Panama Forum

RedHatLady
Joined 2017
Posts: 166

5 years ago

Life is good 30 minutes from Panama City

5 years ago

Since most of the chatter is about further from Panama City than we wanted to live here's some insight as we have been here 13 years. No regrets. Our home on 3 acres is in a burg called Chapala which is in the area of Arraigan, Vista Alegre, and Chorrera. This area is now separated from Panama City and is called Panama Oeste. Resources were minimal when we retired here, but over the years the area has developed to provide us with all the resources we need on a daily basis. Only go into PC for social contacts. Costa Verde area, 10 minutes from our home has nice upscale housing (better than the smaller plans). See some condos being built and if you dig further might find decent rentals. CV has a small mall with Rey, DOIT Center, PriceSmart, etc. Across autopista is another small mall with Riba Smith, etc. The big mall, Westland, off the autopista is 10 minutes in the other direction. Always the option to go into Chorrera, 15 mins, if we can't find what we want closer to home. Since we are retired US military, have access to a clinic in Chorrera that takes Tri-Care for any medical needs and prescriptions.
45 Minutes from Coronado. Temps are a few degrees cooler then PC. We usually only use the ceiling fans during the day. Depending on how much cooler it is at night, maybe no A/C. Also if humidity in rainy season is high, A/C, but only late day. We have access to both bridges across the canal and gauge our time to leave home after am commute and return before pm commute.
Hopefully this sheds some light on areas other than what has been posted on this forum.
We like the warmer climate and didn't move to Panama to find cooler weather.
We visited a couple times before making the decision to move to Panama. Did all our own research and didn't know anyone.
Shipped only 100 boxes and probably could have done much less! Getting settled was a learning process and still learning, but just an occasional hiccup. After the first year felt we were home. Our Spanish is minimal, and chose not to mingle with neighbors, but have Panamanian friends. Enjoy our lazy life without a lot of confusion. Have a handyman, housekeeper, and yard man that each come once a week. They have been with us for quite a few years as we respect them and treat them well. Probably get the best lunch for employees in Panama! We like to cook.
We have expat friends near us that we meet for dinner out once a week or an occasional potluck at someone's home.
Life is Good :-)

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