Thread: Anton

Does anybody have an idea about the town of Anton, before reaching Penonome?
Is it a nice town to live, how's the temperature,etc.............
Thanks in advance.

The actual town of Anton does not have much going on and is warm. El Valle is much more scenic, has great temp, but it has drawbacks. At night it is VERY windy and there is stuff blowing everywhere. Also during the rainy season El Valle get's very very wet.

They are selling new 2 bedroom houses in Anton starting $50k.
Being so close to the beaches,I thought it was a bargain compared to the expansive condos in Playa Blanca or Coronado.
Weatherwise,it must be much cooler than PC right?

You can actually find new $50K homes in many places. Before you decide on any place whatsoever, take a look at where you are looking to purchase. There really is not much of anything in Anton. You probably will not even find any expats to relate to so you would be living in a community that would offer you not much of anything except a cheap house. My personal feeling is I would not live in Anton if it were free. You are going to want to be around people you can be friends with, relate to, and have things worth doing locally.

Before deciding where to live and buy a house ,I'll pass at least a few months wandering in different parts of the country. But more or less I know what I'm looking for.
1)Weather.I love warm weather, but the big cities and the coastal areas of Panama are just stifling hot.I want a comfortably warm place.
2)Good infrastructure, specially high speed internet,etc.....
3)Proximity to a big city and beaches.
4)Affordability and potential of price appreciation(good investment).
5)Safety.
Considering all the above mentioned factors, I'm slowly coming to the conclusion that the best compromise places would be Boquete,Volcan,Altos de Cerro Azul ,Altos del Maria and El Valle.
I'll give special attention to Altos de Cerro Azul.It is such a beautiful place not too far from PC and real estate prices are so low(even though it maybe far from decent beaches).
I'll greatly appreciate your thoughts and opinions about this subject.

Do you plan on living full time when you eventually decide on a town?

Yes I plan to move full time if I can get the visa.I have hope that they will modify the residency laws. I live in Canada and I cannot take the weather anymore. I visited Panama twice and loved the Panamanian people.I was mostly in PC and they were fine. I'm sure in the countryside, they must be 10 times nicer.

You mentioned before that it is very windy in El Valle de Anton...is it the same in the Altos del Maria area?

Altos del Maria is pretty close in proximity to El Valle so I am just guessing there probably is not much of a difference? Once again I can't say I have ever spent anytime there but at least El Valle does have a little more going on (from what I understand). There are quite a lot of expats, some stunning neighborhoods, and very easy to get a bus ride from the city anytime during the day and well into the evening.

Altos del Maria doesn't have anything up there--no grocery stores, gas stations, etc. You have to take a 20-30 minute ride to the PanAmerican Highway depending on where you live in Altos. Also check their yahoo groups because there are a lot of discussions going on about robberies, water, internet, electricity, etc.

As for Anton you are not really close to any beaches--closest is Santa Clara or Playa Blanca. Actually there are 4 couples from the U.S. and Canada that live there that I know. The beaches at Anton are pretty much mangroves.

El Valle also is having a lot of robberies lately, check out the yahoo group.

You might want to check the road up to Las Lajas that runs parallel to the road to El Valle and starts just before the Cochiz store in Coronado. There are lots and houses for sale on the road and you have gorgeous views of the Pacific.

Mary
www.whypanama.com

Thanks....If burglary is a problem in El Valle and Altos...is it less in the area around Las Lajas???

Las Lajas/Las Lagonas - they are up from Coronado in the "mountains" and it is more isolated. By that I mean there are little grocery stores along the road and that is it--you have to go to Coronado for restaurants and gas. I did see a few little fondas along the road.

There are really only 2 developments up that road that I know about and one is a couple of years old and most of the owners only come up on weekends from PC. The other development is new and I think the minimum lot size is 1 acre with not too many houses if any. Mostly Panamanians live on the road, but it is a road like going to El Valle. There are a couple of little villages on the road and they look very clean with no garbage along the road and the houses have been painted in the last couple of years.

It seems like the robberies in El Valle are targeting expats and Panamanians that come out on the weekends. Altos is supposedly "gated" but there are roads that go into the development that aren't gated. For the most part the robberies are things that they can get in and out quickly and carry (money, jewelry, laptop computers, weedwackers, etc.). This is the time of year where there are a lot of robberies because Mother's Day (December 8) and Christmas are coming up.

If people do their due diligence you can really cut down the chance of getting hit. We have extra security lights, motion detectors, battery operated lights, engraved everything front and center, and a big dog (LOL). We live in the middle of nowhere on the road to El Valle so we have an 8' iron fence around the property. Small Panamanians can get through the bars and if you have a chain link fence they are easily cut--as so many of my friends have found out. We also have bougenvillas all around the fence which will deter someone coming through the fence.

I hope this answers some of your questions.

Mary
www.whypanama.com

Mary
www.whypanama.com

Thank you...will check it out when we are there....