If you read the "about me" part of this blog, you already know a bit of our story. It came about rather quickly, this move to Panama. We still love Mexico, but were ready to try something new. My husband suggested Costa Rica, and I responded, "How about Panama, instead?" We put the house up for sale or rent and began purging. A new adventure, excitement.
Our life has kind of been like this. From living in busy Orange County in Southern CA, to small town rural KS to tropical Virgin Islands, back to KS, to traveling the US, Canada and Mexico in an RV, to living and working in Mexico.....you get the picture. We like to move. Well, not me, really...my husband. I guess it's his sense of adventure.
The reason I decided to write this post is because I've run across quite a few people online who fell for the exaggerated stories they read online, went to seminars about Panama, bought property here, only to find out all of it isn't true. One guy said he bought a million dollar property, ended up going back to Canada, and is waiting for that property to sell. There is a lot to offer in Panama....but when you think you've done a lot of research and used that research to plan and budget, only to find out it was a lot sugar coated information, you can really get yourself in a mess. Like the guy above.
So this is our story...hopefully, it will help you.
We started doing research about Panama online, particularly on a very popular and seemingly well versed website about living internationally. Ordered their magazine. Tore out articles. Shared with friends.
You see, they said (less than a year ago) that living in Panama was cheap cheap. A couple could live here on $800 to $1200 a month. Easily. Live well! That the cost of living was inexpensive. That you could easily get a Pensionado status for little work and little money.
It sounded perfect!
And so, when our house rented out very quickly, we were eager to get here and enjoy that low cost living.
Before I go on, let me just say that yes, we love it here. The weather in El Valle is awesome...pretty much 74ish all year long. Yes, the rainy season produces a lot of rain, but we've lived in desert for so long, it's a refreshing change. As are the lush trees and flowers of the tropics. we've met people, have a wonderful church to go to and are enjoying the slower lifestyle. yes, we are happy.
BUT...
If you are planning a move like this, you need to know the truth.
These companies really put a glorified version out there....after all, they are basically selling their magazine and their conferences. We actually saw an article in the past month or so in that particular magazine that told about El Valle de Anton, the town we are living in. They have upped the cost of living considerably, but still is on the low side. However, now that we live here, we know the people they interviewed and the interviews were done almost a year ago. The info wasn't even up to date. That could be part of the problem. Very slow to go to press.
For example: they talked about how El Valle would be getting a nice new grocery store in the next several months. Truth: That store had already been opened for a few months when the article was published. Old news.
The cost of living is cheaper here than in the US...but probably not all of the US. However, we have lived in Mexico for 14 years, so we are accustomed to their pricing. Their take on Panama led us to believe it was much cheaper than where we were.
You can rent a brand new 2 bedroom apartment for $800 a month, electric, water and internet included. But they are far and few between. Electric and water don't cost much anyway because the weather is so temperate and most of the time, water is abundant. There is very little to choose from in this price range...we expected less…because of articles we'd read, things we'd seen...way less. With the lack of additional utilities, it's not bad...just not what we were led to believe.
I know of many places in Panama City that rent for well over $1000 to above $2000 per month. Yes, there are cheaper places. Much cheaper...both here and there. But then you get a counter for a kitchen, no cabinets, no hot water, and maybe no appliances at all. Tin roofs with no insulation so that when it rains ( and rain, it does), it sounds like you're living inside a drum. And in the lower areas, you would still have to pay for A/C....it gets really hot there!
This magazine also talks about how easy it is to get a Pensionado status, offering you all sorts of discounts, and leads you to believe that when you get that, you can import your car duty free.
Not so.
We have worked months and months, with many trips to the city, lots of paperwork, legal fees, etc...working towards that Pensionado....only to find out that the attorneys want about $2000.00 (for 2, $1500.00 for 1 person) to help you with it...besides all the fees. The Duty Free import status on the car is only deferred until you sell such car. In addition, you have to pay an 18% tax to bring it in, plus another $1000 (varies according to value of car). Our $20,000.00 car would cost us $$4600.00 to bring it in "Duty Free". In addition, our state in the US is a title holding state (which cost us untold hours at every crossing in Central America when we drove it down), so we can't import it anyway and still have to go to the city monthly and to the border of Costa Rica every 90 days to renew the paperwork on it.
So what's the point of getting it?
Another plus about the Pensionado was no duty on $10,000.00 worth of household goods imported. Well, we have ours ready to go, but honestly, have no place to put most of it, and with the rainy weather, you sure don't want to store things here. They are better off in storage in Mexico.
