FOR ME CYPRUS lots of sun snow in the troodas, good food,surrounded by blue water,the joy of seeing the sun rise0n an other lovley day.

I hope this is not duplicate, it seemed to have bounced due to including URL for panama-guide

I have some some experience with Miraflores (and Barranco) & Panamá.

First, Miraflores:
I spent 16 days in Perú in late 2005, and fell in love with the country, and the people. If you have not visited, also check out Cusco and Arequipa, in the south. They are both beautiful old Spanish cities, and of course Cusco is the entry to Machu Picchu.

However, while there are beautiful, and inexpensive, 3 star “hostales” in Perú, apartments in Lima/Miraflores/Barranco seemed expensive to buy, from what I remember.

I paid $25US per night, including breakfast at Hotel Melgar(?), a charming 3 star hostal in a great location, in Arequipa. HostAl is not a youth hostEl, but more like a pension or parador.

Panamá City:
I moved here last July after nearly 3 years in Viejo San Juan, in Puerto Rico. While most gringos seem to love the country & city, I do not. The Panamanians are very nice people, but don't believe the hype that English is widely spoken, UNTRUE!

For me is a boring place, and places of any (questionable) interest are too far to drive (beach is an hour or two away, Bay of Panama is seriously polluted), or ridiculously expensive (prices on San Blas Islands are like Monaco & the French Riviera). Many like to live around other gringos in some of the mountain areas, like Boquete. I have not been interested enough to visit.

I have been, I think, in eighteen countries, on four continents and I think the driver’s, in Panama CITY, MUST be among the World’s worst. They are not only very aggressive, but downright nasty. They make those in NYC seem like saints.

Real estate prices in the city are rapidly escalating in a boom market.

Take a look at website panama-guide

I find Italy is worthy of a vote. The high standards for tolerable pollution, the care of agricultural crops, good attitudes, subsidized transportation, entertainment and medical care.

That said, it is not the best place to find a job, but if you are really entrepreneurial or web-savvy, you can find a nice life here.

Since someone mentioned one "best place NOT TO live" I can't help adding the USA. Of course, this is a biased, subjective opinion (like all other opinions) but it is MY opinion and I am happy to share it wherever the fist of the politically correct police does not stifle my mouth or keyboard.
Ten years after having arrived here from Eastern Europe - and having succeeded with the "American dream", opportunity and all that jazz sparkling in popular stories about America - I am so ready to relocate back to Europe, ANY part of Europe!!!, that I cannot find words to describe how badly I need to be back. As a matter of fact, I have come to be weirdly jealous of all people who live in Europe or who have already had the chance to relocate there. I had to conclude that the price one ends up paying for all those apparent American "golden opportunities" - including, in my case, graduate degree, good job, relatively big house in nice (yet horrifically dry and lonely neighborhood, which is the case virtually everywhere), picture perfect family but no community to anchor it in - is a complete f**k-up of the psyche. Let me sum it up, be it with what some may denonce as "sweeping generalizations": no sense of authentic and spontaneous community, a feeling that there's nobody outside of the walls of your home, people so mentally isolated, so politically correct, so locked up into themselves and their own little personal agendas, that no one has any real time available for anyone or any "together-type" activity other than obsessing about themselves. Even when they get together or are in "crowd-type" situations, Americans (which includes immigrants arrived here recently, unless they live in their own enclaves) act lonely and isolated as crap. They are the worst conversationalists the world has ever seen and when I say this I MEAN it and STAND by it. (Don't point me to exceptions to the rule, they are irrelevant).
A nation of obsessed consumers, consumed in turn by a fanatic materialistic and individualistic mentality where nothing has value unless it translates into a sort of perverted, halucinatory individualism that actually has more to do with narcissism than with the individual himself. What's saddest is that once you are here, you can't really live life on your own terms because as the saying goes, you can't p** against the wind. On paper, everything is JUST RIGHT with living in this country. In reality, everything feels horribly WRONG. All that touted FREEDOM I found it to be just a poor excuse for mysanthropy, social isolation, fear of depending on another human being in any way, shape or form, hatred of community or any rapport of reciprocity, including at the family level. I am not sure what exactly the Founding Fathers of this currently freakish sociey had in mind when they talked about "the pursuit of happiness, men being created equal" and all that kitchy philosophy...but I am sure as heck that their good intentions paved the road to the proverbial Hell. Both my American husband and I (plus 2 small children) are ready to move to Europe the moment the right job opportunity happens (or lottery hit - ha!), which nowadays seem almost equally difficult. We will keep trying however, as I find the US a terribly sad and inauthentic place to live. We're ready to take on, and live with, Europe's little "discomforts" (gargantuan in the eyes of regular American folk) - such as:

- living in small spaces and dealing with tight streets (and sometimes uptight people),
- less efficiency in just about everything,
- the perennial obssession with class (as in "whose blood is "blue" and whose is less so),
- higher cost of living (as in "I will no longer be able to go to Wall Mart and buy a ton of China-made junk for almost nothing"; same principle will apply to gas and zipping on highways),
-fussy, gossipy people (with given variations depending on which country you're talking about),
- cliquish society which is particularly adverse to finding a job straightforwardly, with a CV only, and not with "just the right connection in just the right place".
- and finally, discrimination against Eastern Europeans (as I am one).

In fact, at this point I would prefer to deal with prejudice directed at my nation/culture (hoping that I can disprove the stereotypes as an individual) than to deal with this policy of indifferent tolerance promoted in the US culture. After all, the best way to "melt" into the Melting Pot is with a big WHATEVER on your lips. Then back to the "me, myself and I".

