Why Panama?

 A former colleague at a job long ago asked me: “Why Panama?”.

I thought i simply send a link to the blog post that explains it. But to my great surprise, i hadn’t written it yet! 😝

View from the terrace… 

Well, here we go…

I had only very few important criteria when considering retirement locations:

Warm, safe, affordable, tranquilo (my new favorite word), able to visit my parents relatively easily, availability of good food, availability of visa.

The southern US immediately disqualified, as it is NOT a safe place, with all the people running around with guns and using them. And it is way too expensive. Well, the political situation is also far from encouraging.

So, with that list in mind i checked out several other countries. 

Europe is too cold - i do not want to see snow ever again in my life - except on fotos.

Southern India would have been really nice! But, India has no visa. 

Dominican Republic is too loud - everybody and their grandmother has a huge boombox outside their door blasting anything they feel like into the air; and that at all kind of times night and day.

Tobago - where i had lived before for 4 years - is too expensive. I don’t want to spend all my savings on housing. So are most of the other small Caribbean islands. And the big ones have way to high a crime rate. 

Most of Africa and Middle East is politically too instable, or even in a war. So is Africa. I do not want to lose all my savings and have to start over again!

Thailand and surrounding countries have a language that is impossible for me to learn. 

Leaves northern South America and central America.

Most of the countries in that region are also politically rather instable or in some kind of civil war like unrest. 

Only Panama seems politically stable.

 It has visa regulations that are very conducive to immigrate. 

The real estate is quite affordable (you can get land for less than 10$/m2 [1$/sqft], and buy a good home for 150k [the one I’m building for example😝]). 

The language is close enough to english to be able to eventually learn it. 

The climate is awesom - you can choose your preferred temperature range by going higher up on the mountain or closer to the sea (at my land it rarely gets above 30C [86F] and rarely below 19C [64F]. 

I can grow much of my favorite food myself - the growing season is 12 months a year. Vegetables and local produce and products are quite affordable, too.

And, it is not much more costly to travel to Europe to visit my parents, than from the US. 

My land is at the end of an asphalted dead-end road that leads up the mountain. It’s very quiet here - muy tranquilo! 

Perftect!!!

Of course it has its downsides as well. But i can deal with and work around  those…

I have written about each of these items (good and bad) before in this blog. I hope you enjoy poking around… If there’s a question that isn’t addressed yet, please let me know, and I’ll write about my experiences and observations on that topic…

Reminiscing

I was always blessed with new ideas. Usually years before the “world was ready” for them. This is a blessing and a curse. The blessing, obviously, is that such ideas are exciting and fun to ponder. But, pondering alone never seemed sufficient for me, I always wanted to implement them, too!

I (choose to) believe, that “sending ideas” is one of the three ways the greater universe (or whatever you want to call whatever is outside of the physical system we live in - our universe) is influencing this system (our universe). I find it hard to believe that ideas just come from the neurons flying around my little, limited capacity brain… (Coincidences, and the fact that every person seems to have a passion, a topic that is very dear to their heart, are the other two outside influence I was able to observe (more on spiritual ideas, fulfilling live's purpose, and finding happiness here: toolOfTheUniverse.org).

The world seems to be functioning quite well as it is. But, then, there’s an idea that somebody receives. A foreign item. Something that wasn’t there as of yet. The system was operating without it. But now, as this person gets this idea, it is possible that it becomes part of this system. And the course of our world is forever changed. No matter in what little way… 

 



On the terrace of the home I’m building in Chiriquí the mason trying to lay tiles had the first tile slanted just a little - maybe 1 mm. Trying to keep all the other tiles level with this one, by the time his line reached the other end of the area 4m down the line, he ended up needing 4 cm of padding! Any little thing now can - and most often does - have a big impact later on! 

Ok, back to my ideas…

The wonderful thing about receiving ideas is that it’s exciting. The downside of it is, that if an idea is a bit farther out than the general population can appreciate, it’s hard to find somebody else who would partner in implementing this 

For example:

In the later part of the 80s I had the realization, that most of a relational database application - which most business application are still today - is made up of the same kind of program. The only difference in the various programs of any single type are the name of the table and the names and numbers of fields. There is also most often more or less of business logic for each of the tables, which differs a lot from one table to the other - but that is a comparably small portion.

