July 2007
/continued....
Hotels
There are many.  The three nicest are Palo Alto, Los Molinos,  Los Establos.  They are also the most expensive.  The Palo Alto is wonderfully situated along the Caldera River and is beautifully decorated.  It is the most expensive to stay…rooms start about $165/night to $250 per night.

In my opinion, that is too much for the area but it is very nice.  Los Molinos is situated on the edge of a 600-800 foot deep canyon.   A couple of waterfalls offer spectacular views in the wet season.  It has a cantilevered bar hanging over the canyon and has a stunning view of the canyon in all directions.  It is pretty cool to look out of the windows of the bar and look DOWN on hawks and vultures.  Rooms go from 135-175 per night.  Again, I think this is a little high for the area.  Los Establos sits above the village of Boquete and has amazing views as well.   Rooms are priced in the same range as Los Molinos.  Keep in mind that the Palo Alto and Los Establos are in the Boquete village area and are always cool and more often than not damp.  Los Molinos is in another micro-climate and is much drier and about 4 degrees warmer.  

If you are really exploring the area it is probably not necessary to spend this much on a room for sleeping.  There are many smaller “casitas” that you can rent for $300 per month, $25/night which are more than adequate and since you are probably exploring more and eating out all your meals, many will suffice.  There are, in fact, so many that I will list only a few and suggest that you take a look at the internet and check for yourself.  Villa Marita, nice place up on the mountain above Boquete tends to be cool and damp…the owner (Rodrigo Marciaq) is a terrific guy and well worth adding to your list of Panamanian friends.  Isla Verde nice place just a couple of blocks from the village and lovely grounds.  Oasis, a nice clean hotel a few blocks from the village, the owner Anayansi treated us very well and it was about $25-30 per night.  There are many.  If you do a search you will find lots… most are in or near the village and as a consequence will be cool and in the rainy season your sheets will be damp when you climb in.  We found we had to use our hair-dryer to dry out our sheets and warm them up before getting into bed.  We didn’t like that at all but it is the significant shortcoming of living in or above the village.  Humidity and cool weather makes sleeping uncomfortable.  This is the main reason we searched out the climate in which we live.

Los Molinos.  The key to climate comfort here is to be south of the village anywhere from 2 and a half miles or more then the persistent “bajareque” is much less pervasive.   Bajareque, is a kind of San Francisco drizzle mist that occurs here frequently.  I always say that in Boquete and the surrounding hills it rains about 320 days a year.  Sometimes it consists of only a 10 minute bajareque..but it does impact the problems with mold and mildew.  Once you are south of the village, the situation changes.  Here in Los Molinos we have had rain only one afternoon for about 2 hours in the period from December 27th until February 24.  We really expect no more rain here in Los Molinos until the middle of April. 

Dining Out
While this is largely a matter of taste..pun intended, I am trying to be as straight forward as possible.  Not just my taste but that of many people that frequent these places.
             
Best Seafood:  Machu Pichu…I believe this is a hands down winner of this category in the area.  Fresh corvina (a local delicate fish), good soups and in my opinion the best shrimp gratinado in the country.  The gratinado shrimp is served in a white sauce with melted cheese on top and it is my most often ordered dish there.  They also have an excellent tartar sauce for your other shrimp or fish dishes.   Not cheap by local standards but good.

Best French Food:  There is only one, El Hibiscus.  The owner/chef is of French ancestry and does a pretty good job.  Again not cheap by local standards but good.  The best dishes here are the trout with various optional sauces.  The clam chowder is delicious and a meal by itself.  While the rest of the menu is okay..I don’t consider it great.  Snails are dry and served in the shell with a stuffing.  Not much like the soaked in butter and garlic sauce with which we are familiar.  He serves an apple tart that is very flaky with a filling of apples and a cream (similar to that in an éclair).  It is outstanding and my wife and I share one.  Since it takes so long to prepare you must order it when you order your main course.         
                                                    
Best Pork Chops:  A toss up here.  Palo Alto Resaurant and Los Molinos.  At the Palo Alto, you are served 3 thin pork chops with vegetables a potato of your choice or a salad substituted for the vegetables.  I skip the veggies, get the salad and some baked potatoes, with sautéed onions on the pork chops……muy delicioso!  Los Molinos serves a 1” thick (10 ounces) with a large serving of vegetables, and potatoes or you may substitute a salad.  Because of the thickness, even though cooked throughout..it remains juicy…again..muy delicioso!

