A Second Look at Panama
Mercedes de Marchena responded to our recent posts on Costa Rica: “Panama is next door, with amazing rain forest, beaches and mountains. The people are friendly and service oriented, and they are efficient. The banking system is first class, they use the dollar as currency and health care is excellent and cheap… Maybe it is time to take a second look at this wonderful, peaceful yet very modern, up and coming place.”
Born and raised in Panama, she now travels there often to visit her mother. “We have an apartment in Panama City and love the cosmopolitan feel of the city. It has changed a lot since I lived there. The bay is being cleaned up and a new road is being built to get from the Corredor Sur into the Casco Viejo, the old colonial city. There are restaurants and nightlife, casinos and luxury hotels. Life is cheaper than in the U.S.or Europe, and the city is so lively. We usually stay there a couple of days before we travel into the interior to go where my mother lives.
“The small city where my mother has lived most of her life is called La Tablas in the Azuero Peninsula. Life there is like it was in everywhere in Panama many years ago. Everyone knows everyone, and people still sit in their verandas and visit. The colonial church dominates the central plaza, and around it are the stores and small restaurants and business. People go there at night to enjoy the coolness after the sun goes down. Life is slow and to be savored.
“Yet you’ll find everything there. Supermarkets are stocked with a wide variety of items and you can also get local produce and fruits very cheaply. You can even have seafood and fish delivered fresh to your doorstep.
“Healthcare is excellent. When my mother had a stroke a year and a half ago, and she received very good care at a large hospital. She had a therapist come to the house for months at incredible low rates ($12/hour) and now has nurse caring around the clock for about $20 a day. You can’t get that anywhere else. Everywhere in Panama, high quality health care is inexpensive.
“Financial institutions and banks work efficiently and are up to world standards. I can send money directly there from the U.S. We got a mortgage for a house we bought there without any problems. Service is superb and you can rely on these professionals.
“About 40 minutes away, there is the town of Pedasi. This even smaller town has world-class restaurants and hotels. Celebrities have discovered this wonderful place, among them, Giles St Giles , the French architect and his wife, who own “Villa Camila” and Prince Maximilian of Liechtenstein, who has a home and lands here… I could go on and on, but I think I need more space!”
Mercedes de Marchena is a free-lance writer now living in Miami after living 20 years in Curaçao, Netherlands Antilles. Read more about her life in the Caribbean at her blog, http://www.expatinthetropics.blogspot.com. She is also
the author of a book, Such is Life in the Tropics: How Difficult Can It Be to Survive in Paradise? 
For more on Panama and some reasons for choosing to live there, see http://liveabroad.com/articles/panama.html.