NEW Private Tours in Las Lajas and Boca Chica Panama

Since 2010, we have offered all-inclusive 6-day, 7-night Panama Relocation Tours. These tours travel to all the most popular places to live in Panama. While the bus is moving from one location to the next, it’s like a rolling seminar to teach you all the things you need to know to have a smooth move to Panama. You’ll learn things you didn’t even know you needed to know! We always have at least two expat tour guides and a Panamian on each tour. The tours have helped thousands of people have a smooth move to Panama.

There are so many amazing places to live in Panama!

If you’d like to see a variety of different places in Panama before you pick the place to Retire in Panama, an all-inclusive 6-day, 7-night Panama Relocation Tour is the way to go! We just completed tour #184!

See details about all-inclusive 6-day Tours HERE

But, if you’ve done a lot of research and have one to two places on your shortlist, then a PRIVATE Panama Relocation Tour may be a better fit for you. Private Tours have just you and the Private Tour Guide. They start at just $250 a day for up to two people. The itinerary is customized to see and do the things you are most interested in.

See details about Private Tours HERE

We just added Private Tours for the Las Lajas and Boca Chica area. If you’d love a laid-back lifestyle with ocean breezes from the Pacific Ocean, this area may be exactly what you are looking for. Las Lajas and Boca Chica are east of David in Chiriqui Province in far western Panama.

Rick, our new Private Tour Guide, lived in Idaho before moving to Panama. He and his wife built a house in Las Lajas too. He can share a wealth of information about moving to and living in Panama.

We also offer Private Tours in:

*Panama City
*Coronado area (Chame, Gorgona, Coronado, San Carlos, etc)
*El Valle de Anton
*Azuero Peninsula (Chitre, Las Tablas, Pedasi, etc)
*Las Lajas and Boca Chica
*David
*Boquete
*Volcan
*Bocas del Toro

To schedule a Private Tour, see details HERE.

Rick is our new Private Tour Guide for the Las Lajas area. He wrote this article which I’m sure you’ll enjoy:

Snow and Sand

So, you know, there was that….toes in the sand, drink in hand, tropical breeze and endless sea. As a backdrop against the four seasons, high mountain lakes, clear blue sky reflecting off crystalline snow fields.

It had never been a serious consideration to not be a mountain guy or gal. And then after repeatedly shoveling a path to the propane tank, satellite dish, hot tub, dog kennel and a lengthy driveway, as the snow continued unabated; scraping ice from windshields and idling engines until it was tolerable to get into the vehicle and inch on down the road to a trail on which to bundle up and partake of one of several snow or ice related activities, the mind began to drift back to the place of flip-flops, tee shirts and swimming trunks.

The decision to part with the north and relocate to the tropics was both easy and a struggle. The mountains have their own allure and mystical attraction, however wanderlust and a sense of wanting a new adventure while capable of embracing it became an overwhelming drive.

Yes friends and family remained behind. It was recognized that a piece of our hearts would remain where those folks lived, but it was also understood that nothing is static and should we stay for family and friends, if our family and friends were alive and growing, many changes would occur in their lives as well and that change is the only permanence. The effort to hold it in abeyance is a woeful enterprise.

So after more challenges than anticipated, we were afoot in our new country of choice, Panama. It was always a bit of a mystery to understand the attraction of this little isthmus between two continents and seas. There was garbage, poverty, stifling heat and uncertainty, yet there was enchantment with the place and with the life we intended to create here. It should be made very clear before going further, that relocation, lock, stock and barrel is nothing like visiting for extended periods of time. Under the latter circumstance, there is always awareness of the return to where all the comforts and normality of home are known, and unless deprived of, under appreciated. Yes, no amount of reading, imagining, or foresight prepares you for the completeness of pulling up all roots and setting down in a new culture, language, customs, climate, government and sky.

Panama is still in the northern hemisphere but the night sky is different at 9 degrees north than it is in the mountains of Idaho. And it cannot be understated that the degree of change is complete, not simply the difference between 9 degrees north and 45 degrees north. Super markets, when they exist are different, food items are different, hardware stores are different, construction materials are different, business practices are different. Even the form of law practiced is different. I had never even heard of common law vs. civil law and the differences. There is no such thing as a postal service and it appears that law enforcement is a welfare program. Yet people are people so values, dreams, hopes, suffering, loss and fear are anchors that tie us to one another…even if language keeps us somewhat at a distance.

Initially, in spite of longing for the time we were residents of this piece of the world, the adventure challenged us. From being stuck more than once in rain swollen mud holes to recognizing that with the good in people comes the dark side and there were yet people in this part of the world who prey on individuals who do not yet have their feet firmly on the ground.

For an individual accustomed to business practices and customs of the United States the manana culture can be exasperating and stressful. We may have relocated entirely but we had a long way to go in adoption of the cultural norms. Any stress experienced was largely a function of this one incongruity. Our expectations and anticipations were rarely, if ever, realized. Having said that, it should be noted that in hindsight, the rigorous standards often imposed on activities in the USA and other supposedly developed nations are not necessarily healthy or life affirming. This was borne out in a recent conversation with an indigenous man who lives on our street….if living is understood as sleeping wherever there is a roof, with or without walls, plumbing or electricity, a man whose family remains in the comarca in the mountains above the beach, a man who washes his clothes and bathes in a concrete sink with cold water and a man who works tirelessly each day for $3.50 per hour as a laborer.

I had made some rudimentary comment about working and sleeping but he stopped me and enthusiastically told me that he had his health and life and then he raised his hands to the sea and sky and said that he had all this and then with the same smile he always has on his face, he offered his well wishes to Kim, my wife and walked on down the beach. It was a startling reminder of why we chose this country, community and location. And it was a stark reminder that perhaps manana is a good idea for just about everything except to be aware of how simple life should be.

Thirteen months into our new life we are about to break ground on the home we thought would be nearing completion some time ago. We have chilled a bit and are becoming more Panamanian in our routines and expectations. We have adopted a small green parakeet, along with our two old dogs that came with us. We have seen plant life and birds, lizards, snakes and fish unlike any high mountain lake. We allow the breeze to caress us from time to time and regularly have a late afternoon toddy in our chairs by the beach where we spend a lot of time staring.

COME SEE HOW YOU CAN LIVE BETTER FOR LESS IN PANAMA.

Join us for an all-inclusive 6-day, 7-night Panama Relocation Tour OR a Private Panama Relocation Tour.

To a Better Life in Paradise