We may change our mind later if we get a house here.
In addition, you are told about all these great discounts you can get if you have the Pensionado status. Actually, you get most of them anyway. Meals, prescriptions...they just automatically give them to you....most of the time, anyway.
Latin America is Latin America - no matter where you are, they love paperwork. If it could be done in one simple process, that would take the fun out of it for them. that comes with the territory, no matter where you land.
Daily cost of living:
While you can find almost anything here, you'll find that the things you are accustomed to at home are much more expensive here. But living on the economy isn't a big bargain. Unless maybe you eat yucca and fruits that don't even taste good. But then, we came from Mexico.
Avocados. $1.25. Mexico? 20-30 cents each
Mangos, grow on trees everywhere. $1.25. Mexico. Free... When you have friends.
Watermelon. $3.00. Mexico $1.00
Cantaloupe. $2.50. Mexico. 3/$1.00
Pineapple $1.50. Best. Pineapple. In. The. World. (Also, best price anywhere!!!!)
Strawberries - mostly not available except in Chiriqui where we found them for $1.00 a box. In our area, $7.00 for a small plastic box. Mexico? $2.50 for 3 of those boxes
Beef...expensive, unless you get poor quality.
Pork...expensive, and hard to find decent cuts.
Bacon...$7-$10 per lb
Butter - over $4.00 a pound
Fuel…..Just over $4.00 a gallon - $4.18 right now
We eat a lot of fruit. Carrots, zucchini, lettuce, tomatoes, onions, green beans, broccoli and potatoes are about the only easily found vegetables. If you find others, they are much more expensive. The people here eat a lot of root plants. While in Mexico, we often took trips to the US because we were just 6 hours away from Tucson, so often stocked up on our favorite things at lower prices and brought them back. However, we did pay duty and we had our travel expenses to add on to the cost of those items. Artichokes, asparagus, etc...etc..
Dentist. A crown in Mexico was right at $100. or you could go to the expensive dentist and pay $300. Here, a crown is $500.00. I know that is still very inexpensive compared to the US.
Veterinarian: We paid $20 in Mexico for a visit to the vet. Here it is at least double. Again, probably cheaper than the US.
Cost of building: My husband designed and built homes in Mexico. It was not without trials, but the cost of building was way less than here....and the jobs got finished. The guys were also extremely artistic and talented. Beautiful work. The cost of building here is much higher, and it seems you have to wait and wait and wait to get a job done. If it gets done. Mexico has nothing on Panama when it comes to mañana. At least from what we've seen. The cost of labor is cheap, except they work less than 7 hours a day. Materials are expensive. Land is expensive.
Eating out: unless you go to a Fonda (homemade food...basically, they cook one thing per day and sell it until it's gone), plan on paying higher prices. Compared to prices of restaurants we ate at frequently in the US, these are the same or higher.
All this is NOT to tell you that Panama isn't a great place to retire...it is. Once we got over the sticker shock, we fell in love. But it is not the place that they tout in the magazines. It is not as easy as they tell you. It IS beautiful - we have been to many parts of the country and been enchanted by it, by the people, by the cultures. The infrastructure, compared to what we saw in the rest of Central America is really good - I suppose because of the American influence when we had the canal. Panama is a wonderful place to live.
Just want you to go in with eyes wide open.
Oh, and if you don't speak Spanish, or don't want to learn....you'd better stay home. There is very little English spoken here.
Thursday, March 27, 2014
Saturday, March 15, 2014
Day Trip to A Jungle Village
After spending the night in a 4 Star Hotel on the edge of the Panama Canal….with "to die for" beds, great spa showers, gorgeous views and a fabulous and hearty breakfast, we loaded into the vehicles and began our journey.
We were headed to an Embera (em-bear-AH) Village where….
their only water/bathing was from the river,
their beds were hammocks or mats on a bamboo floor of an open air hut,
their breakfast was something they had grown or caught,
and the views….
well, that's the one thing we had the same.
We had about an hour's worth of driving before we would reach the edge of the river at the Chagres National Park. I know. You're picturing parks that look like the ones in Canada or the USA, but we just pulled up to a little house where this woman allowed us to park in her yard, and the Embera men were waiting at the edge of almost a swampy tributary to pick us up in dug out canoes.
Ever since I was young, I remember missionaries coming to our church to tell us about their work in the jungles - Africa, South and Central America - and have always been enamored by their stories. I had even wanted to be a missionary to the Congo when I was a little girl. It intrigued me! So this talk of going to the Embera Tribal Village in the jungle had me more than a little excited.
