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Sometime I will remember to take a video when the thunder and lightening really gets going.
It can get very loud. And the lightening here flashes and spans the sky in ways I have not seen anywhere else.
Until late in August, it was not raining everyday. And when it rained it was typically raining for 1 to 2 hours in the afternoon.
But as we head into September, the rain is sometimes invading the morning hours.
Sometimes in November we can have days of rain.
If you are interested, I written more extensively about the rainy season and the overall climate in Panama.
For more on living in Panama, check out our blog and our frequently asked questions about Panama.
This map does not include all the neighborhoods in Puerto, but it show the ones of most interest to expats and retirees.
The map should help a visitor to more quickly get their bearings.
The 13 neighborhoods included on the map, going roughly from east to west:
Between downtown and Rio Mar is the Pueblo Nuevo neighborhood. It isn't shown on the map due to scale issues.
For information and photos of these neighborhood, click here.
The names of the rivers and creeks on the map are hard to read. So I am repeating them here.
Starting in the east, in the San Vicente neighborhood, and going west, the rivers are.
I will try to upload a higher resolution version of the map soon.
In the near future, I will have a map that includes the locations of restaurants, hotels, and other places of interest to people.
Want something shown on a Puerto Map?
Let us know.
If you want to know more about Puerto Armuelles, start here.
Or possibly an English-Spanish exchange network.
It would be a way for expat retirees to help young people in Puerto Armuelles improve their English.
As you can imagine, there are many more job and business opportunities open to Panamanians who speak English. It literally opens many doors for them here and internationally.
In Panama, where there is a wide gap between the upper class and the poor, helping a young person of modest means to improve their English skills might be the jumpstart they need to launch them, and their family, from the lower class into Panama’s growing middle class.
You really can make a difference in your world by volunteering to help another person. It is a satisfying way to maintain a grateful heart.
Not only is volunteering is a great way for expats to mix with locals, it is a an ideal way to practice your Spanish. And, of course, there is always the possibility of working out a trade: English lessons for Spanish lessons.
What’s more, you just might make a new friend for life. Who knows?
I am trying to get a rough idea of how many of our readers might be interested in participating in a language volunteer, or language exchange project. If you know someone who may be interested in volunteering, please let them know about our idea.
Is there anyone with a great organizational gift who would like to help with the logistics of setting up an easy-to-use system?
Please let us know. Send us an email, use our contact page, or comment below.
We welcome your suggestions, since this is new territory for us.
Thanks.
First of all, bill paying in Puerto Armuelles has not been a big preoccupation for us.
Bills here are so much lower than they are back in Seattle.
As you can see from the photo of the water bill (Instituto de Acueductos y Acantarillados or IDAAN), our water bill for June was $4.94, for unlimited water use.
By comparison, our water bill in Seattle is typically $150 per month in the winter, and up to $250 in summer. In Seattle, they charge you for the water both going in and going out of your house.
Our electricity bill in Puerto Armuelles is typically $35 per month. In Seattle, our summer electricity bill is about $300. Our highest winter bill was over $450 (we have electric heating).
We do not have air conditioning, but we are heavy users of fans and have a big and old refrigerator. We also have children who never remember to turn off a fan or light they are not using(!) You can see our electric bill below. Click on it to make it larger.
I looked up the electric rates in Seattle and Panama City to get a better comparison. 2 big cities.
Electricity in Panama has 3 rates, depending upon your use.
If you use less than 300 kWh, your rate is subsidized. Which is how some people have monthly electricity bills of only $4. If you use between 300- 750 kWh, you pay at a higher rate. If you use more than 750kWh, you pay at the highest rate. I couldn't figure out what that rate was, but that is the breakdown per kWh.
From conversations and reading, it seems clear that the rate charged at each of those kWh levels varies across the country.
