Post: #26

10 years younger than you but kind of heading in the same direction.

I quit my cubicle job in the UK a couple of years ago (wise move) and I'm now teaching in China. I love teaching but not sure I love living in one of the most annoying places on earth.

Quitting the rat race is a great idea. My old boss (IT manager) retired and just sailed his boat. The next time I saw him he looked 10 years younger. Work is the worst thing you can do to your health.

Oh and don't go down the buying Asian land or starting businesses - the whole continent is just so epically corrupt.

I lived in Thailand but the dating wasn't great in terms of quality. China has the better women but it's a very variable country in terms of dating. Thailand did have great food and all the usual Western comforts were easy to find.

I thought about living in Thailand but I'd also check out Malaysia (Penang?) and maybe even Panama.

Post: #27

Quick shout out to Puerto Rico. Insanely low property taxes and US laws apply. Land prices are also extremely cheap. Very easy access to the mainland. A mountain Finca would be cheap and not nearly as frustrating to manage as in other parts of Latin America.

Post: #28

I'd never retire in Phils. Ever.

Once Filipinos figure out you live there and not on vacation, they will constantly terrorize you with their passive aggressive nonverbal bullshit and the smiley dispositions will quickly melt away especially if you are not the super outgoing type that makes friends with everyone.

Too many retirees find themselves at the barrel of a gun now because of minor communication issues or a sheisty girl situation that they were unaware of or because 'unfulfilled expectations'.

Not only that but you also have incredible anti-American sentiments there now with that loser crypto-terrorist Digong running the show along with his bogus war on drugs campaign.

I wouldn't chance it.

Post: #29

(04-17-2019 09:07 AM)TopPanda Wrote:  10 years younger than you but kind of heading in the same direction.

I quit my cubicle job in the UK a couple of years ago (wise move) and I'm now teaching in China. I love teaching but not sure I love living in one of the most annoying places on earth.

Quitting the rat race is a great idea. My old boss (IT manager) retired and just sailed his boat. The next time I saw him he looked 10 years younger. Work is the worst thing you can do to your health.

Oh and don't go down the buying Asian land or starting businesses - the whole continent is just so epically corrupt.

I lived in Thailand but the dating wasn't great in terms of quality. China has the better women but it's a very variable country in terms of dating. Thailand did have great food and all the usual Western comforts were easy to find.

I thought about living in Thailand but I'd also check out Malaysia (Penang?) and maybe even Panama.

Malaysia has the friendliest program for retirees and expats, the Malaysia My Second Home program. You can buy a house, but it's got to be above a certain high price. I don't know about farmland.

Penang is a nice town, maybe a bit sleepy for young guys out to game, but attractive architecture.

The advantages of the place are good infrastructure, English speaking population. Malaysian Chinese women are the smartest and most fun women in the region and keep themselves well.

Post: #30

TopPanda, I'm 15 years older than you. I'm a European Union citizen with an EU passport, and US dual citizenship. I speak English, decent Spanish and working French.

Along with a number of friends I compared retirement in the USA, anywhere in Europe, Latin America, the Caribbean, and the Philippines. Friends went everywhere from Nicaragua to Romania and a lot of them regretted it. Contrarian that I am, I stayed in the USA.

I found a scenic semi rural town with relatively low real estate costs, and all the amenities that I need to have a good life (several grocery stores and gas stations, doctors​, dentists, hospital, music and art scene, golf course, auto mechanic, clean air and water, 35 minutes to an interstate highway). Don't underestimate how important these amenities will be when you're 70 or 80.

By staying in the USA I was able to keep all my furniture, cars, and material things collected over a lifetime. Friends who went to Nicaragua or the Philippines gave it all up and had to start over with nothing.

My property taxes are too high but otherwise I've really found my Nirvana. I have a functional legal system and don't have to deal with bribery and corruption. My town officials treat me fairly and I'm not a mark, or target or anyone's potential meal ticket. Business is done in English and I can read all legal documents. Being rural and not a high cost urban area my housing costs are cheap enough that I can travel, and when I come home all my possessions are still where I left them.

