For those that have been to Panama or spent time there, what would you say are the pros and cons?

I'm giving some serious thought about heading down there for an extended time. The location seems good being close to S. America yet still being close to the U.S. and it sounds like it's pretty safe and stable.

I also had a talk with my retired father who is tired of scraping by on his pension and told him that it may be an option to look into for lower cost of living.

speakeasy,

I have been there a few times. But only for surfing and chilling.

On the DL.

Never been to Panama City, and a huge percentage of the population lives in the capital.

I am considering rolling to Panama City as well, so I am interested to hear others opinions. I know Kona has been to PC.

Here is my limited breakdown:

Pros: Sick waves, beautiful, uncrowded (this may have changed).

Cons: If you are hitting up the beaches, these are small, small towns. No running water. Chickens running around. Cats with machetes. Minimal to no girls.

Jungle life.

Panama is cool. At least it was when I was there.

I stayed in a surf town that wasn't as rustic as The G described but it was pretty low key. The place I stayed was a specific surfing type resort, I can't seem to find it on the internet though. It was near Cambutal. I really think it was called "Cambutal Surf Resort." Good waves and clean water.

I'm sure I swooped some girl or girls while there but they were tourists as well. There were lots of hippie/surf girls around where I stayed. I know I didn't score with any women of Panamanian descent until several years later in Hawaii.

I went out a few nights in Panama City and had a blast. Couldn't tell you where to go, but I know it was open late.

They use US dollars everywhere there, and everything is really cheap. As I recall, all of the roads were even out into the surf towns were new and well maintained. I just read that there is a 5 plus billion dollar expansion going on with the canal, so that has to pump serious money into that little economy.

I also went through the canal twice in 01' and '05. The first there was work going on, the second time it was even more modern. It's good for the scenery, and to say you've done it. You could probably take some type of boat tour through it.

There are some girls in Hawaii that I know that are from Panama. One in particular is gorgeous. A little lighter skinned than I like them but oh well. I recently was swooping an Argentine girl and found myself comparing the two of them in a lot of ways.

Now that this comes up, I kind of want to head to Panama myself. A friend of mine fishes in Belize, and raves about it.

Interesting point about the chickens. That means waves. I've been to some of the world's greatest surfing spots. They all have feral chickens. Last time I was up at Banzai Pipeline, chickens everywhere? Tamarindo, Gold Coast, Samoa, Tahiti, all have chickens.

Aloha!

spent a few weeks in Panama City. Pretty cool place but I was not all that impressed with the people there. They didn't seem to have much of a sense of humor, and the bar logistics made it tough to game if you're solo. Maybe I just had bad luck, or I'm more of a wanker than I thought. Every country you go to you read that the people are "so friendly" I read the same about Panama but didn't see it personally (at least in Panama City). Walking around the city lots of fat ugly chicks, but at the clubs there is mad tail, they are hot and they know it.

Do any of you guys have a hostel you would recommend for Panama City? Which other cities/attractions in Panama are especially worthwhile. I can read about it on different websites but would like all of your opinions too.

I am pretty sure i'll be going to Panama City in around 3 weeks so any information will be great.

jmb,

Cool.

Make sure you report back. Panama City is on my hot list.

As far as other places, I traveled through the third biggest city (I believe) its called David. Super small spot.

There was a crazy festival when I was there where everyone was drinking lots of guaro or seco (Can't remember witch one) and tons of fights.

It was super loose and weird. Even the fights were weird. It was street fights but simply for the sake of fighting. Kind of hard to explain.

But then again, I was out of my mind on seco.

From my experience, there are minimal girls at the beaches. Minimal. Maybe these days more tourist girls. If you are lucky.

I may be wrong, but I think that Panama is one of two choices:

Panama City = Partying and Girls. City life (Again I have never been, so I am just assuming)
Small Beach towns = Beautiful, no girls, sick waves, very rustic.

Thanks for the information G! I will definitely be writing about my time there in my blog and will be sure to post in this thread about what it is like there. Happy new year!

I was browsing some forums and found this which will be helpful for all of us thinking about going there.

Quote:-Shared Apartments:
Between 100 to 150 you should be able to get a shared room in the old neighbours and some of the new, above that amount you should expect renting the room all for yourself. Most young people renting in my experience try to share the burden of the monthly mortgage payment when sharing rooms, I rented mine by half my monthly mortgage to my last roommate, so check where the room that interest you is located and expect to pay accordingly.

A family house in the city outskirts could be far cheaper but trying to get there or out of there at rush hours is quite a test in patience.

Panama's fine restaurants are cheap for american and europe standards, so, if you enjoy good food there's no need to limit yourself to our "fondas" rice+beans+meat+salad between USD 1.50 TO 4.00, most restaurants have lunch specials for USD 5.00 to USD 7.00, "fine" restaurants average dish would be around USD 12.00. Italian an chinese restaurants offer the best quality/price/quantity pocket saving in the city.

My recommendations:

If you need to survive with USD 10 a day for food:
Have Breakfast/lunch/dinner in any of the fondas in the old part of the city (Bella Vista, Calidonia, Ave Central)

If your budget for meal is around 5.00 and you dislike food made in the open go for the fast food restaurants: Mcdonalds, Burger King, Popeye's,etc

If your budget for meal is around 10.00, any restaurant in Via Argentina would've something for you.

Daily I've breakfast at McDonald's USD 2.50, Lunch Pomodoro's USD 6.0, Dinner Multiplaza Mall's USD 7.0 for a course of blue steak with a side of rice and salad.

The lowest entry in bars in Panama is called a "Cantina" o "Boite" there are really low income places I enjoy taking my visitors there for a "underground" tour of the city It's as panamanian as it can be without being in the interior of the Republic.

From a "Cantina" it jumps to middle entry places mostly in the outskirts of the city, not been there yet since I don't have a car so I stick to the areas I live nearby

Posh bars expect to pay between usd 2.00 to 4.00 for beer locals are always the cheaper, "Barril" usually is the best price/quantity option to go since it cost less.

Drinks are an average of USD 5.00 up.

Transport is quite cheap, 25 cents would take you almost anywhere by public transportation.

Taxis and cabs would charge you usd 1.00 for short runs, expect not to pay more between 1.00 to 2.00 to move within the city.

Laundrymats are mostly owned by panamanians of chinese descent, they charge around usd 0.50 to use a washing machine and 0.75 for a drying machine.

It's cheaper to get your beers and booze in the Rey supermarket and have it at home with friends.

Check the craiglist panama ads for renting ads.