Living in Panama Archives | Page 2 of 80

Last Updated on August 14, 2020 - by Jackie Lange

Finding The Best Place to Live in Panama

Moving to Panama is an amazing adventure. Depending on where you live, and how you live, you may be able to significantly reduce your cost of living while also increase the quality of your lifestyle! One of the first things you’ll need to do is to determine the best place to live for you. Everyone has different wants and needs so there is not one right answer to the question of where is the best place to live in Panama. There are four main criteria that you need to take in to consideration when looking for the best place to live in Panama include:

1. Weather
2. Your Budget
3. Amenities
4. Social activities

WEATHER

In the coastal areas in Panama it is about 90 degrees (32 celsius) during the daytime, all year. Temperatures drop about 10 degrees at night. Panama’s weather is consistent all year because it is only 9 degrees from the equator. If you like warm to hot weather, the coastal areas would be ideal for you. For every 1000 feet increase in elevation, the temperatures drop about 4 degrees. So, if you do the math, you can pick the ideal location based on the weather criteria. I prefer living in a place where I don’t need an air conditioner. My house is at 4600 feet and the day time temperatures are in the mid-70s (23 celsius) every day. If mid-70s is too cool for you, but 90s is too hot, then you need to find a town at an elevation that is about half way between the two.

If you hate humidity then you’ll want to look in the Azuero Peninsula or elevations above 3500 feet. Any other place in Panama will have high humidity levels.

YOUR BUDGET

Once you determine what kind of weather you want to experience every day, the next major factor is your budget. Some areas in Panama are much more expensive than others. And some areas are super affordable. You need to determine how much money you will have to work with every month. See this Cost of Living article to help you determine what a typical budget might be. Even if you can afford to spend $1500 on rent you should start looking at rentals in the $900 range if they are available in the area you like best. There is no need to push your rental budget to the limit. If you know that your budget is $2000 a month, that will eliminate living in place like Panama City or Coronado but there are plenty of other places where you can have the ideal weather and stay within your budget.

If you are moving to Panama on a tight budget you can significantly reduce your cost of living if you move about 15-20 minutes outside of the popular expat communities. Today on Craigslist Panama I saw a cute furnished two bedroom two bath for rent for $350 in Dolega. Dolega is about 15 minutes to David or Boquete in Chiriqui province. The same rental in Boquete would be at least $700 a month.

Most rentals in the coastal areas do not include electricity. If you run your air conditioner a lot, you will need to add $150 to $250 to your monthly budget for your electric bill. If you life in the highlands electricity is usually included in your rent but if it’s not you can count on an electric bill that is less than $25 a month.

AMENITIES

Before you move to Panama, it’s a good idea to make a list of the things that you “must have” to be comfortable in your new live in Panama. For most that is having hospitals, doctors, grocery stores, restaurants and other amenities within 15 minute drive of their house. If you like to shop, you’ll probably want to have a mall close by too. Some areas have more amenities close by than others. If you live on the western side of the Azuero, Santa Fe, Playa Vaneo, Boca Chica or Las Lajas you will need to drive at more than an hour to the closest hospital or decent grocery store. Some people are ok with driving an hour to go grocery shopping, but others are not. So you’ll need to do some research about what amenities are close to the area where you are considering living.

Some areas in Panama have plenty of organic produce available but others don’t have any organic produce. Some areas in Panama have a large selection of products from North America but others don’t have any. If these a variety of shopping choices are important to you, then you will need to move to a town that has what you need or you’ll quickly get frustrated.

Some areas have fiber options with 100+mbps internet speed, some areas only have satellite internet with 5-10mbps internet. If higher speed internet is important to you, then you will certainly need to investigate that before you move to an area in Panama.

SOCIAL ACTIVITIES

The easiest and fastest way to have a smooth transition to a happy life in Panama is to get involved in social activities so you can meet other expats and Panamanians. Getting involved in social activities like attending live music events, art classes, cooking classes, hiking groups, beach volley ball, pickle ball, theater, golf, tennis, etc etc. are available in some areas but do not exist in other areas. Some areas in Panama have a lot of volunteer opportunities like spay and neuter clinics, handicap foundations, delivering food to needy families, tutoring students, etc. If you’re a social butterfly, you’ll definitely want to relocate to an area in Panama that has a lot of social activities.

Meet Expats During the PanamaRelocationTours.com — Expats attend fund raiser for a Charity

Some areas in Panama have a high concentration of expats but some areas don’t have many expats at all. There tends to be more social activities in areas with more expats. Also, if the town has a high concentration of expats English will be more widely spoken If you move to an area that has few expats, like Puerto Armuelles, you’ll definitely need to learn a lot more Spanish fast.

WE CAN HELP YOU DO RESEARCH!

