I am new to this forum and planning a trip this summer with my wife and 18 month old daughter with the objective of getting a first hand look and feel of the country. My wife is from the Dominican Rep and I have been there many times and also to Costa Rica but CR last time was 9 yrs ago but been thru that entire country many times; but I know things change a lot in 9 years. I remember Liberia w/out an airport. Now time to check out all the great things I read and hear about Panama!
Anyways we are looking to relocate within the next few years and do the retirement thing...I am a physical education teacher and we live in Miami, FL. We are looking to visit several towns such as Boquete, David, El Valle, Pedasi, Las Tablas, Coronado, Altos de Cerro Azul....this is very tentative places and open to change but want an area where my daughter will get a good education and there are some expats. Any suggestions of a rough draft itinerary of a 2 week trip would be greatly appreciated! We will rent a car and not into the group tour stuff! Thanks...Pete M.
Planning summer info trip
We are former teachers from Broward (originally from Hialeah) and retired in Boquete. There are quite a few families with school-age children here. It seems that there are several options for them. Panamanian schools, the American School, homeschooling, virtual out of Florida, and a mixture. The summer is a good time to visit schools in your target areas since it is now 'summer vacation' in Panama so schools are closed until next month. The American school is currently building a new facility and currently goes through the 10th grade.
Wow originally from Hialeah....lot of my friends graduated from Hialeah HS and Hialeah Miami Lakes HS! We are excited about the trip this summer and hope to talk more...seems Boquete is top on many lists of people like my family when looking to retire! I am not a fan of the Virtual or home schooling.....so interested in the American School and other schools!
My husband and I both grew up in Hialeah and graduated from Hialeah High. IM me and I will give you my phone number so you can call us once you get here. Let me know if you have any questions - you probably have thousands.
Hi Pete, My husband and I have visited almost all the places you are interested in seeing ... See my blog called panamaretireewannabes.wordpress.com. Anyway for us we decided to start out in Coronado. We also loved Boquete but, alas, we are beach people and wanted to stay true to what we were seeking when we started out on our adventure, which is a community a little closer to the beach. We haven't relocated yet but will be making the actual move in April.
One thing I wanted to mention is that, although we do not have children of school age anymore, when my husband was in Coronado in January with some friends who have school age children and are looking into to relocating to Panama as well, they visited the International School in Gorgona/Coronado and were extremely impressed with their curriculum and reputation. Here is the link ...panamacoastinternationalschool.com. Hope this information helps. Good luck with your exploration tour.
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