Weekly Newsletter
June 27, 2005

So you want to retire to Panama.
Newsletter #14 Volume #1

Emily and A Visit to the Country

Emily

I was up at 5:00 am Sunday morning to say good-bye to Emily. Emily just spent two weeks visiting Panama and she flew a long way to do so. She first visited her family in California, then flew to Panama, and from here back to Japan, where she is stationed with the US Air Force. She is a friend of my son and his wife, and they met at Rota Naval Station, Spain where they were both stationed. A year and a half ago, she and two other friends came to Panama for a visit while my son and his family were here, and we offered our hospitality whenever she wanted to visit Panama again. Though my son is in Iraq, his wife and our grandson, Henry IV, are here, so Emily decided to come back to Panama to visit.

She reportedly had a great time. I say reportedly because I am far too old to keep up with twenty-somethings in party mode, though my wife went out with her and our daughter-in-law Saturday evening and got home about 3:00 am.

I predict that Emily will one day be a Panama Pensionado. She has drunk the water of the Chagres, and as any Panagringo(a) will tell you, it's addictive.

A Visit to the Country

My friend Hubert and his wife Tina invited us to spend the day with them at their new house in the hills above Capira. To get there we drove from Capira to Ledice, where we left my car, then two miles further in Hubert's 4X4. The road is, to say the least, a bit rough, and you traverse it only by foot, on horse, or in an off-road vehicle. The turn-off to their property crosses a small stream which rises to several feet deep during heavy rain.

Hubert and Tina own 10 hectares and most of the land was recently under cultivation, with fruit trees and coffee in abundance. Unfortunately, between the time the previous owner passed away and Hubert and Tina bought the place, Mother Nature made a valiant effort at reclaiming the land, so there is a lot of work to be done in pushing the jungle back to the fence line, but the fruit trees and coffee are still producing. They have constructed 3 dams across the small stream that runs through the property and have plans to stock the middle of the ponds with Tilapia. The lower of the three will be lined with tile and serve as a swimming pool.

The new, three bedroom home has high ceilings, tile floors, and is cooled by overhead fans, or at least will be, once the dispute with Edemet-Edechhi over who must pay to replace the transformer which was moved from the pole directly in front of the house to provide power to another customer, is resolved. Reportedly, the other customer received the benefit of the transformer move at no cost, but now E-E wants Hubert to pay a hefty price to replace it. The fans probably won't even be necessary most of the time. We found it to be quite comfortable, even though the sun was shining and the breeze was intermittent.

Hubert hired a labor contractor to build the house and he purchased all the material. He has the knowledge to know what should be done, and experience of having done it before, so a beautiful, well constructed house was the result. I don't recommend being your own construction supervisor unless you also know what needs to be done, but I do highly recommend that you visit the site every day if you decide to build a home.

It's a beautiful place, with all the privacy anyone could ask for, and if necessary, a living could be taken from the bounty of the land. There is lots of room for chickens and garden plots, and even a cow or two.

My purpose in telling about my friend's place is to point out that there are many such old family homesteads in Panama, most of them accessible only by 4X4, and though I didn't ask, I've known Hubert for almost 20 years, and though I know him to be a generous man, I also know that he doesn't like to pay inflated prices, so I feel safe in saying that he and Tina got their new country home for a very good price.

Here are a few tips if you decide you want to find a similar place.

1. Learn to speak some Spanish. Most of the folks you will be talking to won't speak English.

2. Get a good off-road 4X4. I recommend an ugly one, because you are probably going to scratch it, maybe put some dents in it, and certainly get it muddy.

3. Explore the back roads, looking for areas where you think you might want to live. Look for abandoned houses with lots of fenced in area.

4. Ask people if they know of places for sale.

5. Be patient, and look at a lot of places before you settle on one, so you can get a better feel for how much you should pay.

If you find our newsletter interesting and/or helpful, please tell your friends. If you would like to receive the email version, drop me a note at retire@panamaretire.net.