10 Years On Margarita Island, Venezuela: Making A Business And Living In The Caribbean ~ by Peter van der Hoek

Dear readers,

Here some stories about life on a tropical island. After living some ten years on Margarita Island I can truly give an honest opinion about life here. First of all let me tell you that life on an island, especially a tropical one, is incomparable to life anywhere else! The daily routine is slow paced no matter how important the stuff you have to do. There is after all, always tomorrow. Because of the always shining sun people are chronically in a good mood and laid back. Everybody’s willing to help you with about everything as long as you aren’t in a hurry to do so. Living on Margarita is, as long as you have a job of course or some other kind of income, a dream come true.

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There are however some things you have to beware of. Given the fact that you’re living in a relatively poor country, you should be aware of people trying to get hold of your money, which you must have in their opinion simply because you’re a foreigner, so the first step is to learn the language. Once you can defend yourself in their language you’re practically accepted as one of their own, making you a lot less vulnerable to financial risks. Living a stress free life also means that you’ll have to adapt to that life! Don’t just enjoy it when it’s in your favor, don’t stress out once it doesn’t!! If they show up late, deal with it and do the same thing next time you have to deal with them, and calculate it in your time schedule.

Through personal experience I can tell you that you should never try to close important deals on your own. Always take a person who you trust and who dominates the language with you to ensure that you really get the best deal you can possibly get on just about anything.

Whether you want to buy some property, start a business; get your visa, or whatever else. Let me tell you something about myself and my experiences here.

Ten years ago I moved from Europe to Margarita Island.

It wasn’t entirely a voluntary move by the way! Dropping by to celebrate a well deserved holiday I rented a nice apartment near the city centre but still near the beach.

Planning on staying just a few weeks I didn’t bother to change my foreign currencies into travelers’ checks.

After a few weeks the apartment was broken into and all my money my passport and my tickets were stolen.

Normally that would be enough to hate the place and to never to want to go back there.

Not in Margarita!!! After a few sad days I realized that I was actually still having fun! After a few more days I was offered a job as an English teacher at a small language school and I fell instantly in love with the job! Settling here was surprisingly easy as everybody was friendly and willing to help me with just about everything I needed to be happy.

Soon I got my first paycheck and moved into another, simpler and cheaper apartment. I got the hang of teaching and because of that my Spanish improved rapidly.

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A few years later I fell in love and got married to a lovely girl. Nowadays the language school is mine together with a mate.

We’ve since moved to a new, greater and more modern location, and we now have a group of teachers giving classes in 6 different languages.

Over the years we have taught several thousand people and that has helped us build up a network of relations for all kinds of situations.

We work together with Justice Ministry as we have several trained people working as interpreters in court cases, and regularly translate official documents for them.

Also, we now possess a legal department which helps foreigners who retire to Margarita Island set up companies and to legalize their status.

Due to our contacts within the local, as well as the central Government, we’re able to assist in all kinds of legal matters in a quick and secure way.

We know the right lawyers and accountants and as we have opened quite a few companies already we are well known on this lovely little island.

Anyway, as you will have noticed, living on a tropical island has really changed my life.

The slow paced, happy-feeling, no stress way of living can be recommended to everybody who’s able to adapt to it and willing to simply enjoy it!

If you’re interested in a similar life-style check out these web-pages: www.retirecaribbean.com.ve and www.academia-peter.com.ve

Thank you for your time dear readers, and from the warm sun and gentle breeze I wish you a long and stress-free life!!

To contact Peter and Arne Click Here