Bay Area Serendipities

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Sonoma CountyOne of the great things about travel is stumbling on things you didn’t necessarily expect, good things you didn’t necessarily expect.  And it’s one of the surprises of returning to an area you thought you knew.  I’ve spent some time in the Bay Area, in San Francisco and surrounds, and wine tasting in Sonoma and Napa.  My youngest daughter now lives in Sonoma County and was busy with her new job so let me use her car to explore.

Wild Flour BakeryWild Flour Bakery

My daughter told me I had to visit this place since it was featured on CNN, is only open four days a week, and people come form all over the Bay Area just for . . . bread!  And by design, since the owner and staff have “lives” away from work, is only open four days a week.

Wild Flour Bakery . . .

Wild Flour Bakery 2“Features brick oven baked sourdough breads, scones, biscotti and coffee drinks. Working with a wood fired brick oven we produce beautiful hard crust breads that our customers come from miles around to taste. At 8:30AM we open with 4 breads only, our sticky bun, cheese fougasse, goat flat bread and either the Bohemian (apricot, orange and pecan) or the Egyptian (pear, fig and candied ginger) and 1 or 2 out of 4 or 5 daily kinds of our whipping cream scones which have become a daily sellout with flavors like apricot, white chocolate, ginger or double chocolate, espresso, hazelnut.

By 10:30 AM we usually have the remaining breads arrive by the hundreds (we make up to 900 loaves daily and sell only in our bakery!) and the remaining kinds of scones. Generally we have 10 to 12 kinds of bread daily. Each day the variety of breads changes. Like wine tasting we sample all of our breads so that you can experience a huge variety of tastes, and it’s fun!

Wild Flour Bakery 3Adjoining the bakery are owner Jed Wallach’s beautiful and functional gardens with chairs scattered about so you can enjoy your bread or scone and the garden as well. I spotted Jed in the garden and asked if I could take a picture of “the celebrity chef>” He answered, “Celebrity chef? That’s the kiss of death! No picture, but enjoy the garden.” And I did. But you should be forewarned, the sticky cinnamon buns here are ONE POUND EACH!

015Fort Point

Tucked underneath – directly underneath! – the Golden Gate Bridge is an almost forgotten piece of US history, Fort Point.  Now part of the Golden Gate National Recreation Area  and a National Historical Monument.

People have always been drawn to the land around San Francisco, because of its sheltered harbor and its rich natural resources. Overtime, as different communities settled here, they would defend their stake in the land against other potential invaders. The Spanish established the Presidio of San Francisco in 1776 to protect their interests in the bay. In 1822, Mexico took over this land from Spain, but later they abandoned the Presidio fort and moved their central government up to Sonoma County. After the United States took control of California in 1848, the U.S. Army began to construct permanent posts and seacoast fortification.

Fort Point has stood guard at the narrows of the Golden Gate for over 150 years.

The Fort has been called “the pride of the Pacific,” “the Gibraltar of the West Coast,” and “one of the most perfect models of masonry in America.” When construction began during the height of the California Gold Rush, Fort Point was planned as the most formidable deterrence America could offer to a naval attack on California. Although its guns never fired a shot in anger, the “Fort at Fort Point” as it was originally named has witnessed Civil War, obsolescence, earthquake, bridge construction, reuse for World War II, and preservation as a National Historic Site.

Fort Point was built between 1853 and 1861 by the U.S. Army Engineers as part of a defense system of forts planned for the protection of San Francisco Bay. Designed at the height of the Gold Rush, the fort and its companion fortifications would protect the Bay’s important commercial and military installations against foreign attack.

Marin Headlands

All those incredible shots of the Golden Gate Bridge you see in commercials and tourists visiting San Francisco are hoping to capture . . . all are taken from Marin Headlands.

024Granted a spectacular atypical San Francisco day helps!  My daughter, Rebecca, locally known as “Bec”, lived and worked in the Marin Headlands for six years and took me on a tour, including the “hidden” Coast Guard bar at Fort Baker where when it’s open you can kick back, have a beer, and get a spectacular view of the Golden Gate.  And, extra special, the Prada and Oracle World Cup boats were practicing for the race in October.

Tidepool LabThis is an amazing part of the Golden Gate National Recreation Area with incredible natural history, 61 archeological sites many dating back to the Spanish and Mexican period, and the country’s largest collection of military installations and fortifications, dating from 1776 through the Cold War. You can actually tour the remaining Nike missile installation

064So I was able to visit my daughter, explore my old haunts in San Francisco (in my 24 Hour Fitness days our corporate headquarters was in downtown San Francisco), go wine tasting in Sonoma, Marin, and Anderson Valleys, and celebrate our mutual June birthdays with Rebecca.  Today she flies off to Borneo where she will continue her Master’s degree studies looking at conservation efforts for orangutans. Did you know orangutans laugh when tickled? Who knew!