And a bit apprehensive, as well…
I had heard a lot about taking this trip to this village, about the people, how wonderful it was - but while I was excited, I was also a little nervous. The native dress, which they wear all the time, unless they go out of their tribe to the city, consists of loin cloths for the guys and a colorful skirt (no tops) for the women. They paint their bodies with "tattoos" made from the juice of a fruit that grows in the jungle (non-edible). I certainly don't expect them to wear clothing for me, but just how does one just converse with someone who is mostly naked?
I wasn't sure how I was going to be able to do this….
After handing each of us a life jacket, we loaded into their very long (45' or so) dug out canoes - 2 of them for our group - and headed up river. The only sounds were the sound of the motor pushing us up the river and when someone shouted with glee at something they had just spotted.
One tribal man in a loin cloth (and life vest!) standing at the front of the boat and another at the back - working in unison to steer us through the waters.
We would see the random one room shack along the way, but primarily, we were just flanked on either side by jungle. Beautiful jungle. Sometimes, we saw trees bursting with blooms, and at other times, flowering plants in the trees. We continued on the river, into a good sized lake that had a lot of wind chop, so some of us started getting pretty wet. The water was clean and refreshing, though, so it was nice. We exited the lake, got back on the river and began to encounter some sandbars, so a few of the guys would jump out and help push the canoe across. The trip took about another 60 to 90 minutes, but was thoroughly enjoyable. Maybe more so for those of us who stayed in the canoes…..
Getting over Sandbars
The boat guide. He watched for the best way to go, and pushed us away from trunks, rocks and debris.
I just wanted to go swimming!
The Embera people have many villages throughout this National Park and the Darien. Many moved into this area before it was a park because of the drug trade in the Darien. When the park was formed, they were told they could no longer live like they had before. No growing of crops - no way to really provide for themselves. They were told that they could stay if they provided a tourist attraction for people coming to Panama - otherwise, they had to move. Some of the tribes are much closer to get to (only a short canoe ride across the river), and they have a kind of 'fake' village set up for the tourists and they come and entertain them, then go back to their homes that are further back in the jungle. Lots of tourist groups come to see them, and I understand it's quite a bit more like a tourist trap. The tribe we went to, however, is far back up the river and is exactly how they live. And where they live.
Again…did I mention the water?
After a long, but delightful and sometimes quite wet ride in the canoes, we came around a bend and began to see the village. We were anxious to see what lay behind the trees and brush.
A group of the tribesmen played music for us as we climbed up the incline to the village.
Bamboo flutes, various drums and instruments made of gourds. Beautiful!
This was the first hut we saw. We were amazed by the stair step/ladder formed out of a log. We were told they pull them up at night to keep the animals away.
There were a group of teachers from Panama City already there with a government sponsored trip, so we waited a bit to get to visit with the tribes people. They were doing dances typical of Panama, but not typical of the Embera. Perhaps to show the teachers what they were learning in school?
Part of the program for the school teachers from PC.
The thatched roof of the meeting house(for lack of a better word) was almost artistic.
Children of the Embera doing one of their own dances in native clothing. This is what they wear - all the time. Unless they go to the city. The 'MC' has a good part of his body painted, wearing only a loin cloth and beads.
The little girls were precious.
Each took turns leading the dance: 2 would be in front and then they would go to the back of the line and the next 2 would lead.
Soon after the teachers left, they began to serve us lunch in this darling little 'bowls' handcrafted from banana leaves. Made me want to throw a party!
Each bowl had a piece of fried tilapia - out of the river, no doubt - and some homemade patacones (Plaintains - fried and smashed and fried again) Delish!
After our meal, there were 2 bowls set on the small counter in the middle of the building. The bowls themselves are made from what they call a calabaza and it grows on a tree. These were probably 10" around. The bowls contained water with fresh basil and oregano in one of them, and lemon or lime leaves in the other. (Another great idea for a party!) They are used for washing your hands.
I noticed pretty quickly that we who had come were kind of all grouped together - and the Embera people were in small groups as well….so I decided to go over and sit with the Embera women and talk to them about themselves….their handicrafts, their lifestyle, etc…and fortunately for me, they spoke Spanish, so we were able to communicate. I clicked with them immediately - or felt like I did - and began to fall in love with these people right then. Their dress - or lack thereof - made no difference. They were women with children, with hopes and dreams, and they were graciously welcoming us into their world.
