Dalama Adventures Tale of two corporate types ditching their jobs and traveling the world for 14 months... check out all photos, blogs & interesting tid bits at http://www.dalama.net

Walking through the streets of towns here in Panama, it’s more common to see real estate offices, than locally owned shops, restaurants and other local businesses.  Branches of US owned real estate companies are on every corner, in addition to Panamanian offices.  One of our reasons for visiting Panama, was to see if this was a country we'd like to invest in, and to scout the area for prospective retirement property.  We share a dream of owning a small casa near the beach in Central America, one that will allow us to live part time in the US and part time in a region of the world where we can actually afford a wonderful lifestyle.  We missed the opportunity 15 years ago in Costa Rica, and have heard good things about Panama:  stable democracy, good health care system, good educational system, favorable land ownership rights for foreigners, and lots of tax incentives from the government for purchasing property and starting a business.  

Once down here, we realize that many have come before us, especially from Florida (every other person we meet seems to have moved down here from Florida), and have converted small beautiful local communities into an Americanized, expensive "latte land."  While certainly many of these areas are still beautiful, the local culture has become so Americanized, and prices have skyrocketed so much that locals have been priced out of their own communities.  Retirement paradise in another country, for us, is a place that still retains it's magical local culture.  We don't want to invest in a slice of paradise that's rapidly being made to look, smell, taste and feel like the US.  So for now, we'll pass on Panama.