Invest The World -- International Travel and Investment

Travelogue, Day 5

2011-01-01T17:23:00.000-05:00

December 6, 2010, 11:00 p.m.

Really tired this evening. We spent a long but very enjoyable day on a day trip to Buenos Aires. We took an 11:15 ferry on the Buquebus, an Argentina travel company (that has buses, planes and, of course, the ferries). The trip took approximately one hour across the river, but Buenos Aires is one our behind Uruguay time, so we'll arrive at 11:15 local. We spent a leisurely breakfast, and walked down to the ferry terminal about an hour earlier.

The ferry was an enjoyable way to travel across the water. It was a two lever ferry, capable of holding, perhaps, a couple hundred people. There was a lower economy level, and the higher first class level (which we didn't visit). Inside, the seats were airplane style (though wider than normal economy), with drop-down televisions, a small restaurant where you could order snacks and food, and finally a duty free shop (mainly, I suspect, for the benefit of the Argentinians).

I hadn't really spent time planning this day trip, so I picked a starting point (Plaza de Congresso) to have the tax take us there. Unlike Montevideo, a small city, my first impressions of B.A. were that it was huge. . It was a weird mix of New York (skyscrapers, banks, modern buildings) and Paris (French-style architecture).

We started at Plaza De Congresso, and from there began making wider and wider circles from that beginning point, going down side streets. There were lots of tourists, lots of locals--and a few obligatory protests. On one of the squares, veterans of the Falkland Islands War had up signs and were encamped in tents, protesting something. Later, city workers were staging protests at city hall.

There was lots of Belle Epoque style architecture. We ate lunch in one such building, off the square. There was only one other table occupied when we entered (at 1:30), but all of the red-checkered tablecloths were set, each with a basket of bread and a plate of olives. We both ordered Bife de Chorizo, which I thought was going to be some sort of beef-based sausage. Instead, we were served huge, thick, approximately 16 ounce steaks, dripping with juice, needing no sauce, spice, ketchup or anything. That has to be one of the bigger lunches I've ever eaten, though, as it turns out, it was probably good for both of us to eat such a fortifying lunch.

Afterward, we decided to try a different location. We went to one of the subway stations and, helpfully, it had a map showing the entire subway line, with tourist attractions marked. Using this, we picked out another site, and went down into the subway station.

This is probably one of the funnier moments of our trip, because I found out that Don had never ridden a subway in his entire life. To him, this in itself was going to be an experience and he was visibly excited. Looking at the map, Plaza de Mayo seemed like a good area to visit, so we paid our ticket price ($1.10 pesos or approximately 28 cens), and were off.

The subway we entered was a slightly worn relic from a different time: wooden interiors, muted lighting coming from what appeared to be a centuries old lighting fixtures, and wrought iron trim. For all my kidding with Don, this subway experience was something new for me too.

We visited a couple of churches, and then found tourist-trafficked pedestrian side-roads with lots of stores, vendors, hippies with laid-out blankets full of crafts.

We walked forever--according to our calculations later that night, including our walk from the hotel to the ferry and then back that night, we walked about ten miles. By 5:00 local time, we were both tired, but still had a few hours to kill. We decided to go inside a large shopping mall, down to the food court, and just rest, perhaps get a little snack. Tennis is on, and we're both enthusiasts, so we just watched a bit, though I eventually got up and tried to do a little Christmas shopping for my wife.

At a little after 6, we left, got a taxi, and got back to the ferry. It left at 8:00 Buenos Aires time, arriving at 11:00 Uruguay time, and we walked the way home.

I've got a favorite pair of mocassins that I wear in mild weather, flat, black leather, nothing fancy. They make good travel shoes, with or without socks, and I've had them for a few years. When I got back to my hotel and took them off, I found that I'd literally worn holes in the soles of my shoes that day.

This was our last full day in Uruguay. The next day was busy, but relatively uneventful. Although our plane didn't fly out until 11:00 p.m. local time, our car rental was up at noon, meaning we had to leave Colonia fairly early in the morning. Don drove for the first time, and had an easy first couple of hours, until we hit Montevideo. Unlike the previous Sunday, there was no way to avoid the city in returning to the airport rental agency. It was the most stressful drive time of the trip. Cars cut in front of us, motorcycles would weave in and out of traffic, and by the time we got to the airport, we were both irritable and a bit stressed. As early as we got there, we had a half day to kill that we could've (and should've) spent by going somewhere else. If I had to do it over, I'd probably have rented a cheap hotel room back in the city, and had a taxi take me there. I could've rested, swam, relaxed, and then walked around town a bit more. Or perhaps we could've hired a taxi to take us to some more of the local beaches. As it was, though, we were both just so tired from the trip, and so sick of the road, that we just stayed in the airport all day. Don hooked onto wireless with his phone and surfed the net, while I read a couple of books.

This trip, as almost all we have taken together, was a real success. Uruguay, quite simply, is not an easy destination to reach. Unlike, say, Belize, we can't get up in the morning at home, and be at our destination in time for lunch. This lack of easy access has kept Uruguay from some of the North American tourist hordes, and that, in some ways, is a good thing.

The people of Uruguay were relaxed, modest and unassuming. Unlike the Brazilians I saw, who were loud, flamboyant and boisterous, or some of the Argentinians who were fashionistas, the Uruguayans were just, well, fairly normal.

I felt safe throughout the country, and loved the feeling that--unlike the U.S.--I wasn't in a police state. Police were rarely seen, nor, it seems, did they need to be seen.

Would I go back? Most definitely, but even though I blocked off almost a week for this trip, I probably would want an even longer time next. The overnight long flights eat into a day on arriving and departing. Even though we left on a Wednesday afternoon, and returned the following Wednesday morning, we actually only had FOUR full days on the ground. That might sound strange, but here's how it worked:

Leave Wednesday p.m.
Arrive Thursday noon.
Full Friday
Full Saturday
Full Sunday
Full Monday
Leave Tuesday p.m.
Arrive Wednesday a.m.

Now that I've visited the countryside, I have no great desire to stay in an estancia, though I would like to visit some of the areas I didn't get to see (some of the cities farther up the river, for example, as well as the more easterly beach locations). I'd also want to spend more time in Montevideo and Punta del Este.

Some more pictures

2010-12-27T11:07:00.000-05:00

A few random trip pictures

2010-12-27T10:44:00.000-05:00

Travelogue, Day 4

2010-12-25T20:04:00.000-05:00

Sunday, December 5, 2010, 7:30 p.m., Colonia:

A long day, very tiring, not the best one. We got up, ate breakfast at a restaurant beside our villas and left by 8:30. We were going from La Paloma, in the eastern reaches of the corner near the Brazilian border, to Colonia, a Portugese colonial city on the river across from Buenos Aires.

The drive was long, and on the way almost had an accident that left me shaken. I pulled over in the left hand lane to pass, and a car flew up from behind. Neither Don and I saw it coming, but it slammed on its brakes for at least ten seconds. I thought we were going to crash into one another. The car never honked, but just kept its brakes locked. It pulled off the road and its driver, I could see in my rear view, got out to look at his tires. We kept going. Adrenaline flows and for the next hour I’m shaking, paranoid that at any moment a cop will stop me. After the adrenaline wears off, I realize that (1) there was no accident, no harm; (2) had there been one, the other driver was at fault and (3) the other driver was more scared than I had been. I’d been driving about 100 kph, and we think the other driver was going almost twice that. We can’t figure out why he braked for so long, but think he must’ve come up and was talking on the phone or otherwise distracted.

We make one good decision which is to avoid driving through Montevideo on the way; instead, we take a loop on Highway 11 which will bypass the city. Our GPS says the trip will take approximately five hours at 339 kilometers, but it has us traveling through Montevideo. After our near wreck, my mind is more stressed out, and I don’t enjoy the ride. The countryside is pretty, lots of farms and countryside, but after five hours, we’ve had our fill of it. We had talked about perhaps spending a night in one of the countryside estancias, but decide we’ve seen enough country now.
Our route is more relaxed, but takes close to 400 kilometers. We decided to choose somewhere nicer to stay in Colonia, and I’d already picked out the Radisson Colonia. It was way more than the other places we stayed, but I wanted a sure bet, especially since we were planning on staying in Colonia for two nights. Though we’d initially planned only on staying in town for a night—if at all—Don really wanted to see Buenos Aires which was an easy one-hour ferry ride from the city. The idea, then, was to spend two nights in Colonia, and fit in a day trip to Buenos Aires while there.

We arrived at around 2:00 p.m. very tired and—on my behalf—tense and irritable. At that point, I can’t picture getting up the next day for a busy day in Buenos Aires. Our rooms weren’t ready, so we went to get lunch.

Colonia is a modern city—at approximately 100,000, one of Uruguay’s largest—and has a colonial section founded by the Portugese in the 1600s. Our hotel was on the edge of the old section, down past cobblestone streets. We walked up to a restaurant a couple blocks up street and ate outside. It’s hard to describe why a drive like this is exhausting, except that though the roads are nice, being in a foreign country on unfamiliar highways requires a high level of vigilance. At the restaurant, I was still tired, and the streets were clogged with day-trippers from Argentina in large tour buses. We ate a decent meal at a decent price, but it made me feel claustrophobic with all the tourists. After lunch, we crashed.
I used the hotel computers in the afternoon to search for information for our day trip the next day into Argentina. I’d not really planned on this day trip, so I hadn’t done a lot of research. Buenos Aires, the capital, is separated from Colonia only by the Rio de la Plata, a one-hour ferry ride away. My choices were either a 5:30 a.m. departure or a 11:15 a.m. departure. My laptop power supply had blown out the night before, so I went out to walk a bit to look for a computer cord. In the process, I ran into the “real” colonial section, full of rocky, cobblestone streets, overgrown with weeds. I walked a few miles, came back, and at that time Don was ready to go walking, so I did it all over again. There were lots of empty buildings, what was occupied was often closed, leaving just a few craft stores and lots of restaurants. Don and I talk, and decide on the 11:15 ferry to Buenos Aires, with an 8:00 p.m. return trip. I learn that Buenos Aires time is an hour later than Uruguay time, meaning we will both leave Uruguay and arrive in Buenos Aires at around 11:15 a.m. local time.
As tired as I was, I was glad for the late start, especially since I figured we’d spend a lot of time walking in Buenos Aires. I found an English walking tour of the city that started at Plaza Mayor, so I figure that’s as good a place to start tomorrow as any. Plan: ferry into the city, take a taxi to Plaza Mayor, and see what happens from there.

Final verdict on Colonia: nice city, in itself not worth more than a day trip. It has a nice colonial section, but a lot of it appears still to be empty. Merida (Mexico) and Cartagena (Colombia) are both better choices for colonial cities.

Uruguay Travelogue, Day 3

2010-12-23T17:42:00.000-05:00

Saturday, December 4, 2010: 7:30 p.m., La Paloma. A long but enjoyable day. We ate a nice buffet breakfast early in the morning, quite surprised to see so many people up considering how late they were out the night before. The rooms didn't have air conditioning and, at this early time of the summer, though they didn't need them, cracking the windows in the room last night let in too much noise. I woke up around 1:00 a.m. to the sound of bands or karaoke in the night club at the bottom of the hotel, had to plug in my Ipod to drown out the noise. Otherwise, though, a decent night's sleep.

This morning's breakfast buffet was full of nicely arranged fruits, pastries and meats and, for the most part it appears that everywhere we stayed in Uruguay breakfast was understood to be included. We paid our bill, I took some pictures of the historic insides of the building, and we made our way out of town around 9:00 a.m.

Today's drive was probably the most enjoyable. Our final destination for the day was La Paloma, but in the meantime, we'd be driving through Punta del Este, Jose Ignacio, and a few other beach villages.

Shortly after town, we passed through a beautifully bucolic scene straight out of a Monet painting, replete with pond, ducks, yellow wildflowers and fresh green grass. I pulled over and took some pictures.

Not far from Piriapolis was the beginning of the Punta del Este area, a world into itself inside Uruguay. "Punta," is a regional destination not only for Uruguayans, but wealthy Argentinians and Brazilians, meriting its own international airports with constant one-hour flights from Buenos Aires. Cresting a hill we saw the first glimpse of Punta in the distance and, as promised, it was breathtaking. We stopped and took some pictures on cliffs, at Casa del Pueblo, a combination hotel/artwork/sculpture created by an artist in honor of his son.

Although we didn't intend to spend the night in Punta, we did want to drive through, stop, get out, and see what all the fuss was about. Although we were still in shoulder season, traffic and parking here was already crowded. High rise condos lined the boulevards. Punta is, as its name suggests, a point, with one side being, technically, the quieter river side, and the other side of the peninsula marking where the ocean actually begins. We walked, shopped a bit, but in the end got out of town. Prices were higher, people were prettier, stores were more fashionable. Punta is described as the St. Tropez of South America, but I'd say it's more accurately described as Myrtle Beach meets French Riviera. There's a mix of high-end and mass-produced, pretty beaches but so many distractions that--even without the beach--Punta has become a destination unto itself.

Shortly after, we made it to the village of Jose Ignacio, a former fishing village that has now, through restrictive zoning become a sort of bohemian chic village. Don and I drove through, and didn't see too much to excite us, though who knows, perhaps we missed the best part.

After Jose Ignacio, we moved off the coast onto a dirt road driving past what I'd term "gentleman farm estates" or "chacras" as they are called. Here is a good example of the sprawling destination that Punta has become. You first have Punta proper, nice beaches on a peninsula, catches the attention of wealthy foreigners. Punta builds up, becomes THE place, and then the suburbs (Jose Ignacio) become of interest to those for whom Punta just isn't chic or exclusive enough. But then, apparently, another phenomenon, because for miles after Jose Ignacio, we found farm after farm, beautiful signage, wonderful names, that appeared to be vacation farms (i.e., more for looks than an actual working farm) that were on beautiful rolling pieces of land. And for probably 20-30 miles past Jose Ignacio (which was, itself, at least 20 km away from Punta del Este), these chacras claimed to be located in the Jose Ignacio area. Get it?

Eventually, we made our way to La Paloma, a small surfing village a few hours away from Piriapolis and Punta del Este. We arrived in town around 2:00 and at first glance, there was nothing too impressive, a quiet little town on the coast, a few tired stores and hotels, young kids in their teens and 20s milling about. We ate a good lunch and, better rested and fed, drove around town. This was our first night without a planned accommodation, and we'd learned that we made better decisions on where to stay when we weren't overly tired or hungry.

Once we (especially I) felt better, we drove around to see what we could see. Things in the town were pretty laid back, the homes not too fancy, probably not too many full-time residents, but the beach was wide and the surf was good. Mental note to self: I've got to learn to surf. It's a shame to have visited some of the Americas' top surf spots and not be able to take advantage of them.

We got a villa, two bedrooms, one bath, at Villas Piamonte, basically on the water, with a nice view, basic amenities, for $90. Although on the drive into town things were pretty hot, by the time we walked the beach at 5 or 6, everyone had put on clothes over their bathing suits, and the cool evening wind was whipping around.

We bought some groceries, ate at one of the few open restaurants in town, and retired for the night. The 210 V outlets wouldn't take our electronics, and the converter Don let me borrow blew out my already touchy laptop power supply.

We went to bed fairly early. However, without air conditioning I had to open the windows, which caused two problems. The first was that my neighbors, college-aged, pulled in to their villa around 1:00 a.m., cranked up their music, and lit up their parilla to begin grilling. The second was that, once awake, I felt a quite constant bite of a nagging mosquito. I sprayed down with spray, plugged in my trusty Ipod, and finally went to sleep around 2:00

Uruguay Travelogue, Day Two

2010-12-09T22:05:00.000-05:00

December 3, 2010, 10:15 p.m., Hotel Argentino, Piriapolis.

I'm turned in for the night, though most of the guests seem to be going out to eat, which I suppose I should explain. Uruguayans have inherited the Spanish pattern of eating: late, sprawling lunches, tea time when I'd be eating supper, and supper when I'd be getting in to bed. Throughout this entire trip, our bodies still functioning three hours later, Don and I often ate late by American standards: lunch at 2:00, dinner at 8:00. Without fail at each of the meals we were usually the first to arrive. It wasn't unusual to see diners still eating their lunch at 4:00, and in one extreme example (later in the week) I was awakened by my neighbors grilling steaks after midnight!

In any event, this day was just right--very active, but not too much.

We ate breakfast at 8, then packed up and left our hotel. We took a taxi to the airport and picked up our rental car early--with no complaints from the rental company. Although we were supposed to pick it up at 12, we came a little before 11, and were on our way down the road by 11:30. Our goal today was to check out the coastal area leading east from Montevideo. If you look at a map of Uruguay, you'll notice a couple of peculiarities. The first is that the country is bounded entirely on one side by a river which empties into the ocean like a big mouth, with the result that what appears to be ocean is in fact part of the river bay. The other peculiarity is that the shoreline, because of this, runs west to east, rather than north to south.

Highway 1 would take us out of town today toward Piriapolis, our ultimate destination (and the only other town in which we already had rooms lined up). The highway was a well-maintained, four lane toll road, and a good way to see the country. The drivers use a system that, though initially disconcerting, is actually fairly efficient. Drivers use the right hand lane (if there are two lanes together), pulling up close to the car in front, and then passing around quickly. On a two-lane road, they pull up close, and you're expected to move slightly off your road onto the shoulder to let them pass. On a four lane road, this system works well.

Along the coastal road are turnoffs for various coastal towns, many with very few permanent residents, just numbers of tiny second homes for city dwellers, postage stamp lots, and very few stores. Some of the beaches had amazing dunes, so tall they blocked the water view, which was astounding considering the water here was still technically river. Nonetheless, given the size and width of the river, there were small waves and even whitecaps at points. We visited Neptunia and Atlantida, the latter being the first beach town of any size. The former has nothing more than shuttered weekend bungalows, a couple of rudimentary stores, and nothing else but beautiful dunes and beach.

Atlantida, however, is a true town with stores and restaurants, though things were still pretty sleepy at this time, during what was effectively the shoulder season.

We moved on to Parque de la Plata, exploring the coast and some fairly nice beaches, though at some points the water would turn brown and you could see the river's influence.

A little after 1:00, we made our way into Piriapolis. Piriapolis was a beachside resort town founded in the late 1800s, and the only Uruguayans I've met who live in North Carolina once told me they were from this town. It's a nice place, once more popular than now, and what is left is a still-popular beach town for Uruguayan middle-class families, much quieter than the more international and upscale Punta del Este farther east.

Though still early in the season, beachgoers were sunbathing and a few hearty souls were in the water. We'd made plans to meet a developer's salesperson, and she helped us get rooms at the Hotel Argentino. This hotel, built in the 1930s, would be a relic of what I'd call a Belle Epoque era. A grand entrance, high ceilings, but chipped concrete and peeling paint, the Hotel Argentino is a somewhat threadbare reminder of a grander time, complete with stained glass windows, old-fashioned elevators (the kinds with a metal gate for a door), and views out of the windows to die for. We checked in, and went to eat steaks for lunch.

We came back a few minutes before 3:00, but our salesperson had already arrived--typical of the Uruguayan attitude toward time, which is far more puncutual than most of Latin America. Alex represents Sugar Loaf Resort, a development being marketed to North Americans and Europeans, and we'd scheduled an appointment to go look. Alex, who spoke with no discernible accent, had moved to the States in the 80s, lived in Virginia, and had just moved back five years ago.

Sugar Loaf Resort is located on a hill beside Pan De Azucar (hence its name), a small mountain behind the town of Piriapolis. The development was created by David James, an American who's lived and developed in Latin America for 15 years. The development was about five minutes away from town, up a hill, past barns and horses, and appears to be unique in Uruguay. It is built on a hill as a gated community with distant (perhaps two miles distant) sea views, a planned clubhouse, restaurant, tennis courts and a Japanese hot spring (whatever that is). The majority of the lots have sold, and seven houses are in varying stages of completion. We were allowed into an almost-finished house of one owner. The home designs are hard to describe (but pictures will follow in a few days): fairly open, but unlike most other Latin countries' construction in that they use brick. It's hard to explain the initial effect as we walked into the house, the back patio doors open, and saw the stunning views that we witnessed. Immediately down the hill from the development were peaceful, bucolic country vistas, farm houses, cows and horses. Perhaps a mile past was the beautiful blue sea.

None of the amenities have been built yet, and the road is still dirt, but the developer has high hopes. The first homeowner moved in recently, with more to follow.

After our viewing, Alex took us (and another couple of guys making the trip) up to a small outdoor grill, where we had drinks and met the developer. Also with the developer was Margaret Summerfield from International Living Magazine, who writes about the development and also helps market it. The other two guests were more serious about buying, so I left David to them and had a fun time talking to Margaret about many of the places she's been, as well as her opinions of some of those places.

After we came back, we spent the late afternoon and evening walking along the beachside promenade (called the "Rambla") for the length of the town. Some of the stores were not yet open for the summer. Most of the ones that were primarily catered to beachgoers, with bookstores, trinkety souvenir shops and restaurants. We ate an early (7:00) supper of just sandwiches then, back at the hotel, went to the cafeteria where white shirted and black-bow-tied waiters served us cocktails and appetizers as we ruminated on the day. In the restaurant across the hall, we could see fellow guests just starting to come in and eat at the buffet, as we were winding down before going to bed.

In a later post, I'll put up photos of Piriapolis, Sugar Loaf Resort and the Hotel Argentino.

Uruguay Travelogue: Day 1

2010-12-03T06:07:00.001-05:00

12-3-10, 6:15 A.M., Hotel Lafayette, Montevideo

I’m writing this as I prepare to go to the hotel’s small gym. After an early turn-in, I’m over the initial effects of jet lag.

We had a very long flight—two hours to Miami, a two hour layover, then ten hours to Montevideo—mitigated only because I slept through part of the red eye flight. We arrived in Uruguay at 12:00 local time (three hours ahead of Eastern Standard). Immigration and customs took ten minutes—maybe—then we bypassed all the folks waiting for their checked luggage and headed out the door. After an approximately 40 minute ride to our hotel (rather long after the flight), we arrived at the Hotel Lafayette, billed as four stars but perhaps a worn and threadbare three stars. I’m jet lagged, a little grungy, and need to stretch. I swim in the hotel pool for a half hour, then we go walking.

We found lunch at the nearest café, sat outside, at had lunch at around 2:30, which is de rigeur here, and people watched. As I watch, I feel less like I’m in the southern hemisphere and more like I’m in Europe. This isn’t a tropical locale: though it’s 82 degrees outside, the air lacks the oppressive humidity and the heavy vegetative smell I experience closer to the equator. It’s late spring here, a country that has four (albeit milder) seasons, and it’s obvious the Uruguayans are enjoying that perfect time of year. The buildings, too, evoke less Latin America and more Europe—think perhaps, Italy or Spain, the two countries from which the majority of Uruguayans descend. As the people pass by, we see folks who are dressed, alternately, in a more “European Style” (suits, ties, fashionable) but others who look like they came off the streets of North America. In fact, one middle-aged lady, blond haired pulled back in a pony tail, comes up to Don and me and begins asking directions in Spanish. Nowhere else I’ve been—Central America, the Caribbean, or even Europe, for that matter) have I felt less obtrusive, less like I stood out in a crowd.

What quickly becomes clear is that very little English is spoken. The restaurateur’s Spanish is different than I’m used to, and we have to go back and forth a few times before we understand each other. Don the plata del dia: spaghetti, bolognaise sauce, and chicken. I get a chivito—a sandwich consisting of crusty bread, and a heart clogging combination of skirt steak, cheese, fried egg, vegetables and mayonnaise (with some fries on the side for good measure).

After lunch, we begin walking, and decide to make a loop around our general area, down to the waterfront along the rio (the “rambla” area) and back. Our immediate area has some hotels, but is otherwise not very touristy. Half the buildings seem closed or unoccupied, the others day to day stores and markets. They’re a mix of old and new, renovated and in need of repair. Along the rambla near our hotel, nothing is very picturesque, and we see mainly brick highrises that are rankly unattractive. Though we passed some beaches along the rambla with sunbathers, no beach area appears to be here.

We leave the rambla and, upon reaching Calle San Jose and Avenida 18 Julio, we realize we’ve hit the main area and things become much more tourist (but also upscale). Here are stalls selling tourist gifts—mainly mate gourds, and what are supposed to be local crafts.

Here the buildings are more historical, more renovated, generally nicer. By this time, it’s perhaps 4:30, and the cafes are actually doing a pretty bustling business. I believe it must be tea time, because most of the patrons are drinking coffee and eating snacks. We make our way back to the hotel and, after a quick break, decide we want to hire a taxi to take us to ciudad vieja, the old part of the city. We’d read that the old city was in the midst of renovation, that, it was charming but at the same time a little dodgy at night. I wanted to see the Mercado del Puerto (literally, the “Port Market”), home to some of the most popular parilladas. We took a five minute taxi ride and got out and explored. The market was filled with the fragrant smells of heavy meets cooking on the open wood grills. Most of the restaurants had already closed (they were open primarily for lunch), though some were still doing a late lunch business at 5:00. It was too early for us to eat supper, so we just walked around. The area within a few blocks’ vicinity of the market had indeed been renovated and restored. A few tourist police stood around, although from the looks of things, we might’ve been the only tourists there at this time of day. We wandered around through some side streets and craft shops, then made our way back. After a break (in which I checked emails and did some business back home), we went out to eat. We found us a nice café close by. Don tried the chivito and was pleased. I had a chicken quarter that was ok. We were both pretty jet lagged by this time, and by 9:00, we split to our respective rooms and hit the sack.

Interested in discussing international travel and real estate?

2010-11-21T19:50:00.001-05:00

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Escaping the U.S.

2010-11-20T18:22:00.000-05:00

I was trolling on one of the Belize message boards today and ran across a new user whose username, though I can't remember it, alluded to his desire to escape the craziness of the U.S. It was obvious from his plethora of new posts that he'd been reading up on Belize and was excited about his upcoming trip, and that in this trip, he was hoping to find that paradise to which he could escape.

Folks like these come along on the Belize message boards every few months and, I'd suspect, if I checked, I'd see the same sort of folks in lots of other message boards dedicated to traveling and living in "third world" countries. There's something about Americans and Canadians that, almost by dint of where they've ended up, that puts into them the desire to move to new frontiers and look for freedom that they believe has been lost. Right now there are a whole bunch of folks wanting to leave to somewhere that's less left-skewed since Obama took office, but for the eight years previous we'd constantly hear from disaffected leftists wanting to leave the "police state" they believed George Bush had enacted.

And then there are folks less motivated by politics but more culture--they want to move somewhere less materialistic, more traditional, less of a rat race.

All of these reasons are valid, although most folks who have moved to foreign countries to "escape" their home country very quickly take off their rose-tinted glasses. That's not to say anyone is wrong to leave the U.S., or that these other countries are bad places. Rather, it's a little like meeting the love of your life--you're going to learn their little bad habits once you marry them, but you still love them anyway.

Here, in no particular order, are some places I've visited, with some of my thoughts on the politics.

First, for folks with libertarian leanings like myself, one of the things I've come to terms with is that many of the countries I visit, while theoretically much less libertarian than the U.S., are practically much more so.

To the extent some of these countries have passed laws, the areas effected may restrict freedoms in that area much more than in the United States. However, because these countries simply do not have the money, power or time to micromanage every area of life, there is as a practical matter much more freedom. For example, in many Latin countries, domestic employees are given all sorts of rights and protections from firing and benefits that must be provided. However, many of these countries have almost no tort law (i.e., the kind of law that makes up the bulk of U.S. civil lawsuits), meaning that a "life is tough" rule plays into effect quite often.

Here, then, are some of the countries I've visited, and my thoughts on how your politics might fit in:

Belize:
Government: a two-party parliamentary democracy in which both parties are virtually indistinguishable. The newly ruling United Democratic Party had been viewed as slightly more pro-business than the previous Peoples United Party, but, once in office, enacted a takeover of one of the opposition media stations.

A political haven for: folks with theoretically strong environmental leanings. The "jewel" as it's known attempts to make laws to protect its natural resources, which its citizens realize to be one of the biggest drawing cards to its biggest industry (tourism). In day-to-day practice, the environmentalism is typical third world--bad trash dumps outside of town, dumping of garbage in inappropriate places, etc.

Not an ideal place for: people who like government bureaucracy to be effecient, people who want an easy place to set up a business, very liberal people who want others with similarly "enlightened" attitudes or very pro-business conservative people.

Ecuador:

A political haven for: center-leftists. Rafeal Correa is a left-leaning U.S. trained economist, and has attempted to enact more left-leaning reforms. As a practical matter, so long as the government does not attempt to make inroads into taking property or restricting rights, government more or less leaves people alone.

Panama:

A political haven for: pro-business types, conservatives, libertarians. Panama City is a haven of capitalism though, like much of the U.S., the building bubble has probably burst. Business is encouraged, and because of the long-time relationship between the two countries, there is a large North American influence.

A lot of expats who've made the move seem more likely to be successful when they're running to something rather than away from their home country. In other words, that person moving to Belize has a much greater chance of success if he's moving there because he's looking for a warm climate, simpler lifestyle and a seaview climate, rather than because the guys that served him tropical drinks at the bar on his last visit were much nicer than his neighbors back home!

Travel to ranches and estancias in Uruguay

2010-11-14T16:06:00.000-05:00

Uruguay, a country that, outside its river and coastal regions, is still primarily rural. Filled with open flat lands, farming, cattle and vineyards are the primary agricultural pursuits. To help support these industries, some ranches have become combination working farms and tourist estancias. My buddy Don and I are considering staying in one of these if we drive through the countryside. Prices are as low as $75 and as high as $200 per night, and contain as little as humble rural accommodations, and as much as all meals, recreation, and horseback riding included.

Here are a couple that I've seen which interest me.

El Charabon: http://www.elcharabon.com/en_home.php. Located not too far from Punta del Este, this estancia would allow us a nice, yet not too long drive out into the country side, as we make our way back west toward Montevideo. Located on more than 900 hectares (more than 2,000 acres), meals and horseback riding are included, as is a nice outdoor pool.

Finca Piedra: http://www.fincapiedra.com/en/index.php. An estancia that also includes a vineyard. A good bit further of a drive west, but located near Colonia, a colonia city across the river from Buenos Aires that we wanted to visit. Also included are all meals, a horseback ride, fishing and whatever else we might care to do on the grounds.

Gambia -- Investment in Africa's smallest country

2010-11-06T22:39:00.000-04:00

I was just googling third world countries last night to learn about them and see which ones may be open to investment (sounds exciting, right? well, it is to me), and I came upon the Gambia, a small West African nation surrounded on three sides by the nation of Senegal (and on the west by the Atlantic Ocean).

Gambia's official language is English, and the country has had a (by African standards at least) stable government for some period of years, along with a (once again, relatively) prosperous economy.

Most interesting was a tourism investment brochure put out by the nation's government. Apparently, tourism incentives include capital gains reductions, income tax write-offs and, if you build the right type of hotel, free land at the ocean!

The publication purports to be from 2008. Take a look!

http://www.visitthegambia.gm/images/stories/downloads/gtainvestguide08.pdf

Uruguay trip prep, part 3

2010-10-31T20:06:00.000-04:00

One month left, and our trip is coming together nicely. One of the most important decisions when traveling abroad is how, exactly, one intends to get around. How to get around once on the ground is a function of money (how much or little you want to spend), time (ditto) and comfort.

As with many other things in life, of time and money, your average traveler will have much more of one than the other. For example, for the average backpacker or younger traveler, the biggest expense is the flight to reach a destination, and everything thereafter has to be low budget. On the other hand, they often have lots of time, perhaps spending a month or monhts in their location. Therefore, one of the most common backpacker modes of travel, in Central and South America, is the cheap public bus transportation. Often just a few dollars, they're the mode of transportation not just for backpackers but for the locals. The tradeoff, of course, is the time it sometimes takes to use these buses. There are sometimes long waits at the bus station, late buses, and often many, many stops along the way. I recall a man I ran into in Ecuador had reached our mutual destination on a 24 hour bus ride that might have taken a quarter of that in a car. The cost, though, was just a few bucks.

For those of us with much less time, but with a little more of a budget, there may be better ways to travel than some of the buses. In the past, Don and I have used taxis, long-range private drivers and self-driven rental cars, all successfully.

In very small countries (such as St. Kitts), there really was no need to rent a car, given how easily and inexpensively taxis could be hired and could take us everywhere.

In one instance (Ecuador), we worked out a deal with a tour company to have a private driver and SUV for every leg of our trip.

On our last trip, we rented a car and drove all around the Yucatan by ourselves.

