hello

Welcome! I'm in Panama City, where I had considered retiring. However, property prices and rents have gone up so much, I think I'm going to look elsewhere. Where do you live in Panama, and where were you living before you came here?

Thanks for the welcome and response Dolly and Synthia.

We moved here from Las Vegas. Three years ago, when my husband and I were looking for a place to retire, Panama keeps popping up as the best place to retire so now we are here. But my husband got bored from retirement so now hes back to work.
We live in Obarrio, San Francisco area. You are right, everything went up on real estate pricing here. Its unbelievable. Electricity , phone, cellphones and cable bills are also high.

Unfortunately the cost of living is rising everywhere. Does anyone know of a place where the cost of living is stable? I suppose no one will want to tell, for fear of an influx of ex-pats

Michelle

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www.mar-del-plata-argentina.net

A wonderful place to live

How did your husband get work? You can't work on a pensionado visa.

Currently we have an investors visa and in a few weeks we are finally getting our residency. Synthia, how much longer are you going to be here in Panama.

I do understand the increase in cost of living everywhere, I just got disappointed that I am paying more here than in the US for some of the basic items like electricity, cable and cellphones.

I keep planning on leaving 'the day after tomorrow'. Much like in Alica in Wonderland never got jam today, the day for moving on never arrives,

One thing that is always hard to adjust to when you get to a new country is that things are not cheaper across the board. This is easy to understand for imported goods, but for other things it is always a bit of a mystery to me. Why an iced tea at Starbucks in Penang, Malaysia, should cost twice what it costs in the US is beyond me.

And why electricity is so expensive (three times the rate in St. Pete, Florida) in a country with an abundant supply is also beyond me. But it is always that way. I've notice that people here seem to have fewer cellphones than I remember people having in Granada, Nicaragua, for instance.