So 35 years ago I implemented a first program generator. A program that writes the 4, 5 different types of programs needed for every table. It also linked the programs according to the relationships of the tables, created menus, and provided the hooks for business-logic, printing, and so forth.

That generator was the reason why Progress Software hired me in 93 - finally realizing my dream to move to the USA! Unfortunately, the new CTO, who started between my being hired and my actually starting with them, didn’t appreciate the idea - as was so often the case in my life… The project was cancelled, and I ended up working on something else…

BTW, Object Oriented Programming seems to be another approach to deal with the same problem: repetitive code. My experience is, though, that changing from procedural to object oriented approach did not make writing and maintaining programs easier at all. I’ve come to the conclusion, if you really want to create a mess, use object oriented programing! Without being very consistent in your naming of things and structuring your classes, a system becomes exponentially harder to maintain the bigger it gets. Larger system are virtually unmaintainable! At least those I encountered were so…

In the early 2010s I used the same approach as earlier on in my life to create a browser based application. I consider this application “my Mona Lisa”. After years of changing - not just the programs and DB structure, but even the whole focus of the application! - the system is still neat and consistent and super easy to maintain and expand! This application proves it is possible, it proves it is much less costly to build, and it proves to solve the typical problems systems are plagued with: hard to maintain, hard to extend, hard to adjust, hard for somebody new to understand and get into, high bug rate in code from get go and even higher once modified.

How is that possible? Estimated 80% of the code is generated and can easily be regenerated when there are DB structure changes. These programs are basically self-maintaining. The customized, manually written code is super-consistently following the same naming conventions and style as the generated code. That makes it very easy to understand, which in turn makes it easy to modify and extend.

I implemented this approach for procedural OpenEdge code. But, it can be used for any other language and many other styles of programming as well.

Personally, I don’t think we are able to deal with the complexities of the ever growing systems without the help of computers… computer programmed code is super consistent. Consistency makes life easier for not just people, but for computers as well…


Today, as I am retired from programming, I am working in a totally different area. But, I am, again, trying to implement ideas, new approaches.


I observed the architecture of homes in Panama. And it quickly became clear, there’s plenty of room for improvements!

The focus of local, Panamanian architecture is “cheap”. While it is fulfilling certain criteria well, there are tons of compromises about functionality and comfort. Too many for my liking!

For the foreigners, the architecture of northern areas is simply copied. There are problems in the north that simply don’t exist here - extreme temperatures is just the biggest of them. And there are problem here, that simply don’t exist in the north - super high humidity, just to name one of the biggies. Northern architecture provides solutions for northern problems. But not just NOT provide solutions for tropical problems, but even causes problems in tropical areas.

Using all the ideas and approaches I have encountered over the course of my life, adding my observations and experience living in a tropical climate, and - yet again, as usual - receiving many ideas, I am trying to create a home in Chiriquí that is comfortable and functional, affordable, makes use of and benefits from the local resources and climate, and deals with the local problems.

As if that is not exciting enough, it all is happening in a new, different language, and in an unfamiliar, different culture!

Despite being very busy and occupied by that big task, I’m trying to find the time to blog a little about it.
idea. 

My first house is taking shape already. So far, many of the ideas and approaches used are validated already! The topics of heat, humidity, type of foundation are just the biggest items on the list that are taken care of. Not by trying to fix the symptoms of the problems with the architecture by simply adding a/c, dehumidifier, and patching cracks in walls and floors. But, by having the appropriate basic architecture to deal with these problems from the get-go!

Even though it is not yet finished, I am about to put it on the market. I’m curious how it will be received by those who are coming to retire in Panama… For now, I enjoy my sunrises and sunsets on the big terrace overlooking the pastures with cows and the one or the other horse, and listening to the birds, the rushing of the water of the river bordering my land, and the sound of the rain on the roof when the afternoon showers arrive…

Two of the (to me) most amazing things of the nights here: the hundreds of lightning bugs in the surrounding fields create the flair of magic. And for the first time in over 40 years I am able to see the milky way again, due to the much lower light pollution around here, than  where I used to live in the US and Europe.

12 months a year growing season

 Produce grows like crazy here!

