Update From Panama July 1

Happy Canada Day! Goodbye Panama! Thank you!

Buenos dias from Panama!

It’s a fitting time to celebrate with our friends at Amigos Restaurant here in Boquete! It’s a Canada Day celebration and BBQ time! Thank you to Mark and Jen and their staff for the many fun times at their restaurant over the past three months.

We have decided to go back to Canada as of August 1st. We’ll visit Edmonton for a short time to catch up with family and friends then head off to live in Vancouver for a few months or maybe eight, then we’d like to rent a condo in the beautiful Okanagan Valley in the province of British Columbia, possibly Vernon or Osoyoos.

Even though it would appear that we were on an extended vacation in Panama, my wife has had a rough time living here in Boquete or anywhere in Panama for that matter. She has been homesick to the point of physical nauseousness and struggled with her anxiety to the point of having panic attacks.

We’ve decided it’s time to go. Thank you to those of you who followed my blog. Your support was enthusiastically appreciated! And best of luck to all of my fellow bloggers and may their writings be inspirational and entertaining for many years to come!

And a special thank you goes out to all of our expat friends that we’ve met in our travels throughout Panama. You were and are so very kind and we’re glad we exchanged personal information with you so we can keep in touch.

Another special thank you to all of the very nice Panamanians who helped us along the way especially Ken, Angela, Eduardo, Carmen and Fernando. And the many taxi drivers we met who drove us around at all hours of the day and night. You serve your towns and cities well! And thank you Panama for your hospitality!

Until next time…if there is a next time, buenos dias from Panama, Don

Update From Panama June 23

High Up In The Mountains of Panama

Buenas noches from Panama!

We traveled to the town of Volcan on the weekend, with our friends James and Diane from Alabama, up into the Central mountains of Panama. It took about one-and-a-half hours to get there but it was a long and winding road that seemed to take days to get there. The town is situated in the Chiriqui province on the opposite side of the mountains of Boquete.

It sits on an old lava flow from the mountain known as Volcan Baru, the highest point in Panama at 3475 metres or 11460 feet. This volcano is dormant, but potentially active, with its last major eruption about 500 A.D.

In 2006, an earthquake swarm, where there are sequences of many earthquakes striking in a short period of time, occurred underneath the mountain, raising fears that it could erupt with explosive force sometime in the future.

An interesting feature of the area is that it’s possible to see both the Pacific Ocean and Caribbean Sea from Volcan Baru’s peak on a clear day. Most of the time though, the mountain is shrouded in clouds which was the case at the time we arrived. As the day wore on, the clouds shifted a little so the mountain could be seen enough to take a picture.

One of the reasons we drove into the area was to check the place out but we also went there to visit an acupuncturist. Our friends recommended this doctor and I’m glad they did! Another big hug and thank you goes out to Diane and James.

I’ve been spending too much time in front of the computer lately and my neck has been giving me grief. At a cost of $30 and a few needles later, I was feeling much better. We’ll head back there again on Saturday for another treatment.

Until next time…buenos dias from Panama, Don

Update From Panama June 18

Chitre, Las Tablas or Pedasi?

Buenas noches from Panama!

Living in the mountains of Panama has been pleasant. Nice cool breezes and a lot of the time, sunny days and blue skies abound. However, that innate feeling of being in or near water is drawing us back to the ocean!

So we recently took a four-day trip to the city of Chitre, located in the Herrera province, and the towns of Las Tablas and Pedasi, located in the province of Los Santos, along the Pacific coast about a two-to-four hour drive west of Panama City.

After turning off of the Pan-American highway at a small town called Divisa, and driving for about one hour, we encountered the city of Chitre. This metropolis has a population of approximately 102,000 people and many amenities and conveniences similar to Panama City. Visiting this area mainly for proximity to the ocean and beaches, also being able to get a reliable internet hard-wire connection was of paramount importance to us.

We found out that Chitre is one of Panama’s highest developed cities, and one of the most industrialized, providing the country of Panama and the continent of Central America with clothing, fuels and meats. It is located on the Azuero Peninsula and is one of the fastest growing areas in Panama. The city has a multi-floored mall, a large regional bus terminal and its small airport offers flights to Panama City.