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San Francisco, Panama & The Canal

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Much as I love San Francisco, I’ve decided I am not a city boy any more.  Yesterday was a beautiful day in San Francisco, a little fog, certainly not beach weather, but warm enough since San Francisco in the summer can be the coldest place in California.  I spent most of the day, actually all of the day, negotiating traffic to and from the city, and mostly unsuccessfully looking for a place to park.  If by some miracle you do find a place to park you can only park for 2 hours so forget the idea of parking and going off to explore.  And parking lots, even at $25 a day, are rarer than genuine gold nuggets.  And the drivers are almost as rude as in New York, laying on their horns if you don’t jack rabbit start when the light turns green: not what I remembered about San Francisco.  Maybe their are all just transplanted New Yorkers.  It was all I could do not to give one woman in a brand new, black SUV the size of a motor home a Bronx-style hand salute.

008The Panama San Francisco Connection

Of course San Francisco owes it’s prominence to Panama since man of the gold seekers during California’s famed Gold Rush came to California by way of Panama.  There were three routes to the Gold Rush, the long trek across the Continental US, the passage around the southern tip of South America, or the shortest and quickest route across the Isthmus of Panama.

And the Golden Gate Bridge, the symbol of San Francisco, was made from steel fabricated by the Bethlehem Steel Company and shipped to San Francisco via the Panama Canal.

The Panama–Pacific International Exposition in 1915 was held to celebrate the completion of the Panama Canal the previous year and to showcase San Francisco’s recovery from the 1906 earthquake.  The beautiful landmark Fine Arts Pravillion and the Bill Graham Civic Auditorium at Civic Center Plaza are remaining structures from the 1915 Exposition. [San Diego held a similar exposition and celebration of the Canal and a number of those structures remain in Balboa Park.]

SWOT Panama Canal

Like any business, the Panama Canal today has strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, and threats.  The massive expansion of the Canal now underway and originally scheduled for completion next year is in direct response to the Canal’s opportunity as well as the threat that post-panamax ships would use other routes.

When the US decided to build a canal there was major disagreement as to where the canal should be built.  Panama and Nicaragua were the two competitors and each side had its proponents generally, in true US-style, depending on the proponents financial interests.  Panama won out by a slim margin but there has always been the possibility and talk of someone coming along and building a competing canal across Nicaragua.  The possibility of a Nicaragua Canal loomed again a few years ago when Nicaragua officially proposed the project.  Panama Canal planners were convinced that even if there were a Nicaraguan canal, a useable Northwest Passage, or some other “land canal” that expansion of the current Panama Canal was viable and that in today’s interconnected world there was enough business for all potential players.

Interestingly as the world financial crisis has started to impact China production of goods, Panama Canal traffic has started to decline.  Now comes word that Nicaragua has awarded a Chinese company a 100-year concession to build an alternative to the Panama Canal.

The Guardian reports that president of the country’s national assembly, Rene Nuñez, announced the $40bn (£26bn) project, which will reinforce Beijing’s growing influence on global trade and weaken US dominance over the key shipping route between the Pacific and Atlantic oceans.

The name of the company and other details have yet to be released, but the opposition congressman Luis Callejas said the government planned to grant a 100-year lease to the Chinese operator.

The national assembly will debate two bills on the project, including an outline for an environmental impact assessment.

Nicaragua’s president, Daniel Ortega, said recently that the new channel would be built in the north of the country, through the waters of Lake Nicaragua.

The new route will be a higher-capacity alternative to the 99-year-old Panama Canal, which is currently being widened at the cost of $5.2bn.

Last year, the Nicaraguan government noted that the new canal should be able to allow passage for mega-container ships with a dead weight of up to 250,000 tonnes. This is more than double the size of the vessels that will be able to pass through the Panama Canal after its expansion, it said.

According to a bill submitted to congress last year, Nicaragua’s canal will be 22 metres deep, 20 metres wide and 286 km (178 miles) long – bigger than Panama and Suez in all dimensions.

Under the initial plans for the project, the government was expected to be the majority shareholder, with construction taking 10 years and the first ship passing through the canal within six years. It is unclear if this is still the case.

Two former Colombian officials recently accused China of influencing the international court of justice to secure the territorial waters that Nicaragua needs for the project.

In an op-ed piece for the magazine Semana, Noemí Sanín, a former Colombian foreign secretary, and Miguel Ceballos, a former vice-minister of justice, said a Chinese judge had settled in Nicaragua’s favour on a 13-year-old dispute over 75,000 square kilometres of sea.

They said this took place soon after Nicaraguan officials signed a memorandum of understanding last September with Wang Jing, the chairman of Xinwei Telecom and president of the newly established Hong Kong firm HK Nicaragua Canal Development Investment Company, to build and operate the canal.

Nicaragua has accused Colombia and Costa Rica, which also has a claim on territory likely to be used by the new canal, of trying to prevent the project going ahead. [Newsroom Panama]

Rough Seas for The Cruise Industry?