For anyone interested in traveling, the latter two modes of travel, though more expensive than the public transport option, both have many things to recommend them.

First, hiring a private driver. We really benefitted from having a private driver take us around Ecuador. First, Don and I both got to simply sit back and watch our surroundings, without having to worry about getting lost, or navigate our way around. We simply told our driver where we wanted to end up for the day, what time we wanted him to show up, and things were that simply. If we saw somewhere we wanted to stop along the way, he pulled over. This made for a relatively stress-free trip.

Also, having a local driver in a foreign country also helped bridge some gaps that we might not have had we driven alone. For example, Fernando, our guide, spoke excellent English, and so acted as our interpreter when needed. In addition, when we had car trouble in a tiny village, he quickly located an automotive repair place (a tiny shack, without signs, that Don and I could never have found nor even known how to ask), and was in other situations also able to explain what was happening around us.

Two of the most obvious downsides of such a mode of transport are the cost (more expensive than a rental often) and also the discomfort one may feel spending days riding around with someone they don't know. In both instances, we were very fortunate. First, our costs in Ecuador were extremely low, and we quite frankly would not have been comfortable enough to go where we went on our on. Second, our driver was a great guy, very intelligent, and fun to be around. Parenthetically, we've found in many emerging economies (Panama is another example) taxi drivers who have college degrees. Our driver always found a hostel to stay at once he reached our destination, so our evenings Don and I had to explore on our own.

Rental cars, though have many of their own obvious benefits. First, they offer more privacy, and second, they offer more flexibility. Although Don and I initially were a bit nervous driving out of Cancun down the Yucatan, the highways were just so good that driving went smoothly. Our car was well kept, gas stations were easy to navigate, and--other than getting a little lost in one or two small towns--we were very comfortable.

The biggest downside we found in the last trip was fatigue. In that trip, we didn't make reservations ahead of time, instead planning to find a hotel once arriving. The problem with that was, when we arrived too tired, I was tempted to take the first place available, which ended up being way more expensive than it should've been.

Don left the travel plans up to me, and I debated which way to go in Uruguay. I liked the idea of having a driver who could double as tour guide and interpreter. Surprisingly, a could find no private drivers listed (though it was clear that I could have, if I wanted, hired a taxi in each location). The general consensus on travel forums was that highways were good, well-maintained and safe, although rentals were not inexpensive.

In the end, we chose to rent a car. Cars went from the very cheap to the very expensive. However, given that we were coming in late spring (think the equivalent of May in the Carolinas), we chose air conditioning. Furthermore, though automatic transmission was more expensive (and not prevalent), I chose that as well. Though we both can drive a stick shift, I decided it was best, when in a foreign locale, to make our driving experience as smooth as possible. Once or twice before I'd rented a manual transmission when traveling abroad, and learned that, when lost in a foreign continent, I tend to pop the clutch more as I get frustrated.

Our car even has been hired with a GPS system, which should also help (even if there's not an English language option).

One thing I've not yet done (and don't care to do) is to navigate a rental car through a large foreign city. Given that our first day and night will be spent in Montevideo, our car rental starts on the second day, and will be picked up just out of town back at the airport.

Remaining to be decided is whether to book out the rest of our nights, or just see what happens when we get there. I've been poring over maps of the countryside, to see if there's anything interesting worth overnighting in the pampas.

Uruguay trip preparation, continued

2010-10-23T15:16:00.000-04:00

I'm now about five weeks out from my Uruguay trip, and I still spend a little time every day researching and preparing for it. That much preparation isn't necessary, but I enjoy parsing through every detail such that it's not a chore. I'm a bit torn: I want to see all of the country I can, but at the same time, I don't want to spend so much time in transit that I don't get to enjoy what's there.

Ecuador is also a small country like Uruguay, and on that trip, we limited ourselves to the coast (missing all of the highland attractions) and not only the coast, but just La Ruta del Sol. And even there, we frankly ran out of time and had to turn around a little earlier than planned. One thing to remember on these trips is that you can't plan out your travel time solely by maps.

For example, 60 kilometers on a four-lane highway in Mexico is different than the same distance, say, on a rutted dirt road to a fishing village in Belize. The former would take less than an hour; the latter has taken more than two. Likewise, in Ecuador, some of our travel was around curvey mountain roads, some with a bit of washout, others with poor children playing in the road.

According to everything I read, the coastal roads in Uruguay are easy to travel, so I don't expect this to be a problem. Rather than spending three or four hours a day in the car from one night's accommodation to the next, we'll most days spend two or less.

We're spending five nights in hotels, and so far the first two are booked. Had our trip been one month later, we'd have likely needed to already have reservations, but this is a shoulder season, and things are still available. The first night will be spent in Montevideo, in an area near Centro, the old part of town. The second night will be spent in an old (and slightly faded, I'm told) hotel at the seafront in Piriapolis. In transit, we hope to travel through the beach town of Atlantida (reputed to have some of the whitest sands on the Uruguayan coast) and visit the Sugar Loaf Development a few miles outside of Piriapolis. A salesperson from Sugar Loaf is to meet us at our hotel on Friday and take us to the development.

From there, things are still a bit up in the air. Punta del Este, an hour away from Piriapolis, would be an obvious choice, but I'm not sure how much traffic it'll have at this time of year or whether I want to drive through it. Although I had some ideas about visiting the colonial town of Colonia, chances are likely we won't have time to make it a priority. Though the pictures I've seen of it look nice, I've noticed that most photos are of the same two are three spots in town. I'm told, also, that--as far as old colonial towns go--there are better, and the pictures of the town don't reflect the diverse buildings that I saw in either Cartagena or Merida. Also, we'd discussed a day trip to Buenos Aires, but that may just have to happen another time, another trip.

Right now, it looks like it'll be mostly coastline, working our way out from the city of Montevideo as each location past Punta del Este grows more remote and (supposedly) laid back. As we loop back to Montevideo, I intend for us to take country roads so that we can see some of the agricultural region. Also, if for some reason the coast turns out to be a disappointment, or we just get tired of coastal towns, we could always change plans and spend a couple of days inland or north of Montevideo.

Invest the World now has a discussion forum!

2010-10-10T17:43:00.001-04:00

http://investtheworld.proboards.com

Good website for Panama real estate

2010-10-05T22:20:00.001-04:00

www.panamavultures.com

I was talking to someone about a possible trade and they pointed me to pictures of their home located on this site. Lots of inventory, some fsbo and others listed by real estate agents.

Want to discuss international property and investments?

2010-10-03T15:47:00.002-04:00

Come to our new forum at:

http://investtheworld.proboards.com

and meet like-minded individuals.

House Hunters International

2010-09-28T19:54:00.000-04:00

One of my favorite shows to watch is, not surprisingly, House Hunters International on HGTV. For those not familiar with the show, it follows a very simple format. A person or a couple has set out to purchase property in some locale outside the United States. Sometimes, we watch a local in another country trying to buy his primary residence; other times, retirees are looking to move to another country and finally, some folks are just buying vacation homes.

The prospective purchasers, at least on the show, visit three different homes and by show's end make a choice. It's apparently an open secret that some of these shows are contrived and the participating buyers have often purchased but are going back through homes they'd looked at in the process.

The singular most distracting thing to me when watching these shows is that the episodes quite often don't tell us the buyers' STORY. And whereas, in the domestic version of House Hunters, the buyers' "story" (as I'll define it) may not matter, in House Hunters International, it truly is needed to make sense of the picture, sometimes.

In the United States, quite often, the location being lived and even the type and size of a house being purchased means little in relation to the people buying it. Credit is plentiful, jobs--even in this economy--are relatively accessible compared to other countrie, and the type of house being bought is often a function of job income, ability to tap credit, and loan risk tolerance.

By contrast, buying in a foreign country is much more difficult than the American model. First,in most foreign countries (especially the more tropical climes) cash is king and loans are rare. You can't often buy, for example, a $200,000 home with only $40,000, as you could in the States.

Second, jobs making first-world American rates are hard to get. Think about it: part of the reason the cost of living is lower in some countries is because wages are lower. A job for an expat, if he can get it, is not going to pay the same as a comparable job in the States.

Therefore, what is often the case in foreign country purchases is that if you want to buy property overseas, you've got to bring your money over in full. And if you want to stay there and live, you often have to have some more money stored up to live off of if you want to continue living comfortably.

Some of the folks on House Hunters International, however, seem to exist independent of any real source of income, and the show just glazes over or ignores how they're able to come up with cash or finances to make their purchase and sustain their lifestyles.

In one recent episode, a man and woman who'd been dating and were living with another couple were going to purchase a home in Nicaragua on the coast of San Juan del Sur. Interesting enough, but the man of the relationship was 30 at most, and his girlfriend was probably still in her 20s. They listed his occupation vaguely as being involved with real estate development (though not the developer himself, apparently), and gave no occupation for her. Despite her apparent lack of a job, his one income, and their relative youth, they went searching for a home in the budge range of $500,000 to $1,000,000 US. Really?

They viewed beautiful houses in wonderful areas, but the entire time I was distracted by the simple question of "how"? How does a couple not in their thirties afford, for example, an NBA player's beach getaway worth $1,000,000?

If they're trust fund kids, or he somehow has succeeded wildly in his field, hey, that's great. But is that really representative of the people who'll be looking to buy in Nicaragua? Does that particular episode really provide practical guidance for others interested in buying there?

Aren't viewers other than me wondering how the heck they're doing what they're doing (and perhaps, can I do what they did)?

The couple from London cashing in their pre-bubble flat to spend a few hundred thousand on a villa in Spain--understandable. They entrepeneur who successfully created an invention--ok, got it. But where are they getting these younger buyers coming out of the woodwork, apparently with six to seven figures of cash to spend? Shouldn't that be on a show about the lifestyles of the wealthy than one trying to give us a glimpse into the "regular person's" house hunting process abroad?

Perhaps they should create a spinoff where we could learn how the people got to the point to where they COULD buy the fabulous homes in foreign countries with cash up front. THAT would be something we could learn from.

World Property Swap

2010-09-25T19:30:00.001-04:00

Go to worldpropertyswap.com, and list your property for sale or for swap for free, or just go to browse the properties on offer!

Uruguay trip preparations

2010-09-06T10:49:00.000-04:00

Now that I've booked my annual "buddy" trip to Uruguay, comes the minutae and details that I actually enjoy handling.

I need to book hotels pretty soon, because we're going at the beginning of Uruguay's high season (their "June," so to speak), but before I can do that, I've got to nail down where we want to go. This is where things get interesting.

One upside of a country the size of Uruguay is that it's very easy to travel its width. Best I can tell, three hours' drive from Montevideo along the coast in either direction will get me all the way to the edges of the country; either Colonia (to the west, and across the river from Argentina) or Chuy to the east, at the border with Brazil.

We've discussed actually taking a day trip into Buenos Aires, Argentina (only a three-hour ferry ride from Montevideo), but reading some travel blogs, I realized we could take a three-hour drive and hop into Brazil, if only for a few hours. From what I can read, the Brazil side of Chuy (named "Chui") is nothing to write home about, other than the fact I can stand in two countries at once, so we'll have to see. Also, I believe I need a visa to get into Brazil, which may be a complication not worth doing.

Right now, the best plan may be to stay in Montevideo the first day, then rent a car and travel along the coast for the remaining days. If we end up with an extra day, we can perhaps spend it in B.A. on our way out of Montevideo.

I've read mixed reports on Punta del Este. Everyone seems to agree its a glitzy place, though there's wide disagreement on whether that's a good thing or not. Farther east appear to be some fairly quiet and expansive beaches, such as Punta del Diablo, which sound pretty interesting. Perhaps we could do something like this:

Thursday a.m.: Arrive in Montevideo, spend the night.

Friday: Travel to Punta del Este, stay the night.

Saturday: Travel to Rocha district, visit beach villages.

Sunday: Start making our way back west, either staying in Montevideo or another beach town closer thereto.

Monday: Drive to Colonia? Enjoy the colonial city. Perhaps half-day trip over to Buenos Aires?

Tuesday? Arrive in Montevideo, leave late at night...

Life's little vacation pleasures, end of summer edition

2010-09-04T12:08:00.000-04:00

Some of us who travel have found "that place" or perhaps, a fortunate few, a handful of places, to which we return regularly. Those of us who love to travel, those of us who are already thinking about the next trip before they've gone on the current one, like to see what's out there. Why? Because it's there.

I love to keep going, and I love to see the next stop down the road. Every trip I take is special, every destination wonderful, and usually, before I leave, I'm thinking about coming back to this great location I've just come to enjoy.

But the truth is, however, for most of these, once I'm gone, something else has caught my attention, and though I really do hope to come back to Panama, Ecuador, Colombia, Dominican Republic or Antigua, for example, there's still Uruguay, Peru, Hong Kong, Thailand and Vietman (to name a few).

Still, a couple of places, both domestic and exotic, have captured me, and I suspect every traveler finds a place or two like this. Often, the place is less about something to go "do" or "see" and more about the way it makes you feel. For those of us who, perhaps, believe we lead a hectic lifestyle, it might be that place that allows us to relax, to be the laid-back, fun-loving person most of us secretly think we really are, even if deep down.

It is to this place or to these couple of places that we return regularly, start to have our little pleasurable routines, those things that, for each returning trip, we can anticipate with comfort. Here, then, are a few of the little pleasures of one of my favorite places (in no particular order):

1. Saturday morning tennis round robin tournaments, two blocks from the ocean, with participants who are often twice my age and still very fit.

2. Getting fresh muffins from the confectionary.

3. Sitting all afternoon at the ocean, under an umbrella, listening to my ffavorite tunes, having a homemade cocktail, while reading a good book.

4. Walking my dogs with my wife down quiet streets.

5. Having Thai, fresh seafood and comfort food all within a five minutes' drive of my house.

What are your little vacation pleasures?

Single Travel

2010-06-27T19:05:00.002-04:00

Though it's been less than two months since my last trip, I'm already itching to plan another. My lovely wife does not have the time or desire to go on one so soon, and my normal travel buddy likely can't go in the near future due to his seasonal schedule. So, I thought, I'd look at taking a solo trip, something I've rarely done, but have enjoyed both times. I've already looked at some possible destinations for a long solo weekend, which I may share as things firm up.

There are many reasons why someone might travel solo. For some, it's just the obvious: there's nobody else to travel with, and they want to go somewhere. For others, perhaps there's somewhere they need to go, but they don't have anybody to go with them. For still others, there's something to be said about simply going it alone. Want to learn a little something about yourself? Go to a country where you know absolutely nobody, perhaps can't even speak the language, and find your way around. It's exhilerating, lonely at times, but altogether different than traveling with friends. Here, then, are some of the pros and cons I've found on the couple of trips I've traveled alone.

1. DO WHAT YOU WANT TO DO. Ok, this is quite obviously one of the benefits of single travel. You don't have to reach a group consensus on what to do, where to go, or where to eat when traveling by yourself. In my case, I'd say this benefit is somewhat overstated. While my wife has a certain comfort level that I have to adhere to (she prefers not to take multiple-leg flights, doesn't want to sleep in quarters without air, for example), my normal travel buddy is about as easy to get along with as one could want. In fact, to him, he views it as a luxury NOT to have to make the decisions, and tends to just go along with what I plan. That said, even a buddy as easy-going as he is has certain preferences and so, on the few solo trips I've taken, I try to do some of the things that perhaps I couldn't do with my wife or with my buddy. On this upcoming trip, for example, I'm looking at going to a beach and taking some surf lessons. While my buddy might be up for doing that once, I think he'd get bored doing it every day, like I might do. One of my trip ideas simply consists of hanging out at the beach, reading, writing, and attempting surfing. That's a pretty selfish thing, which makes it perfect for solo travel.

2. EAT WHAT YOU WANT TO EAT. My wife has much better and more selective tastes than I do in food, especially when it comes to health consciousness (i.e. fat grams, carbs, etc.) and perceived sanitary healthiness. When I've traveled by myself, I've tended to eat more street food, stop in little shacks by the road, and venture a little more off the culinary path than I otherwise would have.

3. NOT WAITING OR BEING WAITED ON. With my wife, I spend a lot of time waiting. I'm waiting for her to get ready so we can eat supper, ready for her to finish her morning run so we can go to the beach, etc. I'm simply a quicker mover than my wife. On the other hand, my travel buddy has to wait on me, usually in the mornings, he waits for breakfast until I'm done exercising, waiting on me for dinner while I finish running errands, etc. On solo travel, I go at my own pace, not having to wait or making anyone else have to wait on me.

4. THE OPPORTUNITY TO MEET OTHER TRAVELERS. If you're solo, you tend to be a little more social because you're forced to, and you might run into other solo travelers. I'm not very social by nature, and so this has been new for me. I'm still constantly surprised when I'm on trips and I see single female travelers going through countries all by themselves, but I've also seen solo travelers who are obviously from different countries, who seem to have met up and spend time together.

Of course, I've found that not all is great about traveling solo. I'm sure, if you're not careful, there can be safety issues and fear, but I've not traveled so far afield to have that as a concern. Instead, the real downsides I've found of solo travel have tended to be mundane things:

1. EATING ALONE. The upside? I go where I want to go eat and eat what I want. The downside? There's nobody there but me at my meals. I traveled to Panama a few years back to look at a possible investment in a resort community, and stayed in the resort's all-inclusive hotel. The food was really delicious, and offered a good number of choices. But for all the choices, nothing changed the fact that, while I watched couples and large families enjoying themselves on vacation, I was sitting there munching on something alone. With nobody to talk to, and a little bit of self-consciousness that comes with being alone, my meals ended up being very quick affairs. Sure, the food was good, but with nobody to enjoy it with, meals lost some of their appeal.

2. NIGHTS ALONE. I've taken so many trips with both my wife and my travel buddy that both types tend to have evolved into pleasant routines. For my wife and I, usually that means a nice meal in a scenic location, as the sun goes down, then walking/driving back to our accommodation and spending the rest of the evening watching tv or otherwise enjoying each other's company. For me and my buddy, it usually involves eating, perhaps sitting at a bar at our hotel having a drink or two, and just shooting the bull about the adventures we experienced that day. As a solo traveler, however, things ended much more quickly. While the resort in Panama was fairly nice, after my meal in the evenings there wasn't much else to do. I could either go back and watch tv, or go by myself to the nightly cabaret show put on. When I took a business trip to Ambergris Caye by myself, I could explore through town, but with nobody to, e.g., get a drink with or go shopping with, things got boring quickly.

Overall, I would prefer to travel with someone, because for me the best part of travel is the memories created, and they're not as grand if they're not shared with someone. However, solo travel does have benefits, and what I've found is that if I find things for me to do in my downtime (such as reading a book I've brought) or enjoying my meals, say, in my own condo or room (where ironically it doesn't feel so lonely), I think I can pass the time better.

I consider myself a person who likes a lot of solitude, but one of the things I learned about myself traveling solo is that I was more of a social creature than I thought. Try it, you might learn something about yourself as well!

Merida Trip Report, Day 3

2010-05-09T18:47:00.003-04:00

Sunday we'd all agreed would be our most laid-back day, where we'd hang out, walk around the plazas, and generally just enjoy the Merida Sunday scene. C, P and N went to an early mass in one of the old churches, and we all met up afterward for breakfast. The previous day, we'd eaten at a little cafe just across the street from our hotel. Today, I wanted to try out a breakfast buffet I'd seen a few blocks away. There was nothing touristy about it, and judging from the families, it was geared toward locals. The buffet was a mix of Mexican and Yucatecan food: some nice fruits like papayas and melons, lots of breads, flan and bread pudding, eggs with some type of spinach, and lots of meats.

I got some pastries and fruit, then contented myself with meat, lots and lots of meat, big heaping plates full, scooped into the tortillas we were provided, then wrapped up with eggs. I ate way too much.

Afterward, we all walked around to take in some of the Sunday sights. Sunday, in Merida, is a time of family relaxation and enjoyment out in the streets. Surprisingly, things didn't seem to start too early, unusual for such a tropical locale, but this may have been because the Meridians went to church first. By late morning, things had picked up. In one of the smaller plazas was salsa music and dancing, as well as folks selling their wares, from antiques to coin dealers. In the biggest plaza, the entire square was taken up with vendors of all sorts.

Very quickly, I got separated from the rest of the crowd, and just made my own way around. It didn't take me long to look through most of the vendors, who were selling mainly touristy trinkets and shirts. Somehow, however, I saw a door open in the square that I hadn't noticed before, and walked in to what turned out to be a modern art museum. It was quiet, and chill, almost completely devoid of people except for the few curators who directed me from one exhibit to the next. I wish I'd taken pictures, but all I got were a couple of outdoor sculptures. I could see how living in Merida would present itself with a limitless art and cultural opportunities. Yes, the city had its fair share of old architecture and art, but it WAS a university city, and with that came a fare share of contemporary and modern art as well.

Probably barely noon, and I was already hot and sweating, so I went back to the hotel for a quick break, then went back out again early in the afternoon. Once again, since I was by myself, I felt nothing constraining me and started making my way out of the centro district. As I walked the sidewalks became more narrow, the businesses and walkers more local, the streets hotter. Packed into every crevice imaginable were flea markets and fruit markets, stores of every kind. Though the higher end clothing stores were closed on this Sunday, the lower end markets were teeming, with soccer shirts, beauty projects, toys, everything imaginable. I walked through a three level department store that looked like a smaller version of K-mart, and just kept walking.

By this time I was soaked, but kept walking--hey, the locals were sweating in this 100-plus degree heat. I hoped to find something interest to buy and take back home, but alas, Mexican flea markets don't seem to be any better than their U.S. counterparts. Still, it was fun watching people navigate through the crowds. Unlike some cities I'd visited (Paris, notably), I didn't feel in danger of theft or other crime.

The folks, as a whole, were gentle, easy going, and apparently had a live and let live attitude.

As fun as things were, however, I could only take so much before the heat did me in, and by about 4:00, I went back to the hotel, changed, and went to the courtyard pool. I stayed out in the pool for more than two hours, eventually catching up with D and C, and P and N, all of whom came out at different times to themselves cool off.

As the evening wore on, P and N decided to have a date night and go out to eat alone. D and C came with me. We ate at La Belle Epoque or something like that, finally something a little less touristy than the previous two nights' fare--though this restaurant was also located on a major square. The waiters didn't speak English, so D and C had a little more trouble with the menu, but ordered what looked like it described a meat plate, while I tried a meal of garlic bread, Sopa Limon (basically a tortilla chicken soup with lime) and a club sandwich. Mine was good, but D and C didn't like theirs too much.

Afterward, we went out looking for dessert; Don got a frozen treat from the convenience store, and I got an oversized ice cream cone from a vendor. Mine was great, but without preservatives (and in the heat), I had to eat quickly to keep it from turning to mush. We walked around looking at the market until the sun went down.

We walked back to the hotel, and made our plans for leaving early in the morning.

Merida Trip Report, Day 2, Part 2

2010-05-08T21:13:00.003-04:00

On the way back, we asked our driver Jose where there was a good restaurant to eat, and he told us of a good one in Chuburna. We pulled up and got out. Jose went his on way, and the three of us sat down. The menu was on a chalkboard, but the prices weren't listed. The restaurant was basically split in two parts: one completely outdoors, then where we sat, semi-inside, with two walls. I ordered grilled garlic shrimp, and it was very good. Located only a couple blocks from the beach, the restaurant was a good place to watch families go back coming to and from the beach on the sand roads. Our guide sat on the other side of the restaurant, and ate by himself. I felt a little funny him being excluded, but at the same time, it was nice having a little privacy. After the meal, we discussed whether to pay for his meal, but decided we didn't need to. Funny enough, nothing was more true. He got up, and one waiter started to go after him, but I saw the restaurant manager waving the waiter away. Our driver didn't have to pay--his price was included in our "gringo" price meal for having referred us here! Nonetheless, the food was good.

On the way back, I told the driver we wanted to stop and visit Yucatan Country Club, a new development located midway between Merida and the coast. I nodded off for a few minutes, but woke up as we pulled off the highway. As we pulled into the driveway for the club, we were immediately impressed by the large facade, security gate, and lush golf course surroundings.

We met an English salesperson, who took us on a tour, and told us the club's story. The Club was created by ten Mexican entrepreneurs, apparently already wealthy in their own right. If you look at the website (http://www.yucatangolf.com/v25/), you'll be surprised to see no English language option. That's because the club is marketed toward locals and is, according to the salesperson, comprised primarily of locals, with a scattering of other Mexicans from surrounding states also having memberships. Currently, there are no residences built, though they're working on apartments and townhomes being sold preconstruction.

The club is large enough and well enough appointed to be more of a resort than a simple evening and weekend country club. The club has already built a Jack Nicklaus golf course with a pro shop. We walked through the clubhouse and were told the club had five restaurants, a couple of which we visited, and appeared high-end.

After visiting a state of the art gym, with weights, nautilus and aerobics and yoga rooms, we split up by sexes and toured our respective locker rooms, which were more luxe than I'd seen in any other club. As we walked in, we were greeted by an attendant, and a masseuse. The lockers contained multiple showers, a steam bath and a dry sauna. The lockers weren't just for showering, though. Inside the locker room was a fully-stocked bar and lounge (!), as well as a private patio with its own lap pool.

Speaking of pools, the club has a Mark Spitz aquatic center, with numerous 25 meter lap lanes, complete with swimming platforms. Of course, there were a few outdoor pools for relaxation as well, including a water park for kids. Finally, we took a look at the tennis courts, primarily (synthetic) clay, with a few hard courts, and also a paddleball court (think a mini-sized court that looks something like outdoor racquetball and ping pong put together). I was told there were two tennis pros on site.

Finally, we discussed the apartment build-out plan, which included a required country club membership purchase (at approximately $40,000 U.S.). Apartments, together with the membership, started in the high 200s, and went higher for each floor. Construction on the current units was expected to be completed by year's end 2011.

D and I were both impressed. The club was perhaps a half-hour or slightly more from Merida's airport, located close to the city and to the beach (in fact, membership at this club came with membership at one of the owner's beach clubs at his hotel at a nearby beach).

On the downside, I'd miss having the actual beach right there--though to be fair, there was plenty of water all around. In addition to the pools, there were numerous natural cenotes that had been dynamited to create beautiful, deep and large ponds (so much so that they were marketing waterfront houses).

My biggest concern was the usability of the sports facilities during the low season. When we visited, at 2:00 in the afternoon, it was probably 100 degrees. At this time of year, a North American could not comfortably play golf or tennis at the club, except in the early morning and late evening. I posited to D that it might be more enjoyable, for the same money, to purchase a lot in the club (along with the club membership), then buy and rehab a house in Merida.

We came back to the hotel around 3:30, hot and tired. I went out to the small pool for a couple of hours, talking to P when he and N arrived back from their day trip to the cenotes. They had a good time, and I regretted not having an opportunity to go (though not my choice to visit the beaches and look at real estate).

After cleaning up, I took the opportunity to walk around a bit by myself at around 5:00. At 5:00, lots of locals were eating, but best I can tell, it was a late Latin lunch, because by 7, the restaurants were empty again until, say, 9:00 or later. I stopped at a Sorbet shop at one of the plazas and had a tamarind sorbet--tart, cold, and a wake-up to my tongue--it reminded me a bit of one of my favorite smoothies I used to drink.

We all met to go out at around 7:00 p.m. We walked around a bit, and ended up at a restaurant called Pancho's. Pancho's, our local guide information said, was a tourist restaurant, but still good. I'd say it was just okay. No locals could be found inside. Apparently, the theme was somehow built around Pancho Villa, though inside, they played Cuban salsa music and offered lots of Cuban food choices. I ended up with a South American style steak with salad. Everyone except me had margaritas, and said they were watery and poor. My steak was good, but everything was overpriced.

Afterward, we went out to the plazas and just people watched and shopped a bit in the outdoor markets. The doors to the Governor's Palace were open, and after asking the guards if we could go in (we could), we went inside. A beautiful palace, it was now apparently used more as a museum of early Yucatecan history involving Mayans and the Caste Wars. While it was very informative, the history writer definitely had a slightly jaded view of history.

We went back late, and I went to bed pleasantly tired.

Merida, Day 2, Part 1

2010-05-02T09:01:00.003-04:00

8:00 a.m. Waiting for a few in our group to get back from Mass so we can go eat breakfast. Yesterday was full. D, C and I decided to go visit the seaside towns of this area, while P and N decided to visit the cenotes, pools created from sunken underground caverns.

We had breakfast at a little cafe across the street, in its small, tucked away courtyard. After breakfast, and a little bit of down time, we met our taxi driver, Jose, at 10:00. We first made our way north of town to visit Progreso. The trip took all of about 40 minutes: perhaps 20 minutes to clear ourselves out of the city, and then another 20 down the highway to reach Progreso.

Jose said that Merida actually had 1.1 million people, and driving into the more modern parts, I could believe it. There were large shopping malls everywhere, lots of stores and residential districts, though nothing that I would classify as a high rise building.

The highways out of town were typical of all the others I'd traveled along the Yucatan--multi-lane, well maintained, with light posts stationed every few hundred feet. Within no time we reached Progreso. Progreso, a city of about 100,000 people, is a port hub located on the gulf coast of the Yucatan peninsula. Apparently containing shallow waters, the city built a pier that is five miles long into the sea for ships. No cruise ship was present on the day we were there, although there appeared to be some freighters unloading shipments. At the seafront of the city was the malecon--the seafront street--and on the other side of the malecon was a fairly narrow strip of pale brown sand leading to the azure waters. There were few waves, and the water wasn't particularly clear, but it made for good shots. Opposite of the malecon were mainly restaurants and across the street onto the sand were tables with umbrellas for the restaurant patrons. Signs appeared to advise vendors to keep moving and not bother the guests, and sure enough, we never were approached by one--only restauranteurs inviting us to sit and eat with them.

We had Jose stop, and let us get out and walk. In no time sweat was coming out of every pore. Though there was a bit of a sea breeze, it did little to cool the 105 degree heat. While there were no gringo tourists that I could see, there were plenty of locals enjoying the water. None of them were lying out on the beaches: given their Mayan ancestry, they needed no tan, and more importantly, it was too hot. Men and women alike stayed in the water, often covered by shirts, trying to keep cool. Although I saw hotels advertised, I suspected most of the people here were either residents or lived nearby in Merida, because all they had with them were a few towels, a little bit of food and drink.

By the time we walked to the end of the malecon and back, I was soaked, and we were all hot. We got a few drinks at the Oxxo chain convenience store, and moved on. Next stop was the small village of Chelem, only about a ten minute drive away.

Chelem is nothing much more than a fishing village of about 20,000 people, with what appear to be numerous weekend vacation homes. Property here isn't expensive: you can buy a beachfront house starting at $80,000. Frankly, though, Chelem isn't much of a destination in itself, for a foreign tourist. It appeared to be mainly catering to weekend vacationers from the city. Homes were festively designed with signs showing the family names of their owners (presumably away during the week at work in the city), small, and tightly packed with no yards. Minimal maintenance, for maximum weekend enjoyment. There were also numerous seafood restaurants on the main highway.

We got out and walked the beach. Families packed in on the narrow beach and, once again, mostly waded out and played in the water.

After a bit of walking we got back in the taxi and went on to Chuburna, again probably only another ten minutes down the road. It's hard to describe why, but I liked this area better, and apparently I wasn't alone. While the village itself didn't appear bigger, there did seem to be more vacation homes, and there were far more people out in the water enjoying themselves. We pulled up to the beach and there appeared to be a condo hotel, although it wasn't clear if it was in use or not. I took off my shoes and walked along the shore with D and C, looking at the homes. Though all of the seafront we'd seen had a narrow shore, this one was the most narrow, and had appeared to suffer from erosion. The water lapped almost up to some of the houses, and sand bags were packed around some areas. Nonetheless, if I were a city dweller in Merida and wanted a weekend beach house, Chuburna would be high on my list.

From Chuburna, we went literally to the end of the road, just slightly out of town and found an almost-deserted wide expanse of beach. Were I wanting to come to the beach for the day and I lived around Merida, this area would likely be where I'd go. People parked their vehicles right on the sand. D and C didn't want to get out and walk any more in the heat, so I just took a few pictures

Merida, Day 1

2010-05-01T10:28:00.002-04:00

Saturday morning, 9:30 a.m.

We just finished a nice breakfast at a cafe across the street, and are waiting on our taxi at 10:00 to take us to the coast today.

Yestday was long, eventful and enjoyable. We flew out at 6:00 a.m. EST yesterday, with a brief stopover in Sarasota, arriving in Merida, Mexico by 10:00 a.m. local time.

We passed through a private immigration and customs easily, but then ended up waiting more than an hour while our pilot sorted out landing details, finally arriving at our hotel around 12:00.

