Island Paradise Day 49

We are counting down the days to when we leave and we are already strategizing on how and when to come back here. Today was a beautiful sunny day and the water, although rough, was lovely and lively.

We took a long walk down to the end of the south shore to visit Troy, a new friend of ours. Troy and Trish moved here from Florida. They rent a beautiful little house on the ocean, and have really enjoyed the year they have been here. They sold everything back home and shipped all their belongings (at a cost of $8000) to Utila. They rented in two other places before finding the little gem they are in and I am somewhat jealous.

Don’t get me wrong, we are looking forward to checking out Lake Chapala (they have a year round pickleball club with six courts!) and of course we are excited about going home to see family and friends. We are even really looking forward to spending the rainy months of September and October in Puerto Vallarta because there are almost daily thunderstorms and I love a good storm! We have rented a place on the ocean just south of town so we will have magnificent views of the bay and can watch the storms from the balcony.

As I write this Hurricane Bud is racing towards the area, (Puerto Vallarta that is) dumping copious amounts of rain on the west coast. It won't hit PV but will swing past on its way north to Cabo. I think I have mentioned before that Utila is in a bit of a hurricane shadow, so it only gets a hurricane once every 25 years on average. Mitch was a doozy, no doubt about it, killing over 11,000 Hondurans, mostly on the mainland, but it really is an unusual occurrence. I was actually hoping to see some good tropical storms while we have been here in Utila, but they always seem to bypass us here, with the rain and lightning happening in Roatan or on the mainland.

Stephane and I were in Cabo San Lucas one winter a few years ago and met a couple who had built a home there. They had spent 15 years building it – coming down every winter to do what they could, and a year after they finished it they lost their entire home during the bad hurricane that hit there a few years ago. It is a sad story, but that is the reality of buying in an area that gets hurricanes. On that note, I have been researching areas of the world with the least chance of natural disasters, and after a few small countries in the Middle East, Granada – in the Caribbean - is one of the safest places on earth. Who knew?! Canada, on the other hand, is way down on the list as it is at high risk for Earthquake, Flood, Tornadoes, Hurricanes, River Flood, Landslides, and even Tsunami. Today I found a great website for comparing natural hazard risks in various places. Check it out here.

There really are so many things to consider when trying finding a place to retire: Natural hazards, Weather, Crime, Cost of Living, Culture, Language, Community, Health Care, and don't forget Geopolitical and Environmental factors. Far too many people make rash and spontaneous decisions they later regret by not properly analyzing all of these things. On the other hand, one can find themselves in “Paralysis by Analysis” as we often do.

One thing I have run into a few times since our travels began is people who are selling their homes to return to Canada or the U.S. because their parents are in their last years and they need to be close to home for that. Others miss spending time with their children and grandchildren. These are pretty important factors, because at the end of the day, what is more important than family? On that note I am looking forward to seeing mine very soon!