When the COSTA CONCORDIA ran aground I expected our stock in Carnival, RCL, and the Carnivalized Princess successor PLC to all tank. They didn’t. They took a hit, but rebounded given the public’s fascination with cruising as an ideal and cost-effective vacation and way to explore. But a recent study indicates that the CARNIVAL TRIUMPH fire may have had a bigger long range impact on the people’s opinion of cruising. According to a Harris Interactive poll taken between May 14 and 16th (before the GRANDEUR OF THE SEAS fire) and reported by the industry magazine SEATRADE,

“US consumer attitudes about cruising have not bounced back following the Carnival Triumph incident but have continued to decline, with lower scores on trust, quality and intent to purchase . . . While Carnival Cruises Lines’ quality score showed the steepest declines (down 28% versus pre and 12% versus post), all the other brands tested ranged individually from 8%-11% below pre levels.”

Interestingly Harris noted that “Holland America Line’s purchase intent score has largely weathered this perceptual storm, holding at just 2% below its pre level”

I find this interesting because if a major airliner crashes [or maybe even COSTA CONCORDIA goes aground] people lament the tragedy but intuitively understand that people and machines are imperfect, and so continue to fly [or cruise] knowing that accidents happen. Of course one hopes the accident never happens to them, but we understand the odds so continue to fly. Or buckle up and get back on the freeway. But let an aircraft be stuck on the ground for a few hours with passengers unable to leave the aircraft, get up or (God forbid!) be unable to use their cell phones and holy hell erupts! So the fires, although efficiently extinguished with all emergency operations working according to plan, but with passengers inconvenienced because no nearby island happened to have an 3,000 empty hotel rooms and charter aircraft standing by, people get all upset.

I predict that public fascination with cruise travel will continue in two directions. First there are folks who like the mega-resort cruise ships where ports are an incidental inconvenience and the main focus, like a land-based resort, is spending money. Although many of these folks would be happy with a “cruise to nowhere” (as long as the bars and casino remained open) a few hours in a shopping mall port (like St Maarten, St Thomas, or Nassau) or a visit to a cruise line controlled Disneyesque stereotypical “port” are all that’s wanted. Second, there are folks to whom ports are still important and see a cruise as a special opportunity to explore new lands, experience new cultures, and expand their knowledge. Most of these folks prefer ships that actually float, and rock and roll sometimes and aren’t just resorts floating just outside the 12 mile limits.

So I see the “dip” as a kind of “market correction” and think cruise lines need to focus more on clearly defining their philosophies, products, and target audiences.

Those of you who are interested in the final report regarding the COSTA CLASSICA which is the basis of the official charges now against the captain can read the full report.

And for those of you interested in the future direction of cruising, or who like me, are Carnival stockholders and fans of Carnivals family of brands . . . here’s the best news ever!

Bob Dickinson is back! Nobody knows more about cruising that Bob Dickinson, formerly CEO of Carnival. Dickinson, who like me is 70, is being pulled out of retirement to act as a consultant to Carnival Corp CEO Howard Frank. Dickinson, known for telling it like it is, is charged with making recommendations. This should be fun! When Dickinson was captain of the Carnival he warned about the cruise business becoming commoditized where the competition is based on price and brands are not clearly differentiated. [The act of making a process, good or service easy to obtain by making it as uniform, plentiful and affordable as possible.] Well that’s exactly what cruising has become. Each of the Carnival companies is competing with everyone else, including sister companies, basically going after anyone and everyone with disposable dollars. Many cruise lines have embraced the idea that a CEO is a CEO and it doesn’t make any difference if he or she knows anything about the particular product as long as they can hit the numbers. Clearly Micky Arison and Howard Frank realize that the problem is larger than just a horrible accident and a string of unfortunate situations.

“Because I’m not tied to any one brand, I have sort of a 30,000-foot look at it; I can be very, very objective,” said Dickinson, 70. “It may be difficult for a brand to say ‘Gee, I made a mistake’ or ‘Gosh, I should have seen that and I didn’t,’ or ‘Gosh, maybe this strategy was the wrong one.’”

While he acknowledged that “there will be egos involved, obviously,” Dickinson said his job will be simply to present solid facts and leave the action up to managers. “It’s not meant to be an adversarial effort, it’s meant to be a collaborative effort,” he said.

Retired Carnival Cruise Lines CEO back as consultant

The View from San Francisco

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Much as I love Panama, if I could afford it . . . California is California! Spectacular day on the Sonoma coast!

Much as I love Panama, if I could afford it . . . California is California! Spectacular day on the Sonoma coast!

Amazing! Here I am in the Bay Area visiting my daughter in Sonoma County coming face-to-face with the cost-of-living facts as a “typical” day of driving the coast in my daughter’s car with my only expense being gas and food running me $100! The SFGATE had an article from Kiplinger showing San Francisco as the 3rd most expensive city in the US. [#1 of course is NYC and #2 Honolulu] According to the article . . .