The Chitreans are friendly and cheerful and the city very peaceful and secure. The carnival celebrations in the city are well-known world wide. And guess what? Chitre is equipped with high speed internet using hard-wire connections making their signal very reliable. Yes!

As we drove down the highway, the next town we came across was Las Tablas. It is the capital of the Panamanian province of Los Santos and is located on the Azuero Peninsula, a short distance inland from the Gulf of Panama. Like Chitre, Las Tablas is known for a lively annual Carnival, in which the city chooses a carnival queen representing each of two different areas of the city.

The celebrations begin in decorated plazas with colorful parade floats while music and fireworks fill the air. Friendly competition in the form of contests and games stoke the festivities while people visit from all over the world and join in the celebrations.

Unfortunately for us, the town of Las Tablas is supplied with high speed internet accessible by using a WiFi stick, which tends to make the signal unreliable. Darn!

As we continued our travels, next on our list was a stop at Pedasí, a town situated on the south-eastern tip of the Azuero Peninsula in the province of Los Santos on Panama’s Pacific coast.

With a population of 2000 people, Pedasí is a quaint fishing village consisting of two banks, a public health clinic, a library, and a few small shops and restaurants. It’s also known for its lively annual carnivals and many sports-related activities associated with a beach town such as fishing, diving, surfing and swimming.

One drawback was that we couldn’t find any other beaches in the area except for one that was publicly accessible. Two other beaches we found in the Pedasi area were private and accessible only by homeowners situated within two major gated communities.

And as expected , the town of Pedasi is equipped with telephone and high-speed Internet service which is provided through a WiFi stick making it somewhat unreliable. Darn again!

We realized that Chitre was our choice for living close to the beach. So we checked out rentals in this city and found nothing listed. Unfortunately, our beach move will have to wait for sometime in the future.

Until next time…buenas noches from Panama, Don

Related articles

• Weekly Photo Challenge: Culture ~ Cultural Events in Panama, the Azuero Peninsula (indacampo.wordpress.com)
• Is Everything Possible in Panama? (aarp.org)

Update From Panama June 17

Our Latest Trip To Panama City

Buenos dias from Panama!

We traveled east to Panama City this past week to pick up our temporary visa residency cards. As usual, traffic and construction held us prisoners for awhile. But we managed to weave our way adeptly through traffic to our hotel and subsequently to our lawyer’s office.

As we were driving through the underground parking of the Multi-Plaza Mall to avoid driving a long distance out of our way due to construction, we came to an intersection which was directly across from our attorney’s office building. It was apparent that the traffic light facing us had been removed. Traffic lights for the other 3 directions were fine, intact and working. I wasn’t sure when I could go, waited patiently for awhile and then decided to take a chance and venture into the intersection. It didn’t take long for someone to honk their disapproval. Under stress, I slide my vehicle into the building’s front access going the wrong way! Oops!

Once in our attorney’s office, I told this story to the receptionist and she mentioned another client had been pulled over promptly by a police officer when encountering the same invisible light. After trying to explain to the officer that there was no light at this intersection, as he was writing up the ticket, he replied, “There used to be a light there and it was red.” The officer then passed the ticket to her and drove away.

Speaking of stories, we hear we will receive our permanent visa cards within 4-6 months. We know of expat friends who were originally told 4-6 months and have been waiting seven months and counting. Hmm, is a small wrinkle appearing in the complexion of paradise?

Unless we apply for a multiple-entry permit, we cannot leave the country at all, even to cross the border into Costa Rica, until our permanent residency has been approved. The fine is $2000 each for leaving the country. The cost of the multiple-entry permits is an additional $300 over and above the $3000 fee for the two pensionado visa applications. Now I’m told that Panama has the easiest and most inexpensive residency program in the world so these costs aren’t too bad. Maybe just a slight blemish here.

With these pensionado (retiree) cards, we are supposedly able to get discounts ranging from ten to fifty percent. However, whatever has been floating around out there regarding these discounts, we need to qualify this.

