The Comforts You're Used to for a Fraction the Price

“It’s so energizing, you’ll feel 10 years younger,” reports one expat, from one of the World's Easiest Places to Retire, where he’s taken up residency, slashed his expenses, and upgraded his retirement.
Almost on the equator, but at 8,000 feet (about the same as Aspen), the weather here is comfortable year round. Flowers bloom everywhere, green grass covers the hills, rivers rush by. In town, you walk on cobbled streets, alongside tidy buildings painted yellow, blue, pink, and green. But this place isn’t just pretty. It’s remarkably affordable, too. You can live comfortably here on less than $1,500 a month.

Plus there’s plenty to do – theater, orchestra – and it’s easy to meet folks with whom you have something in common. This colonial city is an intellectual hub -- it has produced more famous painters, philosophers, and writers than any other spot in its nation.

In another community, misty tropical mountains wrap around a crescent-moon shaped bay. Here on the Pacific the sun is bright. You can golf, shop in designer boutiques, enjoy world-class restaurants. It's a tourist destination. And estimates put the local expat population as high as 20,000 -- large enough to support the many English-speaking  professionals who cater to them. Plus there's English-language theater, and you can sit in on lectures or take art walks. In other words: This is a place you'll feel connected, where things are familiar. And it won't break the bank. With a budget of $2,100 a month, you'll live well and have the beach at your doorstep every day.

But that's just the beginning...can you guess where this is?