“Home is the place where, when you have to go there, they have to take you in.” - Robert Frost quotes. There are many people out there who love meeting new friends and making connections. They don’t get satisfied with meeting only people of their area and sometimes they choose to broaden their horizons by making international friends. Becoming a host of a home stay is a one of the ways for him/her to meet people from different cultures. A home stay is a form of tourism or study abroad program whereby the host offers a bedroom(s) to foreigners who want to learn the local culture and languages. Most hosts are paid directly or indirectly by the international volunteer. Although in others, the host offers their home for free. There is a slim profit margin to be made in hosting a volunteer as such many hosts due it not to make money but to expose themselves to new cultures. The main benefits of hosting international volunteers or students are: meeting new people; experiencing and exchanging cultures; broadening world views; long term friendships and tax cuts (in the USA). Before hosting a volunteer here are a couple of things the hosts should consider:

"Timing is everything when it comes to purchasing real estate and now is an excellent time to choose real estate in Belize." Platinum International Real Estate and Investments looks forward to welcoming you to Belize and showing you the real estate opportunities available to you. The team behind Platinum International Real Estate and Investments has over 20 years of experience in international real estate and the network and connections to give you an insider's view and bring you the region's best lifestyle and real estate opportunities.

It was a hot but beautiful day! We were out and about investigating land and available properties for purchase. We decided to go check out a friends farm in the El Pilar area of Belize just outside of Bullet Tree Village. And Wow are we glad we did. We were hot and tired, but anxious to see the landscape of Belize and show our friends - future expatriates from Arizona - what Belize has to offer. We had the pleasure of viewing a beautiful farm, peering over the horizon at the magnificent views, and meeting a couple Belizean cowboys who showed us their gracious hospitality.

The International Community Foundation is pleased to announce its “Retiring Responsibly in Mexico” research series with our first report “U.S. Retirements Trends in Mexico’s Coastal Communities:  Lifestyle Trends and Demographics.”  You can access the report here:  http://www.icfdn.org/publications/retireeresearch/. 
Forthcoming research studies will address trends in health care, volunteerism, philanthropy and civic engagement, real estate as well as the environment.  For more information on the International Community Foundation, visit our website at http://www.icfdn.org.

-Market 'Feel'  ­PMA

Things here are pretty optimistic and no doubt that a "PMA",  Positive Mental Attitude, is a very important factor. The world economy and the political situation dampened the enthusiasm that was prevalent here for the past decade, but overall most people here are pretty upbeat. It is pretty hard not to be actually. The sand is still white, water is still aqua blue, the weather is warm and sunny, the people are still as friendly as ever and economically the island will do well this coming year. The losses that were experienced due to the economic and political situation this year will fade. You only need to look at the expansion of the Royal Caribbean cruise ship
dock and the opening, on November 20th this year, of the new Carnival Cruise Line port to see how life can spring right back to normal.

By: Jim Scherrer,