You really need to take all four of these things in to consideration when you’re looking for the best place for YOU to live in Panama. There’s a perfect place for you to live in Panama but sometimes there are trade offs too.

Our Online Panama Relocation Guide will help you do research about the best places to live in Panama. You’ll learn about the weather, the costs of living, amenities and social activities to help you determine the best place for you to live in Panama. The Online Panama Relocation Guide will help you narrow down the place that you want to visit when you come to check out Panama. The Online Panama Relocation Guide has the same information that you’d get on a Panama Relocation Tour including information about where to buy health insurance for 40% less, reliable immigration lawyers, honest real estate agents/property managers, how to get your pets in to Panama, important questions to ask before renting and much much more.

Last Updated on August 3, 2020 - by Jackie Lange

VIDEO: Sustainable Living in Panama

PanamaRelocationTours.com — Fresh Fruit and Vegetables

Food supply! It’s something you probably have not thought much about until the pandemic which has brought food shortages to some areas. Previously you could go to the grocery store to buy what ever you want when ever you want. But now, there’s a good chance that at least some of the items on your list are not on the shelves at the grocery store. Some stores are even limiting quantities of things like meat because some meat processing facilities have been shut down.

North America has had some logistics problems to get food from from where it is grown to your local store. The broccoli or blueberries you eat could have been grown in a foreign country and traveled thousands of miles to get to your grocery store.

These are all good reasons to consider living in a country where an abundance of food is readily available all year.

Lower cost of living and better weather are both good reasons to consider a move to Panama. But one of the big factors is having access to a variety of food that is grown right here in Panama. Panama has everything you need to sustain your life.

Panama has fish from two Oceans. If you live in the coastal areas, you can meet the fish mongers where their boats come in. If you live in the highlands, fish mongers bring fresh fish to your town every day. Tuna is about $4.50 a pound. Sea Bass is $1.50 a pound. A pound of shrimp is $4 – $5.

In the low lands, farmers grow rice, bananas, coconuts, pineapple, mangos, oranges, guanabana, corn and more. In the highlands farmers grow vegetables like lettuce, carrots, broccoli, zucchini, eggplant, potatoes, pumpkin, corn, berries, coffee and more. Food can be grown all year in Panama! Of course, Panama also has dairy farms and they raise chickens and beef. So, all the things you need to survive are readily available in Panama at an affordable price too!

Some produce is organic but some that is mass produced is not organic. It is easy to grow your own organic food. The most popular plant in Panama is a “jump back” plant. When you put any plant or a seed in the ground just ‘jump back’ because it starts growing right away. Every plant is a jump back plant!

The soil is so fertile in Panama and the weather is ideal so it’s easy to grown food all year. I can tell you that there is nothing more satisfying than walking out to your garden to pick the food that you will eat that day. See the photo to the right of a recent harvest from my garden.

You can turn your garden in to a money making operation by selling some of your crop. A friend sells bags of herbs for 70 cents to a veggie stand who in turn sells them for $1. Other farmers supply restaurants and grocery stores with fresh organic vegetables every day.

Sustainable living is a good reason to relocate to Panama. And sustainable living was a big factor for Lyn to relocate to Panama. See her video below.

After a series of life changing events, Lyn moved from California to Costa Rica. But after frequent visits to Panama to study Spanish, she realized that Panama just felt like home. She rented in Panama for more than a year while she was looking for the right property where she could put down roots. In this video, you’ll hear her story and see the amazing finca (farm) she purchased where she grows organic food. Lyn built an adobe house out of natural materials from her farm. Lyn’s farm is near Conception Panama in far western Panama in Chiriqui Province.

Last Updated on July 27, 2020 - by Jackie Lange

Starting a Business in Panama

James and Barbara Bradley moved from Canada to Panama with their young children. They saw the need for custom cabinets and countertops so started a business to deliver quality products. In the video, they talk about the challenges and triumphs of starting a business in Panama. A few years ago, they took on partners Bryon and Claire Whitson from South Africa who have helped grow the business. Both couples share information about moving to Panama with children, international schools, cost of living and more.

Get the FREE EBook to discover what life in Panama could be like for you! You’ll get a new chapter every couple of days plus weekly updates about Panama

https://panamarelocationtours.com/retire-in-panama

Since 2010, Panama Relocation Tours has been offering monthly 6-day 7-night all-inclusive relocation tours of Panama. We’ve completed over 120 tours! During a tour you’ll see a variety of different areas, meet expats and learn all the things you need to know to make a super easy transition to living in Panama.

We now offer the ONLINE Panama Relocation Guide to help you learn all the things you need to know to have a smooth and easy transition when relocating to Panama. You’ll be able to avoid costly mistakes when you get access to our reliable immigration lawyers, honest real estate agents/property managers, where to buy heath insurance, how to get your pets in to Panama, and
much more. Click on the link below to learn more!

https://panamarelocationtours.com/guide