Finally, I find it ironic that many non-Americans say "we have nothing with the American people, we just dislike GWB, US government policies, its global actions and the like". I think this is a big blah-blah that hides the reality that only a freakish culture set up by freakish people could have generated such monster rulers and such government policies to begin with. It is easy to point the finger to the "big, bad wolves" and say "it's just them, not the average folk we dislike" but I find this to be disingenuous.
Once you live here long enough and manage to maintain some sort of perspective without trying to force yourself into "melting" into the Melting Pot at any cost, you realize how many things are wrong with the American way of life.

Definitely missing Europe... with all of its flaws, sins and imperfections.

Can't say that I disagree with you on much of anything - although perhaps because I was born and raised in the US, I tend to "understand" it a bit more (or "tolerate" it - not sure which). I had big immigration problems when I came to France, and didn't do so well here for quite a while, so I can probably match you obnoxious trait for obnoxious trait with the French. But ultimately I've come to prefer how things are here in Europe, and I now carry a French passport.

But when you do get back to Europe, I'd be very interested to hear your reactions to your return. There's that saying that "you can't go home again" and I think it's true. Europe has changed in the however-many years since you've been gone, and it won't be quite like you remember it. I fully acknowledge that I can't go back to live in the US again - because I've changed and because the US has changed. But I still enjoy my visits back there - in part to stock up on a few cherished items that are hard to find here in Europe (I guess we're all products of our culture ), and in part to see a few specific people I've kept in touch with over the years.

Good luck in your job search. I know from experience that it isn't easy for a US citizen to find a job in Europe - and that there isn't normally a "right" of return based on marriage to a local national. Get ready for some serious immigration hassle. But it is certainly do-able, provided your spouse speaks the local language. And do keep us informed of your progress.

Do you still have your European citizenship? And is it in a country that has entered the EU? At least then you don't have to worry about immigration policy.

One thing I have to agree with is the increasing degree of social isoltion I've noticed every year when I come back. I don't know that many people any more, but I've noticed that although I usually only visit them once ayear for a week or two, I seem to be the friends they have the most face to face contact. People seem to maintain most of their friendships by e-mail and IM, even if they live only a few miles away. I'v always been somewhat of a hermit, but I've noticed that even gregarious persons live that way.

Yes, I do have EU citizenship. Unfortunately, my country has just recently joined the EU and work restrictions still apply.
Otherwise, I re-read my post just to make sure it didn't sound too harsh (it did) but then I also had to admit I have nothing really to withdraw. I just wanted to convey that I am one of those for whom the "American dream" has come at a price perceived to be too large. This dream seems to come with the same price for pretty much everyone else but not everyone minds paying it or even perceives it as a price.
However, if I manage to get back to Europe with my family, under decent material conditions, I will look back and be grateful for some of the pragmatic advantages I gained by having come to the US for graduate school, not to mention the family I formed here. I have also learned quite a bit just by being here and observing local ways, mentalities, etc - not all of which I consider to be avoided. Americans are eternal pragmatics and you have to be an idiot not to adopt SOME of their ways and apply them in life, where and when appropriate.
In the end, I learnt I am European to the bone, and certainly not a "modern type". While I am not naive to think that Europe has remained a traditional, community-oriented haven in a world driven insane by postmodernity (I have visited Europe yearly since I left) I remain confident that it is still not where the US is in terms of those "ways of life" that have disappointed me so severely here.

Do you have skills that will make it easy for you to get a visa that allows you to work? How do you plan to manage this return to Europe? Are you going back to your home country?

I have a PhD in a social science and quantitative/statistical skills... wich are basically the most marketable I have. The Master's I have it from an Ivy League-level University in Europe ...so I am thinking that if this whole thing will not work even with these credentials, I am not sure what else I could do. I dit not add this to "ooomph myself up", I am just a bit desperate because so far nothing worked out, though we have only started to look seriously recently.

The problem is more my husband than I. He speaks only English (which writes off all other EU countries with the exception of England or Ireland) and he is specialized in some area of the financial sector in the US that is so specifically American it makes it very hard for him to transfer his skills smoothly to Europe.
We are considering my home country too, mainly because the right to work would be automatic both for myself and my husband. My country seems to be up and coming...in its own unique way I'd have to add...("a way" due to which I left in the first place) but then again, my husband does not speak the language and he definitely does not have multilingual inclinations so we can count on him picking up a foreign language on command and then just going to the office with it (one of the disadvantages of having married an American )

So right now it's either England, Ireland or my homecountry. In the latter case, we have to somehow figure out a way to get the right connections in the right place which is extremely difficult from over here. Generally speaking, they really do not care much about anybody's western education, Ivy League credentials and other "irelevant" stuff of this sort, and perhaps rightfully so. Unfortunately, western level salaries are only received by the those who are cozy friends with the right people in the right places. Alternatively, many women obtain good positions by being sexually generous. Having a mistress in the workplace is a national sport there for men so...so much for "making it" with what I can offer in my homecountry. I know it sounds off the wall in today's (western) day and age but my sister lives there and the reports I get from her every day are quite horrifying. Plus, even without her reports, it is quite evident with the naked eye wherever you go.

All in all, we would prefer Ireland (my husband's roots are Irish) even though my homecountry would mean being right there with my family whom I miss tremendously despite the fact that we see each other relatively often.

If anyone has any advice about Ireland, I would truly appreciate it.

Any chance your husband has a "genuine" Irish grandparent? If so, it's possible to take Irish nationality pretty much just by proving your grandparent was an Irish national (birth certificate, old passport, etc.). I know that's how loads of people managed to stay on here in France when they started cracking down on non-EU foreigners. The website of the nearest Irish Embassy would have more information on this.

But you're right - without the local language, it will be a struggle for your husband just about anywhere. The financial stuff is more transferable than folks will have you believe - but you do need to be able to read up on the local regulations in the local language to make the transition.