There is no Winter, Spring, Summer, or Fall It’s always about the same temperature. You don’t need much of a wardrobe; In fact you hardly need anything at all.
Because life is reduced to its basic elements, one quickly falls into a routine here. You might think that it would get boring. Yet, somehow there are lots of little “extras” to keep things from becoming tedious.
For instance, yesterday my eleven year-old daughter woke up and was so excited. She came running to alert the family. We had to get up and see the sunrise. The morning sunrise was the most spectacular red that any of us had ever seen before.
This morning when I awoke, I was greeted by the neighing of a small “herd” of the neighborhood horses. They looked up from their grazing to give me a little “nicker”, as if to say “good morning”. Wow!, I thought, the new foal is really getting big.
As I write, the birds are beginning to warble and chirp in the trees, and the huge flock of parakeets that swarms around the neighborhood every morning like a squadron of miniature emerald green fighter planes on patrol, is just warming up its engines.
From the forest behind our neighbor’s house, I can hear the grunts and guffaws of a family of howler monkeys. They have broken their slumber and are getting on with the day’s tasks.
As with much of life in the tropics, the monkey's “to do list” is quite easy to remember: Eat bananas, sleep; Eat papaya, sleep; Eat mangos, sleep….etc…etc…etc...
A few mornings ago, I had one of my most unusual, even frightening, adventures. It happened in the midst of a perfectly routine morning.
Most mornings, while the family is still asleep, I tip-toe downstairs, have my tea while listening to all the morning sounds. Then I drive the ten minutes to our favorite beach for a swim.
I find swimming slowly on my back, looking up at the morning sky to be the perfect meditation. Generally, there are gulls and pelicans dive bombing schools of sardines just offshore. Far, far above, practically touching the quilted tufts of clouds, can be seen isolated silhouettes of frigate birds, dense black construction paper cutouts, against a soft pastel sky of gentle white and blue.
I usually ignore the feeding birds nearer the sea, instead focusing my eye, and my mind, on the more “distant deeps and skies”.
On this particular morning, I was in my “zone” steadily stroking along the beachline, eyes fixed far overhead. The waves were quite small, so I was swimming close to shore, in water barely waist deep.
Out of the corner of my eye, I caught site of a black shape on the water, not too near. “Pelican” registered my mind. But something in me had already registered that it was definitely not a pelican. It was too sleek. It was too sinister feeling.
…. To be continued….
Denis & David, Editors of Live And Invest Overseas' Panama Letter. They Enjoyed Puerto ArmuellesFor those who don't know who LIO is, their website says:
Live and Invest Overseas showcases the best opportunities for international living, investing, and retiring overseas.
Basically, Live and Invest Overseas (LIO) is similar to International Living.
I am assuming, if you are here, you've most likely run across International Living in your search for information on living in Panama.
In fact, LIO's founder, Kathleen Peddicord, used to be with International Living.
I hold a soft spot in my heart for International Living.
Although, I think International Living is too often over-the-top and salesy, it started us thinking about moving to Panama. Something I am very happy we did.
While Live and Invest Oversea's can be a bit over the top too, it seems that they save most of their hyperbole for their sales pages and not their actual publications. Although, I have to admit I have never subscribed to International Living's paid publications.
Back in January, David Sexton and Denis Foynes, managing editors of Live and Invest Oversea's Panama Letter, came to Puerto Armuelles.
Their goal was to convey to the readers of the Panama Letter what Puerto Armuelles was like and if it was a good place to live and invest.
David and Denis are wonderful guys. David is from the DC area, as is my husband Reyn. Denis is from Ireland.
Reyn took them surfing in the morning. They are not really surfers, but they gave it a shot.
Reyn showed them the town and introduced them to all the folks he ran into. We wanted to give them a flavor of the people, ex-pat and natives, who lived here.
I really enjoyed when they came and had brunch with us. We invited our friend Frank, who is from Germany, and his family, to join us.
We talked about a zillion different things. I enjoyed hearing about how much they liked Panama. This was their first time to Puerto Armuelles.