There has been mounting tension over these discounts and some Panamanians are upset that the government has allowed such “bonuses” to pensioners who are mostly gringos or foreigners.

Some restaurants have raised their prices to cover this discount or simply won’t accept the cards. Other restaurants are only giving a ten percent discount instead of the expected twenty-five percent reduction. Another store will tell you that you are already receiving a discounted price, so sorry not this time.

A hotel, we recently stayed in, couldn’t give us our discount since we were already receiving their promotional rates. Most hotels now offer higher rack rates in order for you to receive the fifty percent discount which would only amount to around a ten percent reduction over their promo rates, if that.

We’ve also heard that some ex-pats (gringos) have received their Pensionado cards through illegal channels which doesn’t really help the rest of us. More wrinkles in the beautiful complexion of paradise?

The main discounts you are supposed to receive when you qualify as a pensionado (retiree) in Panama are:

• 50% off entertainment activities such as sporting events, movies, theatres, concerts, etc.  AND hotel stays from Monday through Thursday AND closing costs for home loans.
• 30% off hotel stays from Friday through Sunday AND bus, boat and train fares.
• 25% off plane fares AND restaurants.
• 20% off medical consultations AND professional and technical services.
• 15% off hospital bills (if no insurance applies) AND fast-food restaurants AND dental and eye exams.
• 10% off medical prescriptions.

I’ve been told it’s better to apply for your visa as soon as you arrive in the country. Then make a return trip later with your freight, if you plan to bring any, so you can take advantage of the one-time exemption from duties on the importation of household goods (max $10000) AND an exemption every two years from duties on the importation, or local purchase, of a vehicle.

A wise decision we unfortunately didn’t make and paid for it because we didn’t follow protocol. Our taxes amounted to an additional $500 for our used goods, our customs broker cost an additional $150 for his services and our customs inspector had to be given an extra $50 so she wouldn’t thoroughly inspect our shipment and detain us any longer. Also include the cost of boarding our pets, the car rental, gas and hotel stays for what ended up being a five-day adventure instead of the originally planned one-day trip. Get out the wrinkle cream again!

Our freight-shipper from Canada, after receiving several perplexing emails from us about how the process was being handled, decided to pull Panama from their list of preferred shipping destinations. It appears our freight manager had the wrong information, telling us we could clear our shipment through customs ourselves and there would be no taxes or additional fees above the $2000 we had already paid. Paradise is starting to crumble.

So please be careful when dealing with your visa application and shipping of your freight, if you plan to move overseas, and please make sure to get the right information by contacting an attorney or customs broker in Panama before making the trip. In this way, you’ll have far less wrinkles and more money in your pocket to spend on your dream day-trips in paradise.

Until next time…buenas tardes from Panama, Don

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Update from Panama June 2

The Three Most Glaring Mistakes We Made Moving Overseas

Buenas tardes from Panama,

In our brief overseas experiences during the past couple of months, we noticed three glaring mistakes we made when moving overseas. Just a bit more thought into these areas would have made our move much easier.

Mistake #1: Not buying a vehicle.

One of the many reasons we chose to live in downtown Boquete was to be within walking distance of any conveniences that were offered to us.

Unless you’re a person who is comfortable with hailing a taxi or taking a bus, a vehicle is a must-have when moving to another country.

Don’t get me wrong, buses and taxis here are cheap. If you like dealing with a varying amount of risk or unfamiliarity, depending on where and when you go, riding a crowded bus with strangers that makes many stops or getting into a taxi where you’re not really in control of where you may end up, is probably something that wouldn’t bother you.

In our case, we weren’t brought up this way. In our travels, we’ve found that taking buses and taxis is not for us. It’s a decision you’ll have to consider on your own. Of course, everyone is different.

We’ve encountered early darkness, inclement weather and the uncomfortable feeling of having three people being squeezed into a seat that has room for only two people. Also, it has taken much more time and planning to do anything and our dogs weren’t able to travel with us.