As you age you become more risk averse. I'm really happy that I don't have to deal with third world problems. I'm content, even happy, because I'm not always in a crisis, drama, or learning curve. Just my two cents.

Post: #31

I agree, I think retiring in the US is the best thing to do for Americans. Like Guitarhappy described, you will have minimal disruptions to your life by staying here and there are so many areas of the country that are so cheap to live, especially if you go more rural. My ideal would be to retire somewhere rural but 1-2 hrs from a big city so that you can visit and enjoy the amenities of a big city but can leave the high expense, high taxes and high crime of the big city behind. It would also allow you to spend some weeks or months in a foreign country but have a permanent home to come back to. This is my plan which I'm hoping I can execute in another 10 years or so which would put me at age 60.

Post: #32

It's ironic but not surprising that he was doing this sustainable agriculture because he thought the conventional food supply is too unhealthy. However, he chose a lifestyle where he got parasites and they killed him.

There's something to be said for avoiding toxins in modern life, but I don't think going primitive is necessary a winning tradeoff for maximum longevity.

(04-14-2019 12:18 PM)debeguiled Wrote:  Am posting these links because this guy did pretty much what you wanted in Thailand, making himself self sufficient in Thailand growing his own food and building his own natural home on a little homestead.

You might have to root around on his blog or his Youtube channel to get the particulars of his situation, but I am pretty sure that he befriended some Thais and they let him do all his natural building and Permaculture mad science projects on their land.

Quote:In 2005 Owen fell in love with Thailand and decided to live there permanently. Along with continuing to pursue his interests in natural building, he taught English as a second language at several learning centers in Thailand. He established a close relationship with a Thai family and experimented with several earthbag projects on their property. Owen also established a productive food forest and became an advocate for sustainable agriculture.

http://www.naturalbuildingblog.com/owen-...lishments/




His homestead channel:





His natural building channel:






He seemed to have no problem getting access to land and doing whatever he wanted to do on it, though he didn't own it.

Unfortunately, and this is the cautionary aspect of the story, he got sick while traveling to Cambodia to deal with visa issues, and returned to his hometown to the hospital in his village in Thailand and died there.

This was a report on his situation just before he died:

Quote:Owen Geiger could use our help. He is currently in a hospital in Sakhon Nakhon, Thailand, the town where he has made his home for the last dozen years. Owen fell ill in mid August, 2018, while traveling in Cambodia in order to comply with visa requirements. He became very weak while treating what he thought was intestinal parasites and eventually had to be transported by ambulance to a local hospital. The Thai family that Owen had been living with immediately responded by helping him return to his home town via several other ambulance trips.



Over the first couple of weeks Owen was sustained by tube feeding and artificial breathing, as he seemed to have an infection in his lungs. Now he is breathing and eating on his own, but is still quite weak and can barely talk. He does seem be slowly improving. All of this medical attention has cost Owen and his Thai family several thousand dollars.



Unfortunately the clock is ticking with how long Owen can remain in Thailand under his current visa situation. Even though Owen has found his home in that country and has created a homestead with an amazing food forest with a caring family, the government still considers him a tourist. What he needs in order to become a permanent resident with a retirement visa is about $25,000 in his personal bank account.

https://permies.com/t/92942/Crowdfunding...manitarian

I would hate to fall sick so far from home mostly among strangers, and for all the great stuff he did for himself and others around the world, it all vanished in a puff of smoke in a very short time.

Could happen at home too, but it's at least at home.

This isn't to put a damper on your idea because you will probably have things sorted better than he did and more money, and it sounds like his death was pretty bad luck too.

Just couldn't post all the other videos without including that part.

Still tons of good videos on his channels, and his blog was really good too:

Quote:We’ve been making steady progress on our recycled wood house and forest garden. Some of you might remember my earlier blog post about this project. The primary goal of our homestead is to become largely food self sufficient due to all the chemicals and other unhealthy things in the food supply today. A secondary goal is to have a little country house where we can hang out on weekends and days off. So far we’re fairly close to our hoped for budget even though the house grew a bit here and there (don’t they always).

http://www.naturalbuildingblog.com/cost-...ood-house/

Post: #33

(04-19-2019 06:50 AM)Sp5 Wrote:  

(04-17-2019 09:07 AM)TopPanda Wrote:  10 years younger than you but kind of heading in the same direction.