The afternoon was spent with them doing some dances for us… inviting us to join them…singing with them...then our mission team doing an interactive drama - with the children involved - about the Israelites crossing over into the Promised Land. We all had great fun!
Dancing in a circle. We'd get so far, and then they'd have us go the other way…and repeat.
Singing a song with motions….Cleo helping. I just love the brightly colored skirts!
The guy in the white robe is one of the spies sent to the promised land to check it out before crossing. They filled in the rest with kids.
We then had the awesome privilege of meeting those who have become Christians in the village. Probably half of them have come to Christ in the time since David and Lisa (our missionaries at our church in El Valle) have been coming here with teams. The guy in the blue loincloth had his house (which was where they worshipped) and another neighbor's house burn down not too long ago. Our little church sent money to help rebuild (you have to understand, this is sacrificial giving for them…they have little themselves, but wanted to help). When the money arrived, the other guy wanted more than half of it, so this guy (the Christian, in the blue), told him he could have all of it - that God would provide. Unbeknownst to him, the team that we came with brought $600.00 for him to build a new home. That amount will provide a larger and nicer home and a place of worship for him and the church there. Praise God! Some of us went to see where the huts had burned down and got a good look at how they live.
As a side note…what can YOU build for $600.00?
I think this was like a sleeping loft in the hut. Floors were made of bamboo that had been split and then flattened out, though was still a little bumpy.
I asked if there was a reason the huts were on stilts. Even though they are easily 15 to 20 feet above the river, we were told that there have been times when even the meeting house has had water in it, and it is at one of the highest points.
Their baskets and other items they make and sell were on display in the meeting house along 2 of the edges. These baskets are very expensive, not only because of the weeks it takes them to make them (sometimes months), but also because the fiber they use grows on palms that have 5" thorns sticking out all the way up. They have to cut down another tree and lean it up against the palm, then climb up the second tree to get to the fiber. They then beat and dye the fiber with items from nature. The bright pink comes from a fruit they eat here. They even use it for lip color! Gonna have to try that!
The finer the fiber, the longer it takes and the more expensive the item is.
Happy Chicken…though he looked like he'd been through the wringer…literally!
Painted bodies - even on the babies.
Precious faces…..
Little girls coloring!
I climbed the very steep stairs (this was the only hut that actually had stairs!) up to what I believe was the community kitchen. Used to cook for visitors. You can see how the bamboo is opened up flat to make pieces for the floor. The big square is a wooden frame, filled with packed dirt. They put rocks on there and build a fire, thus having a place to cook their meals within their huts. Pretty ingenious, but certainly dangerous. I can see why the huts might burn down.
My view from the kitchen hut. Other huts were shaded by the trees and surrounded the meeting house.
One of the ladies gave me her crown for a picture.
And then we did tattoos!
Painting my leg with the liquid. It will stay for approximately 2-3 weeks. She is using part of a gourd for a bowl.
One of the guys in our group. Notice the seats around the sides of the meeting house were made of hand hewed logs - charming, but not all that comfortable. Standing was a good option after awhile!
Bob getting painted up. He was getting the deluxe version! They use a small piece of bamboo that looks like a 2 tined fork on one end and has a point on the other. This way, they can draw 2 lines at once.
Lucila painted his arm and gave me her crown of flowers.
After many pictures and hugs, we said our good-byes and loaded into the canoes to come home. The water was calmer, the colors seemed clearer. All of us tiredly content beyond anything we could have imagined.
I can't wait to go back.
I love these people, and want to spend more time with them. While that may or may not happen, I can guarantee you that I will be praying for this little village of only about 125 people. That they would all come to know Him Who is the creator of all things.
I was told that the Bible has just recently (in the past 2 years or so) been translated into the Embera language. We have friends who are translating the Bible into the Guarijio language in Mexico. I wonder how many people have never heard the gospel yet, but I also wonder how many have because of people who have taken the time to invest their lives in these different people groups.
I am reading a book right now, called Kisses from Katie. After serving in Uganda for less than a year, she went home for a visit, but found that it didn't satisfy anymore. Too much waste. People with so much, when there are people that have so little. She couldn't wait to get back to her family who really needed her in Uganda..
Trips like the one we took this week change people.
Change their hearts.
Both those going…and those being visited.
Those being visited are learning about the bread of life, the living water…Jesus…
Or maybe they are just being helped physically.
But those who are going are learning that their comfortable lives aren't normal.
That there is a big world out there full of people that we can love on.
And when we leave, no matter what has been 'done' for them….
we feel like we've received the greatest gift.
I know I did.
Subscribe to:
Comments (Atom)