So far they said they liked the feel of the town and the beaches very much.
My daughter 11 year old Skylar made a good impression on them.
I mentioned that Skylar had been hounding me about how she could earn money. She really wants an ipod touch. (The family rule is kids have to pay for their own electronic devises.)
Coincidently, I had recently run across International Living offer to pay for articles. She wanted money. I wanted her to improve her writing. It seemed a great combo.
When David and Denis heard this, they said she could write something for us. Which she has done.
Skylar was and is thrilled.
Her blurb appears in the recent Panama Letter. It is on being an expat kid in Panama.
David and Denis also included an interview with my husband, Reyn, in Live and Invest Oversea's The Panama Letter.
You can read the Panama Letter via Live & Invest Oversea's website, click here to go there.
We also interviewed one of the co-founders of Live & Invest Oversea's Lief Simon. We asked him his experience and thoughts on living in Panama.
Click here to hear our interview with Lief Simon
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Hi, this is Betsy at LivingInPanama.org. I was on the Puerto Armuelles Yahoo group the other day and found some great aerial photos of our town in Panama, Puerto Armuelles. The gentleman who took the photos graciously gave me permission to make a video using them, which you are seeing right now. The photos were taken from a two-person trike, like this one right here.
This is Norm. He's the person who took these photos, and he came down from Arizona to give a flying lesson to Paul. You can see Paul, or a little bit of Paul, sitting in front of Norm as they're taking off. You know Paul. He lives in David, or it could be in Boquete. I can't quite remember. I only see him when he's down here in Puerto Armuelles. He comes down here from time to time to fly his various aircraft at the airstrip.
Here they are going up in the air, gliding along the coastline right around Puerto Armuelles. What is unusual, you wouldn't think so in a country like Panama with so many coastlines, but it is really quite unusual to have a town right on the coast here in Panama.
Here you can see part of the town, the hills of Punta Burica in the background there. Here's a really nice bird's eye view of Puerto Armuelles. Here's the old Chiquita Banana pier. You can see it right there. It just comes right out of the downtown area. This is downtown.
There's Carmen neighborhood and beyond it San Vicente and, of course, the hills of Punta Burica there in the background. He must have turned north, because this is the neighborhood of Rio Mar in the northeastern part of town. You can see the ball field that Chiquita West uses.
You should know, in Panama, including Puerto Armuelles, they take baseball very seriously. There are actually quite a few baseball stadiums here in Puerto.
Here we are heading back over downtown Puerto Armuelles. This is the downtown area in the foreground and the bigger buildings. This is the waterfront park, and there's another park right across the street from it, and over here is the playground, which they just recently renovated, so it's looking pretty nice. You can see again that this is the banana pier, Carmen and San Vicente in the background, and there's the airfield here and other neighborhoods, like right here is Las Palmas, and that's where I am right now in my house making this recording.
Here they came in for a closer view along the waterfront. That's the waterfront park I was telling you about. Here's a little place that we often go have laquatos, sort of smoothies. This is the bus station right there, and if you continue along, you can go to a sports bar called Tisa Mar, which is, as the name implies, a very nice place to watch sporting events on TV. It also has great views on either side here. Sometimes from this area you can see the volcano, Baru, the one that's between Volcan and Boquete from here.
Now they're coming back toward the airstrip, and this is the neighborhood of Carmen. If you were on the ground, you would see that there are colorful row houses up on stilts. It's right along the ocean on this side, and on the other side of it is the great, big open space that people use for myriad of uses right along the airstrip.
Here you are approaching the airfield, and we see the old Chiquita Banana warehouses here. These are the hills, not on Punta Burica, but right outside of Puerto right beyond there. I believe this is the warehouse that a friend of ours, Rex, makes sports boats out of.
Here's the first approach of the runway for a visual check. A visual check is a very important thing as you're coming in to this runway because one never knows, there could be horses or bicyclists. Lots of people exercise here or a soccer game or baseball game, and there's even a 9-hole golf course that's played in the area around and including the airfield. You can see an old banana pier downtown. It's just out of site there.
