See the video below, where Dan Prescher reports from Merida, Mexico, with your weekly wrap-up of International Living postcards for the week ending January 1.
On Monday, December 27, IL correspondent Darius Fisher suggested that if you were looking for the mother of all New Year’s celebrations, you couldn’t do much better than to head to Rio de Janeiro for Réveillon. It’s Brazil’s second largest party after Carnaval, but like Brazil’s raging beachfront real estate deals, it’s not widely known outside South America… except by people in the know, like you. Read about all the outlandish festivities in Darius’ postcard.
Jessica Ramesch goes out and about in Panama to answer the question: “What can you buy for a buck?” Jessica is a born bargain hunter and the list is long, but she starts on a deserted island in the Bocas del Toro Archipelago, where for a buck a member of the indigenous Ngobe Bugle tribe will take a sharp machete to a coconut, hacking off the top so you can enjoy the cool water. That’s not all she found…go dollar shopping in Panama with Jessica.
IL’s Mexico editor, Glynna Prentice, wrote in to say that she’s not happy with her city government right now. Lots of construction work is going on in her Mexican Gulf Coast city of Campeche, but Glynna says she’s looking at it like a trip to the dentist… you have to suffer through the drilling for that great look at the end. And the project being pounded out in Campeche should make this historical sea-side town even more fun than it already is. Find out what the noise is all about in Glynna’s postcard (and see video footage of Campeche).
IL’s financial editor, Chris Hunter, gives you some year-end financial wisdom that can’t be beat. He tells you how to get a free copy of the special report Three Places to Invest Before You Retire. He says it has everything you need to know about investing in the world’s most exciting overseas economies in the next 10 years…but he also gives you three rules you have to know to make that investment strategy work. Find out what they are in his postcard.
It’s not even the start of the New Year yet, and Ronan McMahon of Pathfinder Real Estate is already on the hunt for bargains… this time in his own Irish backyard. Ronan says that if your dream has always been to own an Irish cottage, now may be the time to start looking. The economy in Ireland is so bad right now, Ronan says, that it’s set to create massive opportunity and incredible discounts on real estate. He’ll tell you exactly what to look for and when in his December 31 postcard.
Breaking news on January 1: International Living has published its annual Quality of Life Index, and magazine editor Eoin Bassett says the surprise winner already has tongues wagging and controversy brewing. Each January, we scour official sources and statistics, considering every number we can get our hands on, tapping into outfits like the World Health Organization, government departments, UNESCO and many more to rate and rank almost every country in the world for its quality of life. The #1 country this year was as big a surprise to us as it probably will be to you… find out what country has the best quality of life on earth in Eoin’s postcard.
That’s it from me for this week. Sign up for all these postcards and more for free here and don’t forget to visit the International Living Facebook page.
Click here to view video footage from our editors around the world.