San Francisco

Cost of Living: 63.4% above average

City Population: 812,826

Median Household Income: $72,947

Median Home Value: $767,300

Living expenses in San Francisco can be as steep as the city’s famed hills. Housing costs, at nearly three times the national average, are the main culprit. The median value of a home in San Francisco is by far the highest on our list of expensive cities, beating out runner-up San Jose by a whopping $161,900. A typical apartment rents for $2,630 a month, triple the national average. One of the few bargains to be had in San Francisco: wine, which sells for 18% below the national average. Napa is just an hour north of the city. [And so, I might add is Occidental where my daughter lives.]

So here I am, hoping the fog lifts, reading SFGATE and what do I find? An article about Boquete!!

Latin America a hot spot for American retirees
By JUAN ZAMORANO, Associated Press

PANAMA CITY (AP) — With its miles of beaches, lush rainforests and welcoming colonial towns, Panama — like much of Latin America — has become a hot spot for American retirees. They come for the scenery, the weather and, perhaps more important, the low cost of living.

“We were looking for a simple, cheap life,” said Linda McKee, 61, of Bonita Springs, Fla., while enjoying a glass of wine with her husband, Eric Carlson, on the porch of their home in Boquete, a mountain town in western Panama where many U.S. retirees live. The couple moved to Panama six years ago after first trying Costa Rica.

International Living magazine, which for 30 years has published a ranking of the top 10 “havens” for retirees, included six Latin American countries in its most recent ranking, in December. Ecuador was No. 1, followed by Panama. Mexico was in fourth place, Costa Rica fifth, Uruguay sixth and Colombia seventh.

“Panama is safe, stable, and friendly,” the magazine said. “It boasts the best health care and infrastructure in Central America … Its wildlife is abundant, with most of the bird species in North America, and its pristine natural setting is an eco-tourist’s dream.”

U.S. retirees began arriving in droves to Latin America in the early 2000s, and the numbers have picked up since the U.S. economic crisis in 2008, tourism authorities said. As many as a million U.S. retirees live in Mexico, they said, and thousands in Ecuador, Costa Rica and Panama.

Panama’s government has worked to attract them, making it simpler to qualify for permanent residency. The only requirement is that foreign retirees receive a pension of at least $1,000 a month.

“With this, I can live here for an indefinite period. The process is very easy,” said Robert Braun, 67, of Lincoln, N.H. He said he came to Panama for the fishing, the weather and safety.

The U.S. dollar has been the local currency in Panama since it became an independent country in 1903, and there are dozens of banks that let foreigners manage their home accounts from here. Foreign retirees can bring in items valued at $10,000 or less tax free, and can bring in a car without having to pay taxes. Benefits include discounts of 25 percent on utility bills, and lower medical costs.

“U.S. retirees come because they see Panama as a place where they can have good quality of life and low living costs, a place that has everything,” said Ernesto Orillac, deputy administrator of the Panama Tourism Authority.

In Boquete, a high-end development project called Hidden Valley includes residences, a small hotel and a golf course. The town of about 20,000, in a region where a popular Panamanian coffee is grown, has a cool climate, with frequent light rain. When the skies clear, there are breathtaking views of green and blue mountains.

Town authorities estimate that about 3,000 retirees live in Boquete, mostly American. There are other communities of American retirees elsewhere in Panama, including near beaches.

McKee and Carlson, a 57-year-old former contractor, say they have never considered going back to the United States, although they do miss friends and family in Florida.

Between their pension and what they make working on a jungle conservation project in Rambala, about two hours from their home, they have enough to live comfortably.

“We like that people are very quiet and security is not a problem,” said McKee, whose son Daniel, 27, visits twice a year to surf on Panamanian beaches. “This is our new country, our new life.”

Renting their two-bedroom house in Boquete costs $550 per month. Dinner in a nice restaurant, with wine, usually costs about $30 for the two of them.

“It’s fun,” said Carlson with a wide smile.

As for medical care, there are several hospitals in David, a city about 45 minutes away by car. Panama City is less than an hour from there by plane.

Braun, who had an Internet business until he retired 14 years ago, first traveled to Nicaragua, where he lived for five years before heading to Panama. He lived for several years in the seaside resort of Pedasi, then in a village near the Panama Canal, and finally to Boquete, where he enjoys photography, hiking and bird watching.

“Here we can live with less than $1,500 a month and go at least once a week to dinner at nice restaurants, something that cannot be done in America,” he said.

Retirees also have easy access to healthy, organic food grown by local farmers. Every Tuesday, there is a farmers market, and McKee makes and sells soaps and creams made with coconut oil and lemon grass. Retirees cannot work in Panama, but they can have their own businesses.

