New Year and new start

Welcome friends from around this great world to the October edition of the Panama Nuggets NEWSLETTER for January 2008. New Year and a new start.
2008, looks like being a good year for Panama – the government (it appears) has reintroduced the 90 day visa for Americans and Canadians. Also there will be a reinstatement of the 20 year tax exemption for new homes. These two items should go a long way to putting Panama back on top as the most preferred place in the world to retire.

Sunny days and starry nights are back.
The weather here in Volcan is changing over to the dry season. The days are sunny and warm and the nights are spectacularly clear. Our light pollution is so little that the milky way can be seen most nights in all its awesome magnificence. Did I mention that we are also treated to huge arcing rainbows.

Volcan on less than $1,000 a month?
Eight years ago I wrote a travel article saying that in parts of Central America you could live very well on less than $1,000 a month. This month a new café /restaurant opened in Volcan called “Dalys’s” (pronounced the same as Alice’s) Don Miller and his Panamanian wife Dalys, run this wonderful eatery and they have made it possible for me to reiterate my 8 year old claim – yes, you can live well in Panama on less than $1,000 a month.

New editor
Sylvia Peters will start in January as the new editor foryourpanama.com Sylvia hails from our native Canada, and has traveled extensively throughout Latin America and the world. She will bring a fresh look to the website. She plans to write articles that take a closer look at the female perspective for married and retired persons in the tropics.

If you have any questions for Sylvia please contact her at:
e-mail: panamasylvia@yahoo.ca


Not Alice’s, but Dalys’s restaurant. As a newcomer to Volcan I was pleasantly surprised to find that there was a warm and welcoming expat community. A group of about ten people from Canada, Europe and the US regularly meet for breakfast at Volcan’s newest restaurant – Dalys’s. It’s pronounced the same as Alice’s, and, just like the restaurant from the old pop song, in this diner you can get just about anything.
Not Alice’s, but Dalys’s restaurant.
Cabalgata in Volcan. Some Panamanians might think the way to show off their wealth and status is to drive around town in the latest edition SUV. The people of the Chiriqui highlands also love to put on a show, but they do it with greater style and class. For their choice of transportation ostentation, they prefer the four-legged to the four wheeled.
Cabalgata in Volcan
Panama’s oldest highway? Archeologists have established that in the western part of Panama, people have lived for about 2,400 years. Many people I am sure are familiar with the great archeological treasures of Sitio Barriles in Chiriqui. I am also sure that few individuals are aware of the existence of Panama’s oldest highway – the Gariche trail.
Panama’s oldest highway?


We hope you enjoyed this issue of Your Panama Nuggets. Watch for the next issue on Saturday, Feb 02, 2008 at 3 a.m. EST.