Merida is a city of 800,000 people located on the Yucatan Peninsula, and is itself the capitol of Yucatan state. It is not located right on the coast, but is close, and is full of colonial-style architecture in various states of repair, disrepair and refurbishment. D and I had wanted to take this trip for some time, and so he invited me along when his plane became available. On this trip were D and C, his wife, the pilot P and his wife N. My wife couldn't come because of work obligations.

After arriving, we were all hungry and thirsty. My room wasn't ready so, after checking in, I left my bags in D's, and we all went out to eat. In mid-day sun, Merida was steaming hot--close to 100 degrees--though an unusually strong wind was blowing through.

We sat down at an outdoor restaurant, and ate traditional Yucatecan and Mayan food, which was different than standard "Mexican" fare found at home in restaurants. I had a dish with beans, Mayan pork and chicken, along with some salad. I ate everything but the salad, because I'm not comfortable eating uncooked vegetables in many Latin American countries. The food was good, and afterward we all felt better.

We all decided to walk around some more except for D, who wanted to go back to his room and rest. We walked around some more while the ladies shopped, and before long, sweat came out of every pore of my body, it seemed. We came back to the hotel around 3:00,and rested. I changed out of my jeans and sweaty shirt into a bathing suit, and relaxed at the little plunge pool for an hour or two. Eventually D and C came down and we hung out. We all decided to meet back up for dinner a little after 6.

We went out after 6 and ate, checking out a few restaurants around the numerous plazas, until finding one we liked. The food was good and we each had a marguerita, which was also good. From our restaurant we could people watch, and see the sun going down. Traffic in the city was quite noisy, congested and smelly, but eventually on the weekends certain parts of the old city are shut down for pedestrian traffic. After that, it was just walkers and horse-drawn buggies carrying tourists.

We walked around a few plazas, enjoying the sites, the people watching and the vendors. A few musicians played, and we stopped at one outdoor bar area to listen to a classical guitarist and singer. A few of the group had some more margueritas, and I just had a Coke Light, because I was getting tired. We ended the day around 10:00 local time (11:00 EST).

First impressions are overall good. The architecture is attractive, although there are dozens and hundreds of unrenovated colonial buildings, which helps explain why real estate prices for fixer-uppers are still fairly low here ($60,000). Merida has a well-deserved reputation as being very hot and humid. I don't like the amount of traffic around here either. However, it's obviously a university city too, which is nice, and the people seem very friendly.

Today D, C and I are taking a trip to the coast. P and N are taking a tour to swim in cenotes. More later.

Going to Merida

2010-04-17T19:19:00.003-04:00

I got invited by a friend to Merida a couple of weeks from now. It's a relatively quickly-planned trip, but the flight is already taken care of, as are the hotel rooms. A quicky early morning Friday flight to Merida, and then we're staying until mid-day Monday. First, the details:

Merida is a colonial city of approximately 800,000 people on the gulf side of the Yucatan Peninsula, in Mexico. Not actually on the coast, the city is the capital of the Yucatan and approximately 30 minutes away from the nearest seafront port of Progresso. Don and I had been talking for some time about visiting this city.

It's a convenient flight, reputed to have inexpensive colonial-era housing, and is supposed to be a safe city feeled with arts, food, and culture, so much that it's become a big expat destination.

Also, though not on the sea, many Meridians own beach houses at any of a number of the nearby seafront villages, because of their nearby proximity.

Unusually, for this trip, it's not going to be just me and my friend, but also his wife, and another couple. It's not clear yet how much we'll all spend time together. However, I'm typically in charge of setting things up, so I've tried to set up some activities that we could all do, or some of us do.

Friday:

Arrive at the Luz En Yucatan, a hotel in the historic centro district. Walk around and learn our way around.

Saturday:
Trip to the coast, hopefully to see Progresso, Chelem, and any other seafront towns along the way.

There is another colonial city (where all the buildings are painted yellow) called Izamal. It's known for its Catholic religious icons in its churches, as well.

If some in the group do not want to go to the coast, then this may be an alternative for them.

If, however, everyone wants to go on the beach trip, then there's a night trip to Ixtapa, by which we'd eat a meal in one of the restaurants, then tour the lighted city by night.

Sunday:

Stay close, tour the city.

Saturday and Sunday may be reversed, depending upon what's a better fit (i.e., if nothing's open in Merida on Sundays, then perhaps we'll go to the beach that day instead).

Monday:

Depart

A trip with my parents

2010-03-28T20:30:00.004-04:00

I've only taken one overseas trip with my (now 70-year-old) parents, and that was about four years ago. Although it started out a little rocky, as my dad had to make an adjustment to culture shock, it actually turned out rather well. In that trip, we took my parents to Belize, our perennial favorite, and so I was able to adequately play host over the course of a week.

My mother would like to take another trip and, while my father is not as excited to go as she is, he's indicated that if he is going to go somewhere, he'd like to try somewhere new. My parents actually have, in their retirement, a fairly busy domestic travel life, going often to the coast, and having also found a like minded group of three other couples of similar ages and background with whom they often take trips together.

I've suggested to my mother and my wife that we find at least a long weekend type of trip to go one, to get them somewhere different. I'm not sure where yet, but I figured I'd use this blog as sort of a sounding board to figure it out along the way. Here, then, are a few places I'd consider taking my parents for a long weekend.

1. Panama.
Pros:
--Very first world and would be within my parents' comfort zone;
--Not too far of a trip (usually a layover in Miami);
--My parents have wanted to see the Panama Canal.

Cons:
--My parents may have a culture shock since they don't speak Spanish;
--The trip, while not unduly long, is not a straight flight from Charlotte;
--It's hard to set up a trip for a long weekend--stay in one place or try a couple?

I know my parents would like to see the Panama Canal, and that all of my family would likely enjoy seeing Casco Viejo (the old quarter of the city). I'm not sure, however, what else about the city they'd enjoy--other than the shopping. The City itself is a really neat place, but I don't know that I'd want to stay there for the whole of our trip. But if we move about, we then eat up lots of time in transit. I've twice spent time out on Panama's Pacific Coast, and while it's nice, I don't know that my parents or my wife would find anything special about the resorts there.

I think all of my family would enjoy visiting the highlands of Panama, but that in itself is a long road trip or else a connecting flight. So my biggest hesitation about Panama is the same hesitation I have when I consider it as a week-long winter trip destination with my wife: a great place, with lots of great destinations, but I just can't conceive of how to fill up the time enjoyably with variety, while at the same time not running around too much.

2. Cartagena, Colombia:
Pros:
--Fairly close;
--The entire family would enjoy the colonial architecture;
--The city's sites would be the perfect fit for a long weekend trip.

Cons:
--Flights are sometimes expensive;
--Spanish-speaking (again);
--Flight costs are hit or miss (sometimes decent, sometimes expensive);
--Can be very hot.

I've only been to Cartagena once, but the most interesting part of the city (i.e., the walled historic district) was so manageable that I'd feel comfortable acting as a guide to my family. The food was great, the people were friendly, and I felt very safe. Three days would be plenty enough to see the the historic buildings, the shops, and to simply just enjoy our time. We could feel like we'd done all we'd wanted to do, yet not feel too rushed, but also not feel like we'd run out of things to do (like I did once on St. Kitts).

3. Montreal:
Pros:
--easy direct flight;
--low cost;
--exotic, yet not too much so

Cons:
--different language (though mitigated by the fact the country is bilingual;
--none of us have ever been (though fun for me, this also prevents me from being much of a guide).

I've for a long time wanted to travel up to Quebec, and to Montreal. It's been a long time since I've tried out my French language skills, and I've heard nothing but good things about Montreal and Quebec City. I don't know much about it, but that would give me a chance to bone up on the city while trying to prepare for a trip. As for costs, it would be one of the least costly in terms of airfare. Also, if we wanted to travel in, say, the summer or fall, the weather would be quite comfortable.

4. Ecuador
Pros:
--Exotic;
--Colonial architecture;
--Very inexpensive.

Cons:
--Long plane flights;
--Rough around the edges;
--Lots of driving involved.

I've wanted to visit the highland area of Ecuador, where I've never been, and I thought this, with its moderate temperatures and colonial cities, may be fun for my family. Unfortunately, they were a bit turned off by my previous stories about armed guards in Guayaquil, and I don't know that I can change their mind--though, to be fair, even my driver (who'd driven eight hours from Quito to be our guide for the week), was also very uncomfortable in Guayaquil. The flight last time was no piece of cake either, starting with a two hour trip to Miami, hours worth of delays (characteristic of both Miami and American Airlines), and then a four-hour trip to the equator, arriving at 2:00 a.m. Probably not the best long weekend to plan for my parents (or wife, for that matter).

Of the trips above, the most sensible ones would be to either Cartagena or Montreal. Montreal would be a very safe bet, and would offer temperate weather if we went in the summer. Flights are easy and inexpensive, and I'd get the experience of a new place. On the other hand, Cartagena would be a real treat for my family, I believe. I could show them around a bit, and they can say they've been to Colombia, which, for most Americans, still is off the beaten path.

Cheap versus value for money?

2010-03-07T12:46:00.002-05:00

There are an interesting couple of threads on the Ambergriscaye.com message board right now regarding whether Ambergris Caye is overpriced and whether it offers good value.

A recent traveler wrote in criticizing the island, its lack of choices, and ended with:

Wake up people, you are being screwed "Big Time". Belize is a 3rd world country with 1st world prices and a complete lack of choice.

That comment (and a related comment in a separate thread by the same author) generated a firestorm of comments and criticisms. Some ran from the predictable "don't let the door hit you on the way out," to comments that were more nuanced. To be sure, the Ambergris Caye forum contains some members who take perceived insults to their favorite island as personal affronts.

But is there some truth to what he says?

It is clear from my own travels to the island that costs have greatly increased in the past decade. I've visited the island more times than I can count (perhaps close to two dozen?), and probably know and enjoy this location better than any other I've visited. But in recent years, I've also traveled to other countries and islands, and enjoy sometimes comparing them to Ambergris. Here are a few of my thoughts about the current state of the island, from an outsider's perspective:

1. THE ISLAND OFFERS DIFFERENT ATTRACTIONS AND THUS ATTRACTS DIFFERENT TOURISTS THAN IT ONCE DID. Originally, the island was best known for its tranquility, fishing, snorkeling and diving. Many longtime residents couldn't even wear shoes because they'd spent their entire lives barefoot on the sand streets. With development comes additional attractions: motorized water sports, sky diving, sushi bars, french bakeries, and so many more things to do. Are the changes bad or good? All depends on who you are and what you like.

Do you want a laid back place, to quietly fish, swim or snorkel? A.C. may no longer be that--or at the least, there are probably better places for that. If you stay in town in San Pedro, swimming is not particularly pleasant (because of the seagrass and smell of boat fuel) or safe (because of the myriad of boats running through the waters). If I wanted to vacate for a week just to enjoy the tranquility, and the water and what it offered, I'd probably go 30 miles north of the island to Xcalak, Mexico. Same beach, same water, same reef. But it's a lot less expensive, more quiet and remote, and generally more "back to basics."

On the other hand, Xcalak accommodations rarely have air conditioning, there are few provisions or groceries in the village, and your choice of restaurants can be counted on one hand. If you want to do more than just relax on the beach, or enjoy what the sea has to offer--then Xcalak isn't enough for you, and Ambergris Caye has much more to offer.

2. DON'T DISCOUNT THE VALUE OF THE LANGUAGE. One easily underappreciated aspect of Ambergris Caye is the fact that English is universally spoken. Sounds simple enough, of course, but if you've never traveled to a foreign destination where you have trouble being understood, this is a bigger benefit than you might think. Not being able to understand or to be understood can definitely cause stress to vacationers or potential residents. I've traveled to numerous non-English locales, and inevitably my first day, I feel a little extra added strain when trying to communicate.

You can live cheaper in, say, Ecuador or Honduras, but are you willing to learn the language (or otherwise live a very sheltered English-only lifestyle)? If you're not good at learning languages (or just simply don't want to), then Ambergris definitely offers advantages that you wouldn't find, say, in my previous example of Xcalak, Mexico.

For me, I like languages, and trying to learn. While by no means proficient, I've picked up conversational Spanish by virtue of my travels, even now being able to sense some of the regional distinctions. As a place to live, I'd probably add a "plus" to any place where I can already speak the language--but that by itself wouldn't make my decision. And when considering a destination just for a vacation, I'd further discount the "common language" benefit. Again, that's just what works well for me (and my wife).

3. DOES AMBERGRIS CAYE OFFER VALUE FOR THE MONEY? Although A.C. is still my favorite island, I'm not sure it offers the value for the money that it once did. A real estate agent on the island offered a good post of his own distinguishing the fact that there is a difference between something being cheap and something offering value for the money.

What I tell my friends, when discussing traveling, is that the more you're willing to put up with, and the less creature comforts you need, the more easily you can find cheap vacation or expatriation locations. A couple of years ago, my buddy Don and I traveled to Ecuador, and really had a great time of it. The Pacific beaches were beautiful, the people laid back and friendly, and the cost of living was just dirt cheap. You could buy a luxury condo starting in the 40s, eat good meals for two or three dollars, and stay in five-star hotels for under $100 per night. Great, right? But along with that, I had to take serious anti-malarial preventions, put up with armed guards at my five-star hotel in the city, unsafe water to drink, and driving through villages so poor that passenger donkeys lie dead in the village still tied up to the tree where the owner had left them. All told, I still liked Ecuador on balance--but my wife wasn't willing to even try it. She would rather stay in a place that was a little more expensive, where it cost a little more to eat and drink--but not have to worry about armed guards and squalid poverty.

That being said, I sometimes question Ambergris Caye's value in these times. The island sometimes had its quirks--municipal water or power that sometimes went out, dirt streets that became quagmires in the rain, etc.--but these were just something that came along with a quiet, laid back and inexpensive lifestyle. Where else could you live on the Caribbean sea for so cheap?

Now, however, many of the condos being sold exceed $500,000 on the seafront--no longer cheap Caribbean prices--yet many of these condos are still serviced by rutted dirt roads and spotty utilities.

Ambergris Caye has seen a downturn in tourism in the past couple of years, owing in part to the economy, untimely swine flu fears, and--I would argue--the increasing prices.

For the island to reach an equilibrium in value, market forces (i.e. the consumers) will have to reach a consensus. Are individuals willing to pay the newly heightened prices? If so, I would argue, they will only do so on a continuing basis if the island's value catches up with the prices. The increasing number of restaurants, bars and things to do, of themselves, I would argue are not enough to add ALL of the value. The utilities, infrastructure and safety would need to catch up. In other words, if they want to charge first world prices, they will need to offer first world amenities.

On the other hand, if the island wants to "retain its charm" (whatever that means), keep things simpler, and still offer relatively low cost, its prices will likely have to come down. Ironically, the same glut of development to occur on the island in recent years may help create this price reduction, given the unbelievably large number of development units which have been built on the island. On my last trip (nine months ago), the majority of residential units and developments stood empty. If the prices are changed to reflect the oversupply and lower demand, the island may once again reach an equilibrium in value.

Dominican Republic Trip Report, Part 2 -- Casa de Campo

2010-02-14T18:52:00.005-05:00

The second and larger part of our trip to the Dominican Republic was spent in La Romana at Casa de Campo resort. On Sunday, we got up, packed our things, and waited in the reception area for our driver, Samuel to arrive at 11:00. He picked us up and we spent the next two hours driving through the Dominican countryside. To be sure, there were a few poor and no-so-picturesque areas, but most of the drive was actually very scenic. The towns we passed through were colorful and interesting, and the countryside was very pastoral.

We passed by the entrance to Casa de Campo to first go to the Jumbo Supermarket and pick up staples. Jumbo is larger than your average U.S. market, perhaps comparable to a scaled-down Super Wal-Mart, if that makes much sense. It was Sunday and the market was very crowded. It was a bit of a jolt to go from Cap Cana, where we practically had the place to ourselves, to this busy area. We got our things, then went inside to Casa de Campo, stopping first at the Villa Owners' area to get our guest cards. Though we were renting from a private owner, we still had to pay a daily fee to obtain a card. The card allowed us entrance to the pools and beaches, and also served as a sort of credit card for some, though not all, of the CDC restaurants.

There was a hitch with the computers, so after a half-hour wait, they told us to come back later. We made our way to our villa, unloaded, and by this point were tired, and, frankly, hot.

Our initial impression was honestly of a bit of a let-down. We'd stayed in a brand-new luxury development, with curbing, guttering, underground utilities, everything pristine. CDC, by contrast, showed that it was built in the 70s--the roads weren't as well graded, and they weren't curbed or guttered; and power lines strung overhead.

Our villa, also, was more modest than our last accommodation. The latter had been fully air-conditioned, a year old, and open and modern in every way. The villa, by contrast, was fairly small and humble, air conditioned only in the bedrooms, and the living area was quite hot mid-afternoon. To be fair to our landlord, the villa was exactly as represented, as was CDC--but I guess we at first felt like we'd been a bit spoiled at the previous development. We were both tired, hot, and a little irritable, and I felt like Gin wasn't happy here and would blame me for it.

I at first wondered what I'd do here for five days. But I convinced myself--and then my wife--that we were feeling the same adjustment pains that we'd felt a few days prior when first arriving in the D.R., and that given a good meal and rest, things would look different. We got our golf cart lined up so that we could drive everywhere, went back and picked up our visitors' cards, then went for dinner down at the Marina. Our meal was good, the walk on the marina was relaxing, and by the time we got back, our villa was much cooler. Furthermore, now that I was rested and had eaten, I realized our villa was actually quite nice. Things began looking back to right again.

The next morning, things began well. We went to CDC's nice fitness facility, had a great workout, and then, after showering and a late breakfast, we drove to visit Altos de Chavon. Altos was a replica of a middle-ages Italian village created, inexplicably, by the former president of the sugar company for his daughter in the 1970s. It now housed a museum of amber, high-end art and antique stores, as well as nice restaurants. Set up on a bluff, we had a great view of the Rio Chavon. We enjoyed our time up at Altos, which was accessible by golf cart (though it took some driving and help from a security guard to find).

After that, the days began to blend together in a pleasurable mix of play, relaxation, eating and exploration. Our villa was classified as a "tennis villa" because it was near the La Terazza Tennis Center. Many days we played tennis on the clay courts, enjoying watching the tennis pros teach and play, and watch the young ball boys earn some money by fetching balls. Each morning we did some sort of exercise--either the gym, tennis or running. Then we usually headed toward the water--either the beach or the pool.

The beach, as Caribbean beaches go, was frankly nothing to write home about. The development had built rock wall around a portion of it to create a safe swimming area. The visitors' card allowed you not only access, but towels and good seating. Though there were plenty of beach loungers with umbrellas, there were also sofa-bed type loungers with large shades, which is what we chose. On the beach there was a small bar and a restaurant, a place to rent water toys, as well as a small cabana where we could play pool or ping pong.

Similarly, the pool had private lounge beds that were shaded and could be curtained off, apparently contained wi-fi access, and had a swim-up bar.

With the pleasant breeze from the ocean, plenty of shade, and lots of interesting people to watch, we whiled away many hours near the water, doing some swimming, but lots of lounging.

Our evenings at Casa were spent eating at many of their numerous restaurants--all of which we enjoyed. Although I'd initially not been impressed with Casa, once I drove around I realized that we were staying at one of the humblest little villas in the area. There were lots of mansions and villas of all types, on golf courses, near the tennis courts, near the equestrian areas and on the water.

The development had diversions for every taste: water sports, shooting, polo and equestrian activities, sailing, biking, swimming, tennis and world-class golf.

The villa grew on us, by the way. It contained two screened porches--one shaded by foliage, and the other looking out over a yard with the sea in the distance. While the living area was not air-conditioned, the temperature was quite comfortable at all parts of the day except, perhaps during the heat of the mid-afternoon. But in the heat of the day, we were usually out doing something or, if inside, could retreat to the cool of the bedroom, which had cable television. The floors were cool traditional tile, and we were in a very quite neighborhood. Our landlord had inherited this villa, and I suspect it holds many pleasant memories for her.

My wife and I debated which locale was better. It was clear that our first accommodation was nicer. It was larger and brand new.

My wife preferred Cap Cana, because it was so new, pristine, and because we had the place to ourselves.

I, on the other hand, preferred Casa de Campo, because it was more established, with more eating and activity options.

We both agreed, however, that this trip was one of our best and, according to my wife, the Dominican Republic has been her favorite destination so far.

Dominican Republic Trip Report, Part 1

2010-02-13T14:43:00.004-05:00

My wife and I just got back from our somewhat annual warm weather trip, scheduled at the peak of cold season here in our state. This year, we went to the Dominican Republic, and while I usually spend every day painstakingly writing down the details of our trip, this one was different.

It's not that we were time-pressed on this trip (in fact, we spent two days longer than usual), or that we didn't have a good time (Gin says this was her favorite destination she's visited). This trip we simply spent more time relaxing, less time traveling, less time sightseeing and more time playing. We didn't visit anything historical, we didn't do anything particularly exotic or meet anyone extraordinarily interesting.

Instead, we spent lots of time just enjoying ourselves. Though we stayed in two different locations (more on that later), our days were relatively similar:

Mornings: exercise, consisting of running, a gym or tennis, though we did kayak late one morning down the Rio Chavon.

Days: spent mainly on the beach, lying in comfortable shaded recliners, occasionally swimming, doing lots of people watching, though one day was spent at a pool, and another was spent exploring the faux-Italian ruins of Altos de Chavon.

Evenings: some walking, tennis or exploring, then dinner somewhere different every night.

Not the most exciting vacation we've ever had, but one of the more enjoyable ones.

From a real estate and cultural standpoint, however, the trip was very interesting. We'd originally intended to stay our first few nights in Santo Domingo, and then drive two hours to La Romana, spending the rest of our time at Casa de Campo. When our transfer from Punta Cana was canceled, I looked for some last minute accommodations. We didn't want to stay at a typical all-inclusive P.C. resort, so I looked on vrbo.com and found a condo at Cap Cana (www.capcana.com).

Cap Cana, newly built and in fact still being developed, is a multi-purpose development who, my landlord told me, is positioning itself to be the "new" Casa de Campo. There is a hotel district, with high end hotels (the Ritz, Secrets, etc.), a Trump development, a beach club, golf villas, beach villas, a yacht marina with villas (where I stayed, in fact) and even a "racquet village" for racquet-sports enthusiasts (still in the construction stages).

We stayed in "La Marina," in a second floor condominium fronting the yacht marina. Our accommodations, and the entire marina development, in fact, appeared brand new, and I think in fact it might have just opened that year. In La Marina, there were perhaps five or six restaurants, a small deli/provision shop, about six high-end stores, a gym, hairdresser, three large pools with bars, and a private beach. Here, however, is where it gets a little more interesting. Though the development was open and fully underway, it was almost empty, save for the dozens of employees working throughout. So when we went to eat, our first night, at "Le Mitre," we were the only people in the restaurant, though it was staffed with a hostess, waiters, cooks and busboys. When we left, only one other family of three had come in.

We saw a few couples, and then a couple of guys who'd rented a unit, but that was about it. There were some downsides to this solitude. For one, though the development was fully outfitted, not everything was open. Thus at the marina shopping area, though all the shops bore inventory and signs purporting to be open at the time I was visiting, all but one of them were closed and dark.

Though the pools contained bars (both of the cabana and swim-up variety), none of them were actually staffed.

However, my wife and I both agreed that these few inconveniences were far-outweighed by the feeling that we had the run of the place. On the days we went to La Marina's beach, we were often the only ones there, sitting our items down just as a busboy ran out seeing us to put cushions down on our recliners for us. Want a pool? No problem, there were three large ones to choose from, most often all empty and for the taking.

At night we drove to other parts of the development to eat at restaurants in other locales. The restaurants were excellent, the crowds, more active than at La Marina, but still minimal.

When we left, the concierge (who'd greeted me the first day by asking me "what would be your pleasure") told me he hoped we'd return, because there were so few people for him to actually serve and interact with. Gin said she'd have been happy to spend the entire trip at this resort, doing very little and having the run of the place.

Alas, our time here was pretty short--we arrived on Thursday and on Sunday morning, were scheduled to leave for our main destination, Casa de Campo.

Mexico Trip Report -- Day 4

2009-12-27T20:33:00.003-05:00

We woke up on our last full day with no real plans. I went to the gym at 6:00, and we met for breakfast at 7:00. We agreed that the resort was nice, and decided to stay another day there. By the time we ate, relaxed, checked our email and (I) looked at local real estate online, we decided to visit the Tulum ruins. I thought we had to drive out back to 30 and go north to the next exit, but a hotel clerk showed us a quick drive down the local beach road. We drove past a few small resorts for a couple of kilometers until we reached an unmanned security gate. Parking our car, we walked in for about a 1/4 km until reaching a ticket center. Not many people were there and we realized that there was indeed an exit off the highway, but that we'd come in the less-traveled back way. We paid 51 pesos (less than $5.00), and made our way in.

The ruins were well excavated and maintained, not as big as ones we'd seen in Belize, but located right on the Caribbean Sea, a former Mayan sea port for trading. One of the ruins stood on a cliff overlooking the ocean, with a set of modern stairs leading down to a sandy beach below where a few people stripped down to bathing suits and swam.

We walked around for a little over an hour. By the time we finished, it had gotten hotter and many tourists in large groups (presumably from Cancun) had arrived.

We left and drove the few kilometers back up to Tulum Pueblo and parked. I wanted to find some souvenirs and gifts.

We walked up and down both sides of the main street. On the way up, I saw a small skull replica with all sorts of artwork etched into it. I didn't know the purpose of it, but the store owner tried to sell it to me. "You like? 800 pesos." I shook my head "no" and he made a signal with his hand, sticking eight fingers up, then closing four of them, signaling a price reduction to 400 pesos. I told him no, but I might return later.

I ended up buying a small handmade metal frog from an artisan's store, and that was it. On the way to our car, I walked by the store again. This time, a younger, similar-looking man (his son, I suppose) was with him. He also tried to sell the skull for 800 pesos. I shook my head non and told him it was very nice, but all I had was 200 pesos. He acted irate, showed me a sticker of a less ornately decorated skull for 450 pesos, and then told me he'd sell for 400 pesos. I told him 250. "250!" he acted outraged. "This is real skull. Bambino. Twelve years old." We finally agreed on 300 pesos. I threw in a top for my nephew without bargaining. The salesman, ever a negotiator, tried to keep my change and then, when I wouldn't let him, tried to negotiate how much of it I'd let him keep. I got my money and got out of there.

We ate a light lunch back at the resort. After a little rest, we drove down some back roads outside of town, then quit around mid-afternoon. We just returned, sat outside the pool, had some drinks and chips and chatted.

We once again had dinner at La Trattoria before calling it a night.

Day three, part 2

2009-12-27T20:11:00.003-05:00

After hearing about Lake Bacalar from two of our fellow guests, we decided to make that our next destination. It appeared that we'd drive back up the Xcalak road (60 km), and then go northwest on 301 toward Chetumal--total trip time, around 2.5 hours. The end result would be that the following day, we'd need to drive about five hours in order to spend our final night near Cancun.

The road to Bacalar, as the rest of 301, was very uneventful, not scenic, but easily traveled. As we approached the turnoff for Bacalar town, we saw Laguna Bacalar to our left--a beautiful lake of Caribbean colors, despite it being fresh water. It was beautiful and accurately portrayed its nickname as "Lake of Seven Colors." However, when we pulled into Bacalar town, we frankly weren't impressed. We pulled into the town plaza and walked around a bit. We saw a fort for which the town is known, but frankly didn't see much else of interest. We drove around for a while and finally decided that --though this would entail much more driving that day--we'd just drive back to Tulum and forgo staying in Bacalar.

I'd read warnings about driving at night in Mexico, including this area. Apparently, the danger is not so much crime but poor driving conditions and poor drivers. Indeed, it was not until heavy dusk that most turned on their car lights. We had to take a road detour through Felipe Carillo and endured some tailgating drivers in the nearby road construction, but otherwise we felt safe.

Once in Tulum, we made the decision to forgo the Pueblo-area hotels and headed for the beach, determined not to once again get stuck in an overpriced hotel. The first place we pulled into looked questionable. The parking lot was gravel, and we couldn't even see the hotel at night for trees. You had to get out of your car and walk along a wooded path to get to the hotel. We just didn't feel like doing it.

We turned around and went to the Hotel Blue Tulum, which looked to be very nice. It was gated, but a guard let us in. We learned it was a luxury all-inclusive resort. The desk clerk quoted us a high rate ($250 per person for separate rooms), but when we turned around to leave she changed it to $150 per person per room. We were going to stay at this luxury resort for the same price as at Teetotem, but with all included meals and oceanfront! We couldn't believe our luck. It was about 7:00, we were tired and hungry, and had driven way more hours than planned that day--but this resort made it all worthwhile.

Compared to the Cancun resorts, I'm sure Tulum Blue would be considered small--the eating area consisted of a buffet restaurant on the first floor, and two small specialty restaurants (Asian and Italian) on the second. The clerk made us an immediate reservation for La Trattoria, an a la carte Italian restaurant.

The water brought us some nice drinks, and as we ordered off the menu, we quickly relaxed and our moods improved. I had a beef carpaccio appetizer, followed by seafood soup, lasagna bolognese, and a desert whose name I forgot.

Afterward, we went to our respective rooms, laid out with marble and tiled trim, with hot tubs on each of our front decks. And just because I could, I ordered room service, sat in the hot tub, and relaxed before going to bed.

Mexico Travelogue, Day 3

2009-12-21T22:10:00.003-05:00

December 12, 2009:

I woke up early in part because of my early night to bed, but also because a group of fishermen begin exiting their cabanas, with banging doors, at about 5:00 a.m. to make the five-hour trip back to Cancun Airport.

Once light broke sufficiently, I swam out off the pier toward the reef. The water was cool but refreshing, and I swam for close to an hour.

About 7, Don and I ate a great breakfast of cantaloupe, watermelon, coffee, juices and pancakes.

The night before, Mike (a fellow temporarily helping manage the hotel) helped us line up a boat trip. We were going to take a five-hour boat trip, sightseeing and snorkeling--complete with lunch and a cooler full of bottled drinks. Were were going to cruise the backside of the Yucatan Peninsula, through the river and channel separating Belize and Mexico. Our total cost--$50 per person for the two of us.

We boarded our boat--a 20 footer--at about 8:00. Our driver was (like all of the other local employees) Xcalak born. He was very dark-skinned, with a shock of shaggy, graying hair. His English was about as limited as my Spanish.

We drove south to the village, and from the water, Xcalak looked larger than it had seemed while driving around. Within 15 or 20 minutes of starting, we reached the river, where a Navy patrol boat was located. By the time we'd reached the river, the sky had gone from barely cloudy to dark. Ramon asked us before entering the river if we wanted to go back, but we signaled we were ready to go so long as he was comfortable with the boating conditions. In no time the rain poured down on us and the waves out in the sea--even behind the reef-got choppy. Luckily we were in the river now, and we tucked in behind some mangroves.

After about 25 minutes, the rain stopped, We were soaked and chilly, but moved on down the river. We stopped at one spot where a rusted steam engine was sunk into a sandbar, then moved own, cruising down the river into Chetumal Bay and through the old channel cut by the Mayans separating Ambergris Caye from the rest of the Yucatan. At a point in the bay, Ramon pointed down to a dark hole in the clear water:

"Cenotes," he said. A good place to snorkel. Don and I put on our gear and jumped in. Near the cenote were some rocks where numerous tropical fish loomed; I swam around then swam down into the cenote. Cenotes are basically collapsed caves--they can be found above ground or under water.

This one wasn't very deep or wide. As I swam in, the water actually got warmer, and was swarming with fish. After about 20 minutes, we got back into the boat. On our way further up the bay, a wind blew in more dark clouds and it started raining again--this time harder and colder than the first. We once again tucked in, and though we were safe from the rough waves at sea, we were soaked and chilly.

After about 20 or 30 minutes, the rain stopped and we headed closer to sea when, near the mouth of the river, Ramon spotted Manatees. Huge mammals, they nonetheless were hard to spot--indistinct large gray objects--until they came up , barely breaking the water's surface to breathe. We kept watching and eventually spotted three moving around in the river near us. We took photos as best we could, hoping that the shapes in the dark water would show up.

We headed back out into the open sea, and Ramon took us near the reef to snorkel. I stayed in the water for about 20 minutes, swimming around coral heads and seeing all sorts of fish. After getting back in the boat, we ate a packed lunch of roast beef sandwiches. Ramon offered to take us to another snorkel spot, but it was almost noon and we were frankly tired. Plus, we decided that we would take off from Xcalak and hit another destination. We arrived back at the hotel a little after 12:00, showered, paid our bills and left.

