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Hi there, 
How is your Spanish?

Not very good, but we plan on getting Rosetta Stone and learning on our drive down.

³§³Ù±ð±è³ó²¹Ã±²¹³§·É²¹²Ô wrote:

Not very good, but we plan on getting Rosetta Stone and learning on our drive down.

  You do not even have the Stone yet and then you think that when you get it you will be learning Spanish in 2 days while driving down to Panama.
Hmm, what are the chances of success for such adventure? 

John C.
I don't necessarily appreciate any negative or condescending remarks, or comments.  If you have nothing wise, positive, or constructive to say then I kindly suggest you move yourself along! The naivety you've shown tells me you are neither open nor educated in how to communicate with others.  You're comment and assumptions have brought me absolutely nothing of use!
Good Day.

³§³Ù±ð±è³ó²¹Ã±²¹³§·É²¹²Ô wrote:

John C.
I don't necessarily appreciate any negative or condescending remarks, or comments.  If you have nothing wise, positive, or constructive to say then I kindly suggest you move yourself along! The naivety you've shown tells me you are neither open nor educated in how to communicate with others.  You're comment and assumptions have brought me absolutely nothing of use!
Good Day.

Hi there, 
My negativity contains hidden messages of pure positivity. 
Me not open? I am the only one who replied to your thread ... so far. Perhaps others will advise you straight from now on.
My comment brought nothing of use to you? Sorry, my comment was only the beginning for now. Better comments would have followed.
Cheers! 

Hello Stephana:  I have heard Panama is a wonderful place to live.  I have never been so I can't vouch for that, however, sounds like a wonderful adventure.

There is a man by the name of Cliff Paradise that used to work with me here in the USA, Montana.  And he moved to Panama.  Nice man.  You could try looking him up.  He retired from the US Forest Service and then moved there.

Take care.

Patsy

Greetings Patsy :0)
Nice to meet you.  Thank you dearly for the referral, I will for sure see what he's  up to these days.  Interesting, I worked for the forest service years ago in Oregon and Washington.  Mostly trail rehabilitation, trail maintenance! Loved it!  And I see you live in a place I have also visited on my travels.  I too have heard Panama is a great place to live; my father prefers Costa Rica or Guatemala but I'm not him ;0)  I don't have the experience he does but I trust his judgement and wise advise!
Thank you for your comment <3 Much Love to ya lady!

Hey there. We are thinking of moving to Bocas Del Toro in Panama. We have never been but planning a trip in March. We just can't make our mind up. We love Fiji but our dogs would be a issue. We are also looking at Belize. Keep us informed of how you like it. PS I only speak English too!!!!

Panama is a very gorgeous place.

So, you don't speak Spanish, you intend to live "off the grid" in the interior of Panama, are driving to Panama (bad idea) and bringing your children for a "better life?"  And, I am implying that you and your husband intend to support yourself through your practice of "healing" and his skills as a "craftsman"?

Whoa.  This will likely end very badly for you and your family.

I am also excited about moving to Panama.  My husband and I are moving to Panama City in 3-6 months.  We did our exploratory trip and fell in love with the people, the country, and the lifestyle.  There is a lot of good information on this site as well as many other sites.  You just have to ignore the negative comments.  After reading forum comments and blogs for over a year, I have learned that there are people who's time in Panama "ended badly" and want to shatter other peoples dreams.

Until you find the pen pals you are looking for, I will help with a few tips.  Read and Google everything you can about Panama.  Kristc99, on this site has valuable information about the town of David.  David may offer some of what you are looking for and is close to Costa Rica.  Kristc99 is happy in Panama and offers positive information.  She also writes a blog that is quite enjoyable to read.  Another great site is ''Panama for Real' or just Google "The Stay at Home Gringo".   The Panama for Real site has a section on schools, bringing kids to Panama, etc.  The writer tells the pros and cons of Panama in addition to great details of the towns of Panama.  I prefer to hear the negatives of Panama from people who LOVE Panama. 

It is good advice to visit first but moving without a visit can be done.  A friend who moved to Ecuador found pen pals on social media sites before she moved and had friends before she arrived, and is very happy there.  Some forum members offer to help via private messages.  Keep your positive attitude!  Some people can learn a lot of Spanish in 2 days!

Thanks Mary for the good advice. We are taking out first trip the end of March or first of April. We want to check out both coasts and boquete

Mary, thanks so much for mentioning Panama For Real. Stephaña (my daughter's name is Estefania and has been called Stephaña her whole life), I wouldn't worry too much about the negative comments. If you look through the threads you'll realize that even the people who've replied and seem negative, are usually good about offering positive feedback. They're probably just worried that you're considering a difficult move and are trying to make you see that right away. A lot of people move here because they hear all the hype, then they hate roughing it and just pack up and leave.

As Mary mentioned, is the website I started to show everyone what it's really like to live in or visit all the provinces, towns, and neighborhoods in Panama. I use detailed articles and videos. Hopefully the info on the site will be useful. It's all free. Here's the link to an article I wrote called The 10 Things You Will Hate About Panama (and why you should learn to love 'em):

Living off the grid in Panama will probably be a tough life, especially for your kids, as that might mean no electricity and no running water (until you're able to set all that up yourself). Off the grid in Panama usually means really off the grid. I'm assuming you plan to homeschool. Once you pass the Coronado area about an hour outside of Panama City, it becomes harder and harder to find international schools (except maybe in David and Boquete).

I could go on about the pros and cons of living in Panama all day. It's probably better if you just check out the site.

By the way, I've lived here 5 years, have been married to a Panamanian for going on 13 years, and my Spanish still sucks. I'm definitely not fluent (for some reason it just doesn't sink in like it does for some people). You can get by without a firm grasp on it if you're willing to seek out help on the Facebook boards and sites like this. Of course it's a great idea to learn the language.

Oh, and there's a new really cool website someone mentioned on FB the other day that I've tried twice (and definitely plan to play around with a little more). I'd never heard of it until one of our readers mentioned it. It's a free language website, kind of like a mix between Rosetta Stone and the social media sites. You'll see what I'm talking about. It's It's worth checking out.

Good luck with your move!

Chris