Those are great criteria for you, ASTREA. Like I said, mine are completely personal and subjective.

Look for some of the items you wanted to see in my Comfort rating in my Convenience rating. Big box stores, potable water, etc. don't necessarily make me more comfortable... but they certainly are convenient. My comfort depends more on climate, lack of noise and air polution, etc. than on modern conveniences.

That's another thing to consider, as when you refer to -- "modern amenities most of us are used to". If those are what you're after, you won't find them in many of the places I like or have lived. You certainly won't find them in most places in Central or Latin America with the exception of some of the largest cities. Merida is one place that comes close.

Very few places on earth have better infrastructure or more modern ammenities than the U.S., and if that's what you're after, you shouldn't consider moving in my opinion.

Realize also that much of the data you'd use for a location search in the U.S. simply doesn't exist in much of the rest of the world.You'll be hard pressed to find reliable government info on weather, taxes, demographics, etc. on the national, state, country, and municiple levels in most countries in Latin America. There isn't even a functioning national MLS system in any country I've lived in or visited south of the border.

After nine years abroad, I imagine that my expectations have changed when it comes to the details like bathrooms, local languages, potable water out of the tap, etc. And expectations are what it's all about -- if you expect things anywhere outside the U.S. to be like they are back home, you'll be sorely disappointed.

There's a great article about that here. And here's a little more in-depth explaination of the Four Cs themselves.

Thanks, ASTRAEA.

Obviously you have a published article & I don't, but your evaluation seems very simplistic .. OK for a vacation maybe, but not to pack up & move for the rest of someone's life. For example,

Your "Comfort" category doesn't mention modern amenities most of us are used to .. what kind of bathrooms & sanitation system do they have? How about water purity? How about communicating when you only speak English?

Your "Culture" category talks about religious festivals, and elsewhere you mention the streets being rolled up at night .. yet that gets your highest rating.

When I was first thinking about moving, I started at the state & county level, evaluating weather, tax rates, demographics, etc. then when I eliminated places that weren't suitable, I evaluated even more details at the county & municipality level.