Boquete Travel Forum

Hello,


French couple (I am retired and Chantal is a artist). After 5 years spent in the USA (Pacific) we are looking for a new place where we can spend most of our time. We have been advised to look at Panama and I am presently planning our first visit in June (Costa Rica and Panama) learn about teh countries, meet Englsih speaking people and see if we can schedule to buy a propery (House or flat).

We read many books and surfed Internet to get as many information as possible about Panama but we will be very interested to get some direct feeling and information from people like you having some experience.

We both speak English and of course, we will definitely learn to speak Spanish if we decide to settle in a Spanish speaking country. As we did before we will look for a place where we could have a social life as well as contacts with local people and other "english speaking expats".

If you decide to help us the main questions you will be very kind to answer.... are:

- We will certainly wait for a while before becoming residents and we will not stay more than 90 days each time BUT: Is it possible to leave....for only one week or two and come back?
- Is it easy to learn Spanish where you live?
- What means exactly the wet season? Just heavy rain for some short time and sunny most of the time or awful days or weeks when it happens.
- When the langage barrier is broken, is it easy to have contacts with local residents?
- We do no look for any extra luxury so is it better to look for a flat or "condo" or for a house or villa, having in mind that we will travel from time to time and leave the place unoccupied. We can consider to live some miles away from the beach and other touristic places (Some 20 minutes away for example will be fine).
- Did you buy your furniture and car or did you move most of it from .....
- Would you advise us to look first for places not to far from some large city to avoid to feel lost and unsecure in the country side.
- Compared to your life in.... are you able to get everything you need (Food, clothes...) at reasonnable prices.
- How about cost of electricity, telephone calls, petrol, car...?
- What about Internet communcation and satellite TV (US or british channels).

I am looking for an active time during my retirement and Chantal who sold quite well her art (Original as well as high quality reproductions*) when in the USA would be keen to keep painting and complete her range of subjects. Is it possible to stay active (Sport, safe swimming, gardenig, safe local travel, benevol help, club activities...) and is the local art business active as well.

I am aware of the long list of questions but if you can answer some, we will be very happy.

In any case thank you for your help

Maurice and Chantal

* (Incidently, if you want you may have a look at her "Pastel" and "oils" in visiting her web site www.chantelleart.com ).

Hi,
We've been living in Panama for 7 years out of a total of 18 overseas and we love the livestyle here. I have my own company marketing small hotels in Central America.

I will try to answer your questions:
- We will certainly wait for a while before becoming residents and we will not stay more than 90 days each time BUT: Is it possible to leave....for only one week or two and come back?
On a European passport you don't need a visa or a tourist card - therefore you can pretty much come and go as you please within the 90 days - once you leave you start over again on return. I have been doing this the past 2 years due to starting up the business and needing a lot in place before applying for work permit and visa...

- Is it easy to learn Spanish where you live?
Yes, there are a number of schools or you can hire a private tutor - with your ability in French, Spanish will come quite easily I would think as the structure is similar and many words have similar roots. I took about 18 months to get comfortable (starting from nearly zero).

- What means exactly the wet season? Just heavy rain for some short time and sunny most of the time or awful days or weeks when it happens.
The weather is a different depending on where you are, Panama City on the Pacific (south) coast gets 4 months of relatively dry weather (Dec-Apr), then we get a showers usually in the afternoon, 3 or 4 days of the week. During the transitions it can be a bit worse but we rarely get full days of rain and rarely consecutive days. A bit further west on the Pacific it's drier all year round. On the Caribbean coast (north) they get more rain all year round and can get consecutive all day rain (Bocas del Toro for example). The other popular spot for retirees, Chiriqui Highlands is a temperate spring like climate due to the altitude with showers and drizzly days.

- When the langage barrier is broken, is it easy to have contacts with local residents?
It depends - we know a fair number of locals but they tend to be from mixed marriages - expat with local... Business contacts are numerous and through that I have more contact - language definitely helps there.

- We do no look for any extra luxury so is it better to look for a flat or "condo" or for a house or villa, having in mind that we will travel from time to time and leave the place unoccupied. We can consider to live some miles away from the beach and other touristic places (Some 20 minutes away for example will be fine).
Panama City is an hour from the Pacific beaches and 2 hours from the nicer beaches on the Caribbean coast. There are apartments near Coronado etc on the Pacific but will be pricier. If you will be away a lot I would suggest an apartment first - they almost all have security guards and maintenance staff to keep an eye on things for you - much more difficult in a house unless you have full time staff.

- Did you buy your furniture and car or did you move most of it from .....
This is personal choice - furniture is limited or expensive for the most part - although you can order from catalogs and bargain on pricing. Many friends brought all their furniture with them. Cars are relatively well priced compared to the US so it might not be that advantageous to ship a car. You will pay duty on the value they assign to the car plus the shipping charges and then tax on top of all that.

- Would you advise us to look first for places not to far from some large city to avoid to feel lost and unsecure in the country side.
The smaller towns will have less expats - except areas like Boquete or Bambito or Bocas but then you also do away with more modern facilities like shopping and medical. I would recommend renting short term in Panama City while you explore the rest of the country before deciding. At least in PC you will have all the conveniences as you get settled.

- Compared to your life in.... are you able to get everything you need (Food, clothes...) at reasonable prices.
Panama has a fairly decent cost of living and low inflation - one advantage is the US dollar as legal tender - no exchange rates or devaluation to worry about. The further away from Panama City you get the prices go up.

- How about cost of electricity, telephone calls, petrol, car...?
Electricity isn't too bad although everyone is complaining, telephone runs $35/month unlimited local calls plus $35 for 128K ADSL internet... Petrol right now is $2.32/US Gal was up over $2.50 until the government dropped some taxes, good used cars are plentiful and new cars are not too much more than in the USA.

- What about Internet communcation and satellite TV (US or british channels).
Local cable has BBC World news, CNN (3 channels), ESPN (2 channels), Fox News, French and German channels, 8 movie channels (HBO etc.), Sony, FoodTV etc etc. We also get ABC and CBS.
Direct TV is also available - more channels but missing some like the networks.
Panama is the crossroads for many fiberoptic cables so we have great Internet interconnectivity etc.

The art community is not well developed but there is a large museum of Modern Art that is always looking for stuff to exhibit and some decent galleries.

Easy to stay very active - depending on what you like - good tennis clubs, cycling, triathlon, diving etc.
Some good social clubs, American Society, British Community, Canadian Association, Aliance Francaise, etc. Travel within Panama is easy and very safe - we feel it's one of the safest countries in the Americas if not anywhere - obviously there are areas you shouldn't venture into just like anywhere but on the whole it's great.

There's a group on Yahoo Groups called Viviendo en Panama that you monitor to get an idea and also ask questions.

Hope this helps,
Andrew
www.selectsmallhotels.com