Introduction
This the first in a series of posts focused on life in the Philippines. I have noticed a lot of information out there, some of which I can personally attest to as being in error or outright incorrect. So I decided to post about my experiences living in the Philippines. Please note that this is all from my perspective, my situation, and probably unique to the area I live in.
Situational Experience
So I should probably talk about my specific situation before jumping into actual specifics.
I have been retired for awhile. I could live comfortably anywhere in the US non my retirement, at least as of 2025. Who knows what inflation will be like in the future. I live in the Philippines, not because I cannot afford to live in the US, but because I enjoy living there. It is cheaper to live in teh Philippines, and I make no bones about it. But how much cheaper is dependent on the life style one wants to embrace. if one wants to live a very western style life style in a major population center, it is not going to be that much cheaper.
My better half is also fo Filipino descent, so we have family there. This can really make a big difference in ones experiences in the Philippines. If you are a new comer. It really helps to have someone to show you around and explain the local customs and idiosyncrasies.
What also makes my situation somewhat different is I planed to retire to the Philippines, and spent a good deal of time preparing for it. As an example we have a house, totally paid for. So rent is not an issue for me. Utilities on the other had need to be paid. And as an example, electricity where I live in the Philippines is about twice as expensive per kilowatt as where I used to live in the states. This is one of those western life style decisions people will have to make. The Philippines is a tropical country, so do they get used to it, or blast the air conditioner twenty four seven, driving up the electric bill?
I live in Tagaytay, part of the Cavite Provence. So basically I live on top of a hill, called Tagayatay ridge, at about 650 meters (about 2,133 Feet) above sea level. What doe this mean? The temperatures are five degrees cooler than at the bottom of the hill. And there is also a pretty constent four to seven knot breeze blowing. Hot season highs are generally in the low to mid nineties (32 to 34 C). And in the cool season night time temperatuers can dip to the low seventiess (20 to 22 C).
In planning for the retirement home, we avoided the larger cites and suburbs. Tagaytay had a population of around 50,000 when we started building. But it has sort of become a tourist spot, so the population in 2025 is around 90,000. What this means is we have most of the big city amenities with less crowding less traffic, and less expense. Well, except on the weekends when all the tourists come up the hill. There is a fairly nice medical center, a couple of grocery stores, a few hardware stores, a selection of western chain restaurants, some Philippine chain restaurants, and a number of local establishments. All in all a fairly nice place to live. We are far enough away to not be considered a suburb of the bigger cites, yet within an one to two hour drive to Manila.
Conclusion
The above should serve as an introduction to the subjects I will be covering in the next several posts. My plan is to focus on some of the items mentioned above in greater detail. But I felt it rather important to establish where I am coming from with these posts.