Here is a foto from March. On the left side among the grass are small leaves of the otoe. And against the fence in the background, there are the young banana trees visible.

7th of March 2023

Next are fotos of the same otoe plants and banana trees from mid 2023 - a few months later.

12 of August 2023

And now, mid September 2023, the first Banana tree already is bearing fruits and the otoe is taller than me!

20 of September 2023

The growing season is 12 months a year  with vegetables and fruits growing so quickly our grocery bill is going to be quite small, i guess…

Temperature comfort…

We just came back from La Concepción. There, the temperature was 28C (82F). 

By the time we got up to the first village, El Santo, the temperature dropped to 24C (76F). 

Further along in Santa Rosa it was 22C (72F). 

And up here at home in Camarón Arriba it is comfortsble 21C (70F).

A perfect evening to enjoy the hammock…

Even during the day and with the sun out it doesn’t heat up above 30C. On the terrace in the shade under the roof there’s always a little breeze, which makes it really very comfortable - no need for an a/c!

Can’t wait for the construction to be finished so we can enjoy the place, before it sells…

Yes, after all that effort and elbow grease and loving attention I’m still going to sell this home to kind and loving people!

Kind and loving, because who wants neighbors who are not kind and loving?🤪

Well, all in all, this truly is paradise for us…

Moving my household to Panama - the last step in the emigration-process

Over the course of our lives we collect "stuff". Some of that stuff is easy to get rid of, there's no emotional connection. Other stuff is easy to leave behind, as it is easy to replace, if needed again. But some we want to retain...

In my case, I trimmed down as much as I could. But I still had a 3m by 3m (10 x 10 ft) storage unit full of items. Mostly, they were tools, books, DVDs and CDs, and memorabilia - a picture we had bought in India and which Suzanne had framed for me for my birthday, a wooden relief I bought when living in Tobago, photo albums, and similar items.

A week ago I came back to the USA to prepare these items to be shipped to Panama.

I contacted several moving companies in the US, but received quotations that were way beyond what I was able and willing to pay. The worst was 25,000$! When I looked in Panama, I found a customs broker who provided a reasonable quotation, and who was able and willing to answer all my questions. And questions I had many - I'm not doing this kind of thing every other week, so I'm not familiar with the process! 

RS Aduanas offered to provide a 20ft container, have it delivered to the storage facility, where I could load it up, then transport it to Panama, arrange for the customs process, and have it transported on to my new home in far distant rural Panama (10 hr drive with passenger car from the port) - all for about 5,400$. What a difference!

Panama customs requires a detailed list of all the items that are being shipped. So I had to go through everything, open every box to see what's in it, and inventorize everything.

Originally, I thought I'd rent a second storage unit just for a week, into which to move items that I already added to the list. However, the storage company wanted to charge me a full month's rent. Their offer of 1$ for the first month had a * next to it, and the fine print allowed them to exclude just exactly the unit I needed! They wanted 200$!

During one of my sleepless nights the idea occurred to rent a Penske truck instead. (Penske, BTW, is a much better company to use than UHaul! Penske gives you a quote and you pay what they quote. UHaul always adds many other fees afterwards, and when paying you get hit with a much higher amount than originally quoted and expected. Penske you can trust! UHaul you can trust to charge you way more in the end!)

Turns out, renting a 16ft truck for 5 days was just 150$. In addition, loading everything into the truck had several other advantages:

First of all, I can back up the truck all the way to my unit, and loading is much easier than carrying everything across the storage facility to another unit. Secondly, loading the truck means I'm already lifting everything 1.2m onto the truck bed, so getting it into the container will be just 30cm (1 ft)  more. And, the best part, I'm not tied to the storage facility anymore. That facility would make life of the trucker very difficult, to back into it and park the truck so the gate can safely close. If some other renter arrives, we might have to move the truck out again, and back in all over again...

Using the truck, I was able to redirect the truck to the motel where I was staying and move the load there.

Yeay! Everything in the truck - 4 hours, including making the list!

I was very concerned about how much effort it would be to take everything out of the unit and create the list. But, it took us only 4 hours to get that part accomplished!

My dear friend Cherryl had taken off the day from work to help me with this process. That woman worked like I would have expected a hired college hunk to work!!! Even the ultra heavy Bosch washing machine we were able to roll up the ramp into the truck using the dolly. 