“Everything is possible in Panama,” she said. [SF Gate]

10 Reasons to Retire in Panama

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I’ve had the pleasure to lunch with Bob Adams several times in Panama City along with the Panama Relocation Tour. Bob loves his life in the hustle and bustle of Panama City. He writes a great blog called Retirement Wave. Adams says,

Call it the “Baby Boom” or a “demographic explosion”, every day a wave of tens of millions of Americans and Europeans move one day closer to retirement. Retirement should be a stress-free period in our lives, but it has become stress-ridden. We worry that we won’t have enough money to take care of ourselves. We worry that we will be a burden on others in our society if there is not enough money to support our government’s social programs for retirees. We worry that if the social programs fail, we will be a burden to our children. We worry about being old in a world of terrorism, unable to protect ourselves. These are all fears that weigh heavily on us as we plan for retirement. Worse yet, they are fears we know we will continue to face once we are actually retired. This is much too negative for what should be a positive period in our lives. It could be positive if only there was a practical way to protect ourselves, avoid being a burden to others, and perhaps even make a small contribution to reducing global tensions. There is.

Bob, I, and many others have found a way to do that by retiring in Panama. Here’s Bob Adams “10 Reasons to Retire in Panama” . . .

Why retire in Panama? Here’s the short version based on my observations and experience following forty-five years of living and working all over the world.

1) It’s a democracy with freedom.

Freedom of the press, assembly, speech, and religion are all found here. Panamanians are not shy about sharing their feelings and their concerns. Elections are free, honest, and competitive.

2) There’s no military.

Following the dramatic end of General Noriega’s regime in 1989, Panamanians decided they would never again fear that a military general would become a dictator. They closed down the military. The national police force is just that, a police force, and the territorial integrity of Panama is guaranteed by the United States. They don’t need a military and they have the good sense to know it.

April ll Volendam 192

3) They have the Panama Canal…and more.

The Panama Canal does far more than provide 10% of Panama’s GDP (Gross Domestic Product – the total economy). Unlike many small nations that depend on tourism or some natural resource whose price varies depending on the market, the Panama Canal provides Panama with a large, steady, dependable income and will continue to for years to come. It also provides thousands of well-paid jobs for Panamanians. A multi-year, $5.2 billion expansion of the Panama Canal currently underway will add thousands more jobs. These are jobs that pay a great deal more than picking coffee beans or waiting on tourists. And the money from Panama Canal fees reaches out to touch people and businesses everywhere in the country. But there is more than the Canal to Panama. Unlike many other Latin American nations, agriculture plays an important, but relatively small role in the economy. International banking, maritime services, manufacturing, and shipping combine to provide more jobs and tax revenue than the Panama Canal. Panama is also home to the second-largest free trade zone in the world (Hong Kong is the largest) which has had a dramatic impact on the economy, employing twice as many people as the Canal. Panama’s economy is far more modern and service-oriented than you might expect. This means stability not only for Panamanians, but for those of us who retire there.

4) Panama has a thriving middle class.

With the Panama Canal and a number of other established sources of income as mentioned above, Panama’s middle class is growing. As Americans and Europeans know from their own experience, a healthy middle class is the foundation for a stable economy and a secure democracy. You don’t have to search for the middle class in Panama, you can find them everywhere.

0145) Americans and Europeans are welcome.

I am struck by the fact that Americans and Europeans are not looked at with awe nor are they disliked. Another contribution of the Panama Canal has been the introduction of hundreds of thousands of people from all over the world to Panama over the years, including tens of thousands of Americans assigned to support the Canal before its turn-over to Panama in 1999. Panamanians are perfectly comfortable with people from other nations. They’ve lived with them for decades and many of their “visitors” remained to become residents. English is widely-understood and also spoken by many of those who deal regularly with expatriates, although many Panamanians are hesitant to speak it at first, for fear of embarrassment, as is so often the case in reverse! In that regard, Spanish language instruction is readily and inexpensively available.

6) The currency is the US dollar.

There are two benefits to this. For Americans and others with dollars, there is no need for currency exchange or to worry about exchange rates. The Panamanian Constitution forbids the government from printing paper currency. Thus a second benefit is that, unlike most nations, the Panamanian government cannot just turn on the printing presses when it wants more money. Panamanians have to earn their currency from the world market through hard work and intelligence. There is none of the wild inflation that has plagued so many Latin American nations.

OLYMPUS DIGITAL CAMERA7) The climate and surroundings are beautiful.

Panama is basically a mountain range bordered by beautiful Panama beaches. However, these are not cold, barren mountains. They are “soft”, rounded volcanic Panamanian mountains and the volcanic soil provides an excellent base for lush vegetation. If you prefer a tropical climate, you won’t be disappointed on either the Atlantic or Pacific coasts. If, like me, you prefer a more temperate climate with easy access to the Panama beaches (it’s almost impossible to be more than an hour’s drive from a Panama beach; 30 minutes is more common), move up the mountainside and you’ll find it. The flowers, trees, birds and other animal life are varied and many are strikingly beautiful. It’s what you would expect in that part of the world and Panamanians are doing a decent job of protecting their environment, far more so than many nearby nations. Eco-tourism is a growing industry in Panama and for good reason.

