What is the latest on "Wild Bill" & his girl friend? American in the David area doing time for shooting a Panama approaching him with a machete who was trying to break into a neighbors house? Here is some more information from different folks.......Some duplication........In Panama, only legal residents may own and/or carry guns, as opposed to visitors and tourists. Therefore a foreigner can apply for gun ownership once he or she has satisfied immigration requirements and obtained legal residence. Since Panama has neither an army nor the equivalent of the N.R.A., gun ownership rules differ sensibly from U.S. regulations. To begin with there are no gun fairs... you can only purchase a gun from a handful of authorized dealers, and the choices are very limited - not to mention prices are about double what you would expect to pay. Unless you prefer to place a special order, which is going to delay the process by a number of months, you can purchase a gun under five minutes, the time it takes to process your credit card. This is however where the similarity ends... The gun(s) shall remain in the store's custody until you secure a permit - which in practice can easily take six to nine months. And this is where the fun begins: you'll have to provide a urine sample on the spot (to check for drug use) and later blood samples (to keep your DNA on file) not to mention fingerprints. Also you'll need to visit a psychiatrist to undergo a psychological evaluation. In the meantime, the store will ship the gun to the police, which will perform ballistic tests and keep all records on file, together with your full ID and address. The permit is valid for 5 years and must be showed prior to purchasing ammunition. In theory, you could purchase a gun outside the country and import it to Panama. The thought crossed my mind, as I possessed a concealed weapon permit in Florida and was fond of my Sig Sauer handgun. However, after thoroughly researching the matter on gun forums, I concluded that this would have been an excessively complicated and expensive option, and that it would have further delayed the already lengthy permit application process Permanent residents and citizens can own guns in Panama but the requirements are stringent -- criminal background checks, blood tests, psychiatric tests -- and it takes a long time to get a permit -- anywhere from 3 or 4 months to a year. t is possible for Panamanians and foreigners with a permanent residency status to own a gun in Panama. There are two types of gun permits. 1. Tenencia which is the right to own a gun. o These permits are valid for 10 years and can apply for up to 10 weapons 2. Porte which is the right to carry a gun. (A concealed weapon permit.) o These permits are valid for a period of 4 years and can apply to 10 weapons; however only up to 2 weapons can be carried at any given time. In order to obtain either of the gun permits you must fulfill the following requirements: • notarized copy of your cedula • satisfactory psychological exam • satisfactory drug testing (anti doping) • certificate from shooting/gun safety course from an authorized provider • DNA sample which will be kept on record by Forensic Medicine of the Public Ministry. • all registered guns must have ballistic tests conducted by the DIJ (police) which are kept on file.

They go right over the top of walls with broken glass, razor wire, etc. Old doctor friend of my family lived in Patailla from when it was just a residential neighborhood (he's now passed away), we visited him in the '90s & he told us he could not keep anything on his back porch because "they" would come over the wall & steal it. It is always good, in no matter what country you live in, to look carefully at your home security, preferably before the break in occurs. I had break-ins in North America. I should have learned from the first one. Examine your property from the point of view of a bandito. Of all the homes in the neighborhood, which ones look like they are the easiest or best to rob. Well lit, neighborhood watch signs, fences, brick walls, locked gates, property viewing cameras, alarms, dogs, geese, boat horns, wasp, bear, or pepper spray, signs with a picture of a gun that says in Spanish, "We Shoot first and ask questions later", razor wire, machine gun turrets, bear traps, ak47's, whatever you need to keep the bad guys, uninterested in your place.............

Paid.$700.00 for 1100gal. Water tank. Will harvest off my roofs. Filter water coming in then out before pumping into the house. Will keep city water al so for$50.00 per year. Most wells Isee are hand dug. Mine is 35 ft deep. Water seems to stay between 14&24 ft.. this Iwill keep on a hand crank system. Most people with water wells, only use the water for irrigation purposes. It's expensive to dig a well here. If you want to purchase a cleaning plant for potable water, it's also expensive. I have friends here in Boquete who harvest or collect water. They have a massive sistern on their property and all of their eaves troughs feed into it. We get 100 inches of rain every year and if you don't harvest it, you will run out in March, April and/or May. The rest of the year, no problems. All the water you could wish for, and more. My friend is selling her house, by the way, and moving back to the US. Misses family......absolutely gorgeous house......

Well I do hope that you get to Boquete, Allison, as I love to meet the new folks who have made the great choice to move to my country of choice for retirement. I bought a very cheap two way return ticket to Panama and never used the return part. It was a Sun Wing tour ticket which was cheaper than most one way tickets.......I couldn't find anyone with my exact name, to sell my return ticket to........Call or write when you get to Boquete and I should be around in August......... The last time I flew to Panama it was on a one way ticket and I was asked to get a return ticket to the U.S. Since I have a residente permanente visa they must just do this automatically without checking stamps in the passport.

Hi Just so you are clear your tourist visa at present allows you to remain in Panama for 6 months but you are only allowed by law to drive for three months out of those six months which makes no sense but that is the way it is. If you are caught driving beyond the three months they could confiscate your car,fine you and you go home in a taxi.As well all border crossing now are linked to the US so if you have any type of an outstanding warrant even from years ago they will now get you.The minor issue you describe is of course crazy but you can thank your government for keeping records that long and allowing other countries to use that information against you which in my mind is ridiculous after all those years but the people have allowed governments to have this information and with it comes the power over you.This appears to be quite common around the world now as we all get older. Who didn't attend a party or two that were a bit on the wild side when young.It was part of growing up . It appears that 1984 has arrived a bit late but is has arrived. If you apply for residency in a foreign country and can't get it because of a misdemeanor charge many years ago then the USA has become a police state. If you were at a rowdy drinking party when you were young you might have a misdemeanor charge against you. If that information is held in a computer and made available 50 years later to a foreign country that is an attack against your personal liberty. I am not a right wing fanatic nor a believer in conspiracy theories but this kind of situation is very good evidence that something is very wrong with our system of government. Lucky for me I got my Panamanian residency and just recently Panamanian citizenship before all this kind of information was entered into the national database. Maybe everybody should vote for Ron Paul when the next presidential election comes up. He is the only one who might be against these kind of things. The rest of them will go with the status quo.

When you say "retirement community", I know none of per se... A caution regarding Altos de Maria-property owners are having issues with increases in maintenance fees and being ignored from the developer. Location depends on the following parameters: 1) Economics 2) Health 3) Independence 4) Interests Our most favorite community is Altos de Maria, a beautiful planned community in high elevation about 90 minutes from Panama-City. Spectacular settings and plenty of home for long term rental with option to purchase. Altos is isolated, safe and secure. No grocery store....so one must plan well and be REAL independent. a 4x4 SUV is a must. In close second is El-Valle, another mountain community in the valley below Altos de Maria. It is less isolated and has a brand new (city style) supermarket In third place is Coronado, a pacific beach community. In the far north, you will find the cities of David, Chiriqui and Vulcan. Again, it all depends on the 4 factors listed. Good luck Shai Gold

Ducret- -Kevin Bradley excellent service. Speaks English Phonenumber online and in Visitante newspaper Thank-You! I had emailed her 2 times in the past 5 days but got no response. I'll try the cell number.

I am in Boquete, to be sure. I am taking some beach and surfing holidays in May to Santa Catalina, Bocas, Pedasi, and a few other beaches, but for the most part, I am around.........It's always good to meet new people coming to check out my new country of retirement choice. I would love to meet up with you, Panama James. You are in Bouquete, right?