Mexico Travelogue, Day 2

2009-12-19T19:24:00.005-05:00

December 12, 2009, 6:30 A.M. EST; 5:30 Local Time, Costa del Cocos Hotel, Xcalak.

Awake in an open air cabana, fan running, awakened as a bunch of fly fishermen leave early to return to Cancun.

Don and I both work up early yesterday. The hotel had bikes which were free to use, but nobody was up or available for about an hour. We just walked up the hotel's sundeck, Don and I talking while I did some exercises. At about 7:45 local time, a worker finally came, so we took the bikes and rode down the few km to the beach area, then rode around.

As we rode, we both agreed that we should've stayed down here at the beach (if the price were no more than at our current hotel), or else paid half or less to stay in one of the simple in-town hotels. Our hotel was small and designed to look modernist, and came close but didn't quite pull it off, instead reminding us of tropical hurricane belt concrete construction. No tv, and the "pool" was too small for two heterosexual men to want to wade in at the same time. But at least breakfast was included, so when we made our way back, we were ready to order.

Unfortunately, the "included" breakfast consisted of three pieces of toast, a half-wedge of cantaloupe, a thin slice of grapefruit, and juice or coffee. We ate, cleaned up, packed up and left before 10:00.

Gas stations can be few and far between, so we topped off in Tulum, and this day Don would drive. Outside of town, the road narrowed into a two-lane with large "pull-off" areas on each shoulder. The roads were overall very good, but frankly not scenic with just mile after mile of woodland. We passed through only one town of any real size -- Puerto Felipe Carillo, which roughly marked our halfway point for the day, then through the small village of Limones. Neither appeared to have much to see. Finally, after about three hours, we saw the turnoff for Mahuahal and Xcalak. I'd ready that Mahuahal had one of the only cruise ship ports in the area.

We pulled into the port area, and saw dozens of tightly packed villas at the front of the road (presumably for workers), then nothing much until at the water there was a dock, a cruise ship, and then a few cruise ship village buildings--such as a Hard Rock Cafe. There really wasn't much here, and it looked like they'd built something out of nothing in the hopes that people would come. We weren't allowed into the actual port--that was for cruisers only, so turned around and went to town.

Mahuahal town, however, was a pretty neat place. As we drove down a side road, young boys kept motioning us with menus to turn into their driveway for restaurants. We pulled into one, and pulled right behind a girl hanging out laundry in the back where the family lived. In the front, however, was a great restaurant, a malecon (seafront pedestrian road) and chairs, umbrellas and palapas on a white sandy beach.

We sat down. I ordered grilled shrimp, and just people watched. Every few minutes someone came up to sell us something--a woman trying to give massages, a man selling necklaces, kids selling bags of popcorn. They weren't aggressive. A few tourists lounged in chairs or in restaurants, but mostly the locals--who all appeared in one way or the other to be connected to tourism, just sat and looked bored.

Our waiter, Anthony, said that tourism was very slow for this time of year. In the distance, perhaps a mile or more away down the coast, a large cruise ship was in port. The cruise trippers, however, hadn't made their way to the town. After we ate, we walked along the malecon for a while, keeping our heads down and saying "No Gracias" to the people offering us jewelry, cigars, drinks and everything else. I saw nothing different for sale than what I'd seen in Tulum, and I didn't expect the prices to be cheaper in a cruise port.

After eating, we got back on the road and, backtracking a few kilometers, took the road to Xcalak--60 kilometers left. Now the road was purely two-lane and narrow, and vegetation grew so thick along the road side that it had narrowed the drivable width of the road, sometimes brushing our car as we went past. During the whole 60 km drive, we passed three vehicles. After about an hour, we turned off, and rode a couple km more over swamp land until we saw the sign for Xcalak. we passed by a few old shacks and concrete buildings a couple of times, looking for the town, until we realized we were there. In person, the village was even smaller than I'd guessed from pictures.

Xcalak, separated from Ambergris Caye Belize by only a channel put me in mind of what Ambergris Caye probably looked like a few decades ago, before tourism. The beach, like A.C., was narrow, white, with aqua blue water darkened by sea grass. We drove a little farther out of town north, where we'd seen signs advertising hotels, and stopped at Costa del Cocos. As we pulled in, we met a fellow dripping wet in a swimsuit. He introduced himself as Mike, and said he was working at the hotel and had just come back from snorkeling at the reef (a half-mile offshore). We discussed rates, and Mike offered something slightly better than the rack rates--but much better than the rates of the previous night. We viewed our cabanas and accepted.

The resort is made up of about 18 cabanas on a large tract of sandy land, a main "house" holding a restaurant and bar, and an old weathered pier. The construction was wooden and simple, the resort powered by solar power and windmills, which meant our cabanas had no tv or air conditioning. Given the strong breeze coming off the water, however, air conditioning wasn't necessary at night. The hotel, like many in the area, designated itself as eco-friendly, which it probably was, but was designed so more for practical reasons than theoretical ones. Xcalak town had only received full-time electricity about a year ago.

The resort catered mainly to fishermen and divers, offered a full-service restaurant, and breakfast was included in our price. We unpacked, then changed into bathing suits and went swimming off the pier until dark. After cleaning up, we ate at the resort. I had a dish of fish caught that day, and it was very good. At supper, we met a 40ish couple (Jim and Belle) touring around Central America. She was originally from Jacksonville, Florida, but had lived in Guatemala for 20 years. Jim had retired early from a corporate job in Chicago. They'd met a month and a half earlier, on extended travels, and took up traveling together.

Even though we got back from our meal by 8:00 p.m., we both went to our separate cabanas and just crashed. I wasn't used to life without air conditioning, but with the open air slats, the cool sea breeze through screened windows, and my overhead fan, I fell asleep soundly. We'd spent half the day on the road and I was tired.

Pictures above:

1. Seafront at Costa del Cocos.
2. View from our seafront restaurant.
3. The empty streets of Mahuahal.

Trip Report, Yucatan Mexico, Day 1

2009-12-19T18:46:00.003-05:00

My travel buddy Don and I took our annual sightseeing trip again last week. The destination for this year was Mexico. Don and I both wanted to see Xcalak, a small fishing village just north across the border of Ambergris Caye. So close, yet so far away--boat rides from Ambergris to Xcalak were difficult to come by and expensive ($500 round trip). We flew in to Cancun and decided to drive around the Yucatan, with no prearranged hotels and no itinerary. The more we travel, the more we both realize we like a little bit of adventure in our lives.

Day 1:

8:50 EST, 7:50 PM Local Time, Tulum Mexico. Hotel Teetotem.

Hot and tired, it's been a long day. I'm sitting in my room at the Hotel Teetotem in Tulum, a couple hours' drive outside of Cancun, trying to check my 50 work emails via phone.

Our goal this trip is to travel down the Yucatan Peninsula, until we reach the end at Xcalak, where only a narrow Mayan-cut channel separates the Yucatan from Ambergris Caye, Belize.

We considered driving straight from Cancun to Xcalak today, but (rightly) decided ahead of tine that it'd be too ambitious. Our flight left late, was slow in the air, and didn't arrive until 12:00 local time (1:00 EST). Immigration and Customs were very slow, and we spent more than an hour in there. Finally, we exchanged money, met our rental car contact (American Car Rental), took a shuttle to the car place and filled out the necessary paperwork--probably another 45 minutes.

All told, we didn't pull out with our car until about 2:00 local time. We rented a Jeep Cherokee-type vehicle, automatic, frigid air conditioning, and we finally were on the road. I was a little nervous driving in a foreign country, but after a while relaxed and started to enjoy the sightseeing. The road itself was pretty easy, Highway 307, basically the coastal road that goes almost all the way down the Yucatan Peninsula. For this part of the trip it was all four-lane and pretty easy driving.

While I didn't go through Cancun proper, I can't help but think that if this is the only foreign country destination an American has been to, he's not done much. We passed by McDonalds, 7-11s, Burger Kings and Sam's Clubs. All signs near Cancun were in English and Spanish.

After we cleared the city, we saw nothing much but highway and trees, interrupted occasionally by a magnificent facade advertising some huge resort.

About 30-45 minutes later, we hit Playa del Carmen, another resort city that, best I can tell, is geared more to long-term expat living than to visitors. Playa has apparently experienced in recent years a building boom. Traffic was slow as we had to navigate around road construction; most of the stores I saw on the major highway were home furnishings and home goods stores.

I'd initially hoped this drive on the first night to be a leisurely jaunt, perhaps stopping in a couple villages along the way, maybe eating in one, but time was getting late and I wanted to have a hotel by nightfall. The travel guides warned against driving at night--not so much for crime but just dangerous traffic.

As we drove, we passed interesting processions of joggers (usually one, sometimes two) holding a torch, with trucks blaring loud music and festooned with multiple colors and a picture of what I thought was the Virgin Mary. Don, whose wife is Roman Catholic, said this is actually "Our Lady of Guadeloupe," and that we'd hit a time that was apparently a big celebration for this.

We stopped outside of Playa at a gas station, picked up some snacks, and ate a couple tacos from an outdoor restaurant attached to the gas station, then made our way on.

We reached Tulum around 4:00 and agreed this would be our stop tonight. Tulum, for tourist purposes, is broken into two areas: the beach area, and Tulum Pueblo (the city area) which are a few kilometers apart. After driving along the beach area, we opted for town because that was where the action was. We drove back to the town, and saw some hostels and small hotels on the main drag. However, I couldn't find a place to park. Dusk was coming, I was tired, and so we decided to drive to a hotel we'd seen on the road to the beach that was a few blocks out of the main drag in town.

We pulled into the Hotel Teetotem, a place I'd read about online, and inquired about rooms. They had availability for two separate rooms. The price they quoted us was extremely high. I didn't like it, but I was too tired, and so we took them. The hotel was designed to be modernist chic, with a bar, restaurant, pool and second-floor deck. Our rooms had modernist decorations, concrete flooring and an Ipod docking station. But truthfully, it all felt overpriced. We paid about twice as much as we should have.

We set our bags down in our rooms, cut on our air conditioners, and headed back out to town walking. While it didn't look like a long hike, we probably were actually a half mile or more from the main street that Highway 307 ran through.

Downtown, there were loads of good restaurants, as well as all kinds of semi-kitschy stores selling souvenirs. We settled for a narrow little whole in the wall. Don ordered Argentinian-style steak and a margarita; I had a burger and a couple of mojitos. I know, I know, burger sounds pretty plain, but I love the taste of the grass-fed beef in a lot of central American countries, so it's really a nice change. We people watched a lot while eating. The people I saw and the town reminded me a bit of Montanita, Ecuador--a town in transition between tourist and traditional, striking a balance. On the main street and the beach, everything was tourist. But one block off the main street, and the roads were dirt again, the houses for local people.

Unlike Montanita, however, which is filled mainly with backpackers in their 20s, this town had both young and old tourists, though they appeared to be couples rather than in groups. After we eat, I buy Gin something to hang in our house, and we call it a night and go back.

All I want for Christmas

2009-12-05T15:58:00.002-05:00

Stepping away this week from the typical topics of overseas investment and going back to the first part of my blog's title (international travel), I thought it might be fun to create a list of places I'd like to visit in the upcoming year. Though I don't have the time or money to hit all five in one year, the chance to go to any one place would be a great Christmas present! Here they are, in no particular order:

1. Northeast Brazil:
Why I want to go: cheap Caribbean real estate.
Who I'd want to go with: either my wife or my travel buddy Don.
What's keeping me from going: long flights, expensive tickets.

I've been wanting to go to the Fortaleza area of Belize for a couple of years now. My wife is not excited about going because she pictures the beaches being full of topless and scantily clad women. It's hard for my buddy and me to go because the ticket price ($1,000 plus) and travel time (on average at least 12 hours) makes the trip not worthwhile unless we can go for a whole week.

I want to go look at what is reputed to be up and coming real estate, geared not toward the North American market but toward the in-house Brazilian market.

2. Thailand and Vietnam:
Why I want to go: just to see another exotic tropical area with a culture much different than anything I've seen to this point.
Who I'd want to go with: my travel buddy.
What's keeping me from going: long flights.

A Vietnamese client tells me that to him it's not worth coming to his part of the world unless you have at least three weeks, given the long travel time and jet lag. I could perhaps afford the price of the ticket but not the time cost of being gone so long.

Yeah, I know, two guys, by themselves, going to Thailand, I'm sure we'll be hit up by a hustler or twelve thinking we're just another couple of sex tourists, but when that happened in Cartagena Colombia, we just shrugged them off until they left us alone.

I'd like to see the beaches I've heard so much about, as well as the cheap standard of living. For people who've never been to a third-world country that has good infrastructure, the ability to live to a higher standard than home for much less money than it costs to live a regular lifestyle back home is intoxicating!

3. Corn Islands, Nicaragua:
Why I want to go: I'm on the search for another laid back Caribbean island on the cheap.
Who I'd want to go with: my wife.
What's keeping me from going: nothing really.

There's alot about Big Corn Island and Little Corn Island that attract themselves to me. First, unlike most of my destinations, these are relatively accessible. I hop a plane to Miami, then take a short flight to Managua, and I'm almost there.

Second, although I love Ambergris Caye in Belize, I'd like to find another island that offers much of the same beauty, but with less infrastructure and at a lower cost.

Third, for me, I love learning about Geography and Culture, and I've always been intrigued about this area of the Miskito Coast where the natives, separated from the rest of Nicaragua by lack of infrastructure, still speak English in an otherwise Spanish-speaking country.

4. Uruguay:

Why I want to go: Old Europe style in the heart of South America.
Who I'd want to go with: my travel buddy or my wife.
What's keeping me from going: long, expensive flights.

Uruguay has kept quietly to itself for about all of this century, though it has been more recently popping up in some overseas living magazines as an emerging destination.

Its long flight time (at least 14 hours) and current expense (usually from $1,200 to $1,400) keep this from being one of the "long weekend" exploration trips that my buddy and I take annually. These same problems, as well as the fact that I can't explain to my wife exactly what we'd do if we spent a week in the winter there have made it difficult to find any takers.

But Montevideo has centuries-old architecture, as well as day-trip proximity to Buenos Aires. Punta del Este has long been a beach playground of South America's rich and famous. Plus, situated latitudinally opposite to North Carolina, Uruguay, while not tropical, makes a great place to visit in January or February--the height of summer.

5. Northeast Ecuador:
Why I want to go: to see the northern coast of Ecuador past Manta, and to visit mountain areas such as Quito and Cotacachi.
Who I'd want to go with: my travel buddy.
What's keeping me from going: just haven't made it there yet.

Don and I traveled to Ecuador a couple of years ago and went as far up the coast as we could go. We intended to make it all the way to Canoa before turning around, but just ran out of time at Manta. We'd like to go back and visit Canoa, San Clemente and Atacames, as well as some of the mountain towns.

In addition to the inexpensive real estate and cost of living, Ecuador offers, at different times, adventure, beauty, and to date some of the most exotic times I've ever spent on a trip.

Unlike, Uruguay, which has a white ethnic make-up, or Brazil, which is mulatta mix, Ecuador's ethnic make-up is primarily indigenous, and many of its citizens in the mountains have retained much of their native culture.

What if you could make a travel list for Christmas--what would it be? Where would you go? What's stopping you now?

Ambergris Caye Condos, Part 2--rental

2009-11-28T16:04:00.002-05:00

I've made reference before to some of the downsides of purchasing a condo unit on Ambergris Caye. However, given events of the past couple of months, I thought I'd touch in more detail on purchasing a condo on the island specifically to rent out. There are three general cautions I would give anyone who's looking to purchase a condo on the island with an eye toward profitably renting it:

1. You're unlikely to reach a great cashflow yield. Chris covered this well in his post (Part 1): if you buy in a well-run complex, you'll do well to get your costs of running (management, condo association fees and utility fees) paid; don't even think of trying to finance a condo and let rental cover your payments. While there may be many reasons for this low rental yield, I'd attribute at least part of this to the oversupply of condo rental units on the island, as I've stated before. Therefore, if you're looking at an Ambergris Caye condo as a pure cashflow investment, you're likely to be disappointed.

2. What happens if you're forced not to rent your condo? This is an issue foreign to most North American buyers, but it appears that on the island, the actual complex or the condo management company holds the hotelier's license allowing the units to be rented. From what I understand, if the management company holds the license, individual unit owners cannot get one. Things work great so long as the management and owners get along, but what happens when they don't? In some cases, the management company has shut down rentals, meaning that while the owners can use their on properties, they no longer may legally rent out their units on the open market to vacationers. I know of, right now, at least three resorts where--for whatever reason--management has shut down rentals of the condos. Now these individuals, unless they try to evade the law, have a unit that will sit empty except for personal use. As might be expected, in these complexes, condo prices have dropped quite a bit. As a sidenote, if one were looking at a complex to purchase for pure use, obviously cheap prices can be had.

3. The management companies are a real chokepoint. The bigger picture of condo rentals on the island show that the management company can possibly have a real chokehold on condo units. Not only could a company shut down the rental of your unit, but it has--more I believe than in the U.S. where an association controls the fees--more sway over monthly costs and expenses, as well as the marketing of your units.

Kenneth and Virginia Krohn, owners and managers of a small condo resort on the island, once told me, when discussing a couple of their units for sale, that you should buy in their complex for personal use and enjoyment. They specifically did not believe that the condos would make a great investment with a large yield over time.

If you're coming to the island, be realistic about your possibilities of profit when purchasing a condo.

Ambergris Caye Condos, Part 1

2009-11-28T16:00:00.003-05:00

I'd intended to write a short piece specifically about Ambergris Caye condo rental this week. A day ago, however, Chris Allnat at Pelican Properties Limited on Ambergris Caye posted a nice short article on the Ambergris Caye message board about things to look for when purchasing a condo on the island. While his focus was different than mine, it is very informative and the two pieces go well together. Here, with Chris' permission, is his posting:

High season is just around the corner....lots of you will be coming to the island for the first time, will fall in love and will want to invest, many in condos or developments. Here's some advice for you.
1. Pre-construction/Pre-completion: (this applies to any development where there might be completed condos or villas but the whole development isn't yet completed)
Don't buy that pre-construction or pre-completed condo or villa if:
(a) There's no city electricity to the development.
(b) The developer has net income projections of 12% of purchase price per annum or more. He's lying.
(c) Ownership is by corporate share issue/co-op rather than title. In this day and age on Ambergris Caye there is no reason for new developments not to be issuing free and clear title.
(d) Access is by boat only....that trip to town to get eggs and check the mail will get awfully old awfully quickly.
(e) Construction seems to have stalled or there's a very limited crew on duty when you view the development during a weekday. This is a BAD sign.

2. Completed Condos/Villas (this applies to finished developments/used condos)
Don't buy that completed condo or villa if:
(a) There's no city electricity to the development.
(b) Access is by boat only.
(c) You really need great rental income in order to pay the note, condo fees AND put money in your pocket (it's not gonna happen). Rental income in a GREAT development will pay the condo fees, insurance, maintenance and part of the note. (In a rubbish pre construction/pre completion development there won't be much rental income at all....in fact you'll probably be paying out of pocket for the awful management company that the shady developer set up under his ownership...in fact the rubbish pre-construction/pre-completion development will likely never be finished).
(d) The development is bank owned and condo fees have been raised drastically in the past year.

Under construction/pre-construction developments you can trust:
Just about any that can pass the entire checklist above. DO NOT BUY otherwise.

If you are new to the island feel free to PM me if you would like a list of developments and developers who are top-notch and can be trusted.

Book Review -- Passport to Exotic Real Estate, by Steve Bergsman

2009-11-22T20:10:00.002-05:00

Any book about international real estate investing interests me, and so I was interested to learn about "Passport to Exotic Real Estate," by Steve Bergsman. Bergsman, a real estate, travel and financial writer, has combined his different talents to focus in this book on international real estate investing. I'm halfway through the book, jumping around to different locales that interested me most.

I've read a lot of books about overseas property investing, and this one is different than the other. First, the book is geared toward a primarily American audience, whereas most other popular books in this genre are written for either a British audience or, if on this side of the pond, a more generically North American (U.S. and Canadian) audience. It's this distinction that makes his book unique and at the same time idiosyncratic.

Bergsman appears to focus on areas that he believes offer some extra conveniences or benefits for Americans. The areas of his focus are either very close to the United States (such as the Dominican Republic or Panama) or else are part of the United States (such as Alaska, Hawaii, American Samoa and even Saipan).

The areas are very eclectic, and I wonder if they were chosen less for any particular desirability and more for the personal experiences of the author. Granted, every chapter I've read contains personal anecdotes of his visits. But they don't contain any real unifying thread other than the fact that, for Americans, the properties are either close, or somehow connected to the United States.

As practical matters, the reader learns less about the practicalities of living and buying in a locale (What are construction costs? What are the costs of living there?) and more about the quirks of real estate in the area (such as the native-restricted rules in some of the Pacific U.S. territories--making it very difficult for non-natives to buy).

If you're interested in focusing on something exotic yet still in the U.S.--Guam, Saipan, Hawaii or American Samoa, for example--then this book may give you some ideas. If, however, you're looking for more detailed descriptions of living and purchasing in a given locale, the book falls a little short.

Would I recommend the book? Yes. It's opened my mind to new locales, and it's a fun read. It is clear that every area written by Bergsman is an area he has researched well.

Real Estate White Elephants

2009-11-08T18:24:00.004-05:00

In the current climate of international real estate investing, more and more properties can be had cheaply, but conversely (and paradoxically) more properties are becoming too expensive to own. Sometimes, the cheapest properties to buy have become the most expensive properties to own. I term these properties "White Elephants."

Wikipedia defines a "white elephant" as "a valuable possession of which its owner cannot dispose and whose cost (particularly cost of upkeep) is out of proportion to its usefulness or worth."

As developments and developers flounder, more and more properties are coming on to the market at reduced costs. Banks are unloading inventory, half-finished spec houses and developments are being dumped, and for the buyer it appears to be his market right now.

And, for the right property, for the right purposes, for the right buyer, there are certainly deals to be had. But be wary of cheap properties, many of which come with high long-term costs.

I've got a casual interest in purchasing a small property in Florida. Though the details don't matter, I searched online for properties near cities with non-stop flights, year-round warm temperatures, that had tennis facilities. Very quickly I began to find nice condominium units in good locations. In an hour's search, I'd already found units with list prices of $95,000 in country clubs--relatively cheap, no?

But in the listing details, I learned that the taxes on the property, together with homeowners'/condo fees, insurance and maintenance cost about $7,500 per year--or 8-9% of the list price. Put another way, with the passage of a decade, you'd have bought the unit twice with all the extra costs!

During the boom times, while we could tell ourselves that the cost of ownership of a property might be less than the cost of renting (doubtful in most cases) or that we could create a positive cashflow (also difficult with vacation properties), the truth was, the rising tide of property appreciation is what allowed many of us to capture wealth despite ourselves. Now that property appreciation has at least temporarily abated, and while now depreciation is the norm, successfully investing in a property now is more difficult.

Are you investing purely for personal/fun/enjoyment? Absolutely fine, so long as you can afford it, now is a great time to buy something you already wanted to buy. And there's nothing wrong with buying for longer term appreciation (because property values at some time will return I believe) or for cash flow. But if you end up buying a white elephant, your costs may effectively prevent you from having a positive cashflow or from ever creating enough appreciation to walk away with a gain.

Using my Florida tennis condo example, let's say I bought the condo for $85,000 (under asking price), held it for 10 years, and sold it for $170,000. Not bad, right?

Let's take the numbers, though:

$85,000 purchase price. Add to that $3,000 in closing costs--perhaps less if I pay all cash, a little more if I borrow money. Now I've got $88,000 in the property.

After ten years, I've also got $75,000 worth of taxes and fees I've paid.. In ten years, my costs in the property total to $163,000.. So, ten years later, I sold the condo for $170,000.00, and cleared a grand profit of $7,000! Thinking through this, it becomes obvious that there are much easier ways to earn better returns.

Worse yet, my example was simplistic. I'm not taking into account the interest costs of if I'd borrowed the money. The taxes and fees would likely increase over time, and I didn't figure utility costs into the equation. Worst of all, given the current state and glut of planned unit developments, it is not at all a given that condo units will be able to see a 100 percent appreciation in the next ten years. It is far more likely that (1) these costs would be higher than I projected and (2) the sales price would be lower than I projected. It is easy to see, therefore, than with planned units such as the one above, my eventual sale of the property is more likely to come at a loss rather than a profit.

There are other potential risks that come with these white elephants. Because their continued value and use depend in part on keeping up the planned community, when the market sags or involves unbought inventory, then operating costs either have to increase or the quality of the community decreases.

On Ambergris Caye, even during the boom times my friend and I commented that the rate of building seemed to far outstrip demand. In addition, most of this building consisted of condominium projects or, if free-standing houses, were villas in planned developments with common property. Already, in Ambergris Caye, property prices have sunk, and my friend thinks that Belize is two years behind the U.S. in its market downturn, so if you agree with him, more is to follow.

I recently saw a small condo whose owner had cut its asking price numerous times, and I considered briefly making an offer even 50% less than his current asking price. But after considering the carrying costs, the lack of demand (this was a lower end unit that most likely would only rent long-term to either local workers or gringos on a budget), the low cash flow, the low likelihood of resale and the continuing glut, even the small price I projected would end up being eclipsed in a few years by the continuing costs of ownership.

How, then, can one evaluate a property to determine he isn't buying a white elephant? There are no formulas, but at the very least, determine the annual cost of ownership, as well as the property's place in a development scheme. Is the property's annual costs a higher than normal percentage of its price? If half the units go unsold, what will happen to the community fees? Will they rise? Will they stay the same, but the quality of the development suffer? In the long run, can you make money from this property? All things to consider in these very unusual times.

International Living Magazine

2009-10-17T14:38:00.003-04:00

Folks who've read this blog for some period of time may remember that I used to be fairly critical of International Living Magazine. A smallish-sized publication, it had initially whetted my appetite for overseas property and travel. However, after purchasing some of its sister publications or services, I'd begun to feel like I'd overpaid and frankly wasn't getting good value anymore. I'd been particularly unhappy with a very expensive real estate purchaser's subscription service that published fewer and fewer posts until it inexplicably stopped--even though I'd paid a large amount for one year's subscription. I'd also been unhappy with the even thinner specialized magazine entitled "Panama Living."

Also, I had become quite skeptical of the magazine's real estate articles and advice. I would read an article breathlessly extolling the virtues of a certain coast of Central America, and then see an advertisement later for a development created on that coast in which IL's principals were involved. Often, when the magazine wrote about developers and developments, it later disclosed that it held some financial stake in sending business to that development (whether a finder's fee or commission).

The magazine seemed to have become a bit of a tout for its principals' moneymaking desires, and I'd come to question its reliability.

Roughly around that same time that I became dissatisfied, for reasons unknown to me, there appeared to be a wholesale shakeup with the folks at IL. While the publisher remains the same, the editorial staff and many of the contributors changed over. The previous editor and husband (who'd been behind the ill-fated real estate advisory report) left, eventually to start their own publication, and in their place two contributing editors took over.

While reading the latest edition of the magazine, it occurred to me that, slowly, over the last year or two, the magazine has dramatically improved and has really increased its value. This improvement can be seen not only in the layout and design (which changed from a newsprint-like newsletter to a semi-glossy, albeit thin, more magazine-style layout), but also the pure substance.

The magazine focuses much less on overseas developments and developers, and more on particular areas and the deals that can be found within those areas regardless of the development. The contributors tend to be living the lives they are espousing, such as Dan and Suzan, who split their time between Mexico and Cotacachi, Ecuador, or Lee Harrison, who has chronicled his journeys through Ecuador, then Uruguay, and now northeast Brazil.

I've spent money on some of IL's seminars, and frankly find it money well spent. While not cheap (from $150-$250), the seminar packages consist of 20-40 downloadable seminars recorded live, which, if attending, would usually cost more than $1,000.

This morning, I received an email requesting me to fill out a survey from International Living designed to tell them what I would like to see improved about their magazine. My response? Just more of it.

If you're interested in reading the free content this magazine provides, go to:

www.internationalliving.com

Is international real estate on the upswing?

2009-10-03T19:09:00.002-04:00

I've been reading articles lately which indicate a possible step up for international real estate. According to some international property real estate salespeople, overseas property is on an upswing.

Not so fast, I would say. Two of the things that could happen in this market are increased sales volume and increased sales price. While perhaps there is an increase in the volume of sales (and I'm not agreeing there is), I see nothing indicating that the sales prices are recovering--or even leveling off.

The overseas property market for North Americans consists primarily of Central America and the Caribbean, then to a lesser extent, Europe and South America. Most of the markets are more developing than the market of the purchaser, with fewer financing options other than high-money-down, high-interest owner financing (and limited bank financing that is often even more stringent). Therefore, most overseas buyers have to rely largely on assets at home rather than financing on-site to make their purchase.

On the surface, this fact could tend to show that purchases overseas are more stable, because they're made more with "real money" than home purchases made, say, in the United States leading up to the financial crisis. The reality, however, is that many overseas purchasers funded their buy through financing in North America. When their homes just kept registering increased equity year after year, it was no problem for many to get a second mortgage to pay for their second home. Now, however, that the equity has reversed, and many are having problems paying their existing loans, they need to sell their overseas property to help pay down their debt.

Most developing markets do not have multi-listing systems or any reliable free-flow of information to determine sales volume or average sales prices, so in these markets all you have to go by is the asking prices--which are themselves notoriously unreliable. However, you can at least ASSUME that most sellers will at the very least accept their asking price--in other words, they may except a little less, or a lot less, but at the very least, they'll accept the asking price if it is offered. Therefore, if the asking prices of properties drop from previous years, then that is a good sign that the sales prices are likewise dropping.

In the markets with which I am familiar (portions of Belize and, to a lesser extent, Panama and bits of Ecuador), asking prices have indeed dropped.

Ambergris Caye real estate sites, for example, are showing one-bedroom beachfront condo resales for as little as $115,000, prices I personally haven't seen in a few years. Interestingly, the real estate asking prices have not dropped as low. Condos and apartments are typically rented out for income by their owners to cover operating costs and hopefully generate cash flow. Land, of course, is nothing but a cost until it is sold. One explanation for the price drop differential could be that land owners can more easily afford to hold to their property than condo owners. After all, the landowner new that the lot he purchased could not make him any money while he owned it, and hopefully factored that into his financial decision. However, many condo owners relied on positive cash flow to keep up with their operating costs and perhaps even their second mortgage back home. When the crisis impinged on their cash flow, they may be more motivated to sell.

From my own experience transacting foreclosures, I think we have a long time to go in the U.S. before real estate prices start to stabilize or rise. I simply see too much foreclosure inventory being resold at cut rate prices for their to be any upswing in market price soon--there's still too much inventory to be flushed through the system. If, as I believe, a lot of overseas purchases by North Americans were made possible in part by the leveraging of home assets, then by extension the overseas market is not ready to make a comeback--and may even lag further behind the North American real estate recovery.

My thought: perhaps wait until North America is fully into a real estate upswing before looking for the best deals overseas.

Are Panama City's costs realistic?

2009-09-12T13:45:00.002-04:00

I've been paying more attention to Panama recently, and specifically, Panama City. A few years ago, I made two trips within the span of a half-year, and came away at that time very impressed with the country and its capitol city. The country had overall good infrastructure, a good market economy, access to North American-style consumer goods via the canal, and real estate prices that at the time were quite reasonable.

At the time, however, I was looking more for vacation destinations or places to make small land investments. As for the former issue, I just couldn't get my wife enthusiastic about going, mainly because of the lack of a straight flight. As for the latter issue, I just couldn't find raw land like I wanted that was inexpensive enough for me to afford.

At the time, in Panama City, the market was hot for condos, specifically pre-construction deals. I recall seeing 1200 square foot mid-floor unit in a mid-level neighborhood, on the ocean, for a little more than $100,000. A nice high-level unit of about 3,500 square feet, in the nicest neighborhood in the city (Punta Pacifica) was $400,000.

Panama still has a lot to offer, and, for someone looking to live an expatriate lifestyle in the Americas, merits consideration. Its infrastructure has only improved, it has a free-market president, and there are too many other extras to name (such as warm weather, good shopping and a good middle-class).

I've been listening to International Living seminars about Panama (called the "Fast Track Panama" seminar series), and I've been looking more on line at residential properties. It's not that we could afford to buy a place as a second home (unless we sold our other home)--but it's nice to look and consider.

