IL Magazine: The World’s Most Well-Respected Resource for Overseas Opportunities Save 35% Right Here about subscribing to International Living Magazine Most mornings, I stroll over to a nearby bakery to buy half a dozen traditional panes de ripacha. These small triangular shaped breads have been made using the same recipes and stone ovens in Arequipa for over 150 years. They are only one of many traditions that have been kept alive in this bustling southern Peru city for the last few centuries.
For most of us Baby Boomers, our career was intense, long hours with lots of meetings, some bad bosses, and some tough economic times. So when you transition to a post-career income (whether it's to fund your retirement or just to earn some extra spending money), you want to avoid all those things you weren't so crazy about during your career.
What I love about what I do is that I can work from home. Or, really, I can work anywhere there is an internet connection. I don't have to commute. I have the freedom to be anywhere in the world. For the past seven years, home has been the small town of Atenas in Costa Rica's Central Valley. Although in all, I've been living in Costa Rica about 18 years.
Humans have been running around this planet for approximately 400,000 years. But Baby Boomers are the first generation of people who, as a group, will be living 20 to 30 years into their "retirement." And not just "living" but living healthier and more active lives thanks to medical science and the rapid pace of innovation in successful ageing.
It's been 10 years since I came to Mexico City. I never planned on making it my home but after only a few short months, I had fallen for this chaotically romantic and endlessly surprising city. Living in the United States, nothing depressed me more than having to get into my car and drive out to a strip mall to eat Japanese food, or buy toilet paper, or get my haircut.
My journey helping Baby Boomers make the transition from career to portable income began almost 15 years ago. It started first with a few friends who were "aging out" of their careers like I was. They wanted to "pick my brain" on how to get moving in a direction that offered them more independence and flexibility without the inevitable age bias that was palpable in corporate and small-business Ame
Jillian Feibusch knew early on that there was a better life to be had other than living in the craziness of the San Francisco Bay Area. "I was working as a makeup artist for Chanel. Because of the high cost of living, daily commute, health issues, and the intense desire to do something more with my life, I moved to Costa Rica so I could breathe," she says.
I've always had a special love for Costa Rica. Having family there meant I grew up coming down to visit every year over Christmas vacation or in the summer. It's a place that has always been a part of me and my life. So, when I decided the career I was in wasn't for me, I left my suburban life in Pennsylvania behind and moved to Costa Rica.
The Mediterranean Sea has a sort of calmness about it that makes life seem incredibly peaceful. In the early morning, walking along the promenade that runs parallel to the sea in the seaside town I call home, I couldn't feel any more tranquil.
"I'm a firm believer that everything happens for a reason," says Scarlett Braden, "and everything happens just when it's supposed to in perfect time." Scarlett who is originally from Memphis, Tennessee came to Cuenca in 2014...and never left.