Gail:
We are very interested in retiring to Panama, based on what we've read.
Can anyone tell us a very cheap way to spend some time there exploring
various locations? Any travel tips? We don't want to spend all our moving
money on our first visit.
Chris:
Stay away from high priced hotels, even in the city you can stay a night
for around $25 with a/c and cable. if you dont mind riding, taking the
bus around the country is alot cheaper and well if you see something you
like you can always get off the bus and just take another. boquete is a
good climate, volcan has about the same and things are a bit cheaper
there. isla grande is a nice place, its an island with out cars,
ppl are nice there.
Richard:
You can eat a filling meal in the local fondas (everywhere) for under $3
with water or maybe a soft drink. There are hostals in
places like Bocas, David and Panama City at least, and other cheap basic
hotels. El Valle even has a place where you can pitch a tent
for a few days if you like.
Like Chris said, bus service is everywhere and very inexpensive.
Buy a couple or three guide books to Panama (search Amazon.com for
Panama and you'll see quite a few). They are a good guide to
local hotels and eateries by region/city and will really help you decide
where you want to visit. If you do your homework before you
come (maybe you already have), you can make much more efficient use of
your time and money.
Chuck:
Good suggestions however I might not recommend $25/night hotel room in
Panama City for your first trip - unless you are the backpacking type.
I have found the best inexpensive hotels to be:
Hotel
California
- about $45/night on Via Espana in Bella Vista
Hotel
Milan
- in cangrejo - around $65/night
Torres
De Alba
- a block from Milan - $90/night
There are several B&B's located in Balboa area, a little harder to
walk from there to anywhere = you will need a taxi.
Busses are OK but taxis are cheap in PC.
It sounds like you are on a tight budget - if that is the case PC
probably not a good choice for retirement - check out the David area.
For hotel recommendations - www.tripadvisor.com has a good Panama
section with reviews written by fellow travelers.
Monique:
Hotel
Marbella
in the Crangero section of PC is also very good, cheap and well situated.
Mary:
If you can't afford La Estancia, then DO consider Hotel
Santana,
on the edge of Casco Viejo for $39 a night. (Cross-check this
recommendation on Trip Advisor and you'll see mostly favorable reviews. http://www.hotelsantana.com.pa/
If you really want to go "budget" (hostel-type accomodation),
then Luna's
Castle,
in the heart of Casco Viejo, is a great place to bunk down. $13 for a
share; $30 for a private double room. http://www.lunascastlehostel.com/
Monique:
Another
pretty decent hostal in casco Vieo as well: hospedaje
casco viejo
http://www.hospedajecascoviejo.com/
Clyde:
I'll
certainly second that. It's on Calle 8 near Avenida A Casa 8-31,
next to the church with the golden altar. I lived there for 2
years in a room that has since been converted to the women's dormitory
which sleeps 6. Ricardo Graces, the owner who speaks perfect
English, is a very gracious host and being Colombiano he understands
cleanliness and good service. Ricardo also has an apartment
building a few blocks away on Avenida A at Calle 13 with one and two
bedroom furnished apartments that are available for short term rentals.
The telephone number is 211-2027. Anyone staying there please say
hello to Ricardo and the staff for me.
Monique:
The
Panama Moon Guide
(Bill Friar) is the best Panama Travel book, as far as updated. There
should be a new issue coming out this month if not out already. Lonely
Planet is hopelessly outdated.
Richard:
The best rental prices won't be found on the internet, but by walking
around and talking to lots of people once you zoom in on a location.
Someone will have a cousin who knows a guy...... etc.
Instead of hiring a driver to tour you around the country, you might
collect names of local drivers in the areas you'd like to visit, and
take the bus between them.
Public transportation is pretty good. The buses run almost
everywhere, as that's the primary form of transportation for many people
here. The long-distance buses are usually better than the local
buses as far as creature comforts. The diablo rojos in PC (old
school buses imported from the US) will be replaced maybe soon.
They will be missed, if only for their colorful artwork and lights.
But I've seen some of them running at 4 in the morning without a single
light showing on the old highway to Colon, so they're not always in the
best of shape mechanically.
Taxis in the bigger cities are numerous and quite inexpensive as well,
compared to US prices. Meters may be installed soon, so some
of the gringo pricing will be reduced.
