Panama feels like a second home to me…
I lived there for seven years with my husband, and we built a fruitful life there.
Even though we moved away in 2018, we’re still Panama residents, which means we can come and go as we please, and we can stay for as long as we like. We think of it as a “backup residency.” If all else fails, we know we can always live in Panama again. We just have to show up every couple of years to maintain the status.
Plus, I enjoy spending time there. Every visit feels like a bit of a homecoming—and these days it comes with the added fun of introducing our daughters to the completely different lifestyle that we used to enjoy.
I get nostalgic when I think back over our “Panama years”…where we adopted our dog, where we slept in luxury tree houses in the jungle, where we spent countless days at the beach and at resorts, where we hiked at least once a month in the rain forest around the city, and where we visited all the islands we could in our friend’s little boat…
And where the luxury lifestyle we enjoyed cost a relative pittance…
We lived in a high rise with two pools and a gym right on the seafront. We had three bedrooms, a giant living space, and wrap around floor to ceiling windows to enjoy the views of the bay, the Old Town, the fish market, the epic thunderstorms, and the daily sunrise…
Our balcony had a table that seated six, a grill, a sun lounger, and a five-person couch. I spent every weekend at the pool and tanning or gardening on our balcony…
You can find just about any lifestyle in Panama, from golf resorts by the beach to mountain retreats and from island getaways to country living… but this is also the best city in Central America to live a cosmopolitan life.
With a burgeoning arts culture, a fully developed business and banking industry, and decent infrastructure (this one is arguable), life here is fully appointed…
On the other hand, it’s also the heart of a country that is blessed with so much biodiversity and untouched nature, it could practically be called a jungle or beach destination as well as a city.
In this week’s video, for example, I share one of my particular joys of living in Panama City: rain forest hikes without leaving the metropolitan area…