8) The cost of living in Panama can be much less than in the US or Europe.

How much you will save by living in Panama will be determined both by the amount you spend in your home nation and the lifestyle you choose in Panama. There’s such a great variety among expatriates that it’s impossible to tell you how much you’ll save, but if you have any desire to spend less, you will find it far easier in Panama than in North America or Europe. Folks from low-cost rural areas express astonishment at how much cheaper it is to live comfortably in Panama. Those from higher-cost urban areas will save less, but they seem to have one thing in common: they live comfortably, cut their expenses, and save money. It’s always been a reason to relocate to Panama and it remains a big one today, but the final result for you will depend on your lifestyle. Panama has room for a very wide range of tastes and lifestyles.

9) The people of Panama are just plain friendly and a pleasure to know.

The factors above and others unmentioned in this “short” description leave Panamanians among the most pleasant, relaxed people I’ve ever met. They are more cosmopolitan and sophisticated than many who live in wealthier nations as a result of their long-term exposure to a wide variety of international visitors and Canal users. There are poor people in Panama, but there is none of the grinding, desperate poverty that is so common in much of the world. I have worked in poorer nations all over the globe for more than four decades. There are poor people here, but nothing to compare to the grinding poverty found elsewhere. International financial institutions rank Panama in the “upper-middle income” category and that sums it up well.

Back Porch Palmira B10) If you want to retire, Panama wants you.

All of the above makes retiring in Panama an excellent choice for retirement, but here are some very direct incentives. As a pensionado [retiree] in Panama, you receive:

  • 50% discount at most recreational, movie, and sporting events
  • 30% discount off public transportation (including buses and ships)
  • 25% discount off Copa airline flights
  • 50% discount off hotel stays on weekdays (30% on weekends)
  • 25% discount at selected restaurants
  • 15% discount at fast food restaurants
  • 10% discount off prescription drugs
  • 20% discount on doctor’s visits
  • 15% discount on dental work
  • 25% discount on your electric bill (if less than $50)
  • 25% discount on your telephone and water bills.
  • In addition, you can bring in all your household goods free of taxes and import a new car every two years for private use.

All that is required to qualify as a pensionado is that you must be in good health, AIDS-free, have an up-to-date passport from your country of citizenship and a verifiable monthly pension income of at least $1000 per month for an individual, $1250 for a couple, plus $250 for each additional dependent, if any. Foreigners who become pensionados can buy and own Panama property and enjoy exactly the same rights and protections as Panamanians, not always the case in many nations and an important point people often forget to consider. As for income taxes, you will be pleased to know that in Panama you pay no taxes on income earned outside of Panama.

Panama is not paradise, no nation is. Panama is still a relatively young nation and has its growing pains, but it’s made a great deal of progress already and it’s headed in the right direction. For the rest of us who are not Panamanians, it is a nation where we can live comfortably for much less money and far less stress than we have come to expect in our own societies. Best of all, we are “good” immigrants. We save money living in Panama, but we also bring with us the money that creates jobs and opens possibilities for Panamanians they would not have otherwise. They know that and so we are genuinely welcome.

Many would say “beautiful”, but if I had to choose one word to describe Panama, it would be “comfortable”. In this crazy world full of fear of terrorism and fear of not having enough money to pay the bills, that’s a description of a good place to retire.

Boca Chica, Panama

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Casita Boca ChicaWhen I get back home to Panama (now finishing up a visit to the US), I will get back to work on converting the tiny casita on our property in Boca Chica into the “Greek Cottage” my wife dreams of . . . think Oia cottage in the tropics.  Although we’ve had this property for several years, this is the first opportunity I’ve had to actually get to work on things.

I like Boca Chica because it is on the water but for the most part undiscovered and undeveloped.  This of course will change, and is changing, but it remains a delightful, tropical slice of Panama.  And, unlike Pedasi which is a good 4-5 hours from Boquete, Boca Chica is just a 1.5 hour drive from our home in Boquete.

Two interesting hotels have recently opened in Boca Chica and another property has been renovated and upgraded.  All three hotels are aimed at different markets and are decidedly different from one another, and all are getting excellent reviews on-line.

Panama Big Game Fishing on Boca Brava island is right across the channel from our property. This fishing club has been around Boca Chica since we’ve been in Panama and was for sale for years.  Recently it was purchased by an English fellow who lives in Dubai and obviously has the deep pockets necessary to develop this property.  I am told by locals who know that he initially spent $5 million to upgrade the property and is planning to put another $3 million into improvements this year.  This is serious fishing!  The Chiriqui waters off Boca Chica have produced more world fishing records than any other place on earth!  This is serious fishing!  And serious luxury . . . A 7 night all-inclusive package at this time of year at Big Game Fishing, depending on the number of anglers, runs from $5,000 to $13,000 plus, of course, transportation to Panama.

