Retirement on the Beach in Panama

You must wonder what I do on a day to day basis during my retirement in Panama. As you know I’ve been looking for a small beach house, maybe one or two bedrooms on a nice beach. Do I have fun in Panama apart from beach house hunting. You can bet I do.

Besides improving my Spanish, meeting the friendly people of Panama, dining out and enjoying the cheap beer, my social life which includes eating in some great restaurants and sometime visiting some of the nightclubs of Panama where everyone is eating, drinking, laughing and having fun. It’s becoming a habit, to have fun. I only wish I could have retired here earlier. Besides this, I like to spend a lot of time on the beach.

One of my favourite beaches is the beach at Santa Clara, not far from Panama – about an hour and half drive away. I go here with my Panamanian girlfriend pretty much on the regular basis. There are miles and miles of white hot sand, shimmering blue water and hardly any people. Not too crowded, these are my favourite beaches to go to. The sunsets are magnificent and it’s excellent for swimming. The sun’s pounding down hot. I have my sunscreen, oh and I gotta tell you this, I actually have a Panama hat to protect the old head. Yeah, I bought one for a great price down here. I figured I ought to have one since I became retired and reborn as Panama Joe.

Spending a day at the Santa Clara beach is totally relaxing. We rent a little cabana also known as a palapa for three dollars for the day with hammocks included. There’s nothing like snoozing in a hammock or reading, the noise of the surf in the background. We swim, walk, snooze and buy a nice meal of grilled corvine and patacones which go down nicely with a cold beer. Sometimes, we eat a meal of fresh fish and fried yucca. It’s whatever we please. You can walk for miles on this beach and we do. Picking up the odd shell we might find here and there.

They’re building real estate here, beach front properties and condos around Santa Clara and you can’t blame people for wanting to purchase their own retirement property here. You’ve got the beach and then one is so close to Panama city if you are hankering for the fast life in the city and lots of people.

I’m looking for a small house on the beach in Panama. I’m still looking but don’t feel the rush. Out here on the beach at Santa Clara in my hammock, there’s no rush to do anything. The sun’s setting, a brilliant pink purple red sky over the ocean, am thinking, retirement in Panama, what could be better? If you are thinking of retiring in Panama and you haven't even been here for a vacation yet, you'd better get packing your bags, pronto! You won't wanna leave.

Retirement Life in Panama

It was not a hard decision, the decision to retire in Panama. I guess I got sick of the cold weather like I’ve already mentioned and wanted something really different. Something tropical. Good weather, I don’t mind the rain when it rains. Life in Panama, I am addicted to it.

I first visited Panama City and it was may the friendly people, the smells, the bustling streets, the music, the tropical, Latin American, Spanish, Miami Beach feeling you get when you’re here. This beautiful mix of the city on the ocean bay, the high rises of the banking district, the old world charm of Casco Viejo.

The beer is cheap here, the women are proud to be women. Everybody dresses nicely, clean clothes, ironed shirts, shoes polished. It’s laid back in that Caribbean kinda way, but the city hustles and bustles. The food in Panama is good, from fish to fusion, open air bistros, street vendors. The entertainment scene is always evolving. The night life is jam packed with locals, in the bars, in the streets, tourists, businessmen and women drinking up and having fun. The music never ends, the nights go on forever or so it seems.

In the bay, yachts, boats, fisherman, cruise liners, freight ships lining up to pass through the Panama Canal. Mountains in the distance. Music in the air. The beeping horns of taxis and crazy drivers.

Most of all I don’t have many complaints. Yes, the electricity is expensive, but the food, the beer, the entertainment and health care is reasonable and cheap. My rent is cheap. And life is good, very good.

I’ve been thinking that I’ll write soon about the night life in Panama, the food. Gotta get to it. I’ve not been posting on my blog as often as I wanted to. Just been lazy I guess.

I’m just loving my life from my little apartment in Panama. My Spanish is improving. The air is sweet and humid. I’ve met so many people here, I could never go back to the cold north. Living the life – that’s my retirement in Panama. I’m an ex-pat now.