Maybe it has something to do with whether your area is covered by Union Fenosa vs. Gas Natural Fenosa vs. the 2 electrical distributors (Empresa de Distribución Eléctrica Metro Oeste (Edemet), and Empresa de Distribución Eléctrica Chiriquí (Edechi) vs. Enca, which serves the northeast area of Panama
Gas Natural Fenosa of Spain is in charge of almost all the electricity in Panama though. Gas Natural Fenosa merged with Union Fenosa in 2009 and since then they bought 51% of the electricity distributors Edemet and Edechi. And they keep expanding. Perhaps all these subsidiaries and companies maintain separate rate structures? In Puerto Armuelles, the electricity bill (above) is issued by Gas Natural Fenosa, although everyone refers to it as Union Fenosa.
In general, if you use A/C all day every day, your electricity bill will likely be close to $300/month. If you use your A/C less, say just in your bedroom, your electricity bill will be more in the $100 to $150/month range.
Our gas bill in Seattle is around $100/month. Here in Puerto, where there are no in-ground gas pipes, our bottled gas bill for our propane range/stovetop and our propane dryer is about $10/month. $5 a month for each bottle.
As you can see, compared to our costs in Seattle, we have substantial savings in our home utility bills in Puerto Armuelles.
Now for a question, I also get, "how to pay your utility bills in Panama". In that article about paying utility bills, I also give some information on a few other household bills such as
Loren rented a house in the Corazon de Jesus neighborhood of Puerto Armuelles for a few months.
She visited Puerto after spending over a year in Quito, Ecuador.
On her way out of town, Loren kindly wrote me about her experience and thoughts on living in Puerto Armuelles, Panama.
Since I am not within walking distance of downtown Puerto Armuelles, I take a taxi to and from the local market.
Shared Taxi Experience
Quite often when the driver stops for me, there are other passengers in the vehicle. The driver could just as easily pass me by, since he already has a fare. I especially appreciate his courtesy which gives me a chance to get out of the hot sun. This is quite a change from other places I have lived, where taxis pick up and deliver one fare at a time.
The interesting part of taking a shared taxi comes from discovering all the new places I get to see while we travel from Point A to Point B, which is often in the opposite direction from where I want to go. Along the way, we drop off the original passenger(s), perhaps pick up another passenger(s), then we might make an unscheduled stop for the driver.
Recently, I had one driver stop by his house to get more bottled water and on another occasion we first stopped by the driver's house so he could add water to his tank and fill the water dish for his chickens, lol!
This took about 5 minutes while I and another passenger waited in the car. Once that was done, we all headed to her destination and then back across town to my destination. So, for the same price, I get the Scenic Tour!
Everyone's Needs Are Equal & Respected
What this tells me is that this country respects the needs of all individuals. My need to get to the market is of no greater importance than the other passenger's need to meet her husband for lunch, nor greater in importance than the driver's need to take care of business at his home.
I like that about Puerto Armuelles ... there is the understanding that there is enough time for all things to get done and there is respect for all persons' needs.
Loren, thank you so much for sharing your thoughts on living in Puerto Armuelles.
If you want to share your experiences and views of Puerto Armuelles or Panama in general, please email them to me or use our contact form. We'd love to share your thoughts and experiences with others.
Or you can simply comment below.
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Betsy: Hey, Milton.
Milton: Good morning.
Betsy: I was wondering if you could tell me why you decided to move and live in Puerto Armuelles?
Milton: It's such a beautiful place. It's very friendly. The people here are very friendly. It's just a warm environment.
The climate's great. Of course, the ocean is beautiful.
It's just a nice place to live, and it's an easy place to live.
Betsy: Do you have any advice to give people who are thinking about moving to Panama or to Puerto Armuelles?
Milton: Yeah, I would say come down and visit, rent a house, stay for six, seven months, a year.
If you really like it, then buy something. But you really wanna get in touch with your environment and what's going on in your community. Just to double check and make sure that this is gonna fit your lifestyle.
And when you come down, make sure you stay at Heavenly's Hotel. We'll treat you right.
Betsy: Anything else you wanna say to people who are thinking of moving to Puerto Armuelles or Panama?
Milton: Again, Panama has so many things to offer.
It's a very easy place to do the transfer. They use American dollars, which is very easy for expats.
