Our recent trip,What to bring, what can't we buy there,

My wife and I just finished our second Panama trip in December? (Over the last 6 years we and our relatives have visited most of Central America, looking for retirement countries) this trip we were looking for cities, and checking out shopping. We went from the City, over to Chame visiting Clyde & Terry ( you can search for their blog, "Along the Gringo Trail" )'. Up to Sora, and El Valle, down to Las Tablas, then to Pedasi, then way over to David, up to Volcan, and Cerra Punta, then a bus over to Bocas del Tora, finally a plane to Panama City to check out Albrook Mall, before leaving.  We loved the B & B we were in at the start of the stay and also the last day, it's in Balbo Heights, close to Albrook Mall and bridge to Americas, and also the B & B in Pedasi, if you want the names send me a personal message.

Our thoughts Sora, it was very high, And talking to a former resident, since the new houses are perched on the hillside for the view, they get very high winds at times around 100 mph, ride up there was fairly long, and I could see a lot of time, and wear on your car, as there wasn't a great amount of places to purchase everyday things.  So you would be making the trip often. Also reports of a lot of mold on and around your house, due to the clouds.

Coronado and Chame, big expat community, many Americans, Canadians, lots of infrastructure.

Las Tablas, ...we kept getting lost.. Know the city is better than our experiences, as I've read some blogs about it, and people like it.

Pedasi, small town, friendly, some stores for food,
Several restaurants, also close to Las Tablas, to get things at a bigger shopping place,..Have to figure out how to not get lost every time...LOL, it's one of three places that is promising for us. Fishing close by, so will be able to get fresh fish, asked another expat, and also a blogger, Connie (search our third life in Pedasi) who we saw walking down a street, yep small town, about farmers markets, she said, not as big of a selection as they would want.

El Valle, we were there on market day, have photos to add, but can't today, as they are still on camera, lovely town, and this time (many of these places we visited on our first trip in Feb 2011)We also found a road that circles up and around the back of the town, and the Volcano rim. It's on our list of one of the possibilities..

On the way west to David, we drove over the worst part of the Pan American highway, our other car, (three couples, two rental cars) hit a pothole on a bridge, and blew out a tire, hole was so big you could see the rebar. Our car just bearly was able to  straddle it. It was very big. When we pulled over to change tire, another car hit the same hole, not only, blew his tire but cracked his rim. His spare was flat, so we ended up taking him and his tire to the first gas station further down the road. A distance close to 45 miles. The other couples that drove back 5 1/2 days later, (we took the plane) said they were just then putting a metal plate over the hole. 5 1/2 days...wonder how many tires...

The David area, on up to Volcan an Cerro Punta, finish up our 3 places that seem interesting to us. David has a several hospitals, both Public and private, a lot of shopping, and also close to Pacific, and mountains (Boquete is about 35 minutes). Volcan,Cerro Punta, also David area are the bread basket areas of Panama, so there are a lot of roadside farmers markets. I actually saw Holstein cows in Cerro Punta, maybe we can make cheese in our retirement?

So, the things I found out about shopping, as far as food, you can purchase almost everything, canned goods are more expensive, considering the size  of cans in regular stores (didn't go in a price smart or costco) you might want to check out Panamforreal. With Chris, on that.  But with all the fresh fruit and veggies available, skip the canned stuff.mThe regular stores did not have a good spice selection, and the other thing, since panamians don't have big or maybe no refrigerators they don't have big selections of dairy products? I did notice that butter was $4.65 a lb. and not much of a selection, lots of margine.

Ok, if I can figure out how to add photos, here is what you will see,
inside of a super 99 store in David,lots of shelf shots and meat case

Dept store in Panama City Albrook mall. (We took photos of stoves, refers, washing machines, forgot to take photo of table an chairs..sorry!) I would not recommend bringing any appliances for two or three reasons,
1. You can purchase them there.
2. Yours might not be repairable, for lack of parts or knowledge
3. Cost of shipping.

Some of the photos of the appliances, show price tags,

the items I didn't photograph a comfortable queen mattress was $899 same as a King size, sheets btw were more expensive, and lower quality
A glass top high end table was $799. Included 6 chairs.

Oh, Almost forgot, hardware stores...looks like they have everything covered, except did not see, any table saws, or a good drill press.  Which makes some sense, since there is very little wood for sale, most things are made using cement...due to termites, and cost of wood, also have photos of tools and prices in a HWI store

Will also post photos of Countryside around Cerro Punta. Including a Christmas Poinsettia plant (tree)

Thanks for reading, hope I didn't bore you, now to figure out this photo thing.

Hugo  & Cynthia

PS doing this from my IPad, not all mistakes are my own making....