Chasing Panama

We Found a Rental Home

A few days after our arrival in Boquete, we found an open layout modern 2 bed, 1 bath home that we are renting in the Volcancito area, which is about 2 miles from Boquete. Our furnished rental is $625/month including internet, water and garbage, and washer and dryer. It is fenced and also has a small yard out back. There is also a reserve water tank for any water outages. The oven, stove, dryer and hot water are heated by propane gas. We have been picking up things little by little to make it a little homier, it is still a work in progress. This will be our home base while we do some discovering.

Our altitude is 3,938 feet, with Boquete being at 3,200 feet. The surrounding mountains rise 11,000 feet above sea level. On a clear day you can see Volcan Baru clearly, but much of the time it is in cloud cover.

We are finding that stores in Boquete are pricier as far as name brands from the US. Normal day to day things are also a bit pricy due to the high influx of expats living in this area. Getting your fruits and vegetables from roadside stands or from the back of pick up trucks will get you freshness at a very reasonable price. We’ve had some great fruit and are anxious to change our eating habits and get into a healthier lifestyle.

We drove into David today, which is about 30 minutes away, to check out some of the stores. Their prices are lower and they have an amazing array of department stores with whatever you need. We went into a Conway store today which is a 3 floor department store. Also the Do It Center has all your household and home improvement needs at good prices. While in David we had lunch at TGI Fridays. We wanted a good old fashioned cheeseburger, lol. It was delicious.

Boquete and Surrounding Highlands

After accomplishing all the administrative work in Panamá City, we hired a driver to take us to the western part of the country where we have decided to settle, at least for now. There are a large expat numbers here in the Boquete area where we can get help with learning how things work around here. The highlands are absolutely beautiful. Boquete means “hole” in Spanish. It is in a valley surrounded by mountains, including the highest point in Panamá, Volcán Barú.

The Volcán Barú is an active stratovolcano and the tallest mountain in Panama, at 3,475 metres high. It lies about 35 km off the border of Costa Rica in the province of Chiriqui. It is also the twelfth highest peak in Central America. Due to its height and the narrowness of the isthmus of Panama, it is possible to see both the Pacific Ocean and Caribbean Sea from Volcán Barú’s peak on a clear day.

There are all kinds of eco tours, hiking and bird watching here. There is also a plethora of coffee plantations which flourish here because of the altitude. The coffee is to die for! Every Tuesday morning, Boquete has an Open Market with plenty of people selling their wares, various fruits and vegetables that they have grown, a variety of homemade foods, as well as plants and herbs. We purchased 2 bags of delicious tomatoes for $1! The indigenous tribe in this area, the Ngöble-Buglé, also sell their hand made items.

Boquete has a lot of English speaking people…the area is a draw because of its spring like weather all year long. Right now is the start of the wet season and we have been having some rain every day now. This morning the sun is shining, but this afternoon more than likely will have a few hours of rain. In Boquete, over the course of the year, the temperature typically varies from 55° F to 75° F and is rarely below 53° F or above 78° F. Just from the short period of time we have spent here thus far, we are learning towards temperatures that are a little warmer than this. Of course it has its benefits. There is no need for heat or air conditioning here, saving lots of money in electric bills. There are so many micro-climates here. From what we have seen in town, most people wear long pants, and in the evening, they wear jackets.

We Are Officially Homeless

After the sale of our house on March 28^th, we needed extra time to get our things in order before making our move to Panamá. We stayed an Airbnb for a month. During that time, we sold both our cars and secured a rental that we could drive down to Florida to visit my brothers. After 5 fantastic days in Fort Pierce and Lake Park, we were off.

Early on Sunday April 27 we left my brother’s house and drove to Miami International Airport where we caught our Copa flight to Tocumen which was fairly uneventful other than the challenge of trying to get all of Nancy’s luggage through the airport and then again out of Tocumen to the taxi. Needless to say, she was not (and generally never) traveling light. I thought the handle on her large suitcase would never survive the trip – I was mistaken about that, but another one of her suitcases lost a wheel which made thigs REALLY challenging. We checked into the Executive Hotel which is now our go to place when we’re in Panamá City.