Most buses here have smaller seats made for school-bus children. The majority of taxis are smaller-sized vehicles due to fuel-efficiency considerations and the very narrow streets here in town. In both cases, a person of my size has nowhere to put his legs or needs to turn his shoulders and move over to accommodate a passenger that really shouldn’t be there.

It’s made us realize that freedom or avoiding that trapped feeling, would be much better served with a vehicle of our own. It would allow us to travel when and where we want, in much less time with less hassle and we would be happier taking our dogs along for the ride.

Mistake #2: Not reducing the amount of personal belongings that we shipped here.

We have had many self-induced difficulties in Panama simply because we brought far too much stuff with us in our move overseas. Not only was our freight sent to the wrong country and therefore was delayed, we had trouble locating the cargo terminal, clearing customs and then had to pay exorbitant taxes on our used goods.

Our advice is to bring as little as possible with you and save enough money beforehand to purchase the things you actually need when you get to your destination.

Mistake #3: Not learning the native language.

Above all, we needed to learn the language of the culture, or at least a good portion of it, to reduce the number of everyday situations where we didn’t know how to communicate with locals and understand what was going on. Our cell phone translators helped a lot however there were times when there was no internet signal leaving us with that lost feeling.

Until next time…buenas tardes from Panama, Don

Update From Panama May 21

Buenas dias from Panama,

Check out the tabs above for the new pages I’ve added to this site. I’ll be adding a number of pages over the next week or so, that will showcase some of the areas in Panama we’ve visited.

And for those of you that would like to leave a comment regarding this blog, please click on the “talking cloud” icon, next to this column.

Now is a busy time for us settling in and looking at opportunities that arise. Some of the things we’re tackling at this time are applying for health insurance at the Chiriqui hospital in David, opening a bank account at a different bank in Boquete, picking up our visa cards at immigration in Panama City and looking around for a used car to purchase here. We are also beginning to look for events happening in our area such as a photography club, open-mic night at Amigos Restaurant and some other sight-seeing adventures like zip-lining, hiking, and golf. It should be an exciting few weeks ahead.

We took a trip into the city of David last week and inquired at the Hospital Chiriqui about health insurance. We were given an overall view of the plan and since then have been executing the necessary steps to acquire basic health coverage. The first step was finding a health lab/clinic here in Boquete to complete a blood test and urine analysis. We’ve made an appointment at the hospital to get an EKG and a chest x-ray. On the same day, if all goes well, we will answer a few general health questions in front of a panel of doctors associated with the program. Rates are much cheaper here in comparison to Blue Cross, for example, in Canada, so we’re happy to do this.

In a previous blog, I had mentioned that we were going through a number of steps to open a bank account here in Boquete. We had gone to Multibank a number of times to provide the necessary documents, be validated and to acquire ATM cards.

We were validated this past Monday morning after about one and a half weeks. Yay! However we were speaking to some expats earlier on the weekend and found out that this particular bank had exorbitant fees and required a $1000 minimum to open an account. If your account drops below $1000, you are charged a 7% fee and each ATM transaction thereafter would cost an additional $25 per transaction as long as the account remained under $1000.

So in we went on Monday morning to confirm what we had heard with the banking officer we had been dealing with. After confirmation, we chalked it up to a lack of communication. At the beginning of our interviews, I was sure I made myself very clear that I only wanted the account to pay for our living expenses here such as rent, utilities, cable TV and internet, and of course, groceries. Obviously, our account would be below $1000 for the majority of the month unless it was topped up continually or a larger amount would need to be wired into the account, both of which would benefit the bank and not us. We would be paying more fees both here and in Canada for these extra transactions. I wasn’t prepared to do this so we bid a kind farewell, much to the dismay of their three bank employees.

Instead, we’ve started the process over again, this time at Banco General, which has only a $300 minimum and a lot less requirements to be fulfilled. The only negative we’ve encountered is that the one document we need must be an original so I’m not able to fax or scan and email this from my Canadian bank as I did with the previous bank. They will need to put this reference letter in the mail.  Happily, I have to say that our accounts will be opened soon but sadly by relying on snail mail.

