That's true, I shouldn't generalize the entirety of South America into one homogeneous mass. I am sure there are pockets of western standards of life. But let me ask from the other point of view: Why choose Costa Rica or Panama when you can choose Australia or New Zealand (let's imagine financial factors like taxes and cost of living are not at the top of the priority list)?
I speak Spanish enough and Portugese is easy enough to pickup and learn. Spanish is a fairly easy language to use enough to get by on...currently thinking about Spain/Portugal move next year.
I think Costa Rica is one of the most overhyped shitholes I've ever been. It's like Hawaii but not nearly as beautiful. Panama is fairly nice, but it's nothing special...Costa Rica has zero cultural attributes and the food sucks..plus the beaches such and you've pretty much taken away every reason to live in Latin America.
Sorry I found Gozo to be a congested, noisy, polluted, dog-shit-all-over-the-place city. It was a couple of years ago but I doubt it changed much. There's just no space and you just can't compare the cleanliness of a Mediterranean spot to e.g. the North of Europe like Copenhagen, Stockholm or Oslo or any major city in West-Germany. But then again, the climate sucks in those places, can't have everything.
I was thinking about Spain myself. That was before I moved to a country with barely anybody speaking English and myself speaking none of the local language. Really blows. I can get by for a while and just employ people that speak English but I won't won't exposure myself to this language nightmare again, even if Spanish is rather easy to learn for us who already speak a Latin-based language.
Hawaii has the most expensive gas in the US. New Zealand, I didn't think of that.. I'd pick somewhere safe,civilized, great weather and also possibly quiet. Sometimes you want a big city, sometimes a nice tranquil island. I'm thinking Italy except it's probably not as good as I imagine it.
Where do you live now? I had thoughts about living in Poland or CZ Republic previously but after visiting realized they're not nice places to live, just to visit. Gozo is old, Malta is a bit congested, but dirty I'd say not. It's just a small island with quite a few people on it. South of Spain, you'll have no problem finding English speakers and things in English...that's something I'd actually take point in avoiding because I want to live in Spain, not a British colony loaded with retired British people. Cheers.
I am sure with his face he is all that and a bag of chips. As for that long.... it did hit me hard, still not enough to take me out of the game completely. 1 contract going south is not the end of the world.