Gail:
Thanks so much! We are thinking that Chiriqui Province in
the mountains will suit us best, but perhaps there are more affordable
mountain areas that we should explore. It sounds like hostels are
the way to go for us. If anyone lives or knows any areas that have a
moderate climate, affordable rental housing, please let us know.
The ads I see for rentals and real estate purchases sound a bit higher
than we want. If we can even sell our 4-year-old mobile
home, it will be at a loss. We think we would like to rent
permanently, but at least for awhile.
From
here, it sounds like the only really good
medical care is in PC, but we are hoping to live in the interior.
Also,
can you really hire a driver to tour you around the country? Or are
there other good ways to explore the country. Don't want to even own
a car there. How is the public transportation? I hear good and
bad about it.
I
am reading more and more about crime. Is there a growing
anti-American attitude? Or are there just isolated incidents?
Connie:
Check
out the medical care in David. Many expats in Chiriqui are happy with
it.
Penny:
I spent 6 days in Chiriqui Hospital in July. I'm not an expert since
this was my first ever hospitalization (except for giving birth many
years ago) but my opinion is that the care was excellent. The nursing
staff was responsive, the facilities were spotless, and it just seemed
like a caring facility. It helps to know some Spanish -- at least "necessito
ir al baño"
Richard:
The same goes for Hospital Mae Lewis in David.
David has good medical care ..., but not as many choices as Panama City,
of course.
Penny:
Don't
think that rentals advertised on the internet are typical. Most
Panamanians never advertise their rentals on line. I live in Boquete and
it has the reputation as an expensive place to live yet I have a friend
who rents a small apartment for $100/month and lots of folks who rent
for under $500/month. You just come here, rent a $15/night hostal room,
and start looking.
Even if the cost of living were twice as much in Boquete, what we have
here is worth it (in my opinion and I'm frugal).
Gail:
Thanks,
Connie. How long does it take to get from Boquete to David?
Are there any less expensive mountain communities in Chiriqui?
Connie:
It
takes
about an hour. Volcan is a little cheaper and you might look at
Portrerillos. Also, Alto Boquete is a bit cheaper than some of the other
areas of Boquete. If you look around you can find rentals in Boquete at
about $400, so not everything is as high as some think. Still, there are
cheaper areas. The
lowlands are cheaper, but when you factor in air conditioning, if you
can't take the heat, it could make some of the cheaper rentals in
Boquete not seem so unreasonable.
Richard:
Volcan is less expensive than Boquete when purchasing properties but
Boquete does have some great rental prices from time to time.
The hydroelectric projects in Caisan and elsewhere increased the demand
in Volcan, it seems.
Potrerillos and Boqueron are very quiet places to live, and still cooler
than David.
Gail:
Someone
else just told me that the inexpensive rentals probably do not include hot
water or more than one electrical outlet per room. Are there
apartments there, and what can one expect to pay for a decent rental with
hot water and enough electricity for a few more things than one per room.
We don't need a lot.
Also, are there laundromats there? Otherwise, we would have to have
washer and dryer hookups.
I like your style. We are really thinking of just going there and
renting a hostel room and doing just what you said. We need to bone
up on our Spanish a bit and finish with the placement of our three
foster babies before we can do much more than ask a lot of questions.
We really think we need to get by on one of our Social Security checks and
bank the other one. We don't really have a nest egg. So we
will have to live "carefully".
Penny:
I
know of several small houses or apartments within walking distance of
downtown Boquete that have two bedrooms and either one or two bathrooms
and electrical outlets and hot water. They rent in the $450 range. Of
course these aren't always available just when you want them. You really
have to be here and ask questions, read the bulletin boards, and pound
the pavement. You can also search the rentals on www.boqueteforums.org.
I am hearing that right now there is a shortage of rentals in Boquete so
you will really have to do your research.
There are several laundromats in Boquete. Don't worry about that.
Susan:
There is one issue that needs to be planned if you are planning to move
to a foreign country with no savings and live on your social security
month to month:
How will you pay for health
care,
in case of serious medical event? Routine preventive care and care for
minor stuff is cheap in Panama but treatment for serious illness or
injury is not, even though its far less costly than in the USA. You are
aware that medicare cannot be used in Panama, right? And that the cost
of returning to the USA to use medicare, whether its a regular flight or
"medical evacuation" (expensive) is not covered either? Decent
health insurance is very hard to qualify for if you are over 60 or are
in less than perfect health when you first try to get it, unless you are
a military or US government retiree. You can buy "sole provider"
policies that cover for a few thousand dollars fairly cheaply but you
won't be covered for most stuff for the first two years of paying
premiums for most of these policies. You need to think those things out,
investigate and plan before you make a move like that.