I quit my cubicle job in the UK a couple of years ago (wise move) and I'm now teaching in China. I love teaching but not sure I love living in one of the most annoying places on earth.

Quitting the rat race is a great idea. My old boss (IT manager) retired and just sailed his boat. The next time I saw him he looked 10 years younger. Work is the worst thing you can do to your health.

Oh and don't go down the buying Asian land or starting businesses - the whole continent is just so epically corrupt.

I lived in Thailand but the dating wasn't great in terms of quality. China has the better women but it's a very variable country in terms of dating. Thailand did have great food and all the usual Western comforts were easy to find.

I thought about living in Thailand but I'd also check out Malaysia (Penang?) and maybe even Panama.

Malaysia has the friendliest program for retirees and expats, the Malaysia My Second Home program. You can buy a house, but it's got to be above a certain high price. I don't know about farmland.

Penang is a nice town, maybe a bit sleepy for young guys out to game, but attractive architecture.

The advantages of the place are good infrastructure, English speaking population. Malaysian Chinese women are the smartest and most fun women in the region and keep themselves well.

Changing planes in China a few times has cured me of any lingering desire to spend time in the country. I now pay several hundred more dollars per trip to avoid the place. I have a few Thai/Chinese friends who are wonderful people.

So Malaysia. Why don't more RVFers go there? I need to check it out.

Post: #34

(04-19-2019 02:21 PM)Guitarhappy420 Wrote:  TopPanda, I'm 15 years older than you. I'm a European Union citizen with an EU passport, and US dual citizenship. I speak English, decent Spanish and working French.

Along with a number of friends I compared retirement in the USA, anywhere in Europe, Latin America, the Caribbean, and the Philippines. Friends went everywhere from Nicaragua to Romania and a lot of them regretted it. Contrarian that I am, I stayed in the USA.

I found a scenic semi rural town with relatively low real estate costs, and all the amenities that I need to have a good life (several grocery stores and gas stations, doctors​, dentists, hospital, music and art scene, golf course, auto mechanic, clean air and water, 35 minutes to an interstate highway). Don't underestimate how important these amenities will be when you're 70 or 80.

By staying in the USA I was able to keep all my furniture, cars, and material things collected over a lifetime. Friends who went to Nicaragua or the Philippines gave it all up and had to start over with nothing.

My property taxes are too high but otherwise I've really found my Nirvana. I have a functional legal system and don't have to deal with bribery and corruption. My town officials treat me fairly and I'm not a mark, or target or anyone's potential meal ticket. Business is done in English and I can read all legal documents. Being rural and not a high cost urban area my housing costs are cheap enough that I can travel, and when I come home all my possessions are still where I left them.

As you age you become more risk averse. I'm really happy that I don't have to deal with third world problems. I'm content, even happy, because I'm not always in a crisis, drama, or learning curve. Just my two cents.

I can see all the advantages you list. Are you in an LTR?

My dating/social life in the USA is nonexistent. In SEA, especially the Phils, I'm a young sexy man. I don't want to accept the risk of bringing an attractive SE Asian to the US, and wifing up a post wall western woman is a nonstarter.

I was at a friend's house the other day; American guy, Thai wife. All the older Thai ladies cornered me and started grilling me about my future plans. They encouraged me to bring my Thai gf to America, and gasped a little bit when I said I like to keep my Thai ladies in Thailand! "But what if she wants to come here?" Sorry, too bad. Then they asked me if the sex was good LOL. I love Thai ladies. They also think that she's too young for me at 30. They've all been in the US for too long.

Post: #35

(04-20-2019 10:40 AM)Duke Main Wrote:  

(04-19-2019 02:21 PM)Guitarhappy420 Wrote:  TopPanda, I'm 15 years older than you. I'm a European Union citizen with an EU passport, and US dual citizenship. I speak English, decent Spanish and working French.