Also, there's many Visa programs for you to become a Jubilado or you can become a friendly nation Visa. They'll pretty much welcome you in, which has a lot of benefits as well.
Betsy: Thank you very much, Milton.
Milton: You're welcome. Thank you.
Puerto has a new waterfront restaurant, Cafe del Mar.
As the photo shows, it serves Italian, Thai, Indian and Mexican food, as well as hamburgers.
My family and I ate there after running into a couple who raved about it. They had been there 4 times in one week! And people have also told us they like the restaurant. Overwhelmingly people recommended ordering the dish Thai On On.
When we went the service was very courteous and prompt. We were served by the 2 owners Bernard and Ricardo. Bernard has lived in Puerto Armuelles for years. He is Iranian and speaks English well. Ricardo has had restaurants in both Bocas and David. He has minimal English. Both men are good hosts.
We ordered 2 dishes, the lasagne and, of course, the Thai dish, Thai One On. You can see what they looked like in the photos. Normally, the Thai dish is made with chicken or fish, but they were out of both and used ground beef instead. They asked us if that was okay first.
It was wonderful to have food with flavors you cannot get when eating out elsewhere in Puerto Armuelles. It was interesting that the Thai dish was in the form of a burrito, but it worked.
See their menu in the photos below.
We found our food greasier than we like, but that could be because of the substitution of ground beef for the usual chicken in our dish.
They emphasized that one of their specialities are liquado and batidos, similar to smoothies and milk shakes. But we didn't feel like having them a dinner.
Since then we have had their liquados (but not their batidos) many times. Ricardo makes them best. They only use natural fruit with no added sugar, which is wonderful. I have tried their mango, pineapple, and watermelon liquados. I like Mango the best. Others in my family favor watermelon. They don't always fruit in stock for all the flavors they offer. Some day soon we will have to try their chocolate batido.
The Cafe is open every day, except Tuesday. They usually open at 11, although occasionally not until 1pm. They are open for snacks, lunch, and dinner.
Cafe del Mar overlooks the water at Puerto Armuelles's downtown waterfront park. It is right next to the bus station. If you are at the park, looking at the water, the cafe is on your left.
We go to that park just to sit and watch the water a few times a week. So having a place to sip a liquado is a good plus. In fact, until about a year ago, there had been a small cafe that served liquado in the same location. It didn't offer much in the way of food and their liquados were very sweet. Cafe del Mar's liquados are far superior to those.
You can call Bernard to order take out or to pre-order - 6751-5028.
Business is good at Cafe del Mar. But both Ricardo and Bernard anticipate that their business will do even better once Del Monte comes to town. Del Monte will put more money in the pockets of everyone from banana pickers to management. That money will be spent all over town, including at Cafe del Mar.
If you haven't heard yet, Del Monte is nearing the end of a very long government process to allow Del Monte to produce bananas here. Del Monte will be taking over the old Chiquita Banana plantations. Read more about Del Monte growing bananas in Puerto Armuelles, Panama.
July 16, 2016
UPDATE: Del Monte now has full legislative approval to grow bananas in Puerto Armuelles & Baru.
A big crowd had gathered in ESPA's high school gymnasium to hear the news. The Panamanian Minister of the Presidency, Alvaro Aleman, and other officials signed documents.
There was a very long speech by the mayor of Puerto Armuelles, Franklin Valdez, followed by a not-quite-as-long speech by Alvaro Aleman. Nothing surprising was said. Alot of talk of jobs, economic recovery, and how hard they are working to get an agreement with Del Monte to revive the banana industry in the Baru district of the Chiriqui province.
Alvaro Aleman told the crowd that the first step towards reviving the banana industry in Baru was to sign an agreement with Del Monte. However, that agreement must be approved by the Council of Ministers and then ratified by the Panama National Assembly.
"I am confident that this bill, which will be presented in this legislative period, will be passed so that next summer Del Monte can begin its investments in the area," said Aleman.
The minister said that if approved, Del Monte could make up to $220 million in investments in the Baru plantations which will provide, "important sources of work."