The next day we went to see our lawyer Marcos Kraemer where we left our passports and temporary residency cards to get sent back to immigration. We followed them to immigration about an hour and a half later (immigration was just as charming as we remembered it to be) and three hours after that we walked out with our passports back in our pockets and our brand-new permanent residency cards in our wallets. It felt like quite an accomplishment after all the effort spent getting fingerprinted, getting FBI background checks, gathering paperwork, and spending a day in immigration back in December. Time for a cerveza or two.

Before leaving for the western part of Panama, we also started the process of getting a Panamanian drivers license, which I will get into more detail in another post.

Saludos, Craig

A New Beginning in Panama

What a long strange trip it’s been … I can hardly believe that it’s actually happening. Many thanks to our family for sharing in our excitement with us, you all helped make a stressful time a little easier.

After having spent the last 5 days in Florida visiting Craig’s brothers, we took off from Miami this morning and arrived in Panama City 3 hours later, along with 2 pieces of checked luggage each and our carry-ons. This week we’re finalizing our visa paperwork. Tomorrow we’re off to our attorney’s office and to immigration to get our permanent residency visas.

We also have another day planned to get our drivers licenses. You can only drive for 90 days with your US license. Apparently this is quite a process. First we have an appointment at the US Embassy to get our US licenses notarized. Then we take the notarized documents to the Ministry of Foreign Affairs for certification. Followed by a trip to a lab to obtain proof of blood type, and then finally bring all these documents to a Sertracen Service Center to get our licenses.

On May 1st, the Panamanians celebrate Labor Day and businesses will be closed. We look forward to finding something fun and relaxing to do.

At the end of the week we’ll leave Panama City for the highlands of Boquete in western Panama, where we’ll look for a furnished rental and explore this lovely area.

Getting Ready for the Big Move

Where to begin. These past months have been a whirlwind, everything we have set out to do has culminated to this moment in time. Our emotions running amok with the sale of our home and most of our personal belongings, leaving family and friends, to Craig’s last day of work tomorrow, it is hard to describe.

With that being said, I have had very little time to work on the blog. This is most likely my last post until our big move on April 28th. The plan is to rent a car and drive down from Pennsylvania to Florida right after Easter (our cars will be sold), and spend some much needed time with family before we fly to Panamá.

We had settlement on our home on March 29, but still needed time to get business and personal matters settled. We were lucky to find an Airbnb in the Nazareth area as a “home away from home” for the weeks prior to our departure. I had no idea how much work this is. In retrospect, having lost my job prematurely last November was a blessing in disguise.

We set up a “digital mailbox” in Miami to receive mail, which will be forwarded to us in Panama. We will be able to also receive Amazon packages this way also. I get an email from them when there is mail and I will see a photo of the envelope. I can choose to discard or shred mail I don’t want.

This has certainly been a learning experience and we feel so blessed that we are able to make our dreams come true.

No sleep ’til Panamá! See you in a few weeks!

Looking for Housesitting Opportunity

We are a happily married couple from Pennsylvania who are retiring and moving to Panamá in late April 2019. We have our Friendly Nations Visas and are planning on making Panamá our permanent home. We are taking Spanish lessons and our goal is to become fluent.
We will be great house guests, great house caretakers, and committed and active pet lovers for your need. We are smoke free, drug free, and party free, We are prompt, dependable, fit and clean.
Having been homeowners for over 30 years, we understand property issues. We understand the value of caring for a home and are considerate of other people’s property. We have lots of experience with gardening and yard maintenance as well as home repairs and improvements.
We have had dog owners for many years Here is a pic of our beloved husky, “Otis” who passed away a few years ago. We have also had cats, ferrets, rabbits and fish. We love all animals! While we’re in your home with your pets, we’ll gladly send you as many pictures/updates as you’d like.
We would love to spend a little bit of time all over Panamá, to experience all the micro-climates and to ultimately find that special place that speaks to us, where we will make our forever home.
Thank you for your consideration. We are happy to supply character references. We want you to feel comfortable knowing that we will take good care of your home and/or pets.