The thing that has struck me after listening to these seminars and looking at real estate ads is how how priced Panama City real estate appears to have become. Granted, International Living's writers talk about how there are still deals to be found--if you know where to look. But now, knowing where to look means going a little off the main track, outside of the nicest areas, to find something that still is a good deal. When I went four years ago, you could go to some of the nicest parts of the city and be on the ocean, and find good deals.

The most interesting part of all of this is that I can't see how the high prices are justified. When the market was still hot, the Trump organization began building a luxury tower, which helped whip up interest in the high end of the Panama City market. But the market is no longer hot, and I wonder if there is not a disconnect between high asking prices and true market value.

First, the market, even in Panama, has cooled. Yes, there is indeed a growing middle class, but the condos geared toward Panamanians are not necessarily the same condos built for foreigners (for example, foreigners are less interested in maid's quarters, whereas they are expected in even mid-level apartments for Panamanians). I believe the new apartment towers were built more for the foreign market than the local market. This foreign market has suffered because of the financial crisis, and the North American population has decidedly less spending power than a few years back. Granted, Panama caters to South Americans too, but even for them, the economy has cooled.

Second, at the same time the market has turned down, many preconstruction developments started during the height of the bubble are coming on the market. Previously, buying preconstruction was a way to purchase property at a discount from what the final ultimate unit price would be. But because the prices in Panama have dropped some, preconstruction prices are often more than resale prices.

Panama is a great place to visit, and Panama City looks like a great place to live, but it would appear to me that now is not the time to buy. Perhaps they've not yet felt the full brunt of the financial crisis, or else are not willing to acknowledge it. But I suspect that as the supply of already-started apartment projects continues to grow, yet buyers do not, there will be drops in prices to more realistic levels. Perhaps in a year, or maybe two, the real estate market in Panama City will become a good deal again.

Winter trip 2010

2009-09-04T21:24:00.002-04:00

My wife and I typically go somewhere warm every year for the winter. We didn't last year (at least, she didn't--I went with my buddy to Cartagena), and I was looking forward to going somewhere new.

I have different goals when planning an overseas vacation with my wife than, say, when going with friends to check out a new country. The desire to see new things and go somewhere exotic has to take backseat to finding a place that will be comfortable and enjoyable both for me and my wife.

That said, I did want to try somewhere different this year, and so I made a list of three places: Brazil, Costa Rica and Colombia. I meticulously planned out possible routes, even discussing rental rates with villa rental companies. I presented the choices to my wife, who responded, "what about Jamaica?" Jamaica? All I thought about were all-inclusives and staying walled-up within a compound.

I asked her why, and she said she wanted something with lots of opportunity for relaxation, yet access to sports and activities as well. We both agreed, however, that we didn't want to be confined to our resort and, while that stereotype of Jamaica may or may not be true--I didn't want to test it out.

Instead, I countered with the Dominican Republic. From my side, it would be fairly inexpensive, a short and direct flight from Charlotte, something new, and something a little different. For my wife's benefit, there is access to beautiful beaches, nice resorts, and lots of sporting facilities.

Punta Cana certainly had a lot of resorts, but it didn't seem to be what we really wanted. Nothing was wrong with it, mind you, but we envisioned eating too much, maybe drinking too much, and nothing to do if we got bored of the resort.

Instead, we split up the trip: we're going to spend three nights in Santo Domingo, and then go to Casa de Campo. Casa de Campo, in La Romana, is itself a resort-type property. Having only viewed it on the internet, I'm reminded of a plantation (Sea Pines or Palmetto Dunes) at Hilton Head. The resort, unlike the ones sitting on 20 or 100 acres, sits on 7,000 acres, is made up of small villas (where we're staying) all the way to super luxury villas. There are lots of tennis courts, tennis pros, golf courses, restaurants, beaches, and all sorts of amenities.

Santo Domingo is for my benefit--I like Caribbean sea side cities with old colonial architecture, as well as the edgier characteristics you sometimes find there. The resort is for both our benefits, however.

The resort has a hotel on-site, a wide range of villas managed by the resort. But there are numerous villas for rent by owner. Ours, in fact, we found online at www.vrbo.com. Prices in this resort are shockingly high overall, but we've found what we believe to be a good deal. The unit appears to be one of the cheapest in the resort--not seafront by any means, but directly at the tennis courts, which for us is a plus.

Casa de Campo has been around since the 1970s--long before many of the newer resorts in Punta Cana.

If you're interested in seeing more pictures, take a look at: www.casadecampo.com.do.

Overseas Living for the Young(ish) Expats part 3: Is it really that cheap?

2009-08-16T18:53:00.003-04:00

When looking at overseas living, retirement or vacation destinations, cost often comes into play.

For some, cost is no object, and they can buy overseas as luxurious a property as they may desire. For these lucky few, a home overseas is completely about the location and the lifestyle.

But for many of us, part of the allure of owning a second home overseas is the idea of living a "better" lifestyle (however we individually define it) than back home, and at a lower cost. This is done not by moving to the most developed countries, but by becoming a pioneer, and moving to developing nations with emerging markets.

Some of the benefits expats may search for are:

--better geographic locations than one could afford back home (such as an oceanfront or ocean view property);
--domestic help such as maids and gardeners at a low cost;
--low-cost natural building materials considered luxuries back home (such as mahogany or teak);
--in some instances, lower-cost health care; and
--lower monthly costs of bills.

While I've not lived in the locales I've visited, I took the time to check prices and to get a feel for the costs of everyday living. I believe that in many of these emerging markets, you can live a lower cost lifestyle that in many cases is as good as or better than the one you left behind. However, I see two major caveats:

1. YOU CANNOT TRANSPORT YOUR LIFE WHOLESALE TO ANOTHER COUNTRY--AT LEAST WITHOUT HIGH COSTS. Part of the way an expat can live in a developing country at lower cost is to take advantage of the natural benefits the country has to offer, while foregoing some of his old habits or routines that may now become expensive.

Take Belize, for example. In Belize, there are certain goods and services you can obtain at a much lower cost than in North America:

--domestic help;
--great tropical fruits and vegetables, such as pineapples, citrus fruits and mango;
--wonderful fresh seafood such as snapper, grouper, lobster and conch;
--great building materials such as teak, mahogany and Mexican tiles for floors; and
--locally made rum.

On the other hand, some of the things you take for granted in North America are often much more expensive, such as:
--packaged foods and cereals;
--vehicles;
--appliances;
--electricity; and
--whisky, scotch, or wine.

For the expat who can completely live with what is locally available, life will indeed be less expensive. For the expat who wants to recreate his North American lifestyle, he will probably spend even more than he did back home. Neither way is inherently good or bad, but this example demonstrates that living in a developing country does not necessarily mean you can live like a king but spend like a pauper.

You simply need to understand, before moving abroad, what the realistic cost of living is, given the type of lifestyle you will want to live.

2. COST VERSUS VALUE.

My wife and I have looked at residential developments overseas, and have been struck by what I would call in absolute terms high costs, and at other times medium costs, but low value. A few examples will make this clear.

On Ambergris Caye, Belize, one can find numerous high-end luxury villa and condo developments offered on the market. Whereas Ambergris Caye was once the Caribbean on the cheap, it has now become one of the more expensive places to buy property. Worse yet, Ambergris Caye does not have the infrastructure of, say, some of the Bahamas, St. Kitts, Antigua or any of the other places you might associate with luxury Caribbean living.

I saw a set of villas offered in the last few years starting at around $500,000, but well exceeding a $1 million for a villa of 3,000 square feet. Granted, the villa was (basically) seafront, and it looked very nice. But it was only accessible by boat, or by golf cart on a rough dirt road filled with potholes and washouts that took six miles to get to town. Perhaps this million-dollar villa would have cost much more on St. Kitts, but wouldn't there be some value to being able to drive on paved roads? Being within minutes of stores and restaurants, rather than (at least for the time) an hour from anything except a couple of resort restaurants nearby? The cost certainly wasn't cheap, and, to the extent it was cheaper than something comparably sized in a developed country, it didn't really offer comparable value.

Conversely, some developments we've researched offer great quality overall, but at a cost nearing if not exceeding North American prices. I've researched a development online that offers beautiful scenery, paved streets, underground electrical wiring, Internet, phones, a club house and just about any other amenity you could want in a development. But the cheapest lot in the subdivision is well north of $50,000. A two bedroom beachfront condo costs $350,000, and a house with an ocean view will cost closer to a half-million. The properties were beautiful, but their prices were not substantially different than those in the U.S. comparably located. And though the development was nice, outside its gates, you were back into the third world. Consider this: if having high-end amenities is so important that you're willing to pay to live in this development--and there's nothing wrong with that--are you really going to feel comfortable venturing OUTSIDE of this development? If not, your purchase would make you captive inside a small expat enclave bubble. Is that the way you'd want to live your existence overseas?

The development is nicely done, and I'm not criticizing it. The developers had to charge a premium, because they probably had to create the amenities from scratch: water, power lines, good roads, and many of the other things we take for granted in the developed world. Once again, this demonstrates that not everything is less expensive in a developing nation just because it superficially seems cheap.

Can you live cheaper in the developing nations? Absolutely. Can you live better? Yes, as well. But to do both at the same time, you will likely need to adjust your expectations, and your style of living.

Overseas Living for Young(ish) Expats, Part Two: How to earn a living?

2009-08-09T16:15:00.004-04:00

For the first installment of this series, I discussed some of the issues that arose when moving from the theoretical to the practical as I pondered a move abroad for my wife and myself. In other words, living in my own house on my own island sounds like a great idea in theory, but the more I seriously consider it as a lifestyle, there are, of course, some practical difficulties that arise.

In a related vein, when seriously considering a move (part- or full-time) to another country, cost becomes a consideration--at least, for those of us without an unlimited supply of money.

First, if moving overseas, we would need to consider, like a business, our "accounts receivable"--that is, how can we bring in money to pay for our costs of living?

The answer to this question depends often upon where one might desire to live. On the one extreme, if you desire to move somewhere in the "developed" world, with open trade policies, and very marketable skills (the best example would be a doctor or nures), then perhaps you could easily find work, and not only that, but make good money.

However, most places touted as "emerging markets" are such because their infrastructure and economies do not rise to the level of the first world, which often means that jobs there:

--aren't easy to find;
--are somewhat closed to foreigners;
--in any event, don't pay much.

From what I can see, for those people wanting to live in an emerging country, they need to find their income from one of these sources:

--savings or retirement;
--a source of income not related to their location (either back home, or via the internet);
--starting a new business in their new country; or
--eaking out an existence like a local at a low-paid job.

Although my wife's skills as a nurse are marketable almost anywhere, my ability to earn a living as a lawyer would be severely hampered by protectionist laws in almost any other location to which we'd move. Therefore, we believe that if we were to move, we would need to rely on, at the beginning, a combination of investments and savings, but would hope to eventually rely on income earned independently of the location.

I've traveled to numerous countries and have witnessed North American expats successfully living there and covering their costs. Of course, retirees can do this most easily. After all, they pretty much already know what their income is going to be, because it's fixed. They likely don't have as much income as they did in their earning years, but because it is a fixed quantity, they simply can measure the costs of living in their home destination against possible expatriation destinations. Granted, this often isn't as simple as it sounds (some destinations have hidden costs, which I'll discuss in Part Three), but it's fairly straightforward. A retiree, therefore, can make an economic decision to move from, say, California to Panama, understanding that he can live better in the latter than the former on his limited income.

Someone relying on income to earn a living, however, has a much more complicated equation. It doesn't matter how cheap a destination may be to live in, if he can't earn enough money to live there, it's going to be difficult. Therefore, though London is an obviously more expensive locale than, say, Belize, if the younger expat can earn a living in London and can't obtain a job in Belize, the former may be more affordable than the latter.

There is, in some countries, the possibility of starting a new business, to hit an area of the market that's been previously unserved, and some have been successful at this. However, one must always remember that, in poorer destinations, disposable income is less than in North America, the red tape sometimes longer, and other previously unthought-of barriers existing, such that success in business may be difficult. Also, would-be entrepreneurs need to consider the cost of failure in a foreign country. In the United States, financial failure means insolvency or bankruptcy--embarrassing and stressful, but something that can be managed. In some foreign countries, failure to pay bills constitutes a criminal offense. What if your business fails, and then you can't leave the country because you're in jail?

Someone owning an internet business, working as an author, or taking some other action for which location means very little is very fortunate because he or she is much more mobile in these times. I would not have the guts to simply chuck my life and move to another country while trying to earn a living writing novels, since I'm not currently making a living that way.

However, I would also be unsatisfied simply living a life of leisure at my age, living off savings and investments.

If, however, young or mid-aged expats could save enough money to either retire or buy a long-term vacation (at least ten years or longer), then they could buy themselves the freedom to start fresh in a new location, and the time to come up with ways to earn a living in the intervening period before money is needed again.

Ask yourself: if you had enough money to last you (even with emergencies and contingencies) for at least ten years, would you stay where you are? Or might you try something new, knowing you've got a safety cushion to rely on?

Overseas living for young(ish) expats, part 1: the locations.

2009-07-31T22:00:00.004-04:00

I've been looking at overseas property with a slightly different eye, lately, namely, if my wife and I decided, in our younger years, to move abroad and live a different lifestyle full- or part-time. Having engaged in this intellectual exercise for the past week, I've come to two important realizations: first, that the places where we realistically could enjoy living long-term are not necessarily the same as those places I'd initially fantasized about; and second, that overseas property communities catering to the North American expats are, contrary to the contentions of some, often very high-priced.

Most folks that have worked in corporate America have likely fantasized about ripping off that tie one day and living a completely different life, likely somewhere far from the suburbs, maybe in a different country. I've fantasized for so long about having my own private island that I sometimes run into old school classmates who ask me if I ever bought that island I always talked about buying way back when.

I've for a long time dreamed of the simpler life that overseas living may offer--a warmer climate, lower cost of living, and a slower paced lifestyle. I've traveled through small seafront villages in Belize and wondered, "What would it be like to wake up here, with nothing but the sound of the water lapping on the shore and birds chirping in the morning?"

Apparently, judging from some of the overseas message boards I frequent, I'm not alone in that fantasy, and numerous board members consider--and sometimes do--move abroad to the country of their choice.

Out of curiosity one night, I wrote down exactly what attributes my wife and I would want for our new-found country to become "home." These attributes will vary among people looking to move, and are probably weighted differently even between my wife and myself. It's unlikely that we would ever find a place with all of our desired attributes. Nonetheless, the exercise got me thinking that perhaps some of the places I'd previous considered might not fit for the long-term.

After some thought, some of the "big" issues probably wouldn't cause us too much trouble, but I mention them because they're something worth thinking about. For example:

1. Could you live as an ethnic minority or an outsider? Though this is a big hurdle to some, I think we could (though how we would be treated by the majority, is something only experience would teach us).

2. Could you cope with living with and learning a different language? This is tougher, and though we wouldn't know for sure until we moved, I think we could. That said, I think our sphere of comfort, though extending outside the English world, would stay mostly within areas where the foreign language is widespread and learnable (say, Spanish, French or Portuguese, versus Arabic or Japanese) or where English is the unofficial lingua franca of commerce.

3. Could you live without access to all the consumer goods you're used to? Once again, I think in our particular circumstances we could, because we tend not to be so tied to consumer goods.

Granted, there are numerous considerations, some so important that they would matter to us all, to a greater or lesser extent, such as safety, freedom, etc. Granted, some of us may look for a more safe place than others, but, within each person's individual comfort levels, there are certain things we all would want in a destination. It is the more particularized aspects of one's desires that determine where one might most enjoy living.

Lest it sound like we're some sort of virtuous monks, let me point out some of the other things that I think WOULD matter to us--probably more than the average person. While these issues may not all apply to you, you may want to consider how some things that you never even considered could one day become a big deal where you move, such as:

1. We would prefer some place within a few hours' flying distance of the U.S. Although theoretically you could get to most places in the world from the U.S. with a day's flight, realistically, we'd want some place that would offer us easy ingress and egress to and from our home country. For us, we'd like to know that if we needed to come home quickly for an emergency or family issue, we could do so.

2. A place to worship. I can tell that for many of the message boarders I hear from, this may not be an issue. But as Christians, and Protestants at that, my wife and I like to worship weekly, and would want some sort of contact with other believers. Living on an island sounds nice, but we don't want to become spiritual exiles. Would we expect a church "just like home?" probably not, but it's something to consider. If you're a believer, and like the idea of moving abroad, remember that for most expats, this may not be an issue that holds the same importance for them as it does for you. What would you do if your dream destination doesn't have a church or place of worship nearby, or if you're the only one of your faith in the whole area? Maybe that will give you the opportunity to spread the word, if you so desire, but what if you want fellowship with other believers?

3. Sports and hobbies. Interestingly, one of the more peculiar attributes that I think we both would want in our destination is access to sports and physical exercise. Yes, running and walking on a beach, swimming and riding bikes could be done just about anywhere. But what about a gym--which is something we both like? What about tennis (which we both enjoy doing)? Living on a secluded coastline sounds exciting, but if you're cut off from your favorite leisure activities or hobbies, won't that hamper your enjoyment at least some?

4. Good infrastructure. Not every place will have sewer and municipal water, or paved roads even. Do those things matter to us? Somewhat--they're nice to have, but aren't deal breakers. But what about the internet? Anything I could conceivably do that would allow us to live overseas at a young age would just about mean needing constant telecommunications contact with the United States. It likely would not be practical at this stage in my life to move somewhere that such access isn't available.

These are just some things that are important to us and our peculiar circumstances as a young couple. We don't even have kids, which would throw into the mix all sorts of other considerations, such as the kind of healthcare available for children, the educational system of the country, etc.

After taking into consideration all of these issues, it became clear that Belize and some of the other Caribbean, while great vacation home and even retirement destinations, might not make suitable full-time living destinations for us at this stage in our lives (with the caveat, perhaps, of Ambergris Caye).

Instead, possible destinations would be somewhere like the suburbs of Panama City, which has great infrastructure, first world amenities, Protestant churches (even of the English-speaking variety), and great weather. Better yet, many developments cater to active lifestyles, with golf, tennis, equestrian and other amenities.

On the Belize Forum message board, there unfortunately is a tendency for some few hardcore members to try to beat their chests as to how backwoods-living they are, scoffing at newcomers who would like to come but question whether there are enough amenities. One poor soul who honestly said he'd miss the ease of a Wal-Mart was harangued and ridiculed. But these folks are unusual, in that most of us don't care to live a completely rough existence just to go abroad, and don't intend to be like Robinson Crusoe. In fact, many of those folks, as you read the boards, learn the same thing about themselves, moving down full of high hopes, only to eventually move back to their home country somewhat disillusioned.

Everyone is different, but for people considering a move, these are questions that need to be asked? Don't ask just the big questions (can I live as a minority in a foreign-speaking country?). Think of the minutiae--those day-to-day details that have made your life yours. You can't take it all with you, but neither will you be able to give up all of the small things in your life that make it joyful.

O Sul é Meu País -- "The South is my Country"

2009-07-19T20:26:00.002-04:00

I've always been interested in the geography, history and the history of independence and secession movements within countries.

I've also been reading up for the past year on Brazil, for investment and vacation purposes.

I recently read about a secession movement within Brazil entitled "O Sul e Meu Pais" ("The South is my Country"). The purpose of this movement is to claim the independence of three Southern states within Brazil. Apparently, the movement was started in 1992 by a former mayor, Adílcio Cadorin, who is interested in seeking the separation of his area from the rest of Brazil.

I've found very little online about this movement, other than its website, which can be partially translated into English. It appears that most secession movements are motivated either by cultural differences or economic inequities (or some combination of the above). The website is poorly translated into English, and its statement of principles does not clearly enunciate what makes the Southern people different enough to warrant their own nation.

From Wikipedia, however, it appears that there is a cultural difference among the people in that they are descended primarily from German and Italian stock, thus creating a cultural difference.

If you're interested, read more:

http://www.meupais.hpg.ig.com.br/

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/O_Sul_%C3%A9_o_Meu_Pa%C3%ADs

http://patria-sulista.org/

A sense of place

2009-07-04T08:47:00.002-04:00

I'm down with my wife, brother, sister-in-law and nephew, mother and father, at the Oak Island house, and we've had a great time. I love travel to exotic places, and seeing new things and meeting people. But it's also fun to have something familiar to come back to time and time again.

My ultimate goal is to have a foreign home at which to spend a portion of my time, but for now, a beach getaway on this quiet island fits the bill nicely.

I can start my day in my suit and tie, meeting with clients, doing all the legal things that I do at my lawyer job, and yet get out of my car in the evening smelling the salty sea breeze.

At home, where I've grown up and spent all of my life other than seven years in school, I too often do the things I've done, go to the places I've gone, and eat the things I've eaten, a thousand times previously, only because that's been my routine.

Here, my wife and I had the chance to create routines and pleasures from the ground up, intentionally, and they're all ours--not ones that were thrust upon us or ones into which we fell by habit.

To folks (probably the majority) who read this and have moved away from their place of origin, some of this might be what you felt after you settled yourself into a new city with your first new job, after school, and created a new life for yourself.

What if, however, you could choose exactly WHERE you wanted to live--i.e., you didn't have to choose your location based upon your job? Where would you live? How would you change your life?

Belize trip report

2009-05-24T19:43:00.003-04:00

MAY 20, 2009

11:15 EST, 9:15 local time. Tired.

Flew in to Belize yesterday, and it was relatively uneventful. Since USAIR doesn’t do weekday flights anymore, we had to take American which, even with the short layover, made the overall trip a good bit longer.

We made it to Ambergris Caye around 4:00 P.M. EST; I’d left my house for the airport around 7:30 A.M. EST. We’re staying at Banyan Bay, a set of condos on the beach about two miles south of San Pedro town.

My primary purpose was to work on my investment group’s property in Sarteneja, on the mainland, though we’re staying on the island because I’m using my buddy Don’s timeshare for free.

We swam in the pool a bit, then take a taxi into town and eat at Caliente’s. It has either changed hands or at the least changed its menu, because my favorite plate, Pez Mexicano, is no longer on the menu. I order some sort of Mayan dish, which is pretty good, but doesn’t hold the same appeal as the old menu.

We headed home pretty early and called it a night.

Today, we had to fly off the island at 7:00 a.m. local time. However, given that our body clocks hadn’t yet adjusted, and that daylight savings time in the east is two hours ahead of Belize, it wasn’t hard. I got up at 5:00 a.m., went running, came back and had a little breakfast. Don and I went to the airport at 6:30 a.m., and left punctually. We arrived around 7:20, and my guide, Jorge Verde, was waiting on me.

Although it had rained heavily in the early morning, and was overcast when we left the island, the sun poked through a little in Sarteneja. The roads were wet and the water was choppy and muddy, but the weather was nice and cool. We had coffee at Jorge’s house, and discussed different options for handling the subdivision of the property, including using piers, docks, retaining walls, and other devices to help beautiful and add value to the property. We went to a couple of docks in town and viewed them in order to get an idea of the different options available: one, a small 50-foot concrete pier, and the other, a large wooden 200 foot pier with poured concrete posts, poured into a french drain shoved into the sand to create large hard posts.

At about 8:45 we met my surveyor, Jaime Grajales. Jaime, 57, recently retired from a government department and is well respected in the area. I wanted to meet with him and Jorge to view the property together, go over the boundaries, and to come up with ideas for the marketing and sale of the property. We take a hired boat up to the property, which is about four miles up from town and perhaps a 15-20 minute trip. We spend a good bit of time walking around the property to determine where each lot is located. The four seafront lots actually have a quite good elevation, and will take little fill. The back eight lots, however, are very marshy, and could do with some drainage as well as some fill.

By the time we’ve walked the property, an hour later, I’m fairly muddy, and, even in the cool day, sweaty. We get back into the boat and head to town. Don and I rest a little, while Jorge tries to get a broken bearing in his truck fixed, and Jaime and his crew leave to do some other work. At noon we have a good meal with the surveying crew and Jorge, and around 12:45, we go visit a project nearby to get some ideas for what I could do with the land I’m developing. The project, owned by Canadians, consisted of very low and marshy land which had been well filled. More impressive still, three concrete seafront homes are under construction in various stages, with the foundations for a fourth being poured while I’m there. I meet the contractor, and Jorge tells me that just seven months ago the entire plot of land was raw, and that the cleared road, cleared property, and houses under construction have all been done since the last seven months.

We make our way back to Sarteneja village, and speak some more with Jorge. He leaves to attend some business, and, since our plane won’t arrive until 5:45, Don and I rest. I nap a little while he walks around town looking for a soft drink. Then he returns, and Jorge’s youngest daughter Carolie comes out and talks to us for a while. Don nods off, but Carolie and I keep talking until her father arrives. He and I talk more about the project, as well as other general pleasantries, until about 5:00 p.m., when we head back to the Sarteneja airstrip.

After flying back, we clean up and, too tired to go anywhere far away, we eat at Antojitos, a small local restaurant a block from where we’re staying. The food is just ok, and surprisingly a little pricey considering it appears to be a local restaurant; however, I guess we were eating off the tourist menu, because everyone else in there appeared to be local, and I can’t picture them paying $7.00 US for a fish burger. I had a fish burger, fries, a diet coke and rum, and it totaled about $11.00, which still wasn’t too bad.

It was a very interesting day, but unfortunately, I’m just too tired to write down more details.

Tomorrow we’re going to rent bikes and ride the island—one of my favorite things to do here. Perhaps tomorrow I can give my impressions on what changes I’ve seen, as well as the general lack of tourism that the island is currently experiencing.

FRIDAY, MAY 22, 2009, 5:27 A.M.: Yesterday was a good day, though very tiring. Because we planned on taking a long bike ride, instead of running before breakfast, I just did a long walk. I went into town almost to the end, then came back. Breakfast at Banyan Bay’s restaurant didn’t open until 7:00, so we hung around for a little while before eating. Don had fry jacks and eggs, and I had a plate of fruit since I hadn’t had any fruit and hardly any vegetables the entire trip. The food was very good, and it wasn’t hot yet.

We’d planned on biking today, so before going, I set up a boat trip. I’d called one of my usual contacts, who emailed back saying he was out of the country. However, he gave me his brother’s number, and I set up a trip with his brother for 1:00 the same day (he was already booked the following day). The prices were reasonable and, if he was like his brother, I knew he’d be a good guide and trustworthy.

One of the nice things about staying at a resort like this is some of the things we want to use are easily accessible. We simply went to the front desk, asked for bikes, and were set up within a matter of minutes. Our plan was, as usual, to ride as far north of the cut as we could ride. Usually, because I’m staying in town when I come, I don’t start riding my bike until I’m pretty near the cut (because Joe’s Bicycles, where I get my bike, is at the north end of town). We tried riding on the beach to town, but the sand was actually pretty soft, and we eventually had to ride on the paved streets.

We made our way across the cut and were pleasantly surprised to find that the path was in much better shape than a year ago. Reef Village appeared to be nearing completion. There were at least a half dozen condo complexes, not to mention numerous villas set around a manmade lake or marina. I only saw one occupied unit, though perhaps there were more, and very few workers.

The lack of workers was a big change from previous trips. Used to be, when I crossed the cut, I heard a cacophony of construction, hammers and saws for miles until the residences thinned out. This time, though, the only serious construction I saw was on Grand Caribe condos, perhaps two miles north of the cut. The only bad part of the road that I experienced was right around here, and near Captain Morgan’s. Previously, the worst parts were near Reef Village and Captain Morgan’s, both areas of heavy construction. It appeared that Reef Village had done a pretty good job of cleaning up and repairing the damage to the road (and even improving it), but the mile or so area near Captain Morgan’s was still in very bad shape, containing potholes that spread the width of the road, full of smelly stagnant water, and of an indeterminate depth.

We eventually made our way on to the beach riding our bikes. I don’t know if we were just more tired from the extra miles we’d logged before reaching the cut, but it seemed to me the sand on the beach was less packed and was harder to bike. Usually, the sand was fairly decently packed by all the workers’ bikes, but there were so few workers, it appeared to me that the sand was looser. We took this route for a couple of miles before deciding to head back to the back path past Journey’s End Resort.

Often, one of my mental distance markers was at La Perla Del Caribe, a collection of high-end villas located probably six miles north of the cut. I’d wanted to show these to Don, since I’d seen a number of these villas for sale recently, and their prices had been dramatically cut. Once we reached the villas, it became apparent why. The last few times I’d been, the villas appeared to be perhaps the most luxurious on the island. Now, however, they just appeared tired. The paint was faded, the wooden decks worn, and of all the units, it appeared that only one might be occupied. Things were just dead. Located fairly far out of town, the development had a pool, but best I could tell didn’t contain a restaurant or any other amenities. It was simply too far away from town, with little to do on-site. Apparently that generated few rentals, and that, with the overall economic malaise, was causing a mass sale of units.

At this point, we’d ridden for two hours. We needed to turn around if we were going to get back in time to eat a little lunch and meet our boat at 1:00. The trip back is usually a little easier, owing to the slight grade in the land that makes going south minutely downhill. However, it was getting hot, and we both were getting very tired. On the way back, Don slipped in the sand. I heard him yell, and saw him falling head-first toward a pier; however, he caught himself at the last minute.

I, however, wasn’t so lucky a few minutes later, and wiped out in one of the large gullies/potholes blocking the entire path. Mainly, I was just very muddy, but I’d scraped myself a bit. Last year, a small knee scrape on the beach in Belize turned into a staph infection, so this time I made sure to clean it well.

Don began to get really hot, and was concerned about getting overheated, so we stopped for some water a couple miles away from the bridge. Then we finally cruised back over the bridge, through town, then the couple miles out of town back to Banyan Bay. Total trip time: about 3.5 hours. Total miles ridden: somewhere between 16 and 18. Although Don and I had traveled farther north before, given the longer distance to the bridge from our resort, this was probably the longest trip we’d biked.

We got back and were both exhausted, but to give Don credit, he kept up very well—especially considering he’s in his late 50s.

We cooled down and ate a little.

Our boat guide, Robert, arrived punctually at 1:00, at Banyan Bay’s pier. He’d agreed to take us as far north as we wanted to go, anywhere around the island, for a four-hour trip. In general terms, Don and I wanted to go as far north as we could get before turning around, but in specific terms, Don was interested in looking at a small piece of property up north—a half-finished resort that had been languishing on the market for some time.

We rode, enjoying the nice weather, and looking at all the property. The resorts were empty. Nobody was at any of them. It was dead.

I’d hoped to show Don the area of Robles, which is where the barrier reef actually meets the shore, and frankly, had hoped we could cut through a channel in the reef to go all the way up to the end of the island, about 20 miles north of town. However, the tide was way down, and by the time we were at the Basil Jones area ten miles past the bridge, we were probably only in two feet of water. We had to turn around at that point.

On the way back, we stopped at XXXX Resort, the real estate that Don had been watching for some time. One building was completed, and another was under construction, which was amazing considering the owner had already been unsuccessfully trying to sell his project earlier. A few workers were on site. In the completed building, a film crew for YYYYY TV was filming an upcoming episode for one of its property shows. I got a big kick out of it. There were no tourists or property owners there. I walked into a couple of the units, which were empty and already showing signs of weathering and wear. The TV crew, however was filming a downstairs unit, which had been fully furnished and decorated, creating the illusion of an ongoing, vibrant beachfront resort.

One of the workers called a property manager, who came and showed us around. The plot of land was nice, with great views, and the resort, in theory, appeared attractive. However, the construction was weathering very quickly, we could tell, and the resort in practicality would have a very difficult time ever attracting tourists.

Nevertheless, Don was very happy that he’d finally seen the property he’d been monitoring for a period of months.

We made our way back past the cut, then south of town to the end of the island, and then Robby took us home. He’d done a very good job, and we’d recommend him to anyone.

By then, late afternoon had arrived, and we were very tired. We took a break in the pool, and then cleaned up and headed to town. We decided to eat at Caramba’s, on Middle Street, one of our old standbys. The crowd in the restaurant was a little thinner, but still had some diners as the night went on. Don had a couple of chicken burritos, and I had jerk shrimp and a couple of rum punches. We finished early, got a taxi back to our condo, then crashed.

SATURDAY, MAY 23, 2009, 8:00 A.M.:

Yesterday was a more laid-back day, our final full day in Belize. We once again had breakfast at Rico’s, the grill at Banyan Bay, and it was good. We decided to rent a golf cart (once again, on-site) and drive around looking at property for the morning. We decided to drive around town and down south to see what was going on. We got to see a large part of the back side of the island where a lot of residents lived full time, and in addition, saw construction going on south of town, including some new “lakeside” villas near Banyan Bay. South of town, we were pleasantly surprised to see an improvement in the state of the roads. Used to be, there were no paved roads on the island, but now, the roads were paved all the way to Banyan Bay. Even farther south than that, though, the dirt roads were in much better condition, with very few gullies or potholes, even though it had been raining recently. We rode around and looked at some houses, making our way down as many side streets as possible. After a few hours, we’d seen about all we could see, and returned our cart.