He also explained that one of the outstanding issues is how and whether to allow Del Monte to buy the plantations since some of them are within 10 kilometers of the border. The Panama Constitution prohibits foreigners from owning land within 10 kilometers of the border.
Del Monte is interested in acquiring "approximately 2,572 hectares belonging to the State, 840 hectares owed by an agricultural association, and 1,771 hectares that are privately owned." said Aleman.
Varela visits in September & updates Del Monte progress
The atmosphere of the crowd was one of muted and wary optimism. While much was made of the signing of documents, it was only another step in the long process of getting a banana company in Puerto Armuelles. The current talks with Del Monte have been going on for more than a year so far.
Progress has been made. Del Monte has asked to be allowed to hire foreign labor, but it was agreed that they would follow Panama labor laws, which makes bringing in foreign labor very difficult.
There is another company that wants to take over banana production in the plantations in the District of Baru. About a year ago, Coobana, a worker's cooperative also expressed interest in taking over the banana plantations in the Puerto Armuelles area. That proposal was not mentioned during yesterday's meeting.
2 banana worker cooperatives started in the wake of Chiquita pulling out (in Puerto Armulles) and greatly scaling back (in Bocas del Toro). Puerto Armuelles's worker cooperative, Coosemupar, was a dismal failure for many reasons.
On the other hand, Bocas's cooperative, Coobana, continues to be a success. Their success is credited to the critical and successful overture Coobana made to supply bananas to Europe. Coobana has had to modify many of its labor and growing practices to comply with European standards.
Given that the Minister of President of Panama was here to announce further progress in negotiations with Del Monte, Coobana coming to Puerto seems unlikely. However, I think a company run by other Panamanian banana workers would be a good choice for Puerto. Especially a company that has improved both labor practices and safe growing methods.
I am not sure of all the details of the proposal of either Del Monte or Coobana though. I have heard some say that Coobana has already taken over some of the plantations in Baru. Perhaps those are the lands mentioned above that are owned by an "agricultural association". Accurate information can be hard to get in Panama.
For now we will have to wait and see what develops. I know that the owners of Puerto's newest restaurant, Cafe del Mar, are looking forward to a new banana company and the influx of money into the pockets of Portenos.
Enjoy the photo gallery of yesterday's Del Monte meeting. Click on any photo to start the slideshow.
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Betsy of Living In Panama (off camera) asked:
Veronica, why did you decide to move to Panama and why Puerto Armuelles?
Veronica Answers Below
Well, I had a farm in Costa Rica for many, many, many years and I really liked Costa Rica, but
things changed.
And I started looking around.
So for 4 or 5 years I looked.
I came to Panama, in the beginning, to go to Boquete to a school, a language school there, Habla Ya, to make my Spanish much better.
So what we did was: 1st we made a list.
What things are important to us.
So we made our list.
Drew a couple of circles on maps.
I had been to Boquete for a few months. I stayed there while I went to school.
I like Boquete. However, for me it's too cold and I don't like the raininess.
To me that's .. And it wasn't near enough to the ocean.
And we started looking around for another place.
And I happened to see Puerto Armuelles on the map.
People didn't have a lot of things to say about it, buy you never know until you
go look. So we drove down.
One trip we came down here we were going to spend 3 months driving around, getting to
see all the places up close and personal. We liked some other areas as well.
We got as far as Puerto Armuelles and stayed at the Tsunami Inn.
And we stayed and we stayed and we stayed.
We met nice people, looked at land and it fit all the criteria.
So this is home.
Now we have a farm, Finca Bella Vista, in the hills just above Puerto Armuelles.
2 kilometers out, I think, totally.
We just love it.
We are building a house and a barn, a stable. I do dressage, it's dancing with your horse, so to speak. And I also am a wildlife rehaber. I specialize in birds and small mammals.
And Puerto is nice. It really is very peaceful.
We decided to retire here and this is our home now.
I love it.
There's a lot to do. I ride the horses on the beach. There's all kinds of sports. We are heavily involved in calf roping.
It's fun. I love it here.
I absolutely love it.
