Dear International Living Reader,
Panama is one of my favorite places to travel with my husband, the former accountant. Lief is careful. He pays attention to every dime and every nickel. But even he is known to play the Big Spender when on Panamanian soil. I’m the happy beneficiary of the temporary transformation.
"Would you like to try the new restaurant on the square for dinner, dear?" "Would you like to go to the movies?" "There’s a jazz club around the corner we should try tonight for drinks."
In other cities, these questions don’t occur to Lief. But in Panama, a ticket to see a first-run movie in English can cost as little as $2.25. A nice dinner with wine can be less than $10 a person. Cocktails in a nightclub with live music can be $2 or $3 apiece. A taxi from Casco Viejo into downtown Panama City is less than two bucks. We stocked our apartment with the essentials last week…water and soda, eggs and bread, butter and cheese, olives, nuts, ham for sandwiches, the makings for pancakes…four bags of groceries, and got change from a 20 dollar bill.
It’s not only Lief’s generosity that makes time in Panama pleasant for me…it’s that I can afford to hire the kind of help that seems an extravagance elsewhere. A maid twice a week…even daily can be so affordable even Lief wouldn’t object. A part-time gardener. A caretaker. A nanny. A modest budget can allow for a full staff of household support.
Electronics are an especially good buy. This is, after all, the hub of the Americas, one of the world’s biggest trading posts. Our 15-year-old daughter put in her order before my visit with Lief last week. She was in the market for a new CD/MPIII player. In Paris, the one she wanted was more than 200 euro. Outside her budget. Would I see how much the same thing would be in Panama, she asked? Lief and I visited an electronics shop one afternoon…and found a comparable version of the player Kaitlin had had her eye on in Paris…selling for $65.
And, yes, as we remind you often, real estate can be a steal. A friend last week told us about a 200-square-meter apartment he is buying in one of the city’s plush high-rises. He heard of it not through a broker but by word-of-mouth. Price? $150,000.
Kathleen Peddicord
Publisher, International Living
P.S. From one of your fellow readers, posted yesterday to our InternationalLiving.com Bulletin Board: "I lived in Panama back in the mid-’90s in an area called La Cresta. Back then this was where the gringos and rich Panamanians called home. Since leaving in ’95, I have been back twice for vacation, most recently last month. I used to pay 50 cents for a beer in Jimmy’s Cafe; it now costs 75 cents. You can get a full meal in Jimmy’s or Niko’s or any of the other "cafes" for $3 to $4. If you want to splurge go to Napoli’s in Obarrio and spend $7 on a great meal. David is even cheaper than Panama City. I spent three nights there during my recent trip and couldn’t believe the cost. I bought dinner for three of us that included a couple pitchers of beer for $12. I’ll be able to retire in three years time (at 38 years old), and I am reading everything I can find to make my journey to Panama the best possible and to get the best bang for my buck. Feel free to drop me a note with any questions. I’m not an expert but consider myself to be pretty knowledgeable. My Spanish is fluent." You can join the discussion at our Bulletin Board.
P.P.S. Day 3 today of our annual Offshore Opportunities Conference in Panama City…where the 250 readers in attendance continue to explore firsthand the advantages of living, investing, and doing business in this, one of the world’s last remaining private offshore jurisdictions. The sold-out crowd is hearing from the world’s top experts on tax and asset protection issues for expats and investors…as well as our own in-country staff on the many benefits of life in this beautiful, tropical haven. Yes, we’ll do this again. For details: Tours@InternationalLiving.com.