After lunch at Antojitos, we took it easy. Don hung out at the condo, and I went into town to get some last-minute gifts and items.

That night, we decided to eat on-site at Rico’s. The food was good, though not cheap. Then we went into town, sat at the municipal park, and just people watched for a couple of hours, before going back home to the condo and resting for our return trip home the next day.

A few final thoughts:

BANYAN BAY: Banyan Bay was, overall, a positive experience. Don was initially a little disappointed in the wear and tear of the condo, and the fact that some of the things promised by the timeshare salesman were just not true. However, after staying there, he felt like this would be a great place to bring his wife and relax for a few days. The facilities were, overall, in good shape. There was a nice pool, good beachfront, and the area was very quiet. The staff was attentive and pleasant. Furthermore, the one perceived negative (the distance from town) turned out to be a very minor inconvenience. All we had to do was call the front desk for a taxi, and one arrived within minutes, and would take us into town for $5.00 U.S.

AMBERGRIS CAYE: We both believe the island is at an interesting juncture. Tourism was way down, and I saw fewer tourists than I’d ever seen before (and I’d been here at the same time of year with my wife a few years earlier). I attributed this to a combination of the slower season, the bad economy, and swine flu scare. Restaurants and bars appeared in danger of shutting down and, according to one bartender at a popular bar I went to, his bar was closing very soon. On the positive side, I didn’t see the local antipathy to tourists I’d experienced my last few trips. At the places I frequented, I could tell the waiters or workers were genuinely glad to get some business.

As for real estate, Don and I saw a tremendous oversupply, with no demand coming any time soon. There were an amazing amount of condos already built, and still being built, and there could be no way there was sufficient demand for this glut of units, the prices of which were stagnating and even dropping. Worse yet, I couldn’t visualize a price at which the condos would be considered “good deals,” because the lack of buyers and owners would create possibly higher HOA fees—in other words, buying the condo was just the first cost; the ongoing fees were what would probably be the killer over time. Multiple complexes stood empty, with no renters, no buyers, either quickly weathering and wearing down, or being maintained but only through extremely high maintenance fees.

I love Ambergris Caye, and want to own a residence there; however, the safer thing, from my perspective, appears to be a stick-built residence on its own piece of land. Of course, this comes with its own set of issues, such as safety, property maintenance and security. But from what I could tell, houses hadn’t lost as much of their value. There’s no easy way to determine the difference between asking price and selling price, but judging by the cuts we were beginning to see in asking prices, some of the sellers were beginning to wise up to the realities of their market.

On a positive note, it appears the island has made strides to deal with its overdevelopment. Roads were better than a year ago, and there were not nearly as many hucksters and vendors to deal with. Trash bins were all over town and along the beach, and, at least, in the most frequented areas, San Pedro appeared to be a little neater.

It will be interesting to see what happens with the glut of condos in the next few years, as well as seeing how the island copes with its increasing modernization.

Developing Overseas Property, a quick trip down

2009-05-09T15:42:00.002-04:00

My buddy Don and I are taking a trip to Belize in a couple of weeks for the primary purpose of meeting with my surveyor and my real estate agent, to come up with a plan to market the property, and to check on the progress of the subdivision. I thought it might be helpful to relate, warts and all, the process of simply setting up the trip down.

First, my work at the property realistically only should take a day. However, it's hard to get a ticket for such a short period of time, so I have to usually book for a couple of days.

I'm staying on Ambergris Caye and flying over for the day to the property to meet with folks. At first blush, that doesn't sound very efficient: I'll fly into the Belize airport, take a connecting flight to the island of Ambergris Caye, then the following day, take a day flight to and from the village where the subject property is located. However, I'm staying at my friend's timeshare on the island for free, which changes the cost considerations a bit. In addition, had I stayed on the mainland, while accommodations would have been inexpensive, I would've needed to rent a car for the trip which would've been considerably more expensive.

I'd really liked the idea of spending a few days driving through the less-developed area of Belize near my property, but the offer of free accommodations on Ambergris Caye was too good to pass up. Maybe next time.....

Unfortunately, the accommodations have a Saturday to Saturday check in. Normally, for such a trip, I'd fly in on Thursday and leave on Monday, but I'll have to fly in on Tuesday and leave on Saturday for this trip. This eats into quite a bit of work time off, obviously. When I go on these trips on business, I expense them only to the extent they're related to business. For example, the ticket is expensed, as are my accommodations (unless I was going to extend my trip for my own pleasure). I also expense any necessary transportation costs, such as boat hires or plane flights to the area, as well as the costs of any guides or workers I have to hire for my trip down. I don't expense my meals, because I've got to eat anyway, nor do I expense any fun side trips.

Still, I've got three days planned when my business will only last one day. The plane ticket and accommodations cost the same regardless, so it's fair to the investors I represent. I'm hoping to meet with the surveyor and real estate agent the first full day in Belize, frankly, to get the work out of the way.

Assuming I can do that, then I hope to spend the next couple of days with my friend just exploring and taking it easy. We'd hoped to book a boat to take us to Xcalak, Mexico, just north of Ambergris Caye, but the cost ($500) was prohibitive. Instead, we'll likely ride bikes along the island one day, and then hire a boat to take us around the other.

Oh, one more thing. We ARE going, which wasn't a given until this weekend. The Swine Flu scare had us concerned the trip may be canceled, but it appears to have subsided. Still outstanding is another concern about electricity. Belize buys much of its power from a Mexican power company, which made an announcement last week that it would, starting May 8, cut back its power to the country because of problems with some of its own infrastructure. There's some concern now about blackouts in the country. Some resorts on Ambergris Caye have their own generators, but our resort has informed us that it doesn't have its own generator.

This will be the first trip on the island where I've stayed outside of town for any distance. Banyan Bay Villas are about two miles out of town, which means I won't have the easy access to town like I'm used to. On the other hand, taxis are plentiful, and I'm hoping staying on this end of the island (the southern edge) will give me new experiences and restaurants to try. Also, the beach around here is a little quieter and nicer than the beach in town.

Shifting Paradigms

2009-05-03T18:59:00.001-04:00

Shifting Paradigms
I hate the word, "paradigm," as well as the phrase "shifting paradigm." It reminds me of my tenured professors at UNC, teaching "soft science" classes, drawing complicated diagrams of simple ideas and writing academic papers which they mandated us to read. Today, however, I'm going to discuss a shifting paradigm, and what it means.

Specifically, even only a few years ago, it was starting to be relatively accepted in the United States that government should have some limitations. Heck, even the Democrats had to live within this construct, to the point that when Ronald Reagan died, they were competing among themselves to fete him and point out their own Reaganesque ways.

No more, however. Come financial problems, come a new administration, come the opening of the governmental gates of Hades by Bush, perpetuated and magnified by President Obama, and the cliched paradigm has shifted. Politicians are no longer embarrassed about once again using government as a tool of control and change.

Just this past week, I read that politicians from both parties were threatening the college bowl system by telling them that if they didn't get the system "fixed," they (meaning Congress), might step in and fix it.

http://www.cnn.com/2009/POLITICS/01/08/political.football/index.html?ere

In Congress' defense, they're just trying to get in on the fun. If our President who, to my knowledge has spent no substantive time of his life in private business suddenly believes he can run the banking and automotive industries from his oval office, why can't congressmen take over the college bowl system?

About 15 years ago, the most controlling little vermin of Congress, whose wide-eyed ideas for social control had been kept under control, began scurrying out from underneath the sofas when Clinton came into office. Henry Waxman and Charles Schumer could, with straight faces, demand inquiries into (and the regulation of) the breakfast cereal industry. There was no problem too large--or small--for this bunch of do-gooders to fix.

The problem with Congress, it seems, as well as state legislatures and almost anyone else making laws is that they have too much damn time on their hands without real work, so they have to make up things to justify their existence. Worse yet, some of them use their power to "fix" those things with which they disagree, simply because they can.

Right now, it may not be popular to support liberty, and to rail against the tyranny of our government, but at those times when it is least popular, it is most necessary.

The problems with congressional or presidential fixes is the following (among others):

1. Not all things can be fixed by legislation.
2. Those things that can be fixed by legislation, tend to be fixed poorly.
3. Legislators take actions that cost them nothing, and the rest of us very much.

Back to the BCS system: While it may not be perfect, it has been thought up by very intelligent individuals who have spent much more time studying the issue than Washington Congressmen. It relies on the free market, which, while not perfect, is evolving, based upon the economic-physic action/reaction that creates a give and take. While I have my own thoughts for how better to change the system, my thoughts (and those of the Congressmen) could better be channeled by writing letters to those in charge, or, perhaps, boycotting the BCS and withholding monies if I feel so strongly.

Therefore, Mr. Congressman, I'd like to offer you a few suggestions on how to "fix" Congress. Feel free to take credit for them.

1. Mandate more limited working days. Many people criticize Congress for not working enough, but I say the problem is that Congress does TOO MUCH. Sometimes, the best help is no help at all. Therefore, limit Congress' days of working to something manageable, like, say 30 for the entire year. Don't worry, though, I wouldn't cut your salaries. I think the country would get much more for its money knowing that you could only do 30 days of harm per year.

2. Provide incentive bonuses. In private industry, workers are given bonuses for doing work above and beyond the ordinary. Because government is a unique creature, I'd suggest bonuses for doing LESS. Therefore, bonuses could be paid corporately if Congress could finish its session earlier than the 30-day limit. Congressmen could receive personal bonuses if they simply did not show up to work. It sounds counterintuitive, but who do you think is better for the country: Charles Schumer, being paid, say, $150,000 to show up 300 days a year? Or Charles Schumer, being paid twice as much to show up only 30 days, and then receiving a $50,000 bonus when he decides to boycott the month-long session? I'd much rather take the latter than the former.

3. Create higher entry qualifications for Congressmen and Senators. Before someone can be elected, he or she should have to meet certain qualifications to even run. For example, the applicant should have to have worked for a certain number of years in a "real" job, with weighting being given to certain types of jobs more than others. For example, we could make a requirement that a politician couldn't run for Congress unless he'd worked the following minimum years:

--Business start-up entrepreneur: five years.
--Military: five years.
--Athlete: five years.
--Accountant: three years.
--Lawyer: ten years.
--primary or secondary teacher: 15 years.
--college professor: 30 years.
--federal government employee: 35 years.
--actor: 40 years.
--musician: 45 years.

If you ever want to breed resentment among a population, put them under the control of rulers who don't understand their population, don't feel the consequences of their actions, put crippling burdens on their population that they don't share, and doing all of this while calling themselves "servants" of the very populations they enslave.

Buying overseas property in developments

2009-04-18T15:29:00.003-04:00

I've been listening to a great series of seminars downloaded from International Living's "Ultimate Event 4," held in March of 2009 in Quito, Ecuador.

While attending the seminars live will set attendees back a couple thousand bucks, you can buy all 80 or so recorded seminars for a couple hundred--and they're worth it!

Numerous developers spoke at the week long event, usually touting the benefits of the country in which they were located, and sometimes also their own particular development. I was very impressed with the developers' talks, and their development plans.

Buying in an overseas development is not always straightforward. Often, you're being asked to buy into someone's vision of the future--one that has not yet come to fruition. There a potential upsides to buying into a development early (paper profits from appreciation, getting in at a more affordable time, etc.), but there are plenty of risks as well.

I've never bought into a proper development, opting, thus far, to buy raw land. I've been looking however, and here are a few of the things a potential buyer should consider when buying into a "pre-development development."

1. You're not guaranteed anything beyond what you see right now. This is true in any pre-development scheme, but especially so in overseas property. I'm told that numerous towers in Panama City sit half-built. I can think of a huge development in Belize--not too far from some land I purchased--which has planned literally thousands of homes, a shopping center, and every sort of amenity you could imagine. However, years have passed, no homes have been built, and the subdivision roads are little more than dirt. If you're looking at buying into a development, go and visit the physical area, then ask yourself, "If this whole thing fails to progress any further, what will my property look like?" In the third world, if a developer goes bust, you're going to have a hard time getting legal redress. Therefore, if you're interested in buying property in a development that's still in the planning stages, you need to take action to mitigate your risk.

2. Research the developer. While not a cure-all, learning all you can about your developer's reputation can help you mitigate some of the risk of buying into a development. One development I know of, which is still trying to sell properties, is little more than dirt, and one of the principals in the development is wanted in the United States. Can you trust this developer to follow through? On the other hand, I've viewed properties from one developer in Panama run by a longstanding development company headed by two brothers. The brothers often own homes in the properties they develop, and have a long track record of successful development. Between the two developers I just mentioned, which is your better risk?

3. Hire your own lawyer. Often, you can get a cheaper closing by using the developer's lawyer. Instead, it's well worth your money to find your own reputable lawyer to review the project, the real estate title, the regime documents and explain them to you.

4. Hit the ground and do your own due diligence. I'm a lawyer, and perhaps some of the tips listed above stem from my legal experience representing both purchasers and developers. However, to me the best way to mitigate risks in evaluating a development is to simply be on the ground, visit the property, walk the property, and use your common sense. Something that sounds good in a seminar, or on the internet, may simply just not make sense when you actually go visit. Here are a few examples from my own experience.

A. Central American Condominium. I'd visited Panama, went to an upscale resort, and was interested in buying a condominium within the resort. I could buy an oceanview three-bedroom, two bathroom unit for around $150,000, in an all inclusive resort. Eighty percent financing was offered through an international bank at reasonable rates. For a small fee, I could put the property into the beach club and have access to all the resort's amenities and all-inclusive restaurants. According to the previous year's rental history, I could net a return of more than ten percent. A few months later, I spent a few nights at the resort. Nobody was staying in the condos! The families that came to the resort were primarily Panamanians from the city, 90 minutes away. They came for long weekends, spent all day at the pool or on the beach, and ate their meals at the numerous restaurants. The only time they were inside was to sleep or wash up. Why did they need a condo? They didn't need a kitchen, and really didn't need a living area. What sounded good on paper, didn't make sense when I was actually on the ground.

B. Belize waterfront subdivision. I'd read about a low-cost waterfront subdivision in a part of Belize that I liked. Some spec houses were already being built, and the prices sound nice. On one of my trips I went to visit the development. It took me close to an hour, down a rutted, washboard dirt road, to reach the subdivision. Yes, the subdivision was gated, and there were a couple of decent homes, and pretty waterfront. But there was nothing nearby! Who wants to take an hour-long dirt-road trip simply to reach a restaurant? Or a two-hour round trip ride on these same roads to buy groceries? You'd have to pack a cooler with ice simply to get your perishables home in good order. Once again, something that looked good on paper, simply wasn't that practical in real life.

5. Think about what you want from the property. Are you looking for a second vacation home? A retirement property? An income property? A spec property for pure appreciation? Some combination of the above? Understand what it is you're looking for. The Panama condos described above were marketed to some gringos looking to retire. But other than the resort grounds, there was nothing really nearby other than one grocery store for the 90 minute ride to Panama City. Think about it: if you retired, would you want to live within the walls of an all-inclusive resort full of weekend vacationers, with nothing else around other than a supermarket? I wouldn't.

Time will tell the success of some of these overseas developments. But by doing some homework, and using common sense, you can find one that best suits your needs, while avoiding being sold a hyped-up dud.

Developing Property in Belize, Part 3: Closing the Deal

2009-04-10T16:16:00.002-04:00

At the end of my last installment, I'd gotten the funding ready, and was ready to close. Jorge, the real estate agent, gave me the names of a couple of lawyers in Belize City. One was his niece, Magali. I'd never worked with Magali, but had spoken with her, and liked her attitude. The firm she was with was Barrow and Williams, one of the more prominent Belize firms, whose principal, Dean Barrow, was the party leader of the opposition United Democratic Party, and who, if his party won would (similar to the UK system) become Prime Minister. Magali, however, was married into a prominent member of the ruling Peoples United Party.

In a small country in the third world, I couldn't overestimate the power of party politics. Therefore, it felt wise to hedge my bets by placing my work with an attorney "in" with the ruling party, yet part of the opposition party (should it come into power). I don't know how much party pull means in the legal field in Belize, but I suspect it means something, and it's better to be safe.

The law firm could handle the title search and closing for me. By this point, I'd signed a contract, as I'd modified it. In a previous purchase, I'd had the attorney draft a new contract for me (not wanting to use a previous real estate agent's homemade contract). I don't remember the price of having the attorney do her form contract, but it was very expensive by U.S. standards. However, it's safer, and what I'd recommend for anyone not legally trained. This time, however, the real estate agent was a little more relaxed, and emailed me the contract to let me modify it. After building in time for contingencies, we were ready to go.

The actual closing, like many other parts of the real estate process in Belize, consists of a "hurry up and wait" process, as I've described earlier. For individuals used to United States closings, you may be surprised to learn that your "title" may not be registered for months after the closing due to a backlog. This is especially peculiar to me, because in North Carolina, we can't even fund the closing or pay out the sales money until we've recorded and registered the deed.

With two exceptions, the closing process was uneventful, to the point I don't remember much about it. It went something like this:

December 2007: I begin talking with Magali about the legal paperwork necessary for transferring title to the property. I pay the necessary fees.

January 2008: The purchase agreement is signed, and on one day in January, Jorge begins calling me incessantly from Magali's office about the earnest money. I get multiple calls in one day, including emails from Magali. I wire the money down, but apparently, it doesn't come in time to register that day. Jorge gets impatient. The law firm begins the title work.

Shortly thereafter, the seller signs the transfer forms. Unlike deeds in North Carolina, the forms are in triplicate original and require the signature of both buyers and sellers. They're Fed-Exed to me. By this time, title has been checked and everything is good.

February 2008: Within a week, two things happen (though I don't remember the order). The opposition UDP wins the national election, and Attorney Dean Barrow becomes the Prime Minister Elect of Belize. At the same time, Magali announces she is leaving to become part of a new firm create in the city: Marine Chambers. Magali informs me (and all her other clients) that if we want her file to stay with her, we need to fill out a transfer request form. I really like Magali, and she's provided me good service. However, I'm nervous about transferring a file from one firm to another. Moreover, I like the idea of keeping my file with the current Prime Minister's firm. I decide to keep the file at Barrow and Williams, and finish the closing there. I contact Tania, a junior attorney at the firm with whom I've worked before.

Barrow and Williams sends me the transfer forms, which I execute. I instruct my paralegal to return the documents to Barrow and Williams. I pay the remaining consideration, and think I'm almost done. Now all I have to do is wait a little while for everything to be registered... right?

April and May 2008. I've not heard anything from my attorneys for two months, and go through a morass of calls and emails trying to track down what's happened to my closing. I have my paralegal work on tracking down what's going on. She calls Barrow and Williams, whose staff claims it never got my paperwork. The staff asks me to pay my legal fees. We have to provide receipts showing where we already paid the legal fees, before they're convinced. My paralegal and their paralegal begin tracking down the status of the Fed Ex package I sent in February.

Finally, they determine, through tracking, that while my paralegal did prepare the package to Barrow and Williams as she claimed, she inadvertently addressed the package to Magali's Marine Chambers law firm (!). Barrow and Williams contacts Marine Chambers and gets the documents back. After about another month, we begin checking again. We receive an email in early May from the remaining named partner (Mr. Williams), that my title transfer is now in Belmopan (the country's capital) waiting to be recorded.

I hear that the Land Registry is terribly behind, and it will be months before my title transfer is actually registered.

February 2009: My surveyor (subject of the next installment) asks for a registered copy of my transfer. I check my files and realize it hasn't come in yet. I contact Tania at Barrow and Williams asking about it. She emails me back that her firm didn't handle the closing, and "reminds" me that I transferred my business to Magali. Luckily, I find my May 2008 email at which her partner, Mr. Williams, confirms he's personally taken my title to Belmopan to be transferred.

Within literally days, I get confirmation from Barrow and Williams that it (1) has indeed handled the closing and then within a few days later that it (2) has gotten my title registered, so that I can provide the information to my surveyor.

From January 2008 until February 2009. Whew! What were the lessons that I could draw from this ordeal?

1. Follow up, constantly, until everything is registered. I'd closed properties in Belize before, and knew that things moved slowly. Therefore, I didn't always ask questions, and, after a while, forgot to check in on progress, assuming everything had been done. I should have placed ticklers on my calendar every few weeks, to check in on progress. As I write this episode, I realize that many months were lost simply because of errors: (1) a file lost because my paralegal sent it to the wrong address; (2) a document misplaced within a firm; (3) lack of responsibility for taking care of the title transfer because each firm is assuming the other is the one handling it.

2. Keep correspondence throughout. This is something I did right. Luckily, my saving grace in this mess was keeping good records of correspondence. Had I not kept the email from a year earlier, I don't know if I could have convinced my law firm that it was the firm that had handled the transaction.

3. Get a clearer understanding of timelines. I should have, throughout the process, pushed my attorney for a clear detail of the timeline: i.e., when they were taking the title to be transferred, how long would it be until transfer, etc. Would the firm have kept to the timeline it gave me? I doubt it. Things in Belize move notoriously slowly, and some things (i.e. the situation at the Land Registry) was out of my firm's control. However, by getting the firm and my attorney to engage me on a regular basis as to a projected timeline, I believe I could have kept both me and them better on track on the project. Furthermore, I believe the firm would have not let the transfer slip through the cracks because we'd have had more contact.

During this year long ordeal, though, I wasn't just waiting--I was moving forward on the development. In the next episode, I'll write about the process of finding help in clearing, subdividing and developing the property.

Developing Property in Belize, Part 2: Funding

2009-03-27T21:28:00.003-04:00

So as I left you with my first installment, things were looking pretty good. I'd found a low cost project that looked pretty fun, I'd checked out the property and it looked good. I'd spoken with friends and associates to gauge interest in the property, and it was fairly high--I probably had already half the pre-sale subscriptions I needed to totally fund the project.

Every stage of the way I have learned a lesson--some for the good, some for the bad.

From here on out, I'll probably post the lessons learned at the end of each blog, but for now, here is the first lesson I learned--and it's a positive one:

1. Don't let the asking price scare you away.

If you recall, I ended up paying 60 percent of the asking price, but only after a period of negotiating, and then being denied, and finally being accepted months later.

When I flew back from Belize in November, I was pretty excited. I already had people committed to about half the money I needed (counting the money I was going to put in as well), now I just needed to find the other half.

Here is where I had my first challenge.

Things in Belize are in a constant process of what I call "hurry up and slow down": maddeningly slow most of the time, but on rare occasions (usually when a Belizean wants your money) suddenly insistently and irrationally, persistently fast.

Within days of coming home, the seller's agent had prepared a contract to sell and was pressuring me to sign. The contract gave me very little time to close, and was an unconditional contract, stating that I would buy within X days (30, I believe), with no contingencies. Having practiced in business law (and more importantly, before that, in real estate law) for a decade, I knew that I needed to build in contingencies for title and other matters--i.e., I had the right to back out of the deal if title was bad, etc. The agent, to her credit, let me alter the contract to my comfort level, so that I had a little more time, and also the right to back out if title wasn't good. Had the seller not relented on this issue, I wouldn't have signed.

The contract negotiations bought me a few days' time to attempt to line up my funding, all the while being pushed by the sellers' agents, being told that another buyer was interested. I didn't let this pressure me, but still, the day came, very quickly, when I was told I needed to sign the contract.

I did a little soul searching, and decided two things: first, that I believed in this project, and could make it work. Second, that I thought I could get enough investors, but if not, I could still find the money.

So I signed the contract. This bought me time to get the title checked, and then to line my investors up.

Here is where I learned my first negative lesson. A lot of friends and associates had expressed interest in the project, and given the low entrance costs, almost anyone could join. Nevertheless, when it came time to put money on the table, suddenly some of the folks got quiet. Some changed their mind. One's wife found out she was pregnant, and another lost a potential real estate sale that would've left him flush with cash. Furthermore, some of the other individuals whom I would have thought would be interested in the project, were in fact not interested in investing outside of the country.

I had some investors lined up, but frankly, not nearly enough to completely finance the project. Thankfully, I had a Plan B. During the last few weeks, I'd been talking to a banker friend of mine about the project, and my possible need for funding. Given the relatively small amount of the project, as well as, frankly, the times (2007), the bank was willing to give me a line of credit--small, but large enough to complete the project.

Once I got this lined up, my stress eased. In fact, I wasn't concerned about investors any more--if friends wanted to jump on, the offer was still open, but if not, that was ok because I had the funding I needed. As it turned out, there were investors that ended up putting in money--not enough to completely fund the project, mind you, but a good group of friends and family, and we were on our way to a fun project.

I learned some good lessons in this early phase of the project:

1. Don't accept a no-contingency contract. In Belize, every real estate agent I've dealt with, when I try to purchase property, has wanted me to sign a contract putting up a sizeable down payment, with no right to cancel--even if there are title problems. This is dangerous, and luckily, I knew better than to get stuck in such a trap.

2. Get your money lined up before signing a contract. I had a few weeks of heartburn, after chasing down the property, scouting it, and signing a contract, where all my plans looked like they were falling through. It was a difficult period. I'd misjudged initial interest: people saying they "would like to invest" is not the same thing as those same people ponying up checks for the investment amount. That's the only test of real interest, in my book. That was probably the first (though not the last) mistake I made in the project: not having investors more concretely lined up, and overestimating the interest of friends and family. Thankfully, I mitigated my mistake by having in place a Plan B, and, perhaps, this is another lesson to be drawn from the experience. In the future, if I do another project, I will have a much more concrete plan for funding(in fact, a Plan A and Plan B) so that I don't have to go through such heartburn. In the U.S., I know of lots of developers and investors who tie up a property or business with a contract to purchase before knowing how they're going to get the money. However, contracts in the U.S. will typically have a loan contingency, saying the potential purchaser can cancel the contract (and get his earnest money back) if he can't find a suitable loan with which to purchase the property or business. Such a contingency is practically unheard of in Belize, where loans are difficult to get, and the earnest money deposits are typically larger: usually ten or twenty percent of the purchase price, non-refundable. Had I not found funding, I'd have lost a sizeable chunk of change.

Once I got the funding, then it was time to get the deal closed.

NEXT TIME: CLOSING ON THE PROPERTY.

Developing property in Belize, Part 1--finding the property

2009-03-21T21:11:00.004-04:00

I'm traveling down to Belize in May to work on a very small property that a group of friends and I are developing. I use the term "developing" in the loosest sense, because we are, in actuality, simply taking a larger tract of land, clearing it of some of the rougher brush, filling it, dividing it up on a plat, and then selling it.

We're not running power, paving roads, putting in sewer, curbing, guttering, fancy common areas, or the like. It will be something simple, for people who want to buy a nice property, in a quiet area, on the Caribbean sea, for a very inexpensive price.

I've never developed property before, so this has been a fun project, though at times challenging. We don't have the property completely developed yet, or ready for sale yet, and time will tell whether we're successful. However, I thought it might be good, for individuals thinking of developing property overseas (or even better, those looking to do something in Belize), for me to relate my experiences, as I develop the property. This is less a "how to" and more of a journal, warts and all, for which the ending has not yet been written. Still, I can see some things that I've definitely done wrong or misjudged--but other things that, in retrospect, I've done correctly. You get to learn from my successes and failures.

Progress has been excruciatingly slow, even by what I expected from Belize. It is now late March, 2009, and I first began looking at this property in Summer 2007! Here, then, for the benefit of other folks interested in the process, is how I went about doing what I've been doing.

Summer 2007: I engage in my weekly habit--looking at Belize real estate online. I enjoy traveling to Belize, have already bought a few pieces of land there, and have traveled often to Belize. I've probably only seen about half the country, and of that half, I'm most familiar with two specific districts within the country. However, within those two districts, I'm pretty knowledgeable about the lay of the land, and so, by looking at real estate offerings weekly, I can get a pretty good sense of what's for sale out there.

I notice a tract of land that catches my eye. It is a five-acre seafront parcel of land near a little village I'd visited a few times. The village is small and quiet, but it has a beautiful seafront. While it doesn't have the layout to be, say, the next "Ambergris Caye," it does have potential to become a bigger tourist or residential retirement destination. For one thing, it is primarily a fishing village, like Ambergris Caye used to be, which means the locals could make good tour and fishing guides. For another thing, the cool vibe that has been as of yet undiscovered. Also, the people are friendly, there's little crime, and prices are low. Finally, the village is a hard two-hour ride down a washboard dirt road, a two-hour boat ride trip from Ambergris Caye, or a short but infrequent flight from Ambergris Caye; I see that one of the things holding this area back may be its accessibility, but that if transportation opened up a bit, this village could easily become more accessible.

As for the property itself, I know roughly where it is located (within a mile or two). Two years prior, some friends and I had looked at a two-acre parcel in the area, and I'd always kicked myself for not paying the price, that had since escalated. However this sales price, per acre, is the same as the one I'd looked at two years previously. I also know that, given the going asking price for land in the area, two one-acre lots could cover the purchase price for this whole tract. The picture of the tract also looks nice--powdery white sand, for the area, is a bit unusual.

I email the real estate agent about the price, and do a little negotiating. While I don't remember all the details, I do recall that I make a starting offer of about fifty percent of the asking price, but do so in a nice way (i.e., not criticizing the property, or making disparaging comments, but stating that I'd be interested in buying at X price). The agent is professional and nice, and counters with a price that is 80 percent of the list price. I counter at 60 percent of the list price. After a little more dancing around, we never go anywhere so I just back off.

October 2007: I've not thought about this property for months, when I receive an email from the listing agent. She informs me that the sellers have reasons for wanting a quick sale of the property (they're moving to a city to send their kids to school), and are willing to accept my previous offer of 60 percent, but only if I can close quickly (at least, "quickly" in Belizean terms).

My interest is piqued. I decide that I'd like to consider buying the property, but, also, that I'd like to experiment with setting up an investment group to buy and develop the property. It seems to me that this would be a low-cost venture that would allow my friends and I to dip our toes in the waters of international real estate developing.

I tell the agent that I'm interested in purchasing, and that I'll come down in a few weeks to walk the property over and to inspect it.

November 2007: I travel to Belize for a quick two-day trip, for the purpose of viewing the property. Previously, I'd only driven to the village, a very long, dusty two-hour jaunt down rough roads. This time, though, I decide to take the plane ride. There is no connecting flight to the village from the international airport, but only from Ambergris Caye. That's ok, though, because I love staying on Ambergris, so I book a hotel on the island, and on my first full day, I take a day trip to the property.

There are only two flights per day to the village: one at 7:00 a.m., and one at 5:00 p.m., so I leave early in the morning, with plans to return that evening. Even though the property has interested me, I still hesitate because I remember how remote the village was when I drove there. Fortunately, though, flying to the village gives me a brand new perspective of accessibility to the area. From the island, it only takes me about 15 minutes before I see the village. As we're passing over, I can't see an airport, but realize as we descend that the village just has a paved landing strip about a mile out of town. As we land, a relative of the agent, Jorge, meets me and takes me in his truck back to town. He's the local listing agent for the property, but his family also runs a small hotel and rents out some cabanas in town.

Jorge has hired a boat to take us to the property. As we leave the village and ride up the coast, I notice more new houses than I'd seen when previously there. The houses, built by wealth gringos, are very nice, and further reinforce my belief that this little village has some potential for foreign visitors.

After 15 or so minutes, we've ridden the four miles up the coast to the property. It is very thick with growth, both Australian pines and nice palm trees, but also lots of undergrowth , brush and weeds. While the shore is decently sandy, I can tell that there's no way that the property I'm viewing is the same property in the listing picture. The property in the listing picture shows a somewhat cleared land, with powdery white sand. This sand, however, is darker brown and somewhat mushy in areas--which is exactly what I'd experienced when visiting this area previously.

Obviously, there is no substitute for actually physically visiting a property before buying. While that sounds pretty self-evident, I'm amazed at how many people buy foreign property sight-unseen, simply based on marketing or sales brochures. Only by coming and physically inspecting the property can I know what I'm going to by. I mention to Jorge that this property looks nothing like the picture, and he says he doesn't know what picture could have been listed on the website.

The property lays well, which is to say it's not too marshy, fairly flat, and has some good foliage. It's low, and it will need some fill dirt. But it's quiet, peaceful, and all I hear is the cliched gentle lapping of the water on shore. Oh yeah, and it's got a view to kill for--a a couple hundred feet of frontage on the cotton-candy-blue Caribbean Sea.

