Have you ever lived in Panama or Costa Rica before?

Question

My husband and I were thinking of living in one of those countries for a little while. How was your experience? Did you like it, hate it?

Answer 1

come to costa rica and enjoy. you'll love this peace of land that has lots of things and is a wonderful place

Answer 2

I visited Costa Rica for 2 weeks my first trip, and "I left my heart in Costa Rica".

I have lived here for more than 10 years now, and still love it.

It's easy laid back living in a beautiful setting.  The people are nice, friendly, and humble.  Cost of living is affordable. And the beer is good  LOL.

Panama is more USA oriented, and I left to get away from that.  Lots of folks find Panama more usre friendly.  But Panamain beer SUXXS.

Answer 3

i have spent time in Costa Rica my grandmother lives there now. it is absolutely beautiful! she lives in malpiese (i doubt that is spelled right sorry) i have also gone through panama but have not spent much time there. from what i know i favor Costa Rica just because it is not Americanized. now of course San Jose is but the rest of the country has a lot of culture! if you do not decide to move there it is deff a place that you should visit before you die!

as a side note keep in mind that because it is not Americanized (if you live out of the city which I'm assuming that you will want to do) there are lots of wild animals (monkeys, iguanas, spiders, bats, scorpions etc,) the water pressure sucks, get used to taking cold showers, and if you need medical attention then you most likely will be sol if your injury is to serious! but if you are looking for a great adventure and the most gorgeous back yard then i highly recommend Costa Rica over panama!

good luck and if you decide to move enjoy your new home!

Answer 4

Well I live in Panama, and I really prefer Panama over Costa Rica for a lot of reasons.

Lets start by immigration.  In comparison both programs for retired foreign immigrants are OK, but professionally speaking Panama's program has more advantages.  You can get discounts on everything, you can import a car duty free every 2 years, you can move and get and get an exemption on your personal belongins up to 10 grand.  The procedure is simple in Panama, and any competent attorney can get you a legal status in less than 4 months, provided you get all the necessary documents on time.

As for the cost of living, Panama is still at least 30% cheaper than Costa Rica.  This is due to the fact that Panama uses the US Dollar as their local currency, so inflation is a bit more controlled than in Costa Rica, where they print their own currency, and it's always on the rise.  I also assure you that you can get more variety of everything in Panama than in Costa Rica.

Safety wise, all around Panama is safer than Costa Rica.  You can figure that out when you see houses.  In Costa Rica all houses in San Jose have big walls to keep people outside.  In Panama City houses don't have big walls, so that's a clear indication on where's safer.

I think moving to Panama would be a lesser culture shock than moving to Costa Rica.  You will keep using the US Dollar for money, so no problem for exchanging currency.  Banks will open an account for you even if you're not a legal resident in Panama.  Banks in Costa Rica won't open an account for a foreign national without a legal residence.

However the best you can do is take some time and visit both countries.  You can only be sure after you visited both places and then you can make up your mind.

Good luck

Answer 5

lived here since 1990. its ok