No surprise here. I took a year off to travel through central and south america and noticed:

America cost of living is really high, healthcare really expensive. You get a much better value on $ in Central or South America, and can collect SS or fly home to get medical - or get it locally for cheap. There are cities like san miguell de allende or san cristobal that are primarily expats in awesome climates.

If you don't have much savings, you can have a much higher quality of life in retirement in mexico or Colombia than europe/us.