Of course, there are the practicalities. First, and foremost, the road to the property, while platted on the map, has never been cleared, though Jorge tells me that the government will split the costs of clearing the road with me if I do it. There's also no power, and the property is too small for me to justify the costs of running power lines a couple of miles to the property. Obviously, there's no sewer either, this far out from the village.

However, as rough as that may seem to folks not used to the area, it's de rigeur for rural Belize. Many people build their houses "off the grid" in Belize, using solar power for electricity, septic tanks for waste, and a combination of wells, rainwater cisterns, and bottled water for their water usage needs.

More than that, I've already seen other lots for sale in the area with a similar lack of utilities (and with boat access), and I know their sales price--all I care to do is to compete with those lots--not to compete with lots in a nice subdivision with all sorts of utilities. My goal is to do something very simple and affordable, for someone who wants something simple and affordable.

After returning to the States, I'm convinced that this property, at this price, is a good investment. I've seen one-acre lots (with no utilities) sell in this same area for about the same price for which I can buy the entire five acres.

Furthermore, I've been speaking informally to friends, and many of them have expressed an interest in investing in the project. The friends who've informally committed to the project already constitute about half of the money I'd need to get it up and going, and there seems to be more interest. However, I need to act pretty fast. I tell the listing agent to draw up a contract, and, while she's doing this, I begin working on getting up the investors necessary to establish this venture.

TO BE CONTINUED......

(NEXT INSTALLMENT: FUNDING THE PROJECT)

Book Review: "How to Cook a Tapir," by Joan Fry.

2009-03-14T13:39:00.003-04:00

As I've written previously, I'm an on-again, off-again frequenter of the Belize Forum message board. One of the frequent (and more interesting) posters is a lady named Joan Fry, who has recently published, "How to Cook a Tapir -- A Memoir of Belize."

Joan, now in her mid-60s, recounts, in her memoir, a year she spent in 1962 in a Maya village in the mountains of Belize with her new husband. The book is an interesting, often funny, sometimes cringeworthy account of a 20 year old girl leaving college (and her family) behind to follow her husband, an anthropology graduate student, as he attempts to chronicle the lives of Maya villagers for his graduate thesis.

The book, at a little over 200 pages, is an easy read, and in that space intertwines three separate stories within its cover. As the reader begins the story, we learn about the cultural adjustments the author had to make moving to a remote village in the former British Honduras. But as the story progresses, the author unfolds her interactions with an overbearing husband, and later tells the story of her growing friendship with the villagers and eventual love for the native Mayan people.

The story in the end becomes less about the villagers and more about a young woman finding her independence and learning about herself in a physically harsh environment.

Other books about the former British Honduras have been written, typically by first-world writers, and often from a colonial perspective that unwittingly views the locals of B.H. as shabby, somewhat uneducated mixed-race creoles clinging to an antiquated British system. What makes Fry's book all the more interesting, though, is that she lives with and uncovers a social strata of people who within the Belizean social pyramid are at the complete bottom. In Fry's story, the creoles look upon the Mayas with barely concealed disdain. In the western country of Belize, there are fewer creoles, and more Spanish mestizos and even Garifuna (black descendants of Africans and Carib Indians), both classes of whom dress in western garb and view the Mayan villagers as lower class. Even within the Mayans, there are those Fry refers to as "ladinos" who are Mayans that have left the traditional way of life and dress, preferring to speak Spanish or English instead of one of the more traditional Mayan languages.

The story, however, does not paint the Mayans as "noble savages." They are people, with their own set of flaws within their culture, such as men who savagely beat their wives, and clans of families that end up at one point splitting the village apart. We see the Maya not as crude natives, but also not as perfect people living in a garden of Eden--they're just people, with their own set of problems, character strengths and flaws.

The book, more than anything, is written about the author, and her transformation. During this transformation, we see a growing resentment of her husband, the author's high-school boyfriend, the man who has always been in charge and had all the answers, but a man whom the author, as she comes of age, begins to question. It comes as no surprise to the reader that, shortly after returning to the States, the author and her husband divorce.

Perhaps my only criticism of this book, if I could go so far to call it that, is that the author appears to use her enthralling story to get her digs in to an ex-spouse from 45 years previous. I suspect that the author's telling of her story is a catharsis, but she makes no pretense of telling the story of her spousal conflicts fairly or from a neutral vantage point. We see one viewpoint--hers. The author is, by now, probably in her mid 60s, and in her telling is introspective as to her own naivety, but she gives the reader no clue about her possible role in the marital conflicts and failures. I hope, for her ex-husband's sake, that he is no longer around to hear her retelling. I suspect, given the fact that Fry is only telling this story now, that she has waited until the story could be safely told.

The book, overall, is good--well told, and an interesting intertwining of a snapshot of aboriginal culture that is almost extinct, together with an interpersonal tale of marital conflict. For anyone interested in reading about Belize, I would recommend this book.

A moral quandry and hypocrisy in action

2009-03-07T15:56:00.009-05:00

Multi-millionaires and billionaires often invest outside of the confines of their home country, and sometimes questions arise about how exactly they spend their money, whether their spending may bring positive sociological and economic results, and sometimes the media will attribute the overall actions of investment into a moral decision affecting individuals at the local level.

Donald Trump's organization, for example, has begun construction on numerous overseas developments, one of which is in Panama City, Panama. This development has a lot of potential, both to expat citizens living in Panama, wealthy Panamanians, those local individuals working on the project, and hopefully the country as a whole. Sounds good, right?

It might complicate things, however, if I told you that Panama, unbeknown to the general public, had some peculiar real estate ownership laws.

First, Panama has a law providing that, in order to protect its properties, only Panamanian citizens can own real estate. Trump, however, is not worried about selling his development in Panama--it's going to be a resort, after all. But he invites Americans to come visit it, telling them it will be the height of luxury in Panama.

What if you came, however, and decided you liked it so much that you would want to stay and become a citizen? Well, you can become a citizen of Panama by naturalization--so long as you meet a couple of important criteria. Specifically, the constitution of Panama provides:

"In order to preserve, foster and maintain the positive Panamanian culture, values and character, only persons who are white Spanish or of white Spanish descent shall qualify by birth or by naturalization to be citizens of Panama."

Would that change how you felt about it? Would a wealthy black American, for example, feel a little strange being invited to spend money in a country where he can't own property, and couldn't gain citizenship, though his own United States would unreservedly offer citizenship to Panama's citizens?

Donald might answer this by saying that whites and white Spaniards should support this like Jews support Israel.

Would any of this be reported in the media on a widespread basis? Would Donald Trump be able to keep his tv show or would it be boycotted?

Well, in fairness to Mr. Trump, and to the country of Panama, this entire example (except for Trump's development in Panama) has been made up. His development will be open for use and purchase by all.

What is real, however, is the fact that something similar is occurring in our world. I'd previously written about Liberia as a possible investment destination. I also touted the fact that BET Network and Charlotte Bobcats owner Robert Johnson was building a luxury resort in Liberia set to open this month. Mr. Johnson seemed to be very hot on Liberia, and made a quote similar to the one I mis-attributed to Donald Trump, except that he said that blacks should support investment in Africa like Jews have supported Israel.

http://www.blackvoices.com/blogs/2007/04/27/johnson-blacks-should-treat-liberia-like-jews-treat-israel/2

I'd previously read that Liberia did not allow foreign real estate ownership. In doing a little more research, I read an editorial article by a native Liberian lamenting that some individuals were as a practical matter circumventing this rule, and then quoted the Liberian constitution about real estate ownership and Liberian citizenship.

I looked up what is the 1986 version of the Constitution (and to my knowledge the most current one) which provides in relevant part as follows:

"In order to preserve, foster and maintain the positive Liberian culture, values and character, only persons who are Negroes or of Negro descent shall qualify by birth or by naturalization to be citizens of Liberia."

http://74.6.239.67/search/cache?ei=UTF-8&p=liberian+constitution&fr=yfp-t-501&u=confinder.richmond.edu/admin/docs/liberia.pdf&w=liberian+constitution&d=A5L73p2uSQAv&icp=1&.intl=us

It's not that I even have that much of a problem with this provision, or with the fact that Robert Johnson is investing in a country that shuts out citizenship for all other races. What bothers me is the hypocrisy of the general public and specifically the media if the tables were turned and we really were discussing my Donald Trump hypothetical.

We Americans have grown so politically sensitive to any vestige of colonialism, imperialism and racism, that we sometimes take indefensible views.

The American public largely (at least on the west coast) supported the thousands of illegal immigrants who had the gall to march with Mexican flags protesting U.S. policy that would require them to--God forbid--enter this country the legal way or leave. In fact, at the same time, the Mexican government began making veiled claims of U.S. racism to even suggest that illegal immigrants shouldn't stay. But Mexico itself not only has similar policies, but it, in certain areas of the country (within 48 kilometers of any coast) prohibits us foreigners from even owning real estate. Do we do that to them?

Many in the public (rightly) made an outcry at the treatment of indigenous peoples pushed off their land by the "BIG CORPORATIONS," and the former mistreatment of black South Africans at the hands of the white minority. But why, until recently, was everyone so scared to talk about Robert Mugabe in Zimbabwe, who drove his country (once known as the breadbasket of Africa) into starvation and poverty by for more than a decade harassing and evicting the country's farmers--simply because they were white?

Should Robert Johnson stop building his resort, simply because of Liberia's outdated citizenship policies? I don't think so. An influx of capital can't hurt that war-torn country, and hopefully it will help. It's not an inherent moral wrong that he's investing there--life is more nuanced than that.

On the other hand, do I want to invest there? Investment is encouraged, and, while you can invest with pretty much a free hand, if you follow Liberia's incentive rules, you're entitled to additional incentives and tax breaks. One of the rules is that your business should offer Liberian citizens the right to "buy in" to your business once it gets up and going.

It's not that I would probably ever want to be a Liberian citizen anyway, but I've traveled a lot, and I've learned that, regarding investments, there are two kinds of countries.

The first kind of country encourages you to come, to live and invest, and offers you a quid pro quo. If you bring something to the country, it hopes to give you something back. St. Kitts will allow you to become a citizen of its nation if you invest money there. Panama will give you retiree benefits if you come down, bring a steady pension income, and not take any local jobs.

The second kind of country wants you to bring your money, then leave. This kind of country views first world citizens less as humans and more as ATMs. While I love Belize, I sometimes feel like its citizens view us North Americans that way. They love to make money off of us, but many of them resent us when we stay.

Liberia, I fear, may fall into the latter--at least for non-blacks. Perhaps I'll miss my chance at riches by not getting in early. Maybe one day I'll look back and wish I'd followed through on my tourism idea, or the chance to set up a small coffee import-export business there. But there are plenty more countries in the world, and I'd rather spend my money in a country that wants me, and is willing to offer me benefits for the benefits I bring it.

Liberia, Africa -- Ripe for Overseas Investment?

2009-02-28T14:04:00.004-05:00

My travel buddy told me recently that he's been hearing murmurings about investing in Liberia, Africa, and how he'd be interested in checking into it. I laughingly referred to it as a ____ hole (insert any appropriate expletive), and said how I couldn't believe it because it was war-torn, dangerous, the subject of civil war ..... And I realized that I pretty much sounded like folks who'd criticized some of my previous trips to areas they'd never been, folks who based their critique of a country solely on network news items--often based a decade previously.

Suddenly a bit more open to the idea, I decided to investigate, and I learned a lot of interesting facts.

While we probably all learned in school that Liberia was a country created by repatriated slaves, I learned that the slaves came not just from the United States, but from the Caribbean as well. More importantly, however, I learned that the ancestors of those slaves (referred to as Americo-Liberians) actually constituted only a very small portion of the country's populace. However, until recently, this ethnic group wielded disproportionate political influence.

I found further that peace has reigned in Liberia for a period of five years, the longest period in a few decades. A country that at one time had more industry and investment, Liberia is now attempting to rebuild its demolished infrastructure and, later, its economy.

It is attempting to do this, in part, though foreign investment initiatives, specifically, those set up through the National Investment Commission (http://www.nic.gov.lr/ ). The NIC, one of many alphabet-soup-named government entities, is trying to create incentives for foreign investors to come invest in Liberia. It offers, among other things, reduced (and sometimes waived) taxes, lower or forgiven important duties, and other potential benefits.

The incentives are offered in numerous fields, such as construction, agriculture and forestry, tourism, and import/export business. The main requirements to become a part of the investment scheme are that local Liberians have to be employed and, to a limited extent, offered eventual ownership rights in a portion of the business.

Two more interesting developments point to Liberia as being a possible growth area in the future decade. While currently there are no direct U.S. flights to Liberia, Delta is reputed to begin a direct flight from Atlanta to Monrovia beginning in June of this year. Also, Robert Johnson, owner of the Charlotte Bobcats, is said to have begun construction of a hotel or residential project in the area.

Don and I have decided that, if the Delta flight becomes a reality, we're going to Liberia this summer to check things out.

Recessions, Riots and Entitlements

2009-02-21T16:33:00.004-05:00

It's a sign of the different political theories of countries to see how they respectively handle economic downturns.

Some, often among the less developed, who by their very nature have not the resources or ability to be interventionist, simply take a laissez faire attitude. Take Belize, for example. The poor in Belize are poor. They expect nothing from their government, other than that those in power will benefit themselves at the expense of the populace, because that's all they know. When tourism in Belize took a nose dive, what did those in the tourism industry do? Apparently suck it up, suffer, and, to the extent possible, compete in the market by offering discounts and incentives to draw in customers.

In a "more developed" (ahem) country like the United States, flirting more frequently with socialism, the populace cried out for more regulatory controls to curb the perceived abuses and crimes of unrestrained capitalism--more oversight over out of control lenders, caps on CEO salaries (as if that would fix their respective companies' problems), and so-called stimuli, created either by taxing the productive or creating currency by fiat.

But what about those countries whose populaces blindly have expected succor? An interesting example is the French who, when faced with trials, do what they do best--they strike!

What do the French strike against? They strike for their government to take care of them more!

Not only do the French strike at home, but in their foreign departments, such as Guadaloupe and Martinique. The English have long been disdained as the bad example of colonialism, and their former Caribbean colonies have been pointed to and compared with the French Caribbean. The English, it is said, treated their colonies like, well, colonies and not equals, and this has resulted in crime and poverty in the English Caribbean.

The French Caribbean, by contrast (it has been said), has been treated as a part of France, with the use of French currency and all the entitlements and accoutrements of French citizenship. The French (or Dutch) way, it is said, is far more preferable.

But in these difficult economic times, let's compare the two:

The English Caribbean, mostly independent by now, is comprised of numerous islands (as well as the Central American country of Belize and the South American country of Guyana) who have long learned not to rely on the mother country, and, overall, takes a resigned yet cynical view of government. They don't hold their breath, waiting for government to save them. They know that if they want change, they'll need to effect it themselves. The English Caribbean is desperately scrambling to figure out ways to pull itself out of the doldrums occasioned by a loss in revenue from the American, Canadian and U.K. recessions.

The French Caribbean nations, however, are dumbfounded. Having relegated their solutions in life to a deistic government located in Paris, their citizens aren't quite sure how to fix the problems. But they're sure of one thing: it's not THEIR fault. Instead, they're doing what they, as French citizens, do best--and that's STRIKE!!!!

They're striking against the French Government, for not doing more for them. And they're striking against white citizens and the wealthy, for somehow being behind whatever ails them.

Open letter to the French Caribbean: if times are hard, and you begin rioting against (and looting) your upper class and your white citizens, what do you think that will do to your tourism? And if your tourism faulters, what do you think will happen to your economy?

And I thought the American Left didn't understand cause and effect.

For further reading:

http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2009/feb/18/nicolassarkozy-guadeloupe

http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2190766/posts

Colombia real estate wrap-up

2009-02-14T16:20:00.003-05:00

Now that I've had some time to digest all that I saw and did while in Colombia, I'd like to write a wrap-up of the real estate that I saw in Cartagena.

Limitations: my trip was very limited geographically: all I saw was the area around Cartagena, then the coastal road up to Santa Marta and Taganga.

Colombia in General: it's hard for me to make sweeping generalizations about Colombia because I saw a very small part, one which does not appear to necessarily be representative of the rest of the country. For one thing, the Caribbean coast of Cartagena has more Afro-Caribbean influence than the rest of the country. For another, Cartagena allegedly was safe even when much of the rest of the country was dangerous. If I could judge only by my visit to Cartagena, I could say that the country is safe, doing well, and a great place to travel. And from reading the travel blogs about Colombia, much of the country indeed is about that safe. However, there are still pockets of rebels, militia and drugs--though they were far removed from me.

Real Estate: even in such a narrow area of the country as Cartagena, there was a lot of variety, and generalizations are difficult. I basically viewed real estate of two types: old rehabbed (or rehabbable) buildings in the old city, and new condo projects in the newer parts of the city.

First with the old:
1. El Centro is nice, but no place to find bargains. Across from the Hotel Tres Banderas sat a building in need of repair, paint peeling, an obvious fixer-upper, for sale by owner. Hector, the hotel's owner, said that the building's owner was asking $1.6 million for the property! Prices in El Centro--the walled part of the old city--appear to have skyrocketed. It would likely be difficult to find an inexpensive diamond in the rough that you could fix up for profit. Numerous developers have already gutted the insides of these historic buildings, creating a hybrid that is an outer shell of Spanish colonialism, with the inner workings of South American minimalism. It's a nice touch, but from what I saw--it ain't cheap.

If I were going to live anywhere in this city, El Centro is where I'd want to be--you've got almost everything you want (shops, groceries, vendors and restaurants) within walking distance--but it's very expensive. Also, I'm not sure how well an apartment in El Centro would lend itself to tourist rentals--yes, it's near all the old city attractions, but it's not within walking distance of decent beaches. I'd suspect that if you bought an apartment in El Centro, you'd want to have it primarily for your own personal use, or long term rental.

There does appear to be some more potential, however, in that part of the city outside of its original walls, Gethsemani. This area of the old city is a little less polished, grittier, and has a reputation for dodginess at night. Still, walking along its edges on a Sunday afternoon, I could see that the process of gentrification had already begun. Looking upon real estate websites, I found old buildings in need of rehabbing at much lower prices than their counterparts in El Centro. If you were interested in buying an old building, but didn't have a million or more to spend, Gethsemani seems to be where to look--but you'll have to be careful.

If it's not necessary that you have something old or historic, then the world of Cartagena really opens up to you. Prices I saw listed on websites for residential districts were pretty reasonable, but I never visited them. I did, however, look around at condominiums in two beach areas: Playa Boca Grande, and Playa de las Americas.

Playa Boca Grande has been the premier area for middle-class Colombian vacationers for some times. Condos here are being sold pre-owned, pre-construction, and new-build, so there is a lot of choice. I saw some well under $100,000, all the way to a half million dollars, all offering ocean view, though, as is often the case in Cartagena, there is no beach frontage because a Malecon (oceanfront street) will cross in front of the complex. In Boca Grande, there is a long stretch of beach, lots of restaurants, and lots of things to do. For the condo owner or renter here, you could simply walk out your building with some suntan lotion and a towel, cross to the beach, and enjoy yourself. There are numerous beachside eateries, and vendors renting seats and selling drinks, so most Colombians don't bother with an armload of chairs, tents and a cooler so big it has to be tugged on a wagon. Boca Grande, it seems, is the Myrtle Beach of Cartagena.

But some of us wouldn't want to travel halfway around the world to reach something we don't like at home. Though there was some nice real estate at Boca Grande, the beach was packed cheek to jowl with fellow vacationers; and once you found your little postage stamp sized piece of sand of your own, then you had to fend off the dozens of vendors walking along the beach trying to sell trinkets, food, massages and anything else you wanted. Though an interesting spectacle to watch, it's not somwhere I'd personally want to vacate. Would the condos make a good rental option? I couldn't tell, and never got a chance to look at the numbers. It did appear as if most of the oceanfront was already built up, so perhaps the oceanfront condos cannot be much more overbuilt in the city. However, the building boom appeared to be headed to....

Playa de las Americas. If I were going to invest in real estate around Cartagena, land or building, the area north of town is where I'd want to go. It's where the city is expanding to, it's close to the airport, and frankly, I thought the beaches were wider and better overall. The condominium projects were mostly new, higher end, and offered much more beach on which to play. Furthermore, the area was good for windsurfing and, though there were families out on the beach, there was ample space for everyone, and almost no touts trying to push their wares.

The only downside I saw was that--of all the areas I visited--this might be the one where you'd have to actually get in a car to do much sightseeing. There weren't many restaurants in the area, and nothing to see other than the beach. In El Centro or Gethsemani, one would be close to lots of sightseeing, shopping and restaurants. In Boca Grande, you would be near lots of activity--nightclubs, eateries, and the beach. In Playa de las Americas, however, there wasn't so much, other than high rise after high rise. It would be a great place to play, but once you showered off and went back to your room, you'd either stay in for the night, or have to call a cab. It is hard for me to believe that all of the high rises being thrown up have been purchased or are anywhere close to being fully occupied. If this area has been overbuilt, here might be a possible area to get a good deal on a condo unit--assuming there is sufficient ownership within the building to keep the building and its facilities maintained.

Farther past Playa de las Americas, before reaching Baranquilla, are small, poor fishing villages worth visiting. Nothing other than the shorefront is very scenic, but if the city sprawl continues, these areas may be ripe for land speculation.

All you ever would want to know about North Carolina Foreclosures

2009-01-31T17:01:00.002-05:00

Are you interested in learning how to find deals on foreclosures? Want to know more about how the foreclosure process works so that you can try to buy deals from the banks? Look no further. I've just published "A Guide to Buying North Carolina Foreclosures," a book that is, the best I can tell, the first book ever written specifically about North Carolina foreclosures. My book will:

--expose some of the biggest myths about buying foreclosures;
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--explain how to ensure that you have a good and clean title;
--give you forms that will help you when you start buying foreclosures.

Interested? Go to http://stores.lulu.com/ncbusinesslaw . Paperback copies are $26.95, or you can download an e-book version for $19.95.

Colombia, final travel reviews

2009-01-30T16:47:00.002-05:00

I've been home for close to a week now, and would like to review my time in Cartagena. My next post will discuss the real estate climate; this one will simply discuss the issues of traveling to Colombia.

My trip overall:this is my favorite trip of all that I've taken with my buddy Don (and we've had a lot of good ones). There are lots of reasons, but I'll provide a summary:

1. Ease of access: getting to Cartagena was easy. Yes, we had to stop off in Miami, but from Miami, we had an easy two-hour flight. Once in Cartagena, deplaning and going through immigration and customs took less than 15 minutes. Furthermore, since Rafael Nunez Airport is right at the city, getting to our hotel took perhaps ten minutes and $2.50. These small details are often overlooked when planning a trip, but they mean a lot. It was easy to get on the ground quickly, and get to our destination. Ease of access makes it much easier for me to sell a trip to my wife!

2. Safety: I felt very safe in Cartagena. I was warned not to go into certain areas alone at night, and of course I didn't. In Cartagena itself, I felt safer than in many Caribbean destinations I've traveled. I can't make such a sweeping statement for all of Colombia, since I've not traveled countrywide, and I understand that some rural areas can still be dangerous. But for where I went, I felt very safe.

3. Price: Cartagena is reputed as the most expensive city in Colombia, and even at its most expensive, it was still affordable by American standards. I had a meal as cheap as $3.50, and my most expensive was about $30.00 (but that included a large appetizer and two drinks). Our hotel was very reasonable, and we could have stayed in a much posher one for a still-nice price in the lower $100s per night.

4. Hotel: I've already written a review of Hotel Tres Banderas on Tripadvisor.com, but I'll repeat it in sum here. The hotel was a good buy for the money. It was clean, comfortable, and located in a great part of El Centro. Furthermore, the staff and owner were very friendly, helpful and accommodating. Finally, at approximately $70 per night, the hotel was much better priced than comparable hotels in the area.

5. Surroundings: the city had a lot to do and a lot to sea, from historic areas, to tourist beaches, to windsurfing beaches. The seafood was fresh, the beef was tasty, and I didn't have a bad meal the whole time I was there. On days that we were very active, I had fun. On days that we took it easy, I had fun. Usually, I go to cities to explore, and the tropics to take it easy. In Cartagena, I could do both in the same trip.

I've been on a lot of "buddy" trips with Don. Some of them, I wouldn't mind taking my wife to check out (such as Panama, or St. Kitts)--and I think she'd enjoy it, though it might not be her favorite trip. Other places (Ecuador, for example) she has no desire to go to. But I want to take Gin with me to Cartagena, and I think she'll love it. She'll love the inexpensive shopping (I got her leather sandals for $15), the beaches, the fresh food, the historic architecture and friendly people.

Would I go again? Definitely. As I told my buddy Don, this is a place I could see myself returning to time after time--even doing the same thing over again--because I like it so much.

Casas San Augustin

2009-01-27T21:37:00.002-05:00

Final day

2009-01-27T21:36:00.000-05:00

LAST DAY: Today was a fitting end to a great day. We’d accomplished everything in three days that we’d expected to do in four. That gave us one day to just enjoy the city in a leisurely way. We got up early and ate breakfast, and then attempted to make some plans for the day. We wanted to go to a Sunday cock fight (a gallera) but the porter and girl working the front desk both said that the only fights around were about an hour out of the city. We checked into bullfights, but the only time the city held bullfights was actually the first couple of weeks in January.

Instead, we decided to just go out around town and see what we could see. I stopped off in a tourist store in the nearby plaza, and purchased both a long-sleeved and a short-sleeved guayabera shirt. We then just walked around town, looking at shops, taking in the tranquility of a lazy Sunday morning. Not a lot was going on, not many people were out—though we saw a few people attending masses in the neighboring churches.

Around 12, we looked for something to eat. We happened into Plaza Santo Domingo, site of the famous “fat lady” sculpture (whose name I don’t recall). It was pretty picturesque and appealed tranquil, so we sat down. As soon as we did, we realized we were actually in a very touristy location. Our menu’s prices were higher than anywhere else, and street vendors kept coming up to sell us cigarettes, beads, trinkets, etc. We shooed them all away. I just said “No gracias,” and looked away, which usually worked. Don had recently watched a tv show that said if you were approached by someone bothering you, give them strong body language by putting both arms and hands out in front of your body. He started doing that. It looked kinda comical to me, but it seemed to startle the street hawkers and make them move on.

By this point, it was hot, and I think we were both getting a little frustrated. Don got frustrated that the prices were high, and that he couldn’t read any of the Spanish—and there were no English subtitles—on the menu. I saw a hamburger that looked pretty good, but Don said, “I didn’t come down here to eat a ten dollar hamburger.” He decided to have nothing. We waited a pretty long time, punctuated only by people watching and vendor-denying. Finally, after about 20 minutes, the burger came out: a pound or more of pure pampas beef, slathered with mustard and ketchup, with bacon (and I think ham), and topped off with lettuce. I was in heaven as I ate. We finally finished and left. On the way back, Don said that he was pretty hungry, and after seeing my burger, wished he hadn’t let the price turn him off. He bought an ice cream at the tienda near our hotel, and we crashed.

After our rest, we went back out at around 3:00. We first went out and looked at a condo project in the walled city, developed by a gringo we’d met before in the restaurant. The development, San Augustin, was a division of an old house into modern luxury apartments. The apartments were very airy and open inside, while still incorporating older Spanish-style elements into the design. The prices, however, were unbelievable: $600,000 for the smallest, one bedroom unit, with prices rising up to almost $2,000,000. The units were cool, many containing their own private pools or Jacuzzis, as well as mini-courtyards. I took a lot of pictures, some of which I’ll post separately.

Afterward, we looked at a couple of other apartment buildings in the city, and made our way back to our hotel. Earlier, we’d met a gringo named Mark who frequented Cartagena for a period of years. He invited us to go wind surfing with him at Playa Las Americas, in the North Zone going out of town. We took a taxi down and went walking on the beach. The beach was filled with men on surfboards tethered to parasails, hopping the waves and going five feet into the air. We saw Mark and watched him a bit, talked to him a bit more, but neither one of us were interested in trying a new sport on our last day in Cartagena. The beach was the best one I found in Cartagena, filled with modern highrises, covered with a wide, sandy beach, and almost completely devoid of the annoying touts we’d found in Boca Grande.

As the sun went down, we got a taxi and went back to the hotel. For our final dinner, we ate at our same restaurant, and called it a night before flying home the next day.

Seafood delights, and random doorknockers

2009-01-25T13:37:00.002-05:00

Pictures from Taganga

2009-01-25T13:33:00.004-05:00

Saturday: Day trip to Santa Marta and Taganga

2009-01-25T13:33:00.001-05:00

SUNDAY MORNING, 10:15 A.M., JANUARY 25, 2009:

A busy day yesterday, too busy to write about at the time. Sometimes, with traveling, adventures can be not what you want, perhaps not completely comfortable, but still enjoyable for the experience.

Yesterday, we wanted to get a ride to see the city of Santa Marta and the village of Taganga. We’d had the opportunity to take a tour bus, but we’d have had to leave our hotel at 5:45 in the morning, and I just wasn’t up for that. Instead, we had the desk staff work on getting us a private taxi there. By 9:30, we’d arranged a taxi (our driver from the previous day, actually), who was set to pick us up at 10:30. The trip was supposed to take about three hours each way, and the total cost was $250 U.S. In the meantime, I jogged along the old city wall, enjoyed breakfast, and saw some great scenery up on the hotel’s top balcony.

At 10:30, our driver arrived. He spoke not a word of English, and my Spanish was limited, but I could communicate fairly well, especially with the help of my guidebook. The first couple of hours were spent very pleasantly, and the surrounding countryside was bucolic, lots of pastures to our right, views of the ocean every so often to our left, and occasional vacation developments along the shore in the middle of nowhere.

We arrived at Baranquilla, a large city, at about 12:30, and I figured we only had about an hour to go. We’d driven 109 kilometers; however, the sign at the road said that Santa Marta was another 120 kilometers away! I realized that our trip was going to take much longer than I’d originally expected.

We drove around the outskirts of Baranquilla, a very large, sprawling and rather ugly industrial city. And from that point on, it seemed that the farther we went, the uglier the scenery got. The land got more arid, the houses poorer, and we saw real pockets of poverty: towns with men riding donkeys and carts, carrying sticks of wood; mud-built houses that made the concrete block ones beside them look luxurious; little in the way of infrastructure, but loads and loads of people.

While I never felt unsafe, I did feel at times uncomfortable. At one point, traffic slowed to a crawl as people plied the sides of the street. Kids would pull ropes in the street way to try and stop the cars and beg; the cars would play chicken and run through anyway. Women in dirty dresses danced beside our car—women and girls of all ages from preteens to a toothless old lady. I thought they were prostitutes, but Don believed they were just trying to dance and entertain for handouts. We never could find a satisfactory answer, and our driver couldn’t understand us to provide an answer.

We reached Santa Marta, but didn’t really spend any time trying to go through it. We’d originally planned on taking a leisurely drive through, but by this point, we all wanted to get to Taganga. Santa Marta supposedly has some pretty and historic areas, but what I saw was ugly. Not so poor as before, but not as nice as Cartagena’s newer areas.

At this point, I realized that our driver didn’t know his way around Santa Marta. He had to stop numerous times to ask the way to Taganga. Interestingly, a couple of people even said they’d never heard of it, but eventually, we got good directions. I’d previously suspected that our driver was not familiar with the area: after we passed Baranquilla, he seemed to become more nervous and unsure of himself. As we passed the ropes with beggars, I noticed him continually scratch his arms. In Santa Marta, he was very nervous and unsure of himself. Finally, however, we were pointed up the side of what appeared to be a foothill of the Andes Mountains, and we began climbing. The roads were narrow and twisty, but I knew we couldn’t drive too far because Taganga was only eight kilometers from Santa Marta.

As we crested the top of the hill, we saw down into a crescent shaped beach, framed by an arid valley and beautiful blue water—Taganga! It really was picturesque, and as beautiful as we’d been told.

I instructed our driver to drive through town and stop at a restaurant, because by now, it was almost 3:00 p.m. and I knew we were all tired and hungry. As we passed through, I could see that, as small as it was, the area was definitely touristy. It reminded me of Montanita, Ecuador, in that lots of hippies and backpackers were passing through, some of them even having stopped for a while to live there and sell beads and trinkets. Also, however, there were tour buses full of Colombians coming for a day trip to go snorkeling in the bay. We stopped at a restaurant at the edge of the town which appeared to be less touristy than the others—not by design, but just by happenstance. The waitress came out with five different kinds of fish, and pointed at them. I pointed at the one in the middle, because it looked as good as any, and plus it didn’t have big sharp teeth. But apparently, she needed more of an answer. Figuring she was asking me whether I wanted a fish sandwich or fish plate, I asked for a fish plate. But apparently, that wasn’t enough either. Finally, falling back on the oldest, safest favorite, I said that I wanted pollo (chicken). “Papas Fritas?” “Si,” Finally!