I had booked the motel for 4 days, expecting to need at least 2 or 3 days. But, we got it all done before I even checked in! Well, I had a few days where I could try to source a few other items I had on my list, which are not available in Panama.

So much crap!!!! 😖

In case you end up near Elkton MD one day and need a motel, I would like to put in a plug for the Sunrise Inn where I stayed. It is a lovely old motel, like out of a 60s movie. Nicely restored and operated by a family. I found the room to be clean and very spacious, the rate affordable, the mattress to be comfortable, and the nights to be nice and quiet...

So, yesterday the container came. This time we loaded it in 1 1/2 hours! Well, The driver was a very friendly and helpful man! We connected well, as he's originally from Haiti, Cherryl from Jamaica, and I used to live in Tobago... He, a true gentleman, didn't want Cherryl to deal with the heavy stuff and helped me with it.

Darn! There's so much space for more stuff!!! 😝 

Well, we were done before noon, and the container went on its way! Yeay!

Off you go! Have a nice trip! See you in Chiriquí, your new home...

Now there's only my Prius left. I am planning on dropping that off on Friday at the Baltimore harbor for Roll-On-Roll-Off shipping.

Then I have no more physical ties to the US. Only emotional ones to the friends I made there... Next week on Tuesday, I'm flying back to my new home country. If Iris should get a visa, we might come back to the US to visit my friends. But I won't "have to" return anymore...

Whao! The second volume of my life, from age 30 to almost 60, is now about to be finished! The third volume, the autumn of my life in Panama, has started! I'm excited to see what experiences it will bring. So far it was very, very nice! And with Iris in my life, I think this third chapter will be amazingly wonderful...

Plumbing Woes

It seems to me, that everything you can buy in Panama is cheap and therefore of low quality. 

I guess, since most people have a very low income, they don't have a choice between a good thing and a cheap thing. Their choice is a cheap thing or no thing!

Well, one of the problems with low quality, cheap things is, that they tend to break easily and quickly.

Today, we encountered one of these breaks at the restaurant.

There are two water supply pipes from the town-water network at the house that the restaurant is located in. And, on one of these pipes the PVC glue gave up the ghost, and the joint disconnected. 

The consequence was, that there was a 1/2" pipe spouting water at full pressure!

Luckily, that pipe is located on the outside of the house, so we didn't get a flood in the kitchen or bathroom. However, that water had to run somewhere, too. And that somewhere was down the driveway of the neighbor, making a big puddle in front of their door. At times it looked like the water might enter their house. 

What the heck to do in such a situation?!?!?

For the moment, we used two big buckets. When one was full we switched to the other one and emptied the full one down the toilet.

But, obviously, that is not a longterm solution!

In the meantime, Iris called the water guy, telling him about the problem. He went and turned the water off for the whole town. 

That sounds like a terrible thing, but it isn't really. Why? Because the town-water is turned on usually only every other day, and only for a few hours. And our water break was past the typical turn-off time anyhow.

But, still, the water kept on running for another 3/4 of an hour!

Secondly, I tried to use a wet&dry glue to connect the fitting again to the pipe. On the other side of the fitting was a faucet. So, to reduce the pressure, I connected a garden hose to that faucet and opened it up all the way before trying to glue that piece back to the pipe. The idea was, to allow as much as possible of the water to run off. That, however, did not work, because there still was just too much pressure!

Usually, the glue is supposed to cure for 24 hours before pressure can be applied. 10 seconds just didn't do it. And holding these things together for much longer than 10 seconds is not easy either...

Finally, I ended up connecting a shutoff-valve to the pipe - with the valve completely open. That worked, and the joint stayed together. But, I couldn't close that valve as of yet, as the pressure would have just catapulted that thing off again. 

Luckily, by then the pressure from the town-system had reduced by about 50%, so I was able to glue the fully opened faucet to the valve. The hose we ran to the kitchen sink, and Iris used that water for washing the dishes - so it wasn't all completely wasted. 

And, most importantly, it was running down the drain, and no longer down the neighbor's driveway...

Here is a picture of end product. I'm hoping it will all stay together tomorrow or the day after when the town water is turned on again.

As you can see in the picture, different glues had been used over the years. The grey glue had given up - it is about 1/2 the price of the blue one. 

