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Panama: Eight Destinations in Which to Spend the Winter Months

First Time Reader: Why Panama? – This blog explains the rationale of the trip and this series of blogs.

http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/lobo/excursions/1266327384/tpod.html

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El Valle de Anton - Lobo's Featured Expats
Part 2 of 2
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Have you read Part One?

EL Valle de Antón – Life in a Cool Crater
Destination no. 3 (in no particular order)
 
 http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/lobo/excursions/1265268601/tpod.html

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El Valle de Anton - Lobo's Featured Expats
Part 2 of 2
 
Lobo's Featured Expat no. 5 of 25

Earle Halle

Just across from the Catholic Church on Calle La Campania is where I found the Anton Valley Hotel. I was attracted by its warm and welcoming exterior therefore I did not think twice to strike up a conversation with a gentleman I encountered outside the hotel.

That turned out to be Earle Halle who along with Les Perkins is a co-owner of the Anton Valley Hotel.


Earl vacationed in El Valle de Anton in 2006 at the recommendation of a friend. There must have been something that he liked here in this pastoral highlands setting for how else can you explain his life-changing move to El Valle.

Living in southwest Florida he had a good life working as a director of finance. But like so many people, he had a dream. In his case, since the age of 15 he had a dream of buying and managing a hotel.

El Valle de Anton provided the right combination of a rustic resort town with a well-located hotel with lots of potential at a price that, with the help of a partner, could be within his reach.
 

So three years ago he sold his house in southwest Florida and moved to El Valle and he has not looked back since.

Just as the hotel attracted me by its welcoming exterior the excellent website serves the same purpose in cyberspace of attracting potential guests. Call it smart marketing or whatever but the overall presentation is first class.

www.antonvalleyhotel.com

It is obvious that Earle and his partner are dedicated to the success of this hotel by making the guests’ stay a pleasant one. When is the last time you saw a hotel that had 96 positive comments on Tripadvisor?

http://www.tripadvisor.com/Hotel_Review-g635545-d652421-Reviews-Anton_Valley_Hotel-El_Valle_de_Anton.html

By the way, during my interview with Earle he did not mention the Tripadvisor website nor the positive ratings. On the contrary, he was very low key and not prone to blowing his own horn.

Instead of talking about the hotel, he spoke of the unique location of El Valle in the crater of the second largest extinct volcano in the world and the resulting unique biosystem that was a result of its location.

Another feature he emphasized was the cool breezes that blow here in the valley located at 2,000 feet of altitude making for a temperate climate year round.

Yes, he acknowledged the rain that fell between April and December, the so-called rainy season, but according to him there is more rainfall in southwest Florida during that time period.

He estimated that in a population of 6,000 there were about 100 expats living in El Valle from various parts of North America and Europe.

He also recommended the following website for expats that would be a good source of information for anyone interested in the expat life in the area. The site also has an amazing NASA Satellite View of the crater along with an explanation.

http://groups.yahoo.com/group/El_Valle/


In my serendipitous manner I happened upon one of the best-rated hotels in Panama according to the Tripadvisor website and even though my visit to the hotel lasted only 15 minutes long, the length of my interview with Earle, I was not surprised by this rating.

It was in the market area that I encountered several other expats.

Lobo’s Featured Expat no. 6 of 25

Dennis

Dennis was a young American who preferred not to have his photo included in this blog. Appearing to be in his late twenties and having somewhat of a rugged frontier look about him, he reminded me a bit of the Marlboro Man albeit without the cigarette.

He came here three years ago and never left, attracted to El Valle de Anton by its natural beauty, the laid back lifestyle, abundance of friends and the low cost of living. For example he said that he could eat here for $4.00 a day.


Also important for him was the availability of medical and dental services that is available in Panama at one quarter the price of the United States. Bridgework for instance, that would cost $3,000 in the U.S., would be done here for $400.00.

Dennis added that he broke an ankle for which the medical costs including X-ray, plaster etc. came to $20 on a cash and carry basis. At the clinic it cost 75 cents for antibiotics and they were delivered to his home.

So what does it cost him per month to live here in El Valle de Anton? After some reflection he thought that $800 to $900 would cover his monthly expenses.

Apart from the economic aspect, what did he like best about his life here in the valley? Without a doubt, it had to be that he was surrounded by decent people and he felt safe and at home here.

He went on to say that modern communication was also an important factor as cell coverage is good and apparently there are three times as many phones in the area as people.

At this point in the interview we were joined by:

Lobo’s Featured Expat no. 8 of 25

Mindy Ross

Of all the expats I interviewed during my discovery trip to Panama, Costa Rica and Nicaragua, Mindy, an American woman of retirement age was the only who arrived on the scene in a golf cart in the middle of town. She was well known by the assembled group illustrating that a sense of belonging and acceptance is an important element of life in this small community.