 

Isla Palenque is an island just across from our property.  Although they call it an island, locals assure me that it is part of Boca Brava Island and that at low tide you can walk between Palenque and Boca Brava, but, at high tide it appears as an island.  This is a very high-end, very ecologically sensitive attempt by Amble Resorts and its owner, architect/developer Ben Loomis, to keep his 400 acres of the island wild and more or less in its natural state while creating 200 luxury homes and 80 luxury hotel rooms.  The hotel resort has just had a soft opening and is already getting rave reviews. A 7-night all inclusive package for two at this time of year (“Green Season” May-November) $3,000-4,300 per couple.

Loomis believes that . . .

“Isla Palenque is an unusual island with respect to its underlying aquifer: this natural water reserve is so large that our engineers estimate that we could actually meet all of our resort’s needs even without using any of the aforementioned conservation techniques. Our use of the techniques come more from wanting to save the energy associated with pumping the water out of the ground than from a dearth of on-site water.

Think of the island as one large 400-acre rainwater-harvesting system itself. Because of our low-density development, large nature preserve, and method of treating wastewater, we help to keep our aquifer clean and protected. And as long as we preserve and protect this aquifer, our needs for man-made water harvesting solutions will remain minimal.” [Read more . . .]

This is interesting to me because I’m currently drilling a well into that same (?) aquifer, and talking with other resort owners on Boca Brava about their problems in running out of water this season, to the extent that some have had to turn away guests because they had no water.  I hope Loomis is right!

I applaud Loomis’ decision to preserve the natural environment as much as possible.  From the water you can hardly see the hotel because they have preserved every tree possible.  In contrast to that is Bocas del Mar Resort in Boca Chica.

Bocas del Mar is a beautiful resort that’s getting rave reviews and is located right around the bend from my property with a similar view, almost as nice as mine, but without my beachfront.  Their white cottages actually give the area a Greek-island-look which works well with my design theme, however, it seems that their chain saws run constantly cutting down as many trees as possible to improve views.  Locals tell me they paid $15,000 to ANAM, the Panama national environmental protection agency, to cut down trees.  Locals disparagingly say that the ANAM folks are just in it for the money and really don’t care about the trees.  I don’t know, but I do know that the chain saws always seem to be cutting when I’m working on my casita.  At any rate, it IS a beautiful resort.  Although I haven’t had opportunity to try the restaurant, it gets great reviews on Trip Advisor and the off-season rate of $139 a night is hard to beat..

One of the great things about Boca Chica is it’s proximity to the Chiriqui Pacific islands and the Gulf of Chiriqui Marine National Park.  I found this great map on ExploreBocaChica.com.

Mail & More

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Panama Grand Prix

My recent post suggesting Panama host a Grand Prix race generated some interesting comments and observations.

035From mhaustin . . .

” race cars race along the Cinta Costera, along the now under construction extension around Casco Viejo, down the Amador Causeway” … seriously? race cars? along city streets, are you kidding? What a terrible idea. Race cars require a circuit. Fine, build one, out by Tocúmen or somewhere… Get real.

Sorry, mhaustin, but that is the point . . . cars racing through the city!  That’s what makes this so exciting and such a fantastic advertisement for a city and a country.

From Robert . . .

“The race should take place at night. This is a big success in Singapore.”

Absolutely, Robert!  Nothing conveys the vibrancy of what is emerging as the premier Latin American capital city as a glimpse of Panama City by night!

1.5 million viewers watched the Monaco Grand Prix on NBC in the US alone. Although the term “Grand Prix” is used in many contexts, according to Wikipedia (the on-line source of all more-or-less-accurate information),

Grand Prix motor racing has its roots in organised automobile racing that began in France as far back as 1894. It quickly evolved from a simple road race from one town to the next, to endurance tests for car and driver. Innovation and the drive of competition soon saw speeds exceeding 100 miles per hour (160 km/h), but because the races were held on open roads there were frequent accidents with the resulting fatalities to both drivers and spectators.

Grand Prix motor racing eventually evolved into formula racing, and Formula One can be seen as its direct descendant. Each event of the Formula One World Championships is still called a Grand Prix. Formula One is still referred to as Grand Prix racing.

OLYMPUS DIGITAL CAMERANot Just Tulips!

After his visit to Monaco Martinelli went for 3 days to my home country The Netherlands. Philips will set up their head office for South America in Panama and will create more than 200 jobs. Further a business plan with a Dutch dredging and port equipment/logistic company.  And finally with the Dutch company Vopak, one of the large chemical and oil storage companies in the world. Rotterdam is the second largest port in the world as to tonnage. Almost all goods from the far east go through the Panama Canal via Rotterdam to the countries of the EU.

