Poor mans retirement. Panama?
- Thread starter Rob Allen
- Start date
Rob Allen
Life of the Party
There are (or were anyway) a good # of American retirees in Ecuador.
I’ve spent a little bit of time there as a tourist. Boquete in particular. I enjoyed it. Friendly people, a decent number of ex pats around, etc.
I prefer Costa Rica over Panama in that region for the stuff I like to do. I enjoyed my time in Panama though. This was about 10 years ago at this point.
I prefer Costa Rica over Panama in that region for the stuff I like to do. I enjoyed my time in Panama though. This was about 10 years ago at this point.
I have done one trip surfing and fishing the offshore Pacific islands just south of David. I am sure it's great, probably pretty cost effective, but suspect health care options are limited. Tons of retired US expats scattered along th entire central American coast. If you do it, I recommend finding a group to make the jump with, fully alone would be tricky I think.
Rob Allen
Life of the Party
I'm done with cold weather. The idea of never below 50F sounds great to me.
No personal experience - yet. My wife hung it up last December and I plan to retire in May. We will be spending some time down there at some point. It always shows up near the top of best places to retire lists - especially when there is a cost emphasis. You could always do a long term vacation rental before committing.
Been to the Pacific side on a handful of trips there purely to surf during a ~10 year span. Fun waves. Nice water temps. Lot of gnarly scorpions 
. Around some of the outer islands it was a tad sharky as well (tiger sharks in that mix).
The first time I went I boated over and surfed Coiba when the island was still the site of a super sketchy prison, so you had a situation where whatever you did you were NOT to get too close to the beach.
In later trips the locals said the prison had been closed. That made the experience feel a little less sketchy, but still a bit adventurous.
FWIW a lot of sea life. The fishing seemed amazing based on all the great seafood available.
. Around some of the outer islands it was a tad sharky as well (tiger sharks in that mix). The first time I went I boated over and surfed Coiba when the island was still the site of a super sketchy prison, so you had a situation where whatever you did you were NOT to get too close to the beach.
In later trips the locals said the prison had been closed. That made the experience feel a little less sketchy, but still a bit adventurous.
FWIW a lot of sea life. The fishing seemed amazing based on all the great seafood available.
downriver79
Steelhead
I used to know a handful of ex-pats that moved down to the southern part of CR on the Caribbean side (Puerto Viejo). They went down to Panama whenever their legal amount of time in CR was up and had to leave for a certain # of days. They could cross the border and for $20 they would stamp their passports to show they'd been there as long as was necessary, and go right back over to CR.
Rob Allen
Life of the Party
When the Panama Canal was built the westerners planted rainbows in some streams in the area around Volcan and Boquet it appears mostly in small brushy streams.
Guarded by 8' fer-de-lance vipers most likely... I am okay without. I didn't find it super fun to wander about the jungle off trail down there the one or two times we did that.
Rob Allen
Life of the Party
Did you see any snakes?
The west side of Panama by Coiba is pretty cool I thought.
The saltwater fishing out there and towards Hannibal Banks was very good...lots of variety, lots of opportunity for whatever you wanted, inshore, offshore, top water, bottom fishing whatever.
I hate snakes...Fer de Lance are no joke either.
The saltwater fishing out there and towards Hannibal Banks was very good...lots of variety, lots of opportunity for whatever you wanted, inshore, offshore, top water, bottom fishing whatever.
I hate snakes...Fer de Lance are no joke either.
i think retirement should include health/med support considerations. u never know. at 72, i had cancer symptom pop up about 7-8 yrs ago out of the blue. got in to primary care in pdx the next day, primary got me a biopsy in 2 days, and cancer doc a few days after that. ended up getting some surgery, and then radiation treatments. was very satisfied with all the docs.
Panama has some very good to excellent medical facilities, especially in Panama City, at a fraction of US costs. Bilingual doctors, modern hospitals, and even affiliations with US hospitals (Johns Hopkins ).
Being a big international finance center helps....
Being a big international finance center helps....
Not at all, and I was looking. The locals who lived there told us to keep an eye out for snakes, serious ones were known to be in the area. I appreciated the warning, but it was hard not be somewhat anxious in an unfamiliar environment like the jungle.