Along with a number of friends I compared retirement in the USA, anywhere in Europe, Latin America, the Caribbean, and the Philippines. Friends went everywhere from Nicaragua to Romania and a lot of them regretted it. Contrarian that I am, I stayed in the USA.

I found a scenic semi rural town with relatively low real estate costs, and all the amenities that I need to have a good life (several grocery stores and gas stations, doctors​, dentists, hospital, music and art scene, golf course, auto mechanic, clean air and water, 35 minutes to an interstate highway). Don't underestimate how important these amenities will be when you're 70 or 80.

By staying in the USA I was able to keep all my furniture, cars, and material things collected over a lifetime. Friends who went to Nicaragua or the Philippines gave it all up and had to start over with nothing.

My property taxes are too high but otherwise I've really found my Nirvana. I have a functional legal system and don't have to deal with bribery and corruption. My town officials treat me fairly and I'm not a mark, or target or anyone's potential meal ticket. Business is done in English and I can read all legal documents. Being rural and not a high cost urban area my housing costs are cheap enough that I can travel, and when I come home all my possessions are still where I left them.

As you age you become more risk averse. I'm really happy that I don't have to deal with third world problems. I'm content, even happy, because I'm not always in a crisis, drama, or learning curve. Just my two cents.

I can see all the advantages you list. Are you in an LTR?

My dating/social life in the USA is nonexistent. In SEA, especially the Phils, I'm a young sexy man. I don't want to accept the risk of bringing an attractive SE Asian to the US, and wifing up a post wall western woman is a nonstarter.

I was at a friend's house the other day; American guy, Thai wife. All the older Thai ladies cornered me and started grilling me about my future plans. They encouraged me to bring my Thai gf to America, and gasped a little bit when I said I like to keep my Thai ladies in Thailand! "But what if she wants to come here?" Sorry, too bad. Then they asked me if the sex was good LOL. I love Thai ladies. They also think that she's too young for me at 30. They've all been in the US for too long.

I saw this a bit in my family. Two of my uncles at age 55 or so, went to Taiwan on "business" and found extremely sweet women - late 20 and early 30s - and brought them back to the US. Taiwan is quite good, chinese women but fully acclimated to US system. Settled in rural area 90 minutes from a big city. The only problem was the women wanted kids, so they each had 1 more. Plus you need a good amount of money. But the US is still pretty cheap in the remote areas.

Post: #36

Not meaning to be harsh, but any man approaching their 60's and 70's having trouble finding quality women in the USA, you need to lose the weight, lease a Corvette, and work with a stylist on your wardrobe and grooming. You don't have to do much else and they'll come crawling out of the woodwork to find you. I'm being a little facetious but you get the point.

Post: #37

(04-20-2019 02:39 PM)Guitarhappy420 Wrote:  Not meaning to be harsh, but any man approaching their 60's and 70's having trouble finding quality women in the USA, you need to lose the weight, lease a Corvette, and work with a stylist on your wardrobe and grooming. You don't have to do much else and they'll come crawling out of the woodwork to find you. I'm being a little facetious but you get the point.

Post: #38

Hi Duke,

Great to read a bit of your life story. I am actually trying to start my career in the Airlines but moved to South America in order to do it cheaper and quicker (quicker part has not materialized yet!)

I have been in Chile for the past 5+ years and have bought an apartment in Santiago along with around an acre and a half of land in the South of Chile. The land itself cost around US$6.000 but as I am only looking at it as an investment you would obviously have to scope out what sort of farming you can do in different areas. Similar to New Zealand a lot of Americans are coming down to buy land (check out Douglas Tompkins the North Face founder RIP) and Kingston Vineyard owned by an American-Chilean family https://www.kingstonvineyards.com/About/History who admittedly arrived a long time ago! There are a lot of other examples but wanted to show you a couple.

Why am I plugging Chile? Compared to Argentina the economy has been doing well ever since the 1970s. The country loves foreigners (as long as you don't constantly complain about what is better in the US you would be fine - god those people are annoying.)