The Netherlands are the second trading partner of Panama after the USA. And by the way the small Netherlands are the number 2 country with large investments in the USA.  Robert

Like Philips, many major companies are relocating their Latin American and South American headquarters to Panama. The stability of Panama’s government, use of the US dollar, the advantageous location at the crossroads of the world, the convenience of the second largest free port in the world for distribution, and a major international airport with connections to all over the Americas are all factors luring companies to Panama.

Boquete Active

Lesley Chapman asks . . .

Hi Richard! Is there really rock climbing and whitewater rafting near Boquete? The Habla Ya video is the first I’ve heard of this. These are two of my favorite activities but difficult to find information on in Central America. I don’t suppose there is also good cycling? And reliable high speed internet in the area? That would make Boquete the perfect retirement destination for me !

Absolutely!  Boquete has long been known as the center for white water river rafting!  Volcan Baru at 11,400 is the highest mountain in Panama and one of the highest in Latin America.  In addition there are unusual volcanic rock formations in the area nicknamed “Boquete’s Yosemite Valley” that are challenging to climbers.  Climbing as a tourist activity is somewhat new, but water rafting has been around for years.  In addition there is horseback riding, ATVs available for hire, guided bird walks, coffee tours, and Boquete Tree Trek.

As for retiring in Boquete . . . it’s what you make it!  My idea of retiring was never to sit and . . . sit.  But to each his own.  And I guess for all of us there comes a time, but as long as I can be busy, involved, have projects . . . sitting around can wait for another time.

doingnothing“Speaking of . . . “

I have a wonderful and super intelligent 5-year-old grandson who has an amazing vocabulary.  He hears a word once.  If he doesn’t know the meaning he asks.  And four days later uses the word in a conversation in the proper context.  I have to keep reminding myself “He’s only five” when he starts acting five.  At any rate when we are having a conversation around the dinner table and he wants to jump in he’ll wait until he hears a comment that he relates to and then pop in with, “Speaking of . . . ” and segues the conversation just like an adult to his topic of interest.

So, speaking of retirement and maybe someday “doing nothing” . . . I had written about what I perceive as a need to develop a themed resort community for expats and retirees in Boquete with affordable reasonably sized homes costing around $150-200K.  And it generated some interesting comments . . .

From Merrall Gillam . . .

Yes, I’d be a taker for that sort of development. I’ve thought a lot about living in Panama (from Australia), but I’m always put off by all those fancy Spanish-style mansions that people seem to be building over there. Also, as a single person, I don’t want to be stuck on some grand hacienda by myself. I’d love to be able to buy into a community that’s got modest-sized houses, but aspects of the development that are shared among the community.

From Jim Karl who takes this idea along to the next step . . .

I would expand this to also be an assisted living complex.With the low cost of labor i.e. attendant care, the training would be developed in-house so you can keep high quality care. You would have something that is not currently being offered in Panama and is very expensive in U.S. Just give it some thought JIM Karl

Thoughts on Leaving Seattle

Tomorrow I’m off to Sonoma County to visit my daughter Rebecca.

Washington is known as “The Green State” and it is. Not that it get’s that much rain: I’m having to water the red Japanese Maple I planted in front of my daughter’s house. But it gets a lot of grey. Boy, does it get a lot of grey! Yes, there are sun showers sprinkled in and yesterday I managed 45 minutes on the hammock in the sun. Wonderful! And it’s not just me. Yesterday we were at the hospital with Nikki getting another round of tests. [Fortunately things are looking up, gracia por Dios!] The nurse found out we were from Panama . . . and she’d been dreaming of retiring in Costa Rica but never thought of Panama. And she was tired of the dreary, grey weather as well! I also talked to a guy at Holland America, Washington native, who absolutely loves the weather here, hates it when he has to go to the Caribbean and hates to sweat unless he’s at the gym working out. So . . . all kinds, different strokes for different folks. My kids love the Pacific Northwest. And beautiful as it is, and as much as I like to visit, it’s not where I’d want to live. But I feel like that about many of the places I visit in the world. Folks will often ask me, “Where’s your favorite place in the world?” And I tell them it’s where I live now! I’ve found paradise for me. Panama is not for everyone, but for us . . . it’s great!

I’m also stunned with the cost of living. Our favorite breakfast in Boquete is at Central Park Cafe. Yes, a omellete with everything, 2 hojaldre, juice and coffee used to be $2.50 and is now $4.75. But the other day in Issaquah we stopped in an Eggs & Eggs breakfast place after Nikki had her blood draw (fasting) for breakfast. I had a peach muffin and coffee (very good peach muffin), and Nikki had scrambled eggs with chopped up pieces of ham, an ordinary English muffin, hash browns, coffee and juice, and the bill was $22!! A tall cafe mocha and roll is going to run you $7! Now I know you can go out of your way and find “Gringo” places in Boquete which will try hard to soak you for almost the same amount, but really . . . !!