| Realtor My husband and I moved to Panama in October of 2010 from Santa Rosa, CA. We were tired of the rat race, the long working hours, the expensive insurance rates, the property taxes, well you get the idea. My insurance went from $550.00/mo to $150.00 full coverage including the US when we visit there. Last month my husband had an accident, the entire emergency bill was 0.00 and the operation plus the hospital stay costs $100.00.He was seen by an eye surgeon and an orthopedic surgeon. The cuts he sufered in his eye and the surgery areas already almost looks like nothing ever happened there. We are thrill with the medical facilities. We purchased our dream Villa in Pedasi in front of the Ocean in Playa Los Destiladeros, the only drawback is that they don't have in town all of the facilities we were used to, but you learn to live differently. I used to buy shrimps and fish from Costco, now I buy them from the fisherman directly at the beach or we go catch it ourselves. My maid taught me how to get clams, oysters and mussels myself from the rocks and the beach. I would have never dreamed of catching my own food, now I think of it as a lot of fun and very rewarding. An actvity my husband and I can actually do together. I started volunteering at the local school as the English teacher, to get to know the locals better. There is good and bad like everywhere, but there is definitely a lot more good. Speaking Spanish will definitely help you determine the good and the bad intention person. Never pay upfront for any work and always get a detail contract of performance and specific time frames. Pin people down to price, inclusions and exclusions, and times (starting date and time and ending dates) place incentives and charge them financial consequences for delays. If you are thinking about making a move just do it! All I would recommend is to maybe rent first, to allow time to understand the costs associated with the areas. Do not overpay workers, maids, gardeners, find out the proper going rates, that will just cause conflict for your other neighbors that moved here because it was reasonable to retire. |