Best Lunch:  Bistro Boquete…Believe it or not the best French Onion soup this side of France…we had some French guests recently and they agreed…just added a little salt and they were very pleased.  I order the soup and a wonderful BLT with lots of bacon, fresh hydroponic lettuce, and fresh tomatoes on fresh bread and believe me you will be full and pleased!

Best Beef:  Nearly all the local restaurants serve Berard Beef.  It is a well known meat packer in Volcan.  So, it is not really a contest of quality of beef.  It is a contest of sauces;  Los Molinos wins this in my mind, hands down.  They have a wonderful French pepper sauce, and a secret Southern USA bourbon sauce, and I’m told shortly a sautéed mushroom sauce.  The French pepper sauce is delicious, as is the bourbon sauce.  

Best Pizza: This is not just my opinion, but most gringos in the community agree the Pianista wins this going away.  The owner is Italian and unlike other pizzerias he uses a tomato sauce.  Most pizzerias use little or none.  They just don’t get it.  He also serves far and away the best meat lasagne in the area.

Best Breakfast: Punta Encuentra (the meeting place) Most people call this Olga’s because that’s the owner's name.  A very pleasant spot where birds breakfasting on the fruit Olga puts out for them, join you while eating.
A lovely spot and good food.  

Best Drinks:  Los Molinos…hands down.  You are served a very nice house wine (cabernet from Chile) in 18 ounce glasses with 6 ounces of wine for $3.50.  Beautiful presentation and 30% more than any other restaurant.  Local brands of beer here are only $1.50 nearly all other restaurants charge $2.00 or more.  Hard liquors, scotch, vodka, rum, gin are all $1.00 per ounce…$3.00 for three ounces  that’s a “double” in the States.  Most restaurants charge $4.00 for one ounce here….very expensive, and altogether it seems to be just a matter of simple greed.  When you combine the drink prices and the quality of the meat sauces, with above average corvina and shrimp Los Molinos comes out on top as the best all around dining out place.  Combine that with the ambience of the restaurant and the spectacular views and it is simply hard to beat.    
   
The owners of Los Molinos tell me they are determined to have the best luncheon menu in the area as well and based on what they have told me.  I believe they will.  In a couple of weeks we will know.

Insurances
Health insurance will surprise you with the cost very low by U.S. standards.  There are two local hospitals.  Every medical service is provided here except brain or heart surgery.  If those are required you will be sent to Panama City.  There are Johns Hopkins associated facilities and in general the most up to date health care available anywhere.

The largest hospital is the Chiriqui Hospital.  They offer an insurance program that when you include the special cancer coverage costs about $800 PER YEAR  FOR TWO.  The program is essentially a 70%/30% plan.  In other words, if you require any kind of surgery, you only have  to pay 30% of the cost.  Any other service, non-surgical, is a 50%/50% basis.  While this may not seem like a great deal let me explain a little further.  

A perfect example of the program is when a lady friend of ours had hip replacement surgery; she and her husband were not in the health care program.  The surgery was done and with all the accompanying care cost the couple $10,000.  If they had had the program it would have only cost them $3,000.  By comparison my mother in law had the same surgery in Naples, Florida about a year earlier and the cost was $85,000!

Another example, I had three kidney stones “blown up” with an ultra-sound system of some sort.  The old procedure was to put you in a big water tub and shoot them with ultra-sound.  This was a newer procedure and cost me $1400 or half of the $2800 fee because it was a non-surgical procedure.  An uncle of mine had it done in Orlando Florida and it cost him $12,000. 

So, the program is a pretty good deal.  Everyone that we know that has been to the hospital raves about the care.  Someone is constantly looking after you.  Without exception they all say better care than you get in the hospital in the States.  Their program covers to a maximum of $40,000 in any one year.  That, with local prices is a lot of medical care. 

Their program has a 2 year pre-existing condition exclusion.  So, we enrolled before we moved here so that we would have almost no time left on the pre-existing condition situation.  For $800/year it just seemed very cheap and prudent to do so. 

