperatures in the mid/high eighties. Summer is HOT! Not 85 degrees, but mid 90’s and the tropical sun can be brutal. Nights cool off to mid/high 70’s.

The island "browns up" in the summer months as the foliage dries from lack of rain. There are still some green areas, so the island does not lose all it’s beauty in summer-- it’s a little cooler in the mountain region, but the saving grace along the coast are the breezes... a hammock and a cool drink in the shade--pretty close to paradise?

Someone from a cooler climate would definitely feel the heat and humidity, but if you’re from the southern U.S., it would just feel like typical summer weather.

December and January of this year we had a lot of rain (even the locals commented that it was unusually wet here.) Although it was cool enough to keep our windows open, mosquitoes were a problem due to the wet conditions.

Day to Day Living- Most stores don’t open until 10:00 a.m., and many close between noon and 2:00. There are two large shopping centers on the island with many of the same brands of clothing you will find in the U.S., but a smaller inventory and extra large sizes are very hard to find. No Wal-Mart, Sears, Home Depot, etc. If shopping is your life, you will miss that here!

The supermarkets are large, modern, and clean, but again the brand selection is limited and imported U.S. brands are expensive and there’s not much variety. The produce is good, fresh, and cheap. So is the rum and vodka--beer is cheaper than bottled water.

I won’t go into that as I don’t feel I’m qualified to give a projection, but it seems possible that President Chavez will be in control for several more years--unless there is intervention by "King George" or Columbia (backed by King George).

There is a good website http://www.venezuelatoday.net that has lots of links including information both pro and anti Chavez, so you can make your own decisions on that.

The political situation has definitely influenced the real estate market. After Chavez won the re-call referendum a year ago, real estate prices went up, sometimes dramatically. Prior to the vote, a lot of people were selling, and some of it was "panic selling". There were some absolutely fantastic bargains! I missed most of them because I was hesitant about investing during a politically volatile period. Yes, I am kicking my proverbial ‘ass’ now because after the election things settled down and real estate and business prices started a rapid rise. Some of the properties I could have, should have, bought have doubled in price since then. Most prices have not doubled, but the typical $40,000.00 (USD) property is now in the $50-$60K range. I would say that in the better areas values have risen 20 to 30% in a year, and are still rising. There will probably be a ceiling on this, but I don’t know what and when it might be. One thing that slows down the price increase is the fact that there is no long-term financing and interest rates are extremely high. Legally interest is limited to 12%, but if you worked at finding financing, the selling price would just be raised to offset the low 12%. If you could arrange financing (5 years, for example) it would probably cost 30-40% more than the cash price. Occasionally you can find owner-financing for 6 months to 1 year at a reasonable interest rate but a large down-payment is required. Venezuelan nationals can borrow BS 20,000,000.00 at 9% for 5 years to purchase a house or apartment, but I’m told it can take 6 months or more for the loan to go through and it is almost impossible to find a property for that price in a safe neighborhood.

If you eventually plan to retire to Margarita Island, or any other "not- American" country anywhere, it helps to be flexible in your thinking and willing to learn another way of doing things. Please note: ‘Manana’ does not mean tomorrow, it just means "not today". If you can relax and enjoy a different pace and way of looking at a situation, you will be ahead of the game and leave your stress behind.

It’s a learning experience... while searching for a Civil Engineer/Contractor to oversee remodeling my condo (this is starting in November) naturally I wanted an affordable bottom-line price, someone who basically understood what I wanted to accomplish, and a time frame for completion of the project.

I got both the completion date and estimate in writing, and the Contractor was competent and had some good practical suggestions. No problem, right?

However, there were some elements I had not considered in the agreed-upon time frame. I was told the remodeling would take 4 weeks from start to finish, and it did. EXCEPT-- for the week before and after Christmas when nobody works, and the fact that all the building materials/plumbing stores close until Jan. 15th! And, of course Sundays did not count as work days, so 4 weeks turned into two and a half months.

By not knowing ‘the way it’s done’, I lost money because the condo could not be rented during the Christmas season--one of the peak tourist seasons on the island (the other being Holy Week--Semana Santa--and Easter.) But it was a learning experience and it turned out well--finally!

Bring your sense of humor, it will make your life much easier!

A little advice for those planning any remodeling or construction--get a completion date with a penalty clause in your favor for non-compliance.

Can you actually collect the penalty? I honestly don’t know, but it might give you an ‘ax’ and a way to exert some pressure on the contractor and crew to finish sometime near the deadline.

Something else exasperating when remodeling/repairing--lack of selection.

At the biggest tile store in town they have dozens of beautiful displays of floor and wall tile. You take your time, and choose carefully the style and color you like. You tell the salesgirl "This one". She says, "no tenemos (or no hay)", which means "we don’t have that". You ask when they will have that particular tile in stock. She says they won’t. So you begin again, going with your second choice.

Again, "no hay", same story. After several attempts you get the picture and cleverly ask "what do you have?" She shows you a very limited selection. You try several more stores, with pretty much the same results. Eventually you figure out that most of the stores are owned by the same person or family and they all have the same basic inventory. This is true for clothing stores, decorators, many other types of merchants. So unless you are willing to spend the extra money to go search Caracas, Colombia, or Italy, you take what is available. This lack of variety and selection really simplifies your life!

Thanks for stopping by...more to come!