A young girl we met in Panama City once told us that everything in Panama is a s___-show. She was beautiful inside if you know what I mean, so this came as a surprise. In all of our settling-in activities, unfortunately, we’re finding out that she was right. I did sign up for an adventure though.

Also, we’ve been going through the long drawn out process of acquiring Jubilado visas related to my pension since soon after we arrived here on April 3rd. We will become residents of Panama and will be allowed to stay longer than ninety days in this country.

We received news this morning that our visa application has been accepted and that we can travel to Panama City at anytime over the next week to visit our lawyer. With her guidance, we will pick up our Cedula cards at the immigration department. These cards will allow us discounts on many items in Panama including plane fares, restaurants, theatres, utilities, etc.

Needless to say, I would gladly jump over the moon in order to acquire these cards. Gail is so excited about this, as am I. The drawback is that we will need to prepare yet again by renting a car, taking the dogs to a kennel in Potrerillos (Po-ter-rios), booking a hotel and fulfilling another appointment with our lawyer for our three-day trip to Panama City.

And finally, we will be searching for a used car to purchase as soon as we can. This will allow us more freedom to visit some great locations in Panama such as Bocas del Toro on the Caribbean coast, Vulcan, which is a little higher up the mountain from us and attractions closer to Boquete such as the Tree Trek Zip-line Adventure, La Jungla Wildlife Refuge and various coffee plantation tours. We’re also getting anxious to start swinging our golf clubs!

Until next time, buenas noches from Panama, Don

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• The Drive from David to Panama (panamaretireewannabes.wordpress.com)

Update from Panama May 15, 2013

Update from Panama May 15, 2013

I connected with my brother the other day via email and he was struggling with why we would move to Panama, of all places.

Ten Reasons Why I  Moved to Panama

1) Financial (cost of living) – We all know that since Panama is one of the top Latin American countries with respect to economic growth that prices have risen here over the past two years however we still find that the majority of our purchases for whatever it may be amounts to about 1/4 to 1/3 of the cost for a similar item in Canada. i.e. the cost of living is definitely lower here than in Canada. Sometimes the quality of the items can vary but when it comes to the cost and quality of the food here for example, Panama wins hands down! Also, services are still reasonably priced albeit again the quality of that service can be questionable at times but it is steadily improving, in my opinion.

2) Banking/Starting a Business – Panama is known as the banking hub of the Americas and uses the Balboa as its currency which is on par with the American dollar. There are over ninety banks in Panama and starting a business here can be profitable as cash is still king.

3) Climate – We are now in Boquete, which is in the mountains about 3500 feet above sea level.  We have spring-like weather year-round with very pleasant weather during the dry season which is from November to April and a combination of rain and sun during the wet season which is from May to October. Even when it rains here in Panama, the temperature is still warm and the rain usually doesn’t last long. Most people in the world know about Canadian winters. They can be brutal depending on where you are and seem to be getting longer! At least this is what I’ve noticed in Alberta over the past few years.

4) Two Oceans in Close Proximity – In Panama, there is the Caribbean Sea to the north and Pacific Ocean to the south within about a two hour drive of each other. That’s difficult to beat in any country in the world. Canada is a huge country where the Pacific ocean at one end is about 5000 km from the Atlantic Ocean at the other. I won’t mention the Arctic Ocean to the north since I abhor the cold and who would want to go there anyway!

5) Mosquitoes/Insects – Yes, this deserves a category all its own! So far in Panama, I haven’t experienced these pesky critters yet, and I believe they are situated in small pockets throughout the country. Although some insects are larger here, they are few and far between. The crazy stories we heard about spiders, snakes and scorpions just aren’t true. Recently I’ve heard that the mosquitoes are out in full force in Canada, especially in Edmonton. Nothing beats being able to go out on the terrace at night and drink, BBQ and dine in comfort! Here in Panama, this certainly has been the case. If our memories serve us correctly, this was very difficult to do for the majority of evenings in Edmonton.