To wit, I was surprised that Mindy seemed to be good friends with Melania, a Kuna woman, and her partner Niko. The Kuna are an indigenous people in Panama and they are the main sellers of the beautiful handicrafts in the market. I was struck by how photogenic the couple was even though I had difficulty capturing it in my photos due to difficult lighting conditions. I was reluctant to ask them to move elsewhere as I have heard that the Kuna don’t like having their photo taken.
 

http://public.cwp.net.pa/~bowerman/page3.html

Mindy lives on a nearby 465 square meter parcel of land where she cultivates orchids and runs a Bed and Breakfast in a 35-year old house. For a person who loves flowers, growing 2,000 orchids is a great way to make a living . The valley is famous for orchids as the National Flower of Panama called the "Flower of the Holy Spirit" can be found here among other orchids. It is white with what seems to be a little dove in the centre of the flower.

http://rp-f.com/see.php?image=fot49723

Mindy came to El Valle de Anton from Mystic, Connecticut, about 5 years ago with a husband from whom she has since separated. They sold everything in the United States, packed a 40-foot container and shipped it to Panama for $10,000.

When she first came here she taught ceramics and as a result, still has lots of friends in the area in the crafts industry.

While she is happy here in Valle de Anton, it has not been without problems as her present partner is suffering from kidney failure. That means she and her partner have to make the two hour trip to the National Hospital in Panama City for dialysis three times a week. This brings me back to the point I made in the last blog – there is a clinic in El Valle de Anton but no hospital. Considering how most expats are senior citizens, proximity of medical care may be a deciding factor in whether to live in El Valle de Anton or not.

Dialysis is an expensive medical procedure and in response to my query as to its cost, she replied that in Panama it is relatively cheap as doctors “work with people".

She also mentioned the low cost of living in the valley as one of the reasons that she decided to settle here. Some examples she gave: a massage costs $5 with the masseuse coming to the house, a maid or gardener cost $1.00 per hour, a bike licence is $5, a horse costs from $50 to $100, and land is cheap as there are numerous repossessions happening at this point in time.

On the other hand she felt the cost of local groceries were becoming more expensive but then there is always the Supermercado Rey located in Coronado about 40 minutes away.

She very much appreciates the great climate in this valley that is 5 miles wide and 15 miles long. It never gets too hot and conditions are great for growing things like her orchids. Conditions are so favourable that cut bougainvillea branches can be planted into the ground and a beautiful hedge will grow.

She liked going to the local hot spring for the spa treatment that involved coating the face with white clay, letting it dry in the sun and soaking in the warm sulphur waters of the spring.

El Valle de Anton is a place where she feels secure, where locals are friendly and accepting of the expats that live here. In her opinion it is definitely one of the top 5 destinations in Central America for expats.

At the end of my interview with Mindy, it was time to get back to Panama City.

Unfortunately the last bus back to Panama City was at 16:00 and I was having a coffee just before getting back on the bus when I ran into two more expats as well as a young lady from Frankfurt, Germany who was on the road through Central America for the last 5 months by herself - now that is what I call courageous. In a conversation held in German, she said yes, all the attention from the Latin men bothered her and made travel difficult.

I spoke with the two expats just long enough to realize that they would have been a great interview particularly because they were two characters and they rated Valle de Anton as the no. 1 destination for expats in Central America. The interview was not to be as I had a bus to catch.

I did take a photo of the two bohemian expats who seemed to fit into El Valle like a glove. The young German lady, no I did not dare ask her for a photo – she was just too beautiful.


On the bus back to Panama City I sat next to a young man who was quite chatty. In our conversation it was not long before he brought up the theme of “mucho crimen es muy malo” – just what I wanted to hear. Unfortunately it is a fact in this part of the world, although the young man added that it is “malo en todo el mundo”. OK, so he hasn't been to Canada.

But wait a minute, I recently had a conversation with a security guard in front of the provincial legislature in my home town of Victoria, British Columbia. He was a former RCMP officer and could not have painted a worse picture of drug use and crime in parts of British Columbia and Alberta. For two years he was an RCMP officer working but not living in Grand Prairie, Alberta so each day he drove two hours one way just so his teenaged daughters would not have to live in this town with its drug problems.

Boy, how I wish I had the money to live in Switzerland.

So you have read this blog and you want to live in El Valle de Anton – this may help you.

http://www.propertyhaven.com/detail.php?siteid=4558

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Coming Soon:

Chitre – A Surprise Among the Cities of Panama
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Feedback: travelswithlobo@yahoo.com
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