Now they're going down into the final approach on the trike, and now we have touchdown. Here the firemen, bombeiros, from the firehouse right here are coming. There are a number of firehouses. This is the one right next to the air strip. They came out to check out this pretty cool deal. Both my husband, Ren, and I really want to go up on, so we're going to try contact Paul to make sure that can happen.
If you want to learn how to fly a trike, give Norm a shout at iflytrikes.com. If you want to find out about living in Panama, Puerto Armuelles, or real estate listings here, please visit us at LivingInPanama.org. Thanks for watching.
To find out more about Puerto Armuelles, start here.
March 7, 2013
Cover Photo For LivingInPanama's Facebook PageHello All,
I am very excited to announce we have a Facebook Page!
www.Facebook.com/LivingInPanama
Well, technically we have had one for awhile. But I never posted to it or referred to it.
I originally created the page in order to have Facebook comments on this site, LivingInPanama.org.
However, recently I have immersed myself in Facebook.
I learned that you can back or future date everything you post on Facebook.
So I put all my website posts on our Facebook page just as if I had been posting them all along.
Plus I added a couple of tabs and such.
Please go check it out. Let me know what you think.
If you enjoy the page, please like it.
Click to visit our Facebook page
Thanks,
Betsy
This Affordable Lot May Be What You Are Looking For.
We are happy to answer your questions about this and other real estate in Panama.
You can also find out about how to safely buy Panama real estate, by clicking here.
Which one will you choose?
Updated July 22, 2017
I give information about those 4 visas below.
This is Panama’s best-known residence program.
The definition of pension is very loose. It can include an annuity from an insurance company, bank, or even a private company.
You can usually obtain this visa within six months of applying.
Plus, you cannot arbitrarily lose your Pensionado status.
In other countries, new laws have affected the status and perks of long-time ex-pat retirees.
Panama’s government has kept its pledge to grandfather in Pensionado residents. Which means that even if Panama changes it's laws regarding the Pensionado visa in the future, your status will never change!
I have written more extensively about the perks of the Pensionado Visa, elsewhere on my site.
NOTE: If you legally reside in Panama and are of retirement age—60 for men, 55 for women— you can enjoy most of these Pensionado Visa discounts. It doesn't matter what type of residence visa you have.
The legal name for the Friendly Nations visa is: Permanent Residence for Nationals of Specific Countries (NSC).
Yup, it is quite a mouth full. And it is full of possibilities.
Panama's NSC or Friendly Nations visa pushes the door wide open for people from the U.S., Canada, and 48 other countries that "maintain friendly, professional, economic, and investment relationships" with Panama.
It is a pretty straightforward visa process.
You must also do 1 of the following
Until March 2017, getting this visa also put you on the fast track to get a work permit. But no longer. You can find out more about the change in friendly nation residency visas holders ability to get a work permit.
For more details, read a post I did specifically about the Friendly Nations visa option.
This option lets you know how eager Panama is to attract workers to their country.
If you don't qualify for the Friendly Nations visa option, Panama has created yet another new visa type.
This was crafted for expats who don’t qualify for the Friendly Nations visa, and who want to work in Panama.
This is your visa option if you
Since March 2017, I advice you speak to your lawyer about whether this could still be an option for you. The work permit rule change affecting Friendly Nation Visa holders also applies to this visa.
Apply For the Person of Means or Investor Visa If You
You must be prepared to make a fixed-term deposit or invest $300,000 in Panama.
You can invest these funds in 1 of 3 ways
Your total investment must be at least $300,000.
You must keep the property and/or fixed-term deposit until you are granted your permanent residency.
Once you have your permanent residency, you can sell the property or withdraw your money from the fixed-term deposit.
No matter which visa you decide to apply for, you will need do fill out alot of paperwork and provide a significant amount of documentation.
Follow Instructions Carefully
Make sure you follow the submittal requirements to the letter. It will speed things up immensely.
Keep in mind, all documents and paperwork will need to be translated, stamped, and certified by various officials in your current country and in Panama. Panamanian officials are very particular about the correct form and certification of documents.