Gail:
Good
point! I guess the other Social Security check would have to
come into play in the case of a medical emergency. We expect to be
able to save over $100,000 within five years, but we could always use it
for medical care if necessary. We are just hoping
that the one Soc Sec check would cover ordinary living expenses.
Thanks for the info. We had been led to believe that we could buy health
insurance rather
inexpensively. In fact, that was included in our "living
on one check" plan. Really good insight.
Susan:
If
you
are young and healthy, you can. If you are collecting social security
either because you are over 62 or are medically disabled (which presumes
some kind of "pre existing condition"),not so much.
Pattie:
Gail, You and your husband can get the medical insurance through Chiriqui
hospital,
which I was told could be approx. $900 a year with a cancer policy.
Would that be do-able in your plan? Unless you have medical issues,
you would probably not need any additional insurance, especially if you
could use your savings for emergencies. There are some
international insurances you can get that are pretty reasonable to
supplement if you wanted to.
HNS:
Small point but the insurance is through MS Panama, S.A. and not the
hospital.
MS Panama has an agreement with both Hospital Chiriqui and San Fernando
in Panama City.
Gail:
$900
a year is definitely doable. Is that for one of us, or
both of us? Where is Chiriqui Hospital? In David?
How does one deal with any type of emergency
in Panama? In the US we dial 911. Is there any type of
program like that in Panama?
Bonnie:
Although
there is no 911 per se, Alto al Crimen has established an emergency
hotline for the reporting of crimes and emergencies with a bilingual
responder who, once you call, will place the appropriate emergency
telephone call for you.
See http://www.volunteerboquete.org/?page_id=411 for
more information. The hotline number is 6477-6662/
Connie:
The Chiriqui Hospital plan for my husband and me is a little over $1200
per year. There were exclusions, but they had a pretty lenient
interpretation of them. For instance, my husband has high blood pressure.
Treatment for high blood pressure was excluded for two years, but they
said that if he had a heart attack or stroke or organ failure caused by
the high blood pressure, he would be covered. Thank goodness, we didn't
have a chance to test that promise. No 911 in Chiriqui.
Penny:
There supposedly is a 911 number in Panama City but I've heard it is
non-functioning. Actually, Boquete has the only 911-type service which
is funded by donations. Your call is answered 24/7 by a bi-lingual
person who then dispatches the police, the ambulance, the fire
department or road service. It works really well.
Hunter:
Hospital Chiriqui is in David.
EMS is handled differently depending in where you live. 911 is in PC and
expanding slowly outwards into the Interior.
David is the only other city with what you would consider quality care
-- meaning equipment, doctors, and training to take care of many of the
more common needs.
Any other area of the country is served by smaller hospitals and clinics.
Many of which are either understaffed, little to no equipment, and no
working ambulance if they have one at all.
The bottom line is one has to clearly think about their current health
condition and if it is in need of a specialist or uncommon medicine,
diagnostic equipment etc., then living near PC is the smarter choice.
Our website has information for residents of Panama. In the lower right
hand corner of the home page, you will find a link for resident
information: www.evacamericas.com
Susan:
Connie, did they put the "they said" part in writing? Because
if they didn't, you are very fortunate that you didn't have to test it.
If its not in writing, it is not binding, as quite a few folks have
discovered to their dismay. This is not aimed at Hospital Chiriqui per
se, its aimed at ANY situation in which any entity acting as an insurer
or an insurer's representative (whether its a hospital selling you a
"sole provider" policy or an actual insurance company or an
insurance agent or broker) makes a verbal representation that appears to
conflict, explicitly or impliedly, with what is in the policy.
Connie:
The basic plan covers everything but cancer. There is a separate plan
that you purchase for cancer. The total of the two plans is a little
over $1200 per year. I can't remember the exact figure because the price
went up slightly this year. Both plans are purchased at the same office
in Hospital Chiriqui. Do check out the pre-existing qualification on
blood pressure. We were satisfied for our needs, but as Susan pointed
out we didn't have it in writing. We just figured that if the insurance
didn't pay for it and something happened before the qualification went
away, we would pay out of pocket. That is not a luxury everybody has,
even though our doctor told us four years ago that open heart surgery
was less than $15,000. I'm sure it has gone up a little since then.
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