Living overseas is not a vacation. It’s real life, which means real life things like a leaky pipe under the kitchen sink and dentist visits. While we may deal with these sorts of issues all the time in the states, they can become a real challenge in a different language and a different culture. This blog is about how we have, in our two and a half months in Panama, negotiated some of these challenges and, overall, been able to celebrate small victories.
Dinero: One of many great aspects of Panama and one of the reasons it was first on our list of places to consider retirement is that the country uses the U.S. dollar for its currency. Panama mints $1 Balboa coins, as well as quarters, dimes, nickels, pennies, and 50-cent pieces, but all U.S. currency is accepted everywhere, from fruit stands to high-end hotels. It makes shopping easy and helps with everything from tours to tips. Money is not a challenge in Panama. (Neither is spending it, but that’s another story.)
Panamanian pennies 
Panamanian nickels 
Panamanian dimes 
Balboas (Panamanian dollars)
Paying the Rent: Since we are not yet ready to commit to living in Panama long term, we decided against going through all the paperwork to set up a bank account. When it comes to paying the rent for our apartment, we have to go the bank of our real estate company and give them cash. It’s a big wad of $20s each month! The first time we went to do it was a bit terrifying, just because we didn’t know what to expect. When we walked in to the huge bank, we explained in halting Spanish to the nice lady at the front desk what we wanted to do. She handed us a deposit slip, and, once we had that figured out (remember, the slip was all in Spanish), we got a number and waited in the comfortable, air-conditioned lobby until a teller called us. We gave him the money, got a receipt, and that was it. What was so hard about that? Nothing, and now it’s old hat since we know how to do it.
Grocery Shopping: Later this spring I’m going to do an entire blog on grocery shopping because, for now, we are not taking part in the “real” Panama grocery shopping experience. We live a few blocks from a fantastic grocery store called Riba Smith that caters to expats as well as wealthy Panamanians and sells a tremendous variety of items, from imported cheeses to Morning Star brand vegetarian “meat” balls that I used to buy in the states. The meat and seafood counters contain fresh, delicious, and inexpensive selections. The fruits and vegetables are astoundingly fresh and tasty. It’s been very easy to be lazy and only shop at Riba Smith, especially since we do not have a car to take us to the weekly farmer’s market that’s about 15 miles away, even though the prices are supposed to be about half of the store’s.
We are so spoiled, though, that when we don’t feel like walking the four blocks to Riba Smith for just an item or two, we go across the street to Foodie, a small specialty market that is even more expat friendly than the grocery store. Its prices are slightly higher, but they do in a pinch, and we always seem to walk out with a loaf of fresh-baked bread, whether we need it or not, because it smells so wonderful.
I do occasionally buy fruit from one of the street sellers, but some of those folks have “gringo prices,” which are no better than the grocery store. Once we get into the interior we will rely more on street vendors for fresh produce. Stand by for more information.
Display at Foodie 
Street fruit vendor 
Platanos, anyone? 
Bob in the wine room at our ritzy grocery store.
Correo: We can all thank Benjamin Franklin for setting up the U.S. Postal Service as we know it. As much as we may complain about it, it’s better than anything else! That agency requires immense infrastructure, and that infrastructure does not exist in all parts of the world, including Panama. We have a mailbox in Texas, and our niece Terri collects the mail for us, letting us know if important items arrive. In mid-December, she sent us a medium, flat-rate, U.S. Mail box, something Bob has shipped overseas many times when selling car parts. With the Christmas and New Year’s holidays, as well as other Panamanian national holidays, we did not expect it to be quick. We tracked it from Dallas to Chicago, and it finally arrived in Panama just after the first of the year. On January 6, the tracking site reported that it was sent to a Panamanian post office “for delivery.” We naively though that meant delivery to where we live, the address that was on the box. That is not what it meant.
After 10 days of waiting for it to be delivered, we went on the offensive. With the help of a wonderful young lady who works at the front desk in our apartment/motel complex, we tracked down which post office in this city of two million people had the box. We took an Uber to retrieve it. The post office was straight out of the 1950s, with old mailboxes, papers strewn everywhere, and worn waiting room chairs. The woman at Window 1, who was rather abrupt and sharp, found the box and had Bob sign for it. A woman at the next window charged us 25 cents (yes, cents) and gave us a receipt. A woman at the next window handed us the package. It was all a little surreal and Twilight Zone-ish. And lessons learned. It also turned out a metro station was located near the post office, so it only cost us 35 cents to return home.