*Our faithful pal Otis who crossed the rainbow bridge*

Visa Process and Immigration

If you want to apply for residency in Panama, it will require a special trip to Panama to do all the paperwork. You cannot do this remotely, it takes about 7 business days for the process. But, before this step, there is paperwork you must have done ahead of time. As U.S. citizens, we had to be fingerprinted and have criminal background checks done with the FBI. After that step, the FBI checks need to be “apostilled” with the Secretary of State, another level of authentication.

After touching down at Tocumen International Airport in Panama City, we quickly found a taxi who took us to The Executive Hotel smack dab in the middle of the business district, within walking distance to our attorney’s office. The following morning we met with Attorney Marcos Kraemer, of Kraemer & Kraemer Law, who went through all our paperwork. We cannot say enough good things about our experience with Attorney Kraemer and his staff. We were treated like family. There are many options for residency visas, but we opted for the Friendly Nations visas for a few reasons…we want to keep our options open in case any opportunities for work present themselves, and also because we are not drawing from a pension yet. The Friendly Nations Visa offer many perks and benefits for men over 60 and women over 55.

After meeting with our Attorney, we took a taxi to Banistmo Bank to open our Panamanian bank account. We sat down with a teller who did not speak much English, but thankfully the bank manager did, and after 3+ hours, we got our account open. If you want to open up a Panamanian bank account, it is not a cut and dry process. We had to have references letters from our U.S. banks stating we were in good standing with them. And these letters needed to be dated within 30 days of our Panamanian bank account opening. Then it was back to our attorney’s office with the checks from our new account that were needed at immigration to pay for repatriation fees and application fees.

The next day was our L-O-N-G day at immigration. If you’ve read our previous post about my broken foot incident, I had to hobble around with crutches because the previous afternoon I fell attempting to step off a high curb and broke my foot. The morning of immigration day, Attorney Kraemer’s staff brought me crutches to help me get through the day which I cannot express our thanks to him and his staff for going above and beyond. Everyone needs to spend a day at immigration, lol. There was a melting pot of faces encompassing two floors of various windows and stations, with flashing signs showing your number and to which window you were to go. There was a lot of waiting in between. Craig and I were accompanied by another client of our attorney (now friend), going through the same process, which made our day a little more enjoyable. Thanks Saku! Right before 5:00 we were starting to get concerned that we hadn’t gotten our photo ID taken yet and dreading the fact that we may have to go back the next day, but we managed to get it done in the knick of time. Leaving that same day with our Temporary Residency Visas. It was a phenomenal feeling holding that little card in my hand

There are a lot of steps involved and not for the faint of heart. There were obstacles along the way, but it made us even more focused on getting to the finish line. We were notified recently that our Permanent Visas are ready. So totally psyched!

The Joys of Moving, not!!

I have to keep reminding myself that when this drudgery is done we will be in Panama starting our new life. But until then, we are working at it every day!

I have been busy trying to sell the mementos of our life on Ebay, Facebook Marketplace and Craigslist. Some of the furniture and household items are staying with our kids, much is also going to Goodwill. At first I found it difficult parting with many of these things, but they are just things and they will soon be replaced by new adventures and living a low key and simple life.

We have rented a 5’x10′ storage unit here in PA, the size of a walk in closet, to store the things we plan on shipping to Panama. But first we will travel around a while and decide where we will settle permanently.

So it seems things are moving forward with the sale of our house! Home inspection and appraisal done, we continue to jump through hurdles, but we have our eye on the prize! End of March is settlement, but will hang around for a few weeks afterwards to tie up loose ends, like selling our cars!

So once we arrive, what then? Only two months to go! Well I’ve been trying to set up a house sitting gig but so far have not been successful. Tick tock…

Our First Brush With Health Care In Panama

While we were in Panama City for the purpose of obtaining our residency visas, we stayed at the Executive Hotel, which we chose because its within walking distance of our lawyers office and a lot of shops, restaurants, and bars. On our first full day in the city we had visited our lawyer and taken care of some banking business when we decided to go out and get sim cards for our phones. We were walking and going to cross Vía España which is a wide road with a lot of traffic. We were standing at a very high curb and when the crossing light turned green we stepped off the curb (I did anyway) and Nancy came down on her left foot very hard and fell in the middle of the street. We didn’t get very far after that before her foot started to swell alarmingly and she was in quite a bit of pain.

