What Chitre is like?

Large mainly Panamanian town, not near beach. Lots of traffic, good shopping, some decent restaurants. Check out Pedasi for a more beaches, yet close to Chitre.

Hi Rod,
It has been a while, probably around 2007, but my husband and I went on a "country-wide" search to find where we wanted to live full time.

We went on an adventure down the coast from Santiago to Pedasi, then finally to the tip of the Azueros Peninsula - Las Tablas I believe. I am doing this from memory w/o looking it up.

It wasn't for us for full time at all. The internet is great but you really can't understand what you are dealing with until you see your destination in real time in my opinion.

It was beautiful but only for a weekend getaway or a vacation. Full time living would not have been for us and doubt it would be now. There were not enough simple conveniences (grocery stores, gas stations, etc) that we were used to having.

We live in Chiriqui between Boquete and David. It has been over 4 years since moving here permanently and while not always easy, I have zero desire to move back to the US where we are citizens.

Hope this helps.

Saludos

My, my, my!!  Things certainly have changed a LOT since 2007.  Like most of Panama, Chitre and the Azuero are in the midst of a building boom.  Trust me, they even have grocery stores and gas stations!!  It's a great place to live.