Thread: hello from a new member

Hello to all
My name is Volkhard, I am 55 years young and ending my career in the US this month. Leaving the rat race to look into a different lifestyle, we (my fiancee, who is South African and myself) are exploring our options outside the US. Friends who lived in Panama many years ago always told us how great their experience was and that they would love to go back for good. Of course, their memories are almost 2 decades old and many things might have changed. We want to explore, and endeavor on the adventure to visit Panama this fall for a couple of month to check it out for ourselves. It will be a true adventure: we don't speak Spanish, don't know yet where to stay, how to be mobile and have to conquer most likely a lot of unknowns. I hope, membership on this forum can help us to destill information from posts and from asking questions to you all who might have some answers. I am aware a public forum is not always a reliable source of information so I will take things with a grain of salt, but I experienced on forums in regard to our hobby (sailing/cruising) forums can be a very good source of information. Let's the adventure begin....

Hi!

Welcome to the forum!

Due your due diligence and start researching. Look at old posts.

Mary
www.whypanama.com

like Mary said , read , read , read . it is easy once you have read a bunch and gained knowledge about the country , many people do not do their homework before they start asking a ton of questions on websites , too them the questions are important , but to anyone who has been here, it is easy to tell these people have not done there homework and the replies they get reflect it . so do your homework and then feel free to ask pointed questions , things like where should i live in panama ? or what is the exchange rate? will get you off on the wrong foot with most people . and welcome to the forum

If you have done some sailing, you should plan to stay a couple days at the Amador along the Panama canal. There is a marina right next to the hotel and a nice open bar/restaurant by the foot/bike path. You will have the opportunity to meet various ex-pats who live on sailboats and have done so for over a decade and have traveled extensively in the Americas. I have done quite a bit of sailing and it was fascinating to hear some of their stories and adventures as well as to get their take on things.

Welcome Volkhard

Bienvenido!

Welcome!!

Hello Volkhard: Read all of Mary's (whypanama), along with Panama Jim's posts ... they have a lot of good info. I'm Sheridan and just joined also a few days ago; you can read my questions and their replies .... look for New Member on the forum from a few days ago. El Valle sounds fantastic, where Mary lives. Boquete is where Jim lives and that is great also. My husband and I are planning our first trip for Feb. or March next year. The Pacific coast looks gorgeous. I have a lot of web sites I can give you on many of the areas in Panama if you are interested.