Now the major pain in the butt part, bureaucracy. You can start your visa application but it will take roughly around 1 year to be approved - I am not a visa expert but I think with a certain level of money you are bringing into the country you would be able to get one. In the meantime every 90 days you have to do a quick visa run to Argentina or Peru with flights being around US$100-200 so not breaking the bank. Currently immigration is dealing with large numbers of Venezuelans and Haitians coming for a better life but literally arriving with nothing to their name so you would be in a good position.

Taking advantage of the Venezuelan issue, you have some of the best looking women in the world coming to Chile for work and security, i'm sure you'd be doing well with them if you can offer them one of those two aspects! Now to cover an important part, if you wanted to get married in Chile there are 2 ways to go about this. 1. Half of what is yours is your spouses if you divorce (I know no-one that has gone this route) 2. Whatever you came into the marriage with cannot be given to your spouse but anything accumulated afterwards is split 50/50. Kind of a little more attractive than getting completely destroyed in a US divorce court and hence why I have bought my stuff whilst still being single.

Flight time and time zone as you are probably aware is around 8-10 hours depending on which state you are visiting and currently EST time is the same as Santiago and 1-2 hours difference in US winter/Chilean summer.

Chileans are always interested in foreigners that move to Chile and very proud of their country and you will make friends quickly depending on how sociable you are along with the fact you can speak Spanish (Chilean Spanish is very very different to other countries so don't be too shocked with that.)

Final point is the schooling side for your grandson. There are a bunch of excellent private schools in Santiago and spread out amongst other cities in Chile (obviously Santiago has the best) these have British and American heritage to name a few:
The Grange (UK)
Craighouse (UK)
Nido de Aguila (US)
Santiago College (US)

Will leave this link here for you to do your own research http://www.expat-quotes.com/guides/chile...-chile.htm

I have been to SE Asia and loved it but home for me is now South America and have visited every country apart from Venezuela in the region. Argentina is great but politically run poorly. Colombia had a bad reputation but now is doing extremely well, Panama and Costa Rica both attract a bunch of US expats. Peru is developing quickly but if I could do it again i'd chose Chile without a doubt.

I highly recommend you use some of those airline tickets you get and check out both Argentina and Chile to make an informed decision as well as any other countries you are interested in.

If you want more info or are coming down don't hesitate to PM me.

Good luck!

Post: #39

Duke, I would recommend spending 6 months in a country before committing for health reasons. If you can stay there for that amount of time and do not fall I'll multiple times you are good to go.

However, you have to run this test or else you might go to a place that beats up your body. You are a little older and your immune system is less flexible. I had no trouble in Asia or Europe but in South America I get sick constantly (and intensely) and I m a young guy. It might take years for your system to fully adapt and because of your age, you have a small margin of error. Any pre-existing conditions might get way worse due to the disease burden. Combined with shitty healthcare (which I can attest is the case in most of SA it will not be fun.

Post: #40

(04-20-2019 02:39 PM)Guitarhappy420 Wrote:  Not meaning to be harsh, but any man approaching their 60's and 70's having trouble finding quality women in the USA, you need to lose the weight, lease a Corvette, and work with a stylist on your wardrobe and grooming. You don't have to do much else and they'll come crawling out of the woodwork to find you. I'm being a little facetious but you get the point.

LOL define quality. In my experience it's much more likely that I'll find a young, attractive, feminine, non psychotic woman to date in SE Asia than the US. But that's probably only because I don't drive a Corvette!

Post: #41

Thank you mvp. I will get in touch with you. I went to Chile a couple years ago and liked it there, so I will keep it on my radar.

Post: #42

(04-21-2019 06:16 AM)asdfk Wrote:  Duke, I would recommend spending 6 months in a country before committing for health reasons. If you can stay there for that amount of time and do not fall I'll multiple times you are good to go.

However, you have to run this test or else you might go to a place that beats up your body. You are a little older and your immune system is less flexible. I had no trouble in Asia or Europe but in South America I get sick constantly (and intensely) and I m a young guy. It might take years for your system to fully adapt and because of your age, you have a small margin of error. Any pre-existing conditions might get way worse due to the disease burden. Combined with shitty healthcare (which I can attest is the case in most of SA it will not be fun.