While our food cooked, I walked down the beach. The beach, at best, was a third of a mile long. From the tops of the hills, it looks beautiful, but when walking, it’s actually not very attractive. The beach isn’t very sandy, and was filled with trash. For half of my walk, I had to walk over ropes drawn taut by fishing canoes pulled up offshore, but the second half was more set up for tourists, and folks were in the water swimming. Given the trash I saw, I’d have been afraid. Walking back on the main sidewalk, I passed numerous long-haired and dreadlocked vendors selling all sorts of trinkets, as well as some booths set up to sell trips to La Ciudad Perdido (the Lost City). Our food came and we ate. It was plain, but good considering how hungry we were. Lunch was about $5.00 per person—not expensive, but more so than average, and a sign that tourism had come to Taganga.

At this point, we motioned to our driver that we wanted to go back to Taganga. It was almost 4:00, and we had a long ride ahead of us. Luckily this time, however, we knew that the farther we rode, the less ugly the scenery would be.

I thought the ride would pass quickly, but our driver appeared to be very nervous as the dark settled in. He drove more slowly than the other cars, constantly flicking his lights to high beam then low. He actually got lost once or twice in Baranquilla, but after that, he seemed to know where he was going—though slowly.

Throughout the trip, we’d pass through numerous checkpoints. Often, they simply were toll booths, but about half the time, it was military checkpoints. We weren’t stopped any on the way up; usually, the soldiers (who looked barely 18) just stood around bored, but on the way home we got stopped. The conversation between our driver and the soldier appeared cordial: he didn’t ask for our passports, but he held out his hand, and our driver passed him some money, though I couldn’t tell how much. It looked like the soldier pocketed it, and I couldn’t clearly ask our driver what happened back there.

We made it back to our hotel at around 8:30, tired, dirty, and sick of being cooped up in the car all day. I took a quick shower, and then we went back to the Restaurante Majagual, where we’d eaten many of our dinners. We sat out, and had a great seafood dinner, full of all sorts of meat, and beef as well. After dinner, we walked to another square, and just watched some of the street performers.

Would I want to go back to Taganga? No. It’s not worth the trip itself. If, perhaps, I was staying in Santa Marta (which is the beginning point of the Lost City trip), then yes, perhaps that area would be a nice diversion for a day or two. But it was definitely not worth the long and tedious drive there and back.

Tierrabomba Island

2009-01-23T20:31:00.001-05:00

Captions: Hector, Christina, random pictures of Hotel Tres Banderas Tierrabomba

Ceviche

2009-01-23T20:29:00.001-05:00

Full of tentacly goodness. $15 per bowl--thanks Anthony Bourdain!

Day three pictures, North Zone real estate

2009-01-23T20:24:00.002-05:00

Day three

2009-01-23T20:21:00.000-05:00

FRIDAY NIGHT, 7:15 P.M., JANUARY 23, 2009:

It’s been a very fun, random and entertaining day. This morning we woke up with no real clear plan of the day. One of the girls working the front desk had promised to help me set up a Santa Marta trip for Saturday, but we really had nothing planned for Friday. After emailing a local real estate agent, it occurred to me that it might be fun to hire a taxi to explore the supposedly up and coming “North Zone” of the city. We ate breakfast, and in the dining room was Hector, the owner of the hotel. Not only did he promise to set us up with a taxi for the trip, but he invited us on a boat ride over to the hotel’s sister property on Tierrabomba island. He said a few other people might join us. That sounded like a real good plan, and by 9:30 we were off. We quickly traveled out of the old city, then past the airport, to the Zona Norte. It had a completely different vibe than where we’d been before. The old city was, well, old and historic. Boca Grande was full of middle- and upper-middle class apartments and condos where families and others would come to spend time at the beach, along with all sorts of attendant things to do. Zona Norte, however, located just outside of the developed reaches of town, was nothing but high-rise after high-rise with no stores. The farther we went, the less finished the construction (i.e., some were still in the construction stage whereas the ones closest to town had been built).

The high-rises appeared to be, while not all-inclusive, very self-sufficient: spas, fitness, beach clubs, etc. A little farther out, past the high-rises, we passed rows and rows of shantytown shacks, the inhabitants of which, I suppose, had once lived closer to town until the high rises came. A few minutes past the shanty town, and we came upon a few different large developments which, if completed, would truly be self sufficient. I even saw an advertised Nicklaus golf course! We were short on time, but in a rush we stopped in a couple of developments. The first, Cartagena Laguna Estates, was a large (900 planned unit) development. Approximately a dozen buildings were under construction, one almost finished. The development would not be oceanfront, but would be centered around a lagoon that, best as I could tell, was probably partially man-made. The units were rather small: we went into one three bedroom, two bath unit that was 170 meters squared, or roughly 1600 square feet, and it was one of the largest. The price: about $250,000, if I did my math right.

Next, we took a quick drive through of another development (the name of which I forget) just down the road. It had existed for about ten years, but a few years ago had gone bankrupt and had been bought out. There were perhaps ten older homes in the development, done in a Spanish style. One was half finished and had a large tree growing through it. Another dozen or so new houses were being constructed, all in a more modern minimalist style. Prices for houses were given of between $400,000 and $500,000.

On the way back, we visited a small fishing village of, I think, Manzanillo, very poor, just recently supplied with water and, as we drove past, just getting ready to be supplied with gas. This inauspicious location, however, was smack in the middle of the currently existing North Zone high-rises, and currently developing large developments like the ones mentioned earlier. Hector had bought a large piece of oceanfront in town to speculate on growth in this area.

By this time, we were running short, so our taxi took us back to the hotel. Total cost: $35. Hector had been working his phone the entire time and told us, when our sightseeing trip was over, that we would be joined by a New York woman in his hotel, and a couple of students that were doing a study on his beach hotel in Tierra Bomba for a tourism paper.

Part two:

When we stepped out of the cab, Hector took us to an adjoining hotel, the Sofitel Santa Clara. Hector took us on a tour of it, and showed us the spa, to let us know that, even staying in his hotel, we could get a day-pass to the spa. I was very impressed by the compound, a former nunnery, that looked to house a few hundred rooms. Before we went on our boat ride to Tierrabomba, Hector wanted us to eat a quick snack. We stopped at Cevicheria, a nearby restaurant serving ceviche. Ceviche is a cold soup filled with meats and vegetables, and is “cooked” with lime juice. I’d watched Anthony Bourdain’s travel show “No Reservations,” and I saw him eat here, and I wanted to say I’d had ceviche here—just like him. I told myself I wanted the same thing he had—complete with every describable sea creature, and tentacles practically hanging out of the bowl. I’ve included a picture of the ceviche I ate. It was surprisingly good, though to me the weirdest part was eating it cold. The lime “cooking” gave it a real tang, but the meat was very good. My ceviche had fish, snail, perhaps squid, and a lot of octopus tentacles. When we got the check, our small bowls of ceviche cost $15 a piece! A high price even for Cartagena, and I guess the price to pay now that the restaurant had achieved some level of celebrity on the Travel Channel. By this point, one of the other guests, Christina from New York, had met up with us. An interior designer by trade, she was taking some time off, and had recently extended a month-long Medellin trip to make a side trip to Cartagena.

Hector let us know that he was going to grill us steaks Paradilla style at the beach. He stopped by the supermarket on the way, and then, at Boca Grande, we boarded a small boat. On the boat were two employees, the two students, Hector, Christina, Don and myself.

In about 20 minutes, we started to see Tierrabomba, and I was impressed. The beaches were fairly small, and the sand was not very white, but Hector’s hotel was nice and very peaceful looking as we pulled into shore. Hector took us on a tour of the grounds, and he’d built probably close to two dozen units, along with a restaurant and bar area, a bbq area, a pool, and a nice sandy beachfront. Hector showed us around with obvious pride, and we enjoyed the little tour. Then, he proceeded to throw a couple of large flanks of beef on a grill, and told us to go hang out a while as he made us lunch.

Don, Christina and I walked a bit on the beach, as the two students surveyed the property. After about a half-hour, Hector yelled at us from the fourth floor perch of his bbq to come up. He had the wine out, and was cutting up small strips of steak as appetizers. They were excellent: bloody, salty, and hot off the grill, with very little fat. We all stood up at the top, talking and laughing, snacking on the steak as he cut it up, and having a little wine. Eventually, he pulled off the steaks, and we went down one floor for a grand lunch: all the steak we could eat, potatoes, salad and rice, as well as coconut juice straight out of the coconuts that had just been cut from one of the trees.

While we sat, Hector told us more about his life. He’d been raised in town outside of Cartagena, with five brothers and two sisters, in the 1940s. His father became ill, and they sold all of their property to help him get cured. At that time, political troubles had already been starting, and Hector’s father instructed him (as eldest) to take his mother and his siblings and move. They all moved to Canada, where they’ve lived for more than 30 years, and he never saw his father alive again. Hector, for some time, has run a travel agency in Canada, and in fact still lives there part of the year. A few years ago, he bought an old house and renovated it into the Hotel Tres Banderas, and has been purchasing property in the Cartagena area since.

He talked about the future of Colombia, the future of tourism, and the future—and past history—of Latin America in general. He was very well read, and well-traveled, discussing trips he’d taken to Italy and Russia. We sat, talked, ate and drank until it was 4:00 in the afternoon, enjoying ourselves, the Caribbean breeze, and the waning sun. About 4:30, we all got on the boat, and headed back to the mainland, arriving at about 5:00. We walked along the non-beach side of Boca Grande, enjoying the modern new buildings that had come up along the water, and talking to the two students. One student was learning English, and couldn’t have been more than 20. He translated for a slightly older student, whom I’d have put at 25. However, she said she was anxious to get home to watch her son play Football tonight. I figured it was some sort of little league soccer, but then she said her son played football for Colombia, who was playing in a televised match against Ecuador tonight!

Eventually, we bade them farewell, and hailed a cab for the remaining four of us (Don, myself, Christina and Hector). Back at the hotel, we asked what our day-trip had cost: he’d spent a lot of gas, boat fuel, taxi fares, food, wine, and more. He said he was insulted, and would never take money from us! The entire trip had been free, for being his guests at Hotel Tres Banderas!

I’m still full from our late afternoon lunch. No wonder the Columbians don’t go out to eat until after 10:00 p.m.!

Day two

2009-01-22T22:03:00.004-05:00

THURSDAY NIGHT, 9:30, JANUARY 22, 2009:

Part 1: The old city

I’m sitting in the courtyard of the hotel, listening to people walk by outside of the gate, and blogging on my laptop. Today was a full, tiring yet enjoyable day.

I started this morning with a run along the old city wall. The wall is, at many points, several dozen feet thick and has I guess what you would call a rampart where soldiers in the past could have stood up at the top, behind fortifications, and defended the city. Today those ramparts make a scenic walkway along which you can view the Caribbean sea. I only ran about a half-hour, and walked a little more, but the jog gave me an opportunity to see more of the old city. I still didn’t have a map, but I realized that there was a lot more to the old city than I’d seen yesterday.

Our hotel included a complimentary continental breakfast, so at 8:15, Don and I met and ate. In the small dining area, there were French Canadians, other Spanish (one of whom, it seems from her discussion with the Quebequois, had lived in Paris for some time, and a retiree-aged British couple). Everyone was pretty subdued and quiet. We had passion fruit juice, grape juice, coffee and hot chocolate to drink, fruit plates with an assortment of fruit, and breads, along with butter and Guava marmalade. Everyone ate pretty quietly, except for Don, who kept spitting his seeds onto his plate, but missing half the time.

After breakfast, we decided to walk around and take in our surroundings. By this time, it was probably only 8:45, and most of the stores weren’t open, but the day was already hot and humid. We didn’t have a map, but used as our guide points the seafront ocean wall, and two local plaza/squares close to our hotel. I knew that so long as we could find the seafront city wall, all we had to do was take a right and we’d eventually find the road leading to our hotel (because it was in one corner of the wall). If we found one of the two squares, I knew we were only about two blocks away from our hotel.

While the area in which our hotel is located is a tourist area, and is charming, I would say it’s not the main tourist area of the old city, because as we walked further, I found areas with more shops, wider streets, and more tourists. During this time, we passed by sections of the city that seemed to specialize in certain merchandise. For example, we passed by a section dealing primarily in leather goods. There were also streets with almost nothing but emerald and gold jewelry shops, and a few streets specializing in textiles. We didn’t go in too many shops, content mainly to look from the outside. Don finally stopped at a Casa de Cambio, and exchanged his American dollars at the rate of $2150 Col for $1 US, way better than what I got at the Miami airport ($1750 Col for $1 US). Afterward, street touts came up and offered us exchanges as high as $3500 Col for $1, but we turned them down, because I’d read these were con artists who often gave you counterfeit money, or played a bait and switch where they didn’t give you all your money back.

I stopped in one souvenir shop and bought some postcards, one of which I mailed back to my nephew in Maiden, as I do on every trip I take.

Eventually, we reached a more modern area with a park across a main thoroughfare. I later learned from reading a map that this area was the convergence of “El Centro” (the nicer part of the old city), Gethsemani (the grittier part of the old city) and one of the modern areas of the city. We passed through a market selling nothing but used books, and walked into a large city park. On the way, we noticed a few youngish girls sitting around. One of them couldn’t have been 16, and Don remarked how you could see through her pants to her panties (not that he was ogling her, but it was noticeable). They, however, noticed us, and started calling out to us, and for the first time in our trip, we met firsthand some of the city’s notorious street prostitutes. The oldest, calling out to us, may have been 18 (though I doubt it), and I can’t believe that any of the other two or three were of adult age. We said “No, gracias,” and kept going.

By this point, we were at a marina containing yachts and, we found, the disembarkation point for the Islas Rosarios tours. I saw here more gringos than I’d seen yet, mostly going on the tours, and there were more shills. A couple of men came up to us and asked, “Chicas?” to which we just responded “no,” and kept walking.

We then decided to make our way back toward our hotel, in hopes of eating along the way.

By the time we got near our hotel, it was a little after 12, and we’d probably walked about four or five miles. I was hungry for anything, and so was Don. I found a corner open-air restaurant, whose name nor location do I remember, but it was filled with working-class folks, and it smelled good. We went in and ordered. Don ordered fried fish, and I ordered chicken. Our meals came with a large bowl of soup, the meat we ordered, rice, lentils, and some sort of funky red-colored cabbage salad. We ate in a leisurely manner, watching the folks in the restaurant, as well as the people just walking by. When we paid our bill, the total cost was 12,000 Pesos—approximately six dollars for the both of us! Considering that our Diet Pepsis we ordered each probably cost a dollar, our meals averaged out to about $2.00 a piece, and were very filling!

After lunch, we went back to our respective rooms and took siestas.

Part 2: Boca Grande

We got back to our hotel around 1:00 p.m., and about 2:15 we ventured back out. I spoke with the desk clerk (the only girl working at the hotel who spoke any English), and asked her about Cartagena’s beaches. She told me the best beaches were in Boca Grande, so we had her call us a taxi to take us there. Boca Grande (the “big mouth”) is fitting, because it’s in a bay that, on a map, looks like it’s in the jaws of a mouth. Lining the beach, across the street or malecon, are numerous high-rise apartments, condominiums and hotels, such as the Decameron Cartagena. Our driver dropped us off at the main area, where there was a wide beach, hundreds of people on the beach, beach bars and cabanas. Speaking of cabanas….

“Cabanas, cervezas, chicas.” These were the three things on offer by every shill and tout as we walked along the beach. Cabanas—the small umbrella-like shades with two chairs to sit at on the beach; cervezas—beers; and chicas (women). I’m not sure where you would take the women if you ordered one, but I never stuck around to find out, content to just say “No, gracias,” and keep walking. The beaches were full of families, couples and singles, and also lots of folks selling their wares: men selling beers (and women) at their bar, African-looking women selling cheap neck, arm and hand massages using some sort of sea-water mix that they concocted, men cracking open oysters and clams for sale, cigarette vendors, etc.

Walking along the Boca Grande beach was tiring, and the dry sand was whipped by the wind into our faces and eyes, but the people-watching was magnificent. Young girls got their hair braded into corn rows, and middle aged men and women sat in their beach chairs while the local women would give them quick neck massages with the sea sludge.

After an hour or more of walking, I was thirsty, and I succumbed to one of the shill’s calls to stop at his beach bar and partake in a drink. Herein lies a cautionary tale of gringo foolishness which I almost edited out for pride’s sake but decided to leave in for the benefit of other travelers to Cartagena. I don’t consider myself a total greenhorn, but I was taken in. Don and I sat down for a drink, and then we were just set upon by some of the women wanting to do the massages. One told me she would do my neck for 30,000 pesos (fifteen dollars). I resisted, but when she grabbed a sore spot on my neck, I could feel it melt away. I agreed, and therein, my downfall fell down farther. I thought she’d simply rub the knots in my neck, but she immediately began slathering the green sludge on my arms and neck (keeping in mind I was wearing a shirt at this time). I felt a little self conscious, and this feeling grew as I was surrounded by touts selling oysters, bracelets, crab legs, beers, cigarettes, pedicures and manicures. I kept resisting, and even told the masseuse I was done. To make a long, uncomfortable and embarrassing story short, by the time she was done ten minutes later, she was claiming she’d said 50,000 pesos (twenty five dollars), as well as some for her helper who’d started in on a foot massage, and the bartender was claiming 20,000 pesos ($10) for the cheap Cuba Libre I’d consumed on his premises. I paid instead of raising hell and when I paid over and waited for change, they immediately ran away and never came back. Total damage: probably about $30 more than I should’ve paid. An embarrassing lesson, but luckily, one that was not too costly. I was pissed off at myself for falling for such a trick, more pissed off that I didn’t raise hell when I got tricked, but silently saying a prayer of thanks that at least I didn’t do anything dumber than get taken for about $30.

Afterward, Don and I took a taxi back to our hotel, and took another break to shower and rest before supper.

We went out at about 6 (way too early for most Colombians, but that was when supper started here, and we were hungry). Don liked the look of the food I’d eaten last night, and we both liked the restaurant, so we went back. Tonight, he ordered the shrimp I’d bought the previous night as an appetizer, and I ordered a barbecued steak, which came with plantains, yucca, a potato and small salad, washed down with a couple of margaritas. We sat around and discussed our day, and people watched in the square.

After dinner, we decided to try and find the nearby Exitos supermarket, and buy some drinks and snacks for our rooms. I tried to remember the way (was it right-right-left, or right-left-right from our hotel?), but couldn’t find it. As we retraced our steps, though, we ran into it, and went inside and bought some items. Afterward, we got out, but really got turned around to the point I’m pretty sure we were all the way on the other side of the walled city. In desperation (not too desperate, mind you, to call a $2.50 taxi), we just followed the wall of the city until we got back to the street leading to our hotel. Don got awful quiet, and I was getting pretty tired too. Luckily, the entire way was well-lit and pretty safe. The walk tonight was probably another three miles.

Total walking time today (minimum):

Four miles in the morning in the old city;
Two miles in the afternoon at Boca Grande;
Three miles tonight walking along the city wall.

Total: at least nine miles.

I’m tired. Goodnight.

p.s.: I realized when reading the first draft of this blog that I didn’t really give my impressions of the area, so I’ll do that now. El centro has old, colonial architecture that is in some parts crumbling, but is undergoing gentrification. It’s very charming and, so far, I’ve felt safe, though mildly annoyed by all the touts trying to sell me something. To be fair, though, most will leave me alone once I’ve told them “no” and looked away, so they’re not too annoying. It’s a neat place, though the only thing I can make a comparison too is Charlotte Amelie in St. Thomas—a mix of old colonial architecture, together with Caribbean oceanfront. Probably a better analogy, if I’d visited the places, would be a comparison to Santo Domingo, D.R., or San Juan, Puerto Rico. The place has its charm, and I’ve felt very safe—from petty crime, violent crime and especially the terrorism that people still associate with Colombia.

The Boca Grande area is probably the “Myrtle Beach” of the Colombian middle- to upper-middle class—mass-marketed, lots of people, and probably the place they blow their wad of hard-earned cash once or twice a year with their family on vacation. For those used to North American style beach-towns, this isn’t it, but it reminds me of other places I’ve visited—such as a nicer, larger version of Salinas, Ecuador—with better beaches to boot. Are the beaches in Cartagena anything to write home about? No, but put together with the charm of the old town, and things to do, and relative ease of accessibility from the U.S., and it’s a pretty fun town.

Travelogue, Part 1

2009-01-21T20:19:00.001-05:00

Wednesday, January 21, 2009, 8:00 p.m.:

Pleasantly tired after a long day. I don’t always include my travel details in my travelogue, but thought I would this time if it would help some of the readers in planning their own trip.

I purchased my flight package on Priceline, based on the best price I could get for the most reasonable layover. That meant that I took a 6:10 a.m. flight out of Charlotte to Miami, then had a five-hour layover in Miami until my 1:10 p.m. flight to Colombia.

I did two things that both turned out to make the time fly. First, as mentioned previously in my blog, I downloaded numerous tv shows to watch on my Ipod during the flight. But I also tried something new during my layover: I paid $50 for a day-pass at American Airlines’ Admiral’s Club. Was it worth it? In this case, yes.

We arrived in a chilly 45 degree Miami a little after 8:00 a.m., and went directly to the Admiral’s Club. The club has showers, a bar, free snacks, a business center, free wi-fi, free computer internet usage, and lots of reading space. During the time I was in the business center, I successfully completed more than a half-day’s work while waiting. Not only did I quickly pass the time, but I basically made up a half-day’s work that I otherwise would have missed. The Club area was clean, quiet, and spacious. The snack food was pretty sparse, but was better than nothing. Would I do it again? As long as I had four or more hours’ layover, yes.

Our connecting flight was on the other side of the airport, and so we left about 11:30 to wind our way through security again, after having first walked 20-25 minutes to that concourse. Our flight out was on Avianca, I believe a Colombian airline. We didn’t have to wait long before boarding. The flight, probably about 2 hours and 20 minutes long, was pretty uneventful, and I passed the time by watching tv shows.

We arrived in an overcast Cartagena, temperature probably about 80-85 degrees, and made our way through immigration and customs in perhaps ten minutes. Our taxi ride to the hotel took perhaps 15 minutes. We passed first some homely shacks, then old crumbling buildings, and just as we turned into the walled part of the city and started to see more gentrification, we reached our hotel—Hotel Tres Banderas.

Our hotel and the rooms were small, but nice enough, especially for the price (about $65, which was less than half of the price of most decent hotels in the old city). We have cable, two small twins in each room, air conditioning, and wi-fi in the room. We’re close to one of the nicest hotels in the city, and in the middle of “El Centro”—the old part of the city.

After checking in, Don and I took a little walk around Cartagena, checking out some of the markets, looking out over the old fort at the ocean, and trying to scope out restaurants and supermarkets.

We took a little break, then went out to find Exito Supermarket for future reference—then we went to eat outdoors at a restaurant. I had great shrimp, and grilled fish filet. More enjoyable than that, we were sitting in a town center, and got to watch lots of interesting people go by.

A good start to the trip…….

Colombia Trip, last minute preparations

2009-01-17T15:49:00.003-05:00

In the final days leading up to a trip like the one I'm taking this coming week, I make final preparations. To help those who perhaps are interested in taking such trips, I thought I'd share some of those preparations--no matter how minute.

1. Packing lists. I usually don't pack until the last day or two (and in fact, if my wife's not working, she sometimes packs most of my things for me). Packing for a trip probably takes me about 15 minutes, especially if it's a "guy" trip like this one. If I'm traveling for a week with my wife, we pack at least one large checked back (if not two) and two carry-on bags. Here, though, I'll carry one carry-on, and my small briefcase/satchel. My packing list stays the same most times. I try to carry clothes that meet one or more of the following criteria:

--Can be worn more than once without getting too funky (e.g. jeans);
--Can serve more than one purpose (e.g., a bathing suit that works as shorts, or tennis shoes that are casual but I can run in).
--Can be easily washed and dried (usually in a tub) for more than one wear.

2. Ipod. If you've got an Ipod (or maybe a Zune), it's worth spending a little money to download some tv shows. For $20.00, I can download enough shows to watch throughout all my plane flights. For a little more, I could even keep myself entertained during the layovers. I usually don't like what movies are shown on a plane, and on domestic flights, they often don't even show a movie. Watching episodes of some of my favorite shows can make the time on a plane fly by.

3. Final details with my travel buddy. While writing this, Don called for final details. We set up our meeting time at the airport, and discussed what we needed to bring, and what medical precautions, if any, we needed to take.

4. Final itinerary details. Although my itinerary is still flexible, I've discovered enought things to keep us as busy as we want to be. At least one day will be spent walking around Cartagena's old city. We'll probably spend part of another one traveling and looking at real estate in both the old city and the new part. We'll spend at least one day on the island of Tierra Bomba. With two remaining days (at most), we can choose from a day trip to the Rosarios Islands, a day trip to the nearby mud volcano, or a day trip to Santa Marta and Taganga. Our cup runneth over (and it almost always does) with trip ideas. And if we have too much fun in Cartagena proper and spend too much time there, then no problem, we can just stay there if we want.

5. Making the trip just a little easier. Ok, this part isn't really specific, but at this point, I take actions to make sure the actual trip to the destination is as easy as possible. For example, I make sure I have plenty of cash in hand, in case there are no ATMs where we're going. But I also research the ATM situation, as well as whether I need to look for a money changer (not much needed any more, so long as ATMs are available and working). Another example is that I pack snacks in my carry on, to make sure that I'm not captive to the airport's expensive food, but to also make sure that, upon arriving, I've got food if I need it. When Don and I flew to Saint Kitts, we got in at an odd hour and hit a bad storm. There was almost no food available at our hotel, which taught me to have a backup supply ready--it's no fun to take a very long trip, and arrive at a destination hungry with no food to eat. Since I know I'm going to have a fairly long layover on the trip down, I'm also planning to kill about five hours in Miami--while this could involve a tour of Miami, or simply reading a good book, I'll probably try to work on my laptop for part of the time, and read during the rest.

I'm taking my laptop, because I've been informed that our hotel has wi-fi. Usually, I write a trip report every night by hand, and then place it all on my blog when I return to the States. I'm hoping that here, for the first time, I can place it on my blog (and maybe even pictures) contemporaneously with my trip, day by day, as it happens. Stay tuned....

Colombia Trip Preparation

2009-01-10T15:36:00.003-05:00

I have just a week and a half left until I go to Cartagena on my first ever trip to Colombia. For those of you who perhaps have not traveled much, I thought it might be helpful to give you a listing of some of the last minute preparations I'm making.

1. Final confirmations with hotel. I'm not a backpacker, and don't have any intention of just showing up on my first night looking for a hotel. I fly out of Charlotte at 6:00 a.m. and don't arrive in Cartagena until 3:00 p.m., and by that time, I'll be too tired to look for a hotel. No, at this point, I'm just confirming reservations with my hotel, and setting up final hotel details, such as making sure I have an easy shuttle from the airport to my hotel. In this case, I've found out, the hotel has no shuttle, but has told me that the airport taxi will take me to my hotel (in just a few minutes' time), for $10.000 Colombian Pesos--or about four or five dollars (I think the last time I checked, one dollar equals around $2200 pesos).

2. Drafting a travel itinerary. Every trip is different, and traveling in a foreign country, we have to be flexible. However, by this time, I like to have a loose intinerary of plans. To do this, I have to find out where we want to visit, how long each visit should be, and traveling time. I've got a five-day reservation at a hotel in Cartagena. However, all of my research seems to indicate that we have no need to stay an entire five days in Cartagena. Our hotel also has a sister hotel on Isla Tierra Bomba, a small island with a couple of fishing villages just a few miles offshore from Cartagena. Furthermore, our hotel has agreed to allow us to mix and match our time at the sister hotel, so that we can stay part of our time in Cartagena and part of our time in Tierrabomba. I've not been able to find much information on Tierrabomba, so I don't know how much there is to do or see on the island--will we want to stay more than one night? That's not clear at this point. The plan so far is to spend a couple of nights in Cartagena, then travel to Tierrabomba. If it's interesting, we may stay a couple of nights then come back for our final night in Cartagena. If not, then we can come back after one night, then take a couple of day trips or even an overnight trip to Santa Marta and Parque Tayrona. The beauty of this is, we've got flexibility, and we really won't know what we're going to do until we go down and see what's there.

3. Make final plans for practical issues. At this point, I try to wrap up any practical issues. Are any shots recommended? Do I need to get a visa? I double check and make sure at this point. It appears that--unlike Ecuador--Malaria is not a concern except for the far reaches of the country where we probably won't travel. I won't take a Malaria prophylactic, but I'll always take bug spray with DEET--and just to be safe, will spray down my clothes will Permethrin before leaving.

4. Real estate connections. Usually, wherever I'm traveling, I'm going to look at real estate. I try to do real estate research before leaving. At this point, if I'm going to meet with real estate agents, or property owners offering property for sale, I try to firm up details so we can hook up while I'm in-country. I'm probably going to set up a meeting with a real estate agent while in Cartagena, and I've already set up a meeting with someone who's wants to sell his apartment in Cartagena (we've exchanged cellphone numbers, and have agreed on a meeting date within a couple days' time).

5. Connectivity. I can't afford to simply drop out while gone--staying plugged in to my paying job is what helps me be able to take these trips. At this point, I provide contact information to my secretary, make sure my phone will be usable in-country, and determine how I'm going to connect to the internet. Usually, that means deciding whether there are usable internet cafes or if I'm going to be able to take my laptop and connect locally. My hotel says it has broadband internet connectivity. In the United States, this usually means that if you will bring a cord, I can connect in my room to the internet. In the third world, however, this usually means that the hotel supplies a computer in its lobby that will allow it to access the internet (sometimes free, sometimes for a fee). I use gotomypc.com to connect to my work computer. While I can't operate a virtual office while away, I can at least take care of queries and emergencies, and so I try to figure out how I'm going to stay connected. Take note that in most places, a Blackberry will not work (your phone will not keep internet connectiivty usually while abroad).

Mild weather in Oak Island, North Carolina

2008-12-30T19:23:00.002-05:00

I took my family down to Oak Island for a post-Christmas break and, for the second year in a row, we've been blessed with mild weather--today's high was 63, and the previous few days had highs of about 70 degrees--hard to beat at the end of December.

Spending time with family, at a quiet beach, with warmer-than-usual sunny weather, is a great way to while away the last few days of the year. It's a great time to regroup, to make goals for the upcoming year, and to recharge. Things here go to slow for a day-by-day travelogue, but here are a few of the trip's highlights:

--A day-trip to Bald Head Island, ferry trips with my little nephew, and riding around the island on a golf cart as my nephew fell asleep in his mother's arms.

--Walks on the beach in the warm sunshine.

--A trip to Southport.

--Lazy mornings in the house.

Not much else to say. Hope to post pictures soon.

Cartagena, Making Plans

2008-12-20T16:15:00.002-05:00

Plans are coalescing nicely in our upcoming winter factfinding trip to Cartagena, Colombia. I've found a reasonably nice hotel in the area, in the historic district, and purportedly only three blocks from the sea, for a reasonable price (under $100, which is good for a nice hotel in the historic district). Better yet, this hotel has a sister operation on Isla Tierra Bomba, and the hotel operator has agreed that we can "exchange" one or two of our days in the Cartagena hotel for days in the Tierra Bomba hotel, giving us flexibility to take a trip out to the island on our time.

I'm pretty excited about going. From the information I've gathered, health issues do not appear to be as pressing here as in Ecuador (i.e., the water, Malaria, etc.), though I'll probably spray my clothes with the permathrin I bought for last year's trip and will definitely take lots of bug spray with DEET. So far, areas of interest I've found are:

Cartagena historic district
Cartagena beach district
Santa Marta city
Parque Tayrona
Isla Tierra Bomba
The nearby volcano (whose name I've forgotten).

A few links regarding Cartagena for those interested:

http://www.cartagenainfo.net A good source of Cartagena information.

http://www.budgettravel.com/bt-dyn/content/article/2008/10/05/AR2008100501308.html . An article written in the November 2008 edition of Arthur Frommer's Budget Travel about Cartagena.

http://cartagenacolombiarealestate.com/inmobiliarias.html . A list of Cartagena real estate email addresses and sites.