“Soup” Campbell looks just like you’d expect any Alaskan frontiersman to look, only he now lives in Volcan, Panama.  Volcan is on the opposite side of Volcan Baru from Boquete.  Soup gave up winters in the North Pole [Really!  It’s a little town north of Fairbanks, Alaska just in case you thought there was no place colder in the US than Fairbanks.] to move to Panama and he and his wife love it!  Soup’s advice to folks considering moving to Panama is “Check your expectations at the border.”   This is not the US, UK, Canada or wherever else you presently call home.  This is particularly true when it comes to the legal system and the way in which it operates in Panama.

This is often a rude awakening to folks who come from countries where the legal system is based on English common law and case precedent.  That is why when I updated my book, THE NEW ESCAPE TO PANAMA: OUR EXPERIENCE LIVING AND RETIRING IN PANAMA, I included a new chapter called “The Devil You Know.”  Many of us like to grouse around about the inequities of the legal systems in our home countries, but sometimes “the devil you know is better than the devil you don’t know.”

It would be hard to top this anywhere in the world …  How The Brawl Over A Florida Millionaire’s Will Taints Panama’s Image: How Panama Cut Poor Kids Out Of A Florida Millionaire’s Will.  You gotta read it and you will be shaking your head!  Anyone in “the industry” looking for a series to pitch which would be better than “House of Cards”?  Take a look!

And a special word of thanks to Squirrelmom for this great review of THE NEW ESCAPE TO PANAMA: OUR EXPERIENCE LIVING AND RETIRING IN PANAMA …

Once again, Richard, thank you for your sage advice. i read your book two years ago (need to get the new one!) and came to Panama to check it our ourselves. We have been to Panama twice and spent extended time there actually house sitting. We love Boquete and there was much about Panama we liked but other than Panama City (which was not much to our liking), we decide we were too young to settle down there for now. We might revisit it again in 5-10 years from now, though mindful that there will probably be major changes between now and then. But as you say only with ‘boots on the ground” and visiting actual areas and trying to “live” and not just be tourist for while, do you learn whether you really could and would live there. Until you try grocery shopping, getting parts for a car, doing laundry, getting your hair cut, trying to find good coffee (not a problem in Boquete or Panama City but a bit of a struggle elsewhere – at least for now), and visiting a doctor and a hospital for treatment (all things we did!) you really don’t know what it’s like. To all of your skeptics out there LISTEN TO RICHARD!