6) Food – I found the taste of various foods to be delicious in Panama. In particular, fruits, vegetables and dairy products have caught my fancy. The papaya and pineapple are to die for. Melt-in-your-mouth status, really. Their yogurts are wonderful and their non-fat milk, comparable to skim milk in Canada, tastes really good too! Chicken, fish, seafood and pork are great here, however Panama’s beef is a little suspect. The cows are grass-fed and are skinny which makes the beef as tough as nails! The food variety is still very good though but Canada pretty well has everything you need in every corner store and supermarket and nothing worldwide, in my opinion, beats AAA Alberta beef!

7) Travel Hub – Panama is an international travel hub making it easy to board a plane and fly for a low cost to many countries within close proximity such as The Honduras, Dominican Republic, Cuba, St. Croix, Mexico, Belize, Costa Rica, Ecuador, Columbia, the list goes on. Western Canada is still having trouble attracting airlines to fly to their part of the world and travel expenses can be costly when attempting to access any of the above countries from there.

8) Infrastructure – Canada has long had a great infrastructure but Panama is building  a very capable one, too. Cable TV, Internet and cell phones work very well and are inexpensive to set up and use. Our internet, even in the mountains, has turned out to be fast and reliable. The Panama Canal is being expanded, the Metro Subway system is being built at this time in Panama City and the beautiful four-lane highway from Panama City to Santiago is being duplicated from David to Boquete as we speak, with the Santiago to David highway upgrade silently waiting in the shadows to be started . Growing pains are being experienced now, but look out when things are completed!

9) Nature-lover’s/outdoor paradise –  Beautiful flowers, birds and trees of many types abound, world-class fishing, sailing, boating, surfing, swimming and snorkeling all carried out near gorgeous beaches, need I go on? This is one of the best things about Panama!

10) Friendly people/less stress – Where we are, it has a country feel, laid back, less hectic, and the people smile and say hello when you pass them in the streets. And seniors are well-respected in this country, something that was not demonstrated a lot when we were in Canada. We noticed that the majority of our Canadian neighbors kept to themselves most of the time.

Now don’t get me wrong, I love Canada and will always maintain my ties with it! They’re not going to get rid of me that easily! But you must admit Panama has a lot going for it!

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Update from Panama May 9, 2013

Buenos dias from Panama!

Today I thought I would tell you about what is required to open an account at any bank in Panama. The reason I can say “any bank” stems from Panama’s government being consistent from bank to bank in its requirements and in checking with our Panama City attorney and a number of ex-pats where the information provided to us was quite similar in nature.

Now I realize that this topic is very dry so I’m not saying a lot up to this point in case you don’t find the topic interesting, want to start looking at the photos I’ve provided below or simply want to opt out at this time.

We went into a Boquete bank today and found out the requirements to open a chequing and savings account. One of the great things about Panama, in my opinion, is that you will notice a guard at every bank who immediately waves a metal-detection wand over you and asks you to open any purse or bag or whatever you may be holding in order to view its contents for the safety of all.

We asked the bank teller to see the manager and we were introduced to a very nice young lady who spoke little English. Just for the record, I didn’t hold that against her and both of us warmed up to her instantly while using our smart phone Google translators to communicate with her. Having progressed a tiny bit towards our goal after ten minutes had elapsed, she indicated the only English-speaking employee in the bank was out of the building having lunch so we decided as a group to wait for him to arrive.

While we were waiting, our bank manager moved to her laptop and proceeded to write what she wanted to say in Spanish and then translated the requirements into English. Once the English-speaking employee came back from lunch, we were introduced to him and he provided some much-needed interpretation of how things work in both Panama and in Canada.

Besides wanting proper identification which included our passports and driver licenses , the main requirement areas for myself  included two letters of reference from Canada, a proof of pension letter and my most recent income tax return. They also wanted to know what you did for a living and the purpose for opening the account.

All in all, I didn’t feel these requests were over the top and once I round-up my letters and income tax return, I’ll cheerfully stroll into the bank and open my accounts.

If you would like to comment on today’s blog, please feel free to do so by filling out the contact form below and if you no longer would like to receive this Update from Panama, please indicate this on the form also.

Articles that you may be interested in are located below. Thanks and enjoy the photos!

Bye for now from Panama, Don

Mountains surround Boquete.

Church bells ring regularly in town.

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