I like Panama City, but to be honest, it's not where I'd like to live.  I live in NYC and I'm a big city person.  PC has many amenities like shopping, good restaurants and good medical care, but it's still a very small and limited city.  I like big cities. 

My mother hated the third world aspects of Panama City and there are many.  Broken sidewalks, a dirty look to many parts of the city, less English being spoken than she’d heard.  She liked the shopping malls, the really good restaurants and our hotel with its gorgeous outdoor pool, a resort in the middle of the city.  But we weren't going to be living like that....

We both loved the hot and humid weather although I couldn't wear my hair down once in the five weeks we were there.  Although it was hot and humid, I was able to comfortably walk for a mile or two on a lot of days, something I can't do on those kinds of days here in NYC.  Panama City has much less pollution.

I also didn't care for the many American expats I met in PC.  They seemed so dissatisfied and grumpy, lots of late middle aged, early old aged people who seemed to complain about everything in Panama.  I wondered why they were there. 

As I planned to move to Panama City, I didn't really explore much outside.  I figured I'd do that when we got settled.  I have to go back just to go outside the city to see the country of Panama.

Panama City is not a bad place to be, but it just didn't excite me.  I loved that there are some very good restaurants at really moderate prices by comparison with NYC.  I like the excellent supermarkets and even the malls.  I don't have malls here in NYC so I enjoy checking them out when I go to LA or NJ.  Taxis are plentiful and really cheap.  The people are extremely kind and very nice to the elderly.  Everyone helped me with getting my dad across the street in his wheelchair or getting him in and out of cabs.  They're just so sweet.

I loved spending so much time in a nice hotel in the middle of the city with a great pool that was surrounded by trees for a fraction of the cost of the Caribbean.  I loved having four or five tropical fruits offered at the breakfast buffet included in the price of our already moderately priced hotel.  There are a number of casinos as well, but they seemed pretty uninteresting to me.  It wasn't like Las Vegas.

I don't think I'll be moving to Panama...

I plan to go to Buenos Aires some time in the winter, depending on my family situation, perhaps to spend a month or so.  I loved BA when I was there years ago.  I've dreamt of spending more time there for years and suffered through the many upheavals it went through.  I wasn't sure I'd ever be able to go back and now it's bustling again.

Warm regards,

“Andrea” in NYC

I've dreamed of having a thousand acre ranch in the wilderness about twenty minutes from Paris and ten minutes outside of New York City.  It's a good dream.  I want to be totally isolated, raise Nubian goats, read in peace and listen to Kronos or Jobim on my stereo without hearing car alarms, rock and roll, or the hum of auto traffic in the background.  And when I leave my refuge, with it's view of the ocean, I want to drive into Manhattan and have dinner, visit the Museum of Modern Art and go to the opera without hitting a traffic light or a traffic jam and still be back home in time to have a quiet drink of Cuban Rum and a good cigar before midnight.

Anonymous

Let me know when you find this place! - Editor

After high school several friends and I thought we had found our bliss in Brazil.  We were teenagers dreaming of avoiding the rat race and at the time (1991) Brazil was an amazing place.  International tourism outside of Rio de Janeiro was still a very new phenomenon.  The rat race caught up with us, and I have watched Brazil from afar over the years become the country described in EscapeArtist.com. I took my wife and children to Brazil two years ago and, while we had a wonderful time, it was clear that many places I remember fondly (Fortaleza being one of them) had become the beat of horny old men on sex holidays. 

Of my old friends from so long ago, one has discovered an interesting place to call home: Cape Verde.  He runs a bar/restaurant/night club in the capital, Praia.  Ever thought of putting it on your list of places to explore?

“Charles” 

After 3 months of searching I found a place I could live in for a long time. It's Patnem beach just 3k south of Palolem, on Goa's coast. I met a German woman and we live in a place called Saibee village. It's 5 minute walk to my favourite bar, half way down the beach, from my room, which is 10 meters from the ocean. There's 7 people in my hotel (more like a motel, 6 rooms in a row with adjoining balconies), 3 German women, a French couple, he just turned 70, an Englishman, 35, who is on disability pension, although i can't figure out why. They've all been coming here for up to 11 years.

It's a very interesting group of people, none with an excess of money, but all get by comfortably and enjoy each others company and being social. There's a real community here and you get to know a lot of 6-monthers ( most are here for 6 months then back home for 6 months, mostly Europeans, mostly German and French).

At night there's a group of jazz musicians jamming at one of the restaurant and tonight there's a 5-man hand drumming group on the beach after dark. Many musicians everywhere and I've still got the motorbike so I can go anywhere.

I visited Agonda Beach - great, very quiet, because most of the tourist have returned home. On the way there I stopped at a little bike shop to check on buying a bike for next year and got offered a job. Very nice man, maybe  when i return I'll work for him a few days a week and bring in mountain bikes to sell to the westerners. 

Goa is the best place I've ever been - for a place to settle for 6 months this is it. It's not worth living here from May till Nov.,  monsoons and high humidity and temperature. I would live here in Patnem, and make side trips to more Indian parts of the country. It's a very fascinating country.

I will come back here next year for 6 months. This may be the place i've been looking for. I've decided to return to Canada sooner than I wanted to, my sister is having heart problems and I need to be nearer to her. So I leave Asia around mid March and will move to Ottawa for the summer. So I guess this means I won’t make it to Istanbul this year. See you next year in India?

“Richard”

From the editor: Last month “Richard” was killed in a head on car collision in Canada while visiting his sister. He was an amazing man of wonder, acceptance and love. He affected all of those he met in the international travel crowd with his kindness and intelligence. “Richard” lived for the moment and he loved life. I suggest that you let him be your guide as he has been mine.  Live and travel now. While you can.