The other hospital is called Mae Lewis.  They have a similar program that is 50% more expensive but covers a greater annual dollar amount.
I believe it covers up to $100,000 in any one year.  There programs are very similar with different coverage.  It would be up to you to decide which is the best for you.

Car insurance is very like the U.S.  The more valuable your car the more you pay.  We have a Hyundai Santa Fe with about 30,000 miles on 
it and we pay about $650 per year.  We are insured by a company, one of the largest auto insurers in the country called Generali.  

Home owners insurance is very inexpensive when compared to the States.  We have a 4000 square foot home of block/stone/tile.   Our annual premium for everything including earthquake, fire, and etc. is only about $240.

Banking:
Banks here will negotiate your interest rates on CD’s (Certificate of Deposit).  Some are more liberal in their rates than others.  Global bank the 5th largest bank here is paying 6 or more percent (paid monthly) annually for CD’s.  Others are 5.75%.  But those are not the rates that are published.  If you ask and you have some funds you can get better rates than the published.  There is no FDIC here so you would do well to deal with a larger bank in terms of being safe.  

Shopping:
In Chiriqui Province where we live there is almost nothing you can’t buy in terms of brands that you are familiar with in the States.  In Panama City there is a store that specializes in foreign brands, especially U.S. brands where you can buy pretty much any thing you might want.  Here in the Boquete area you may have to go to more than one supermarket to get everything you want.  Fresh vine ripened vegetables and fruits are plentiful year around.  The filet of beef is the equal of any anywhere.  Some of the other cuts tend to be tough.  Beef here are fattened for market simply by grazing.  There is no corn fed Black Angus here.  You can, however, buy American Black Angus imported beef.  It is expensive but it is something I just NEED sometimes.  It sells for $14.50/pound for rib-eye or new york strips.  I have one about once a week for just a change of pace.  Pork, and chicken here are as good as any.

Since this is a totally casual society and no one ever dresses up here, there is little need to mention clothing shopping.  However, I don’t believe my wife feels under privileged in that area.  Casual is the theme.  Just for the fun of it this past New Year’s I wore a tuxedo to our club house party.  I was far and away the best dressed guy there.  Most men only wore slacks and an open collared shirt.  Some wore suits….not very common to see this.  Most of the women were dressed very nicely but no formals or gowns.  This is just not the style here at all.  Be comfy, happy, casual and cool.

Furniture shopping will be largely found in Panama City.  The shipping rates are very cheap from Panama City up here so that will not substantially add to your cost of purchases.

Entertainment:
Provide your own.  There are community players that put on plays.  Occasional, tours of musicians, both of a local variety and jazz are around.  Movie rentals are pretty much up to date and there is a theatre in David (16 miles with the latest movies) in English with Spanish sub titles.  Mostly, I think you’ll find yourself chatting with friends and enjoying television.  There are all kinds of hiking possibilities.  White water rafting, sliding through the tree tops on a cable, and in general exploring the country.  Fishing in the Pacific is outstanding…every bit as good as Costa Rica.  In the Atlantic, of course, being the Caribbean, you’ll find tarpon and snook fairly common along with snapper and etc.

I haven’t done sufficient exploring to find out where the bone-fishing might be, but I am sure they have to be here.  This country is just not organized well for the fisherman that wants to rent a guide and go do it.  They are available for the Pacific fishing but not really for the Caribbean fishing.  Also, the deep sea fishing in the Pacific is pretty expensive, I think $1500/day or more for the boat and up, is not unusual.

My strongest suggestion for those of you who might decide to come here is find a CREATIVE hobby that you enjoy.  Painting, sculpting, sewing, knitting, photography, pottery, whittling, writing, learning a new musical instrument…something creative is an absolute essential to a happy retirement, in my opinion.  These things will chew up a lot of time and you will find them very fulfilling.  It is not important that you develop “saleable” skills.  It is just important that you have fun with the hobby.  

As I get feed back from people asking for information I will add to the foregoing.  I believe this will answer most of your questions.  If you have 
more or something that I have over-looked, don’t hesitate to email me and I’ll answer if I know or find out if I don’t and let you know.
Contact me at panamacase@yahoo.com , call me at 507-6-612-4290.  You’ll note that there is an extra 6 in the phone number above.  We don’t have a home phone, we use only cellular and that extra 6 is for cellular phones. 

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