I'm surprised that S America beat you up worse than SE Asia. Was that the case even in the Philippines? I lived in Manila for 5 months and didn't get sick, but I certainly see the potential for it.

I think the advice to test each place for a few months is correct. I just need to trim down the list of places so I can choose one without spending several years.

Post: #43

I'm personally more attracted to Latinas than Asian girls. You could probably buy an apartment (or house) in a decent SA city for a much lower price than the USA.

I'm not sure if this is still the case, but I remember hearing how cheap you could buy property in Costa Rica a few years ago. Personally, I prefer Colombia.

The gringo factor will be helpful in attracting women, but at your age, you may need to run a little "provider game" to get in the low 30s or even 20 something year olds. Also, the proximity issue is much better with your family.

Research, obviously, is key.

Post: #44

What’s the price difference between leasing land in Asia vs buying a similar piece in Argentina? You can always visit SEA while having your home in Argentina.

It’s just too risky getting something with a chick in sea where on a whim kick you off your lease purchase.

Post: #45

(04-21-2019 12:31 PM)Duke Main Wrote:  

(04-21-2019 06:16 AM)asdfk Wrote:  Duke, I would recommend spending 6 months in a country before committing for health reasons. If you can stay there for that amount of time and do not fall I'll multiple times you are good to go.

However, you have to run this test or else you might go to a place that beats up your body. You are a little older and your immune system is less flexible. I had no trouble in Asia or Europe but in South America I get sick constantly (and intensely) and I m a young guy. It might take years for your system to fully adapt and because of your age, you have a small margin of error. Any pre-existing conditions might get way worse due to the disease burden. Combined with shitty healthcare (which I can attest is the case in most of SA it will not be fun.

I'm surprised that S America beat you up worse than SE Asia. Was that the case even in the Philippines? I lived in Manila for 5 months and didn't get sick, but I certainly see the potential for it.

I think the advice to test each place for a few months is correct. I just need to trim down the list of places so I can choose one without spending several years.

Yes I was fine in Manila and the rest of the Philippines despite eating at a lot of sketchy places. The whole of Asia / Europe is fine for me.

I believe how infectious diseases affect you is highly personal. My body is fine with Asia but South America is a different story. My first 4-month stay I was slightly sick after the first two weeks. Think unexplained throat swelling, a strange rash covering my body, feeling like shit. After I came back I had a health breakdown that was so bad a few doctors thought I had cancer (which wasn't the case, thank god). A scientist later looked at my labs and saw I probably had a bacterial infection gone bad.

Going back to SA it was the same story: getting ill all the time, lots of doctors visits, the food not seeming to nourish me sufficiently (my constitution might not be able to take out all the necessary nutrients for whatever reason). I have some background in this shit and it is dangerous to play with your health like that: you have to respect your constitution or risk long-lasting problems. Luckily, after months and months of this shit I saw slow improvement. Getting sick less often, my body finally seems to be able to deal with the food, energy levels vastly improving, basicly my health is slowly creeping to baseline. If this keeps going I'm confident I can stay here indefinitely if I so desire, and then my health goal would be reached.

The difference between you and I is that I have a large margin for error. I'm younger and most of all I am willing to risk it. You should not underestimate the risk: a gringo that married into a friends family died of a combination of local infectious diseases (and he was in better health than me). Locals die of infections all the time, at a young age even.

If you have the choice and do not want to deal with shit like this, just make sure you move to a place where you do not develop health problems. You do not want to cut your retirement short by catching the local infectious disease you don't have antibodies for.

Preferably, it is the other way around and the place is improving your health. If you feel amazing and strong and it seems like this place is giving you a booster shot, you are in the right spot. Japan for example is very conductive to my health.

Post: #46

I have lived in Mexico for almost 10 years and have never gotten sick from the food or water. In Mexico, nobody drinks water from the tap. You buy it at water places which sell purified water and it is super cheap. I wouldn't be surprised if I am drinking higher quality water than most Americans. I have been all over the world, and the only place I got sick from the food, was Ukraine. I have heard that in SEA you can get worms, which really sounds like something to avoid.

