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8. Johnny Walker black label is $35/ 750ml. 9. I am 6 foot 5 inches and weight 240 pounds and do Not feel that safe in the city. I am always looking over my shoulder for danger coming my way. EVERYONE I know has been robbed. I do mean Everyone.” So, in all fairness, how can I know Margarita is the cheapest place to retire in the Caribbean? One way is to make a comparison. Prices On Isla Margarita 1 beer (local) at the supermarket is 20 cents, at a bar/restaurant 41 cents to to 63 cents. A mixed drink in a nice bar will run $1.87 to $2.00. Electric Bill - we use an electric stove, convection oven, freezer, refrigerator w/icemaker, and central air runs 24/7. Our electric bill has never been over $80 a month. Water is around $4 per month. Telephone bill is a basic $35.50 per month not counting local, cell phone, and long distance calls. If you use a telephone kiosk in one of the shopping centers for calls to the states, it’s about 8 cents per minute. Internet DSL is a flat rate of about $35 per month Direct TV with U.S.A. channels is $36.80 a month. Gasoline (91 octane) for my big Toyota Landcruiser is 15 cents a gallon. Johnnie Walker Black Label is $30 for 1 liter Absolut Vodka is $9.04 for 750 ml. Santa Teresa Rum is $1.87 for a 750 ml. bottle Premium Large Frozen Chicken is $1.40 Loaf Wheat Bread in supermarkets is $1.57 Fresh bakery french bread about 70 cents. Maid - our maid works 8 hours for $10.40. Auto repairs--recently I needed some work done on the Landcruiser. Tune up, new plugs, rotor, etc., alternator rebuilt, new bolt, some electrical work, changed out one battery and charged another. All this a little over 3 hours. The parts were fairly expensive (but not by U.S. standards) and the labor was less than $19. The mechanic is a young guy, does good electrical work, and really tries hard to please. Finding a good ‘all-round’ mechanic is very difficult. Crime - I’ve written about this in the past, but I’ll touch on this subject again. Yes, there is crime. Mostly theft, some robberies. However, in our neighborhood we might walk the 5 blocks to the all-night Pharmacy for a bottle of milk at midnight without fear. There are places we won’t go even in the daytime, much less at night, and some areas we don’t even drive through after dark. It’s not necessary to go to these areas, and if you do go for drugs or ‘whatever’, you probably will risk being robbed. “The Joys of Remodeling” Remodeling/Renovating a house or apartment is sometimes time consuming, frustrating, but usually affordable, depending on your requirements. As an example, I am remodeling a 1 bedroom apartment with additional sleeping loft over half the living room, full kitchen, and bath. When I bought it a couple of months ago the utilities weren’t on so I couldn’t check everything out as well as I usually do. The apartment is in a nice older building with only 10 apartments and a pool. Only 2 of the apartments are occupied on a permanent basis, the rest are vacation units. The building is located in an exclusive area close to shopping, restaurants, medical offices and just about everything necessary is within walking distance - and there are no other small apartment buildings in this area. It was a fair price, especially for income property in the Play El Angel area, and I knew it wouldn’t be on the market long. Amazingly enough, the owner did not raise the price when I showed an interest in buying - raising the price happens a lot here! After all the papers were signed, notarized, stamped, etc., the apartment was all ours! Next step, hire my construction crew. I used the same crew that remodeled my rental condo at the Marbella Mar Hotel. They did an excellent job there, paid attention to details - that’s hard to find here. Next, turn on the utilities. Then the fun begins! The shower plumbing leaked through the floor into the apartment below. Cracked pipes and leaks everywhere. Tear up all the floor tile, remove the cement floor and install all new plumbing and drains. To do this the cabinets and counter top in the bathroom had to be removed, and of course the formica cracked and had to be replaced. Then the kitchen pipes also leaked so we ended up putting new plumbing throughout. Discovered the countertop in the kitchen was rotten underneath from another water leak, so replace that - new wood trim and ceramic tile. I had already planned to replace the old air conditioners with new split units, but the president of the “condo association” informed me that I couldn’t mount the compressor units on the exterior - despite the fact that there were already exterior units on some of the other apartments. (Note: the former owner ‘lost’ the condo rules, and I didn’t insist on a copy.) According to the association president there would be a meeting sometime in the future to demand that the other exterior units be moved, but since this is Manana Land, this could happen tomorrow or decades down the road. Long story short...changed the location of the air conditioner units. Construction is just about finished, except for touch-up painting and furnishing and the apartment should be ready in time for Christmas Season rental, and I will be posting photos and more information on my website www.retirecaribbean.com. Even with all the additional work, it was still much, much cheaper than doing a similar remodel in the U.S., and didn’t take all that much time from start to finish after all. Not having learned my lesson, I’m also remodeling/renovating a large 4 bedroom (6 if you include the servant’s quarters) 5 bath house w/pool in the same neighborhood. It should be finished in time for Holiday rental too. I’ll write more about this job next time, and as the bartender in the movie “Irma La Dulce” was fond of saying...”but that’s another story!” From Sunny Margarita Island - Scott Boswell For more information about living and working on a Caribbean island at a pace that won’t kill you before your time, check out my website www.retirecaribbean.com To contact Scott Click Here The following is the first article Scott wrote for the magazine:
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