Unfortunately, there is no primer to be found anywhere in Panama. So all glues are applied straight to the PVC. That might be contributing to the joints to be breaking after a while, too.

We'll see, if the blue glue lasts, despite no primer; or if it will break, too, at some time in the future...

Here’s another picture, that shows how adventurous the piping can get after a while…

So, Yeap, 1/2 price glue connects the pipes when you use it. Can't afford the full price glue? Well, for the moment the 1/2 price one solves the issue. When it breaks, well, then we'll deal with that then - and maybe it's somebody else anyhow who has to deal with it! So no problem today!

Getting the panama drivers license

Another silly wrinkle in the bureaucracy!

You can not apply for a Panama driver's license as long as you don't have an at least temporary residency. But, as soon as you have it, your foreign driver's license is no longer valid!

So, in theory, you can drive yourself to the Immigration Services building to receive your residency, but you can not leave driving yourself... 

So how do you get a Panama driver's license?

There are two options:

a) you get your foreign driver's license transcribed

b) you start from scratch applying for the Panama driver's license like a local teenager does

Why would you even consider starting from scratch?

Well, to transcribe your foreign license, you have to get it notarized by your consulate. Then you have to get a certified translation. And have it approved by the Panama Ministry for Foreign Affairs. After that, you simply go to the licensing office (SERTRACEN) and they give you your Panama Driver's License.

That works well for europeans (i heard from friends), probably for canadians as well. However, for US citizens this option is very unattractive (to use a kind word).

Why? The US State Department is totally for the birds! I only had to deal with them 3 times in my life, and every time they surprised me with how inefficient, incapable, and useless they are!!!

This is one of those three times.

As soon as I got my residency, I tried to get an appointment with the consulate to notarize my US license (Yes! You have to get an appointment! You can't just go there, as with other countries' consulates!), but they didn't have an appointment available for 2 (TWO!!!) months!

That means, for more than two months I would have to use buses and taxis, even though I have a car and am perfectly capable to use it. Secondly, I have to either spend a day and pay 300$ for airline tickets to travel from Chiriqui back to Panama City to visit the consultate, and fly back in the evening. Or I could spend 30$ for bus tickets plus 30$ for two nights in hotel and spend three days for the same task.

Makes no sense!

So how to go about getting a Panama Driver's License from scratch?

First, you need to go to a driving school and apply for a student's license certificate. That costs 60$ and takes about 15 days. But don't worry, you don't have to take any classes, or driving lessons! It's just a bureaucratic step.

While you're waiting, you can practice the theory test questions. There are two sites of interest:

Here's the link to the list of 133 questions in english, and here's the link to the page with the practice test. (Click on REALIZAR TEST to start the test). You can take the practice test as often as you like. Most of the answers are quite logical. Some are just something you have to learn by hard...

Once you have your certificate, you can make an appointment with SERTRACEN, and go there to take the tests. The driving school makes that appointment for you.

You have to take two tests: 

The theoretical test is on a computer. You get 10 questions out of the 133 questions. You have to get at least 7 answers right.

Then there's a practical test - in David it is on a sectioned off part of the parking lot at Federal Mall (inside which SERTRACEN is now, since Chiriqui Mall burnt down). That test consists of three tasks: You have to parallel park, park perpendicular going in nose first, and park perpendicular going in backwards. You have about 2 minutes for each of the three tasks, and you have a lot of space. So, for anybody who's been driving for a little while already, these tasks should be fairly easy - no, VERY easy - to accomplish!

Note, for the practical test you need to bring a car, they don't have any rentals available. Secondly, you HAVE to be alone in the car, and nobody is allowed to be close to the parkinglot section where the test is taking place (taking a video or just watching). You gotta be totally on your own there...

Obviously, I chose the second option to get my Panama Driver's License. I was very worried about it: how difficult will the theory be? Will my Spanish be sufficient? What are they requiring for the practical test?

But, it turned out to be not a big deal at all. I took the test (and practiced the test) in Spanish, and it was quite doable even with my very limited Spanish skills...

Well, I just hope I will never need anything from the US state department! And I am very glad I do have my Panama residency and Panama driver's license. Yeay! Step by step the bureaucratic hurdles are taken...