Post: #47

(04-21-2019 10:26 PM)asdfk Wrote:  

(04-21-2019 12:31 PM)Duke Main Wrote:  

(04-21-2019 06:16 AM)asdfk Wrote:  

Yes I was fine in Manila and the rest of the Philippines despite eating at a lot of sketchy places. The whole of Asia / Europe is fine for me.

I believe how infectious diseases affect you is highly personal. My body is fine with Asia but South America is a different story. My first 4-month stay I was slightly sick after the first two weeks. Think unexplained throat swelling, a strange rash covering my body, feeling like shit. After I came back I had a health breakdown that was so bad a few doctors thought I had cancer (which wasn't the case, thank god). A scientist later looked at my labs and saw I probably had a bacterial infection gone bad.

Going back to SA it was the same story: getting ill all the time, lots of doctors visits, the food not seeming to nourish me sufficiently (my constitution might not be able to take out all the necessary nutrients for whatever reason). I have some background in this shit and it is dangerous to play with your health like that: you have to respect your constitution or risk long-lasting problems. Luckily, after months and months of this shit I saw slow improvement. Getting sick less often, my body finally seems to be able to deal with the food, energy levels vastly improving, basicly my health is slowly creeping to baseline. If this keeps going I'm confident I can stay here indefinitely if I so desire, and then my health goal would be reached.

The difference between you and I is that I have a large margin for error. I'm younger and most of all I am willing to risk it. You should not underestimate the risk: a gringo that married into a friends family died of a combination of local infectious diseases (and he was in better health than me). Locals die of infections all the time, at a young age even.

If you have the choice and do not want to deal with shit like this, just make sure you move to a place where you do not develop health problems. You do not want to cut your retirement short by catching the local infectious disease you don't have antibodies for.

Preferably, it is the other way around and the place is improving your health. If you feel amazing and strong and it seems like this place is giving you a booster shot, you are in the right spot. Japan for example is very conductive to my health.

First of all, I'm very glad you've been able to improve your health. One of my biggest reasons for retiring early is to get away from the toxic environment in airplanes. It would be pretty lame to end up in a city that kicks my ass even worse. In choosing the best place I'm avoiding cities with bad air quality. I felt great in Medellin. I think the high altitude really agreed with me, but there are too many bad AQI days there. Same with Chiang Mai, Bangkok and Manila. The search continues.

Post: #48

As a pilot, do you think aerotoxic syndrome is a real thing?

How did you like the food in Medellin? Did you feel well nourished after a month of just that food?

Post: #49

If you were to end up in a LTR relationship from a woman from SA, would splitting time between your home country and hers do much to stop the situation of her becoming like the women you were avoiding in your home country? Say you had a rural acreage already established. How feasible would it be to 6 months in that situation and then travel back to SA for the winter months? I don't know if you could manage 2 rural properties like that. But it should be easy to maintain the one in your home country.

Post: #50

(04-22-2019 06:32 AM)asdfk Wrote:  As a pilot, do you think aerotoxic syndrome is a real thing?

How did you like the food in Medellin? Did you feel well nourished after a month of just that food?

I'm not sure about Aerotoxic Syndrome. That's a much more serious situation than the low level contamination I'm describing, which I experience on every flight. It would be a good topic for the aircraft accident thread, even though I'm not sure it's ever been linked to an actual crash.

I didn't spend a whole month in Medellin. I was in the city for about a week and in Guatape for 2 more. There was a high quality restaurant where I ate frequently near my building in the big city, but I didn't get an overall good impression of the food available in normal restaurants. The grocery stores had attractive produce displays, but it's hard to tell if it's organic or non GMO just by looking. What was your impression?

In Guatape I found a little family restaurant where I ate virtually every day, and yes I felt well nourished.

Whether or not I have my own farm eventually, I'd like to be near an organic farm to be able to source the best food possible.

Can you compare your impressions of the food in different locations? How was the food in Peru for you?

Where are you now? Should we start a "Healthy food locations" thread?

Take care Amigo.