Our package arrived after a month 
Scary Twilight Zone-y post office
Salon de Barber y Belleza: Getting a haircut was another one of those items that was somewhat terrifying going in but turned out just fine in the end. Since we are not fluent in the language, would we be able to explain what wanted? How would we even find a good place to go?
Bob got a recommendation for a neighborhood barbershop from Joe, an American and fellow husky owner we often see on our morning walks. Joe has lived in the neighborhood for years and sent Bob to Avi’s. Avi, who hails from Israel, wasn’t there, but the young Panamanian man who cut Bob’s hair and didn’t speak any English did a thorough and good job. He spent an hour on a $20 haircut.
Heather, on a whim, went to Alejandro’s Beauty Shop, just around the corner from our apartment. A nice young man who spoke less English than I spoke Spanish, washed, cut, and dried my hair for $10. By lots of hand gestures, he figured out not to cut it shorter than my ears and to let the natural curls do their thing in the Panamanian humidity. I will go back, and I’ll know a lot more Spanish the next time around. For the price and quality, Bob will probably go with me.
Before 
After
Dentista: Just before we left the states, Bob broke a crown. After we got settled, I went on the “Expats in Panama” Facebook page, a useful resource, and asked for recommendations for a dentist in our neighborhood, preferably one who spoke English. We got two recommendations from that. Rather than trying to call, we stopped by one of the offices and liked it. Between the receptionist’s okay English and our poquito espanol, Bob set up an appointment. The dentist is from Brazil and speaks English well. Unfortunately, the broken crown is on a tooth that has already had a root canal. Bob has to get an implant, and because of the time it will take and our travel schedule, part of the work will have to be done in the U.S.
For that work to be done, Bob had to have a panoramic x-ray. He was given a referral, and we were told no appointment was necessary, just walk in and have it done. We did, for a whopping $25 and about 10 minutes of waiting.
The total cost for the implant, including the extraction will be around $2,000. In the U.S., just the implant, not the x-rays, extraction, or other work, can be up to $5,000. Our dental insurance will cover some of it, too, even overseas.
We will report more on Panamanian health care in the future, but hopefully not too much from personal experience.
Comida en Linea: After one and half months and seeing signs on nearly every restaurant in town, we decided to try the Appetito24 delivery service. This was especially important since we don’t have an oven and really wanted some pizza! We had, of course, had pizza delivered many times, but having never used Uber Eats in the states, it was our first time trying a restaurant delivery service. It worked like a charm. Except for the fact that the website is in Spanish (I knew most of the words and could always use Google Translate if necessary), it was exactly like ordering a pizza in the U.S. So, nothing new there, but a bit of language barrier to overcome with the website, and we did have a sweet delivery guy.
Pelicula: We went to see a movie! At Cinemax in Panama, you pick your seat when you buy your ticket. That was unexpected, but there were only about six other people in the theater, so we were just fine, and I don’t think there was a bad seat in the house. With Bob’s senior discount, our matinee tickets were $8.75. (We have subsequently learned it’s even cheaper than that when we go on half-price Wednesday.) The extra-large popcorn with lots mantequilla and two large sodas set us back another $10.30. However, it was really good popcorn, and Bob used Spanish to order it! The movie was in English with Spanish subtitles, and that was fun because it was a good way to practice Spanish.
Buying a Camera: For several years I’ve wanted a good camera for birding. With Christmas money from my mom (thanks, Mom!), I was able to do that, purchasing one from an electronics store at the humongous Albrook Mall. There’s nothing particularly remarkable about the purchase itself, but the process did remind us we are definitely in a Latin American country. I had been researching cameras for months and knew exactly which one I wanted. We asked Caesar, the camera manager, to see the Nikon model. He got it out and immediately started showing it to Bob. My independent woman, professional woman, intelligent woman, raised-by-my-parents-to-be-a-strong-woman (thanks, Mom!) hackles shot up, probably through the ceiling. Bob didn’t even blink, and pointed Caesar right to me. Everything was fine after that, but it reminded us that sexism is alive and well and sometimes has to be dealt with in Panama.
As you can see, even the “everyday things” of life can be far from mundane, which is actually part of the fun of this adventure. That’s enough of the everyday, though. I’m going off to look for sloths now!
