Photo of Panama City from Cerre Ancon by locationindependent
You may or may not know that we have a small but growing directory of Little LIP Travel Guides. What makes them stand out from other travel guides is the fact that they’re written by authors who have spent more than a few days in a place and who really know the destination as a local might.
In this series, we’ll be interviewing some of the authors and asking them to share more information about their particular destination. The first stop on the tour is Panama City, Panamá – this also happened to be our first destination as location independent professionals and was a bit of a baptism of fire!!
Here to tell us a bit more about Panamá is the author of The Little LIP Guide To Panama City, Jesse Schoberg…
What made you choose Panama City in the first place?
I came across it by accident really. We were looking to move to a larger city in the US at the time and went to Panamá on a vacation and thought…”Wow, this place is great!”
How much research did you do before heading there?
I didn’t too much for the first visit but then over the next couple years we came back a few times while we sold our house in the States and then decided to head down there full time – each time we obviously learned more about the city.
What makes it a suitable destination for LIPs?
Panamá can be summed up as “Small town prices, big city living”. There is great food, great nightlife, great people and reliable internet – very important for location independent people, of course. With its close proximity to the US and Eastern Standard Time plus the fact that the currency is the US$, it makes doing business with US clients a breeze.
Photo of Caco Viejo from Cerre Ancon by locationindependent
From someone who knows first hand, what is internet access really like?
Overall, the high speed internet access is quite reliable. It may be a bit more expensive than than major US and European cities, but it’s not too bad. And if your willing to pay a bit more, there are really fast speeds available in the 10meg+ range.
How easy is it to find suitable accommodation there?
Usually good, but it’s a bit of a boom town here at the moment so prices can vary a lot. If you can find a “For Rent” sign from a local you’ll save a lot of money, versus something you’ll find online that’s geared toward expats and tourists.
Any tips, tricks or insider info you’d like to share?
While there are English speakers here, it is generally the affluent and the expats. Not the waiters, taxi drivers, restaurant staff or bar tenders and many of the people you will interact with on a daily basis will not speak much English.
So it wouldn’t hurt to pick up a few key phrases like “Puedo tener la cuenta?” (Can I have the check?) for example. Since restaurants in this culture will not bring your bill until you ask for it without that phrase you may be sitting at a restaurant for 4 hours waiting for the bill to never arrive ;)
Editor’s Note: There are some great language schools in the city and 1-to-1 tutoring is relatively affordable.
Photo of Bird Island in Bocas del Toro by locationindependent
Have you travelled to other towns/places within the country? Any favorites?
Yes, I have explored the country quite a bit.Panamáis an amazing country with LOTS to see in a relatively small area. If you’ve got time, head out to the beaches. You can take a ferry to Taboga Island for a day trip. Or spend a few nights at Isla Contadora (15 min flight) which is in the Pearl Islands where a couple of the Survivor seasons were filmed.
Or if you want to cool off a bit, head up to the mountains in Boquete and enjoy some amazing vegetation and get in some relaxation! Or if you have even more time, go charter a sail boat in the San Blas Islands or head to Bocas Del Toro for some scuba diving and a really laid back culture. There is tons to do close to the city too… 30 minutes to rainforest hiking at Gamboa and only 10 min to the Panama Canal!
Hi,
Just to let you know, “¿Puedo tener la cuenta?” sounds plain weird. It’s just a literal translation from “Can i have the check?”. Try “La cuenta, por favor…” or “¿Me podría traer la cuenta cuando pueda?”, much more natural.
One more thing, in spanish we also use the open question mark ¿ at the beginning of the phrase.
Thanks for the tips, Alex – we always just used “La cuenta, por favor” and it seemed to work, even with our non-existent Spanish :)
The lack of open question mark was my editing fault – can’t find it on my keyboard!!
Ive always wanted to go to Panama – this article makes me wanna go even more! Great post
Panama has been on my short list of places to set up a tent for a while, now. I keep hearing nothing but good (for my needs) about it.
@Vinay, @James Schipper – Panama was our very first destination and it’s a really interesting place. Highly recommended although I think it’s become a lot more expensive in the last couple of years. Exploring outside of Panama City is well worth it – Boquete, Bocas, San Blas etc. There’s so much to see and do in such a small area.
Panama is an awesome location for location independence. Extremely friendly overall.
Don’t believe the hype about not needing to understand Spanish, but you don’t have to speak a lot. Like Jesse says, learn some of the common phases, at least. “Donde esta el baño” is a good one :-).
The internet access is “Pretty Good” in most places if you are in the city. Once you get outside, it is a bit sporatic, but getting better.