You should start gathering the required documentation well in advance of when you plan to apply. It will save you alot of headaches.
Gathering your paperwork and applying for residency may not rank high in the fun category, but you will be glad you did it.
Panama is a wonderful place to live.
Read more about why get residency in Panama.
If you are looking for beach property in Panama, check out our Puerto Armuelles real estate.
Keep up with news on Panama. Sign up for our monthly newsletter.
February 16, 2013
A Magical Morning Of KayakingI was so happy Robin invited me to go kayaking on Saturday.
It was a beautiful day.
We started at Robin and Diana's house in the Cucuy neighborhood of Puerto Armuelles, Panama
Robin has an old shipping container filled with his sporting gear. It is crowded with kayaks for every occasion.
We took out two of his single sea kayaks and walked them to the beach.
It was a short walk.
There must have been a sardine run. I have never seen so many Pelicans in one place.
I wasn't able to take a photo of the "islands" of pelicans on the ocean. It is hard to juggle a camera while kayaking in the Ocean. It is too bad, Pelicans are my favorite bird.
I did get a shot of Pelicans roosting in a tree by the river (see below).
The ocean portion of our paddle was short.
We soon turned and entered the river mouth of Rio Palo Blanco. (I have a map showing the location of the river in the photos at the bottom of the page)
The transition from the ocean to the river was tricky. It had been awhile since I had kayaked.
It is embarrassing to admit, I capsized. Thankfully, it happened in shallow water and I easily recovered.
The river crosses the highway not far outside of Puerto Armuelles. We didn't make it all the way to the highway. The water level is too low this time of year.
The light and the peace and quiet on the river was magical. There were so many different kinds of shore birds to exclaim over and discuss. Some of what we saw are in the photos below.
I came back resolved to buy myself a sea kayak of some sort so I can enjoy these outings more often. If only I could get my kids excited about it too.
I returned to my house just 3 hours after I left.
It was hard to believe. It felt like I had visited another world.
Robin writes about a much more recent kayaking adventure in Boca Chica Panama here
Jordan Gives His Perspective In The Video Below
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In the video, Jordan describes "what he likes about Puerto Armuelles"
Monthly Living Expenses Of A $300 A Month.
All around, Jordan say that he enjoys working and living in Puerto Armuelles
In the video below, Jordan explains his "How, What & Why" of earning money in Panama.
He also tells you how he likes it.
For more information, go to making money in Panama.
My name is Jordan. I live here in Puerto Armuelles.
I'm here for my ministry. But, to be here, to stay here, it's on my own coin. So, I had to find a job.
Before I left the United States to move here I had to figure out a way to make some type of cash. I asked somebody who had already been abroad, a friend of mine, and asked him what he did for work.
And he said, look online and see what you can find.
The one that just fell right into my lap was my pretty much teaching English.
And it gives me more than enough to stay here in Puerto.
I had to get something quick that I already knew how to do, that's not going to take very long to find. And it just so happened that Open English was there.
Open English, to work for them, I had to speak English fluently was the number one main thing that they stressed, which I do, I'm from America.
The other one is either, living abroad, they didn't say it while hiring, but they really like the fact that you're living abroad and you're living amongst people who are of a foreign tongue, hopefully Spanish is what they were looking for.
So, I told them I lived in Central America, Spanish, boom.
I knew how to speak English, boom.
Also, one of the prerequesits for working for them was that I had to to be able to work weekend evenings, because that's the most undesired shift. And of course I'm very malleable. I didn't have a job. So, that works.
So, that's why I was able to swiftly and an easy transition into working for Open English. It's good.
It took a process of about a month to get hired.
It's rewarding, it is. I get to teach people English, something that they need for work or, so you are actually helping somebody get a skill set, which is kind of really rewarding to you as a person, because you're helping somebody else out.
But also, it's easy to teach.
The tools that Open English gives you to teach is, it helps you as a teacher to teach somebody.
I'm going to say probably in about a month I'll put it on cruise control and be able to teach anybody on that site how to speak English, and I'll be comfortable with it.
