Since we are on the subject of money, I wanted to share this excellent article that a Joel found today.
https://alittleadrift.com/cost-of-living/panama/
There is a lot of excellent information here.
However, two corrections.
- If you arrive as a tourist from the USA, Canada, or another country that has friendly relations with Panama, you get a visa for 180 days. You can drive on your foreign license for only 90 days which is confusing, but a tourist visa is 180 days.
- David does NOT have the same climate as Boquete! Not at all. Boquete is in the mountains at almost 4000 feet above sea level. It is much cooler and usually damper, rainier, and windier. David is at sea level, and it’s much warmer. Lots of Boquete folks can’t understand how people can live in hot David, and some of us David people find Boquete unacceptably cold much of the time. I don’t know where people get the idea that Boquete and David are similar in any way – climate, elevation, culture, vegetation, lifestyle, cost of living, language requirements, amenities, etc etc. They are close in distance but a world apart in feel.
But, that said, this is an excellent article with a lot of great information.
The Panama Adventure 
You’re famous! That is a good article. I’ve got to say from what I saw there’s nothing not to like in Panama. I loved the good drinking water, safety, vegetation, good population size (big enough but not too big), good air connections. Boy was it humid, though.
We’ve got the house here for sale and downsizing (selling motorcycles, etc). Panama’s certainly on our list of places we might go. We’ve just got a bit more exploring to do. Thanks for sharing.
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LOL I get mentioned now and then 😁
Humid yes, but you almost never need skin cream and chapstick. Good luck, hope you find the place perfect for you!
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Kris, I have really enjoyed your blog. Thanks for all the information and sharing. I gotta tell you, though, it was very difficult to read that article knowing that they had such a glaring misstatement of fact about the climate of David and Boquete, especially since they said they had been to Boquete which meant they had to go near David to get there. Each time I read something, what kept coming to mind was “how can I trust this information? Did they really research this?”
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Thanks! Glad you find the blog useful.
I’ve come across many people confused about the David-Boquete climate thing. I can only guess that they hadn’t actually been to Boquete, but got their information some other way. The road to Boquete originates in David so if you travel from one to the other the difference is impossible to miss.
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Hi, I left a reply a couple of days ago–nothing controversial, adversarial, or confrontational–and it hasn’t showed up. Is something wrong?
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For some reason, it didn’t get to me until yesterday afternoon. Sorry about the delay.
The first time anyone comments it gets set aside until I approve it. This helps cut down on spam which, unfortunately, is everywhere, blogs included. It also, unfortunately, makes it wait until I have time to get to it. I try to be diligent about checking emails and correspondence every morning but more than that doesn’t always happen, especially on big band gig days when we may be out until all hours. Morning today was actually mid afternoon before I got both eyes open and both feet moving 😁 I always turn up eventually though, and a reminder poke is welcome if I totally space out something.
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