Cheapest cities in Panama

cheap is not always the best ,, there are houses in la chorrerra you can rent for 450 a month in a semi gated neighborhood that the equivalent in balboa or Panama pacifico would be 1200 a month or more , you could find a much smaller version in some developments for 250 a month around la chorrerra which is where i live , i spend 600 a month on groceries and of that maybe an average of 30 a month eating out ,, yesterday at a fonda in cerro cama i fed 2 for less than 8 bucks ,, a buffet lunch more than i could eat ,, air cond is the single biggest factor in a lot of places , i live on 1800 a month barely as my wife pays some of the bills like cable which is 60 a month . my elec bill without air but 7 ceiling fans in my house on a hill top is near 70 a month with my pensianado discount  about 20 a month .. you can rent a cottage and be a caretaker for 250 a month. but places like that are hard to find. to much to compare to say one town is cheaper than others , i know a guy rents a place on the river for 90 a month but lives behind bars and never goes out at night ,, when ,, he stays on the internet in a room 12 by 12 with air conditioning on 24/7 and his elec bill is near 300 a month ,, if his elec goes off he suffers thru it ,, which it often does more so in small rural towns .. if you have the cash to buy a place is different entirely as gringo financing is near no existent in panama ,,

Hi Wolfmanmike,

Thank you for your feedback. As someone has said on another forum "less expensive could also mean isolation in terms of telephony, hospitals, road services etc...." would that apply to Panama ?

Regards,
Bhavna