It's awful nice... it's paradise... (where to retire : tropical paradise)

So where do we retire?

Some place tropical with crystal clear water, within a day's travel of the US eastern seaboard but with a lower cost of living than US city prices, with at least six restaurants where we can "sit nice", as my cousin used to say, and get a good vegetarian meal. Some place that isn't in political or social chaos. Some place that has enough infrastructure to support our art habits, our wine habits, not to mention our need for electricity. Throw in maybe a mountain and a monkey or two to make it even more interesting. We'd trade "down" from a 4 bedroom house with a view of our neighbors to a 2 bedroom condo with a view of the ocean and live a little lighter on the earth. Less to paint, fix, decorate, upgrade, etc.

We take our handy protractor and draw an arc out south and east. Caribbean islands, Yucatan peninsula, Central America. Certainly some gorgeous options there.

Ah, one more critical factor: community.

So a search or two of the web shows plenty of retirement communities. Where are they? Florida, Florida, Texas, and Florida. I can't see supporting the Bush dynasty so directly. Why aren't there more retirement communities that follow the protractor's arc? There's certainly lots of boomers looking for options. Yet searches produce very little: places that have no view or places that are so remote you need to bushwack your way in or places that are fantastic but a studio starts at $2M.

What's up with that? Where are the venture capitalist entrepreneur types to build the dream retirement community options for the average Joe and Jane Yuppie Boomer and cash in big time?

Perhaps now that I've stated my wish to the blogging universe it will become reality.

Build it and they will come. Well, we'll come... if there's a tiki bar.