We hobbled back to the hotel where they called paramedics for us. The paramedics came up to our room and examined Nancy and said she needed her foot x-rayed. So into the ambulance we went for a drive across town to a private hospital, Hospital Nacional on Avenida Cuba. The traffic was very heavy and I said to the driver something about “mucho tráfico loco” so he smiled and turned on the siren. Cars and trucks started scattering (or trying to) right and left and I was laughing, the driver was laughing, and even Nancy in the back of the ambulance was laughing. It was quite a ride.

When we got to the hospital they took Nancy right in to the emergency room while I paid the cashier a $500 deposit (they were not familiar with our health insurance so they would not take it). The girls at the cashiers desk only spoke Spanish and my Spanish was pretty limited but we muddled through. Meanwhile Nancy had seen the emergency room physician and they wheeled her off for x-rays. When she got back to the room a nurse came in to give her a shot in her ass for inflammation which she took like a trooper (she yelled so loud the nurse said “everyone is going to think I’m killing you in here!”). Soon after that another nurse came in and fitted her for a boot and then an orthopedic specialist came in and went over her x-rays with us. The orthopedic specialist (who spoke perfect English) told us she had a possible a fracture of one of her metatarsal bones and in any case it would take a few weeks to heal. He gave her a DVD of her x-rays in case she needed to see a doctor when we got back to Pennsylvania.

She was fitted with her new boot, the orthopedic specialist gave her his cell phone number and email address and told her to call if she felt any undue pain or swelling. I was sent to the pharmacy to get Nancy her drugs and then I went back to the cashiers desk to settle up. The total bill including ambulance, doctors, boot, shot x-rays, and drugs cost just about $800. No complaints about the quality or cost of Nancy’s care for this little mishap.

They got us a taxi back to the hotel, we had a couple of drinks, and did not get to do a lot of walking for the rest of our stay. We spent the next day in immigration but thats another story…

Panama Relocation Tours

For anyone interested in retiring in Panama, I highly recommend Panama Relocation Tours. Craig and I took the tour in August 2018 and were very impressed. Let me say that so many of your questions and concerns will be answered by Jackie Lange, the owner. You will receive your own personal Guide Book that you can refer to after the tour. You will meet an immigration attorney who will answer your questions, meet expats who have made Panama their home, and visit various places from Panama City, to Coronado, to Las Tablas, David, Boquete, and more.

Almost immediately after the tour, we initiated the Visa process with Attorney Marcos Kraemer. I cannot say enough nice things about our experience with him. I will report on this in another post.

While on the tour, we met some great people from various places throughout the US and Canada, and also South Africa. Some of these people are in the process of getting their Residency Visas as well. It was wonderful meeting so many people from all over, all with the desire to live in Panama being our common denominator.

You will be greeted on the first day of the tour in Panama City where Jackie will meet and greet everyone on the tour and give a talk. You will also get a chance to talk to an immigration lawyer and ask him/her questions. After that, you head out into a very comfortable air conditioned Panama Relocation Bus. While we drive, Jackie picks different topics each day to talk about. You learn not only the good things, but the not so good as well. And for us, the good far outweighs the not so good. If you have questions she can’t answer, she will find out for you and have an answer for you. Even after the tour, Jackie will respond to your questions and continue to help you. You will also have access to a private Facebook Group for Relocation Tour Alumni where you can chat with other alumni and is another vital resource.

If you are looking to get away from the cold northern winters and are looking for a warm escape for retirement, I recommend you have a look at Panama. You can have it all there…from the metropolitan city of Panama City, to David, the 2nd largest city, to sleepy beach towns, expat communities, mountains towns where the climate is spring-like all year long. And, you don’t have to be a millionaire, there are many affordable options, from being in a gated community and having all the amenities you are used to, to very inexpensive options.

I also want to mention that Panama Relocation Tours WILL NOT try to sell you real estate! They are a pure “Boots on the Ground” tour in which you will get to see “The Real Panama.”

Our experiences with the people of Panama are pretty amazing. Life is at a slower pace and it shows. The smiles on everyone’s faces show how much they love their country. We met a lot of warm and friendly Panamanians who we like to call friends.

In my opinion, there really is no other way than to invest in taking this tour. You will become equipped with the knowledge to help you move forward with your decision to move to Panama.