My wife just received her 10 year Green Card!!!!

[adventuro3]

Took over 14 months from when we petitioned to lift conditions on her 2 year Green Card!!  Long wait but now she can begin applying for her citizenship!  I could not have dreamed to find someone at my age who is so wonderful!!  We share  just about everything together including swimming about 2000+ meters 5 days (a workout interval training routine) a week in the sun and she does not worry about her Morena skin becoming darker (she could not swim a stroke before I taught her and now swims all four strokes very well...free, back, breast and her favorite, butterfly), sea kayaking, body surfing in the ocean during the day and some nights as well, riding  beach bikes together and both read a lot. Oh, and recently, like within the  last 8 months she has become a Scrabble fanatic - she can be competitive sometimes, but is a great loser as well as a winner) Always has been comfortable from the first date and no, I do not dress well at all. (almost always jeans, grey T shirt and tennis shoes)  I was told several times when living in Colombia that I HAD to dress better in order to meet an attractive intelligent younger women.  Not going to happen with me.  Grew up poor and I was the same person with old hand me down clothes.  Now I can afford high end clothes and cars etc. but have zero interest in "looking good". Not interested in having someone put so much emphasis on appearances of how one dresses. She dresses great but not to draw attention from other guys.  Besides, she would look great wearing a grain sack! 
I value humility over pride and have no game.  So would not recommend my approach to others since this goes against others experience on this board.  I have always been a loner and have taken "the road less traveled" and have paid a heavy price for doing this more than just a few times.  It is just who I am.  Don't care what others think nor envy "their  lifestyle" choices nor values.  Nor do I promote my lifestyle choices. 
Since 1999 I have spent 6 months in Mexico, 5+ years in Costa Rica and 6+ years in Colombia (I. e. boots on the ground) and 3 months in Uruguay with my ex girlfriend from Bogota.  Bought and sold several  properties and have had some amazing experiences.  Colombia was a bit different back in 2001, seemed to have a more gritty edge with all the safety issues that seem to have been mitigated. And I personally liked that  there were very few expats there in those days.  Now more boring in some ways, not so far off the beaten path. Just my thoughts. 
Thanks for all the posts that people have shared their personal experiences over the years. I started with Poor But Happy along time ago!!!

[robert angel]

Took over 14 months from when we petitioned to lift conditions on her 2 year Green Card!!  Long wait but now she can begin applying for her citizenship!  I could not have dreamed to find someone at my age who is so wonderful!!  We share  just about everything together including swimming about 2000+ meters 5 days (a workout interval training routine) a week in the sun and she does not worry about her Morena skin becoming darker (she could not swim a stroke before I taught her and now swims all four strokes very well...free, back, breast and her favorite, butterfly), sea kayaking, body surfing in the ocean during the day and some nights as well, riding  beach bikes together and both read a lot. Oh, and recently, like within the  last 8 months she has become a Scrabble fanatic - she can be competitive sometimes, but is a great loser as well as a winner) Always has been comfortable from the first date and no, I do not dress well at all. (almost always jeans, grey T shirt and tennis shoes)  I was told several times when living in Colombia that I HAD to dress better in order to meet an attractive intelligent younger women.  Not going to happen with me.  Grew up poor and I was the same person with old hand me down clothes.  Now I can afford high end clothes and cars etc. but have zero interest in "looking good". Not interested in having someone put so much emphasis on appearances of how one dresses. She dresses great but not to draw attention from other guys.  Besides, she would look great wearing a grain sack! 
I value humility over pride and have no game.  So would not recommend my approach to others since this goes against others experience on this board.  I have always been a loner and have taken "the road less traveled" and have paid a heavy price for doing this more than just a few times.  It is just who I am.  Don't care what others think nor envy "their  lifestyle" choices nor values.  Nor do I promote my lifestyle choices. 
Since 1999 I have spent 6 months in Mexico, 5+ years in Costa Rica and 6+ years in Colombia (I. e. boots on the ground) and 3 months in Uruguay with my ex girlfriend from Bogota.  Bought and sold several  properties and have had some amazing experiences.  Colombia was a bit different back in 2001, seemed to have a more gritty edge with all the safety issues that seem to have been mitigated. And I personally liked that  there were very few expats there in those days.  Now more boring in some ways, not so far off the beaten path. Just my thoughts. 
Thanks for all the posts that people have shared their personal experiences over the years. I started with Poor But Happy along time ago!!!

Wow, That's a great post! Your 'differences' really add a lot of interest and could encourage guys who might think you have to be a cocky, preening rooster,  capable of lion taming   wildly tempered, hot, high maintenance  Latinas to have a shot at happiness. Personally, I'd love to hear your perspective on how you saw things in different countries, even though as you indicated, things tend to change in places over time. I've lived in tropical places that jets and cruise ships didn't go to. Now they do and the places are full of fastfood and drugstore chains and yet living inexpensively there isn't nearly as easy as before.

My wife was delighted, proud to become an American citizen, but we drove all the way to Washington DC to enable her to maintain dual citizenship, dual passports. She can even vote from overseas for her country's national ellections.

It's cool your wife's taken to some things 'American Style'. Not too many English second language people would take on scrabble. I tried teaching my wife (an island girl!) how to swim, but it just didn't work out. I think we're going to sign her up for adult lessons at the indoor pool county aquatic center.

If she could swim AND parallel park her car, I'd love it. Has your wife branched out into cooking more N. American dishes?

Anyway, delightfully different post that shows that be it clothes, attitude, materialism, a lot of things, there's no surefire single way of doing things to achieve success!

Come'on back, Man!