Panama City. It’s the kind of place that wows first-time visitors. The downtown area, which shines and twinkles with sky-scrapers and deluxe hotels…the deep blue waters of the Panama Bay…the romantic Casco Viejo sector, dripping with colonial gems. There are scads of concert and performance venues, green spaces galore...it’s incredibly modern and unexpected.
Jay and Naomi Kaskie start most mornings in their Panamanian dream home by having fresh fruit for breakfast on their ocean-facing verandah. Naomi absolutely loves the sound of the waves crashing against a large rock formation just behind their house. At certain times of the year, they can see mother and baby whales offshore, or the tracks of nesting sea turtles that come ashore to lay their eggs...
Ask Yvonne Bullis why she and her hus-band Cliff love living in rural Panama, and her answer is immediate. “It’s got every-thing that we were looking for: proximity to several beaches, howler monkeys that love to get us up early, birds, and butter-flies. There’s fresh fruit, too; it comes via truck every week, and, during high season, twice a week...
When Ruth Mahoney and her husband, James Wilson, came to Cuenca, Ecuador, in 2014 to do mission work, they immediately fell in love with everything about it. They decided they wanted to stay. “It’s a beautiful city and the people are very welcoming,” Ruth says. “There is a great cultural life and expat community. I enjoy viewing the architecture and speaking with the local people.”
I worked on rigs and vessels all over the world, so I was no stranger to Bangkok. I probably first visited in the late ’70s. Twenty years later I had a condo there, now it’s 20 years later again and look where I am.” Barry worked as a mechanical engineer in the petrochemical industry for over 30 years. Sometimes he was lucky and worked in the Gulf of Mexico or in the Caribbean...
It’s spring in the southern hemisphere, which means that the southern right whales have returned to the shores around the Western Cape Peninsula. This annual migration is one of the world’s great natural wonders. And it’s a big part of why Allison Plen decided to put down roots in Sea Point, a cosmopolitan suburb bordering central Cape Town...
Scotland might sound like an unusual place to retire, but ours was an unusual retirement. For one thing, we deliberately moved from the Southern California sunshine to a land of wind and rain. For another, we brought our entire family along. Edinburgh is a small capital, with about half a million year-round residents...
Pizza is universal. Everyone understands it. Most people love it. It’s relatively easy to make, and anyway, it was my wife’s idea,” says James Devos with a smile. James never imagined himself running a pizzeria in small-town Thailand. To be fair, not many people would think of such a thing. But in 2013 he met a nurse’s assistant working in his hometown of Bridgeport, Connecticut...
Marion Seaman first visited Roatán with friends in the early ’80s, with no intention of making it her permanent home. She recalls that it wasn’t long before Roatán worked its magic on her. “A few months after I returned to the States, I walked away from everything, including the love of my life. I went to Roatán with only my suitcase, and a dream to spend my days wiggling my toes in the sand...
Kenny Guinn came to live full-time on the tropical island of Ambergris Caye, Belize, five years ago. “I come from Texas, mainly Dallas/Fort Worth and Houston. I worked in the printing and graphics industry for many years. But I’ve been coming to these parts since I was 18, and have been smitten with the area and people for many years now...