Introduction

Hi !!
I am not an expat yet,
I  am currently living in the USA, Tacoma, Wa. 
I might want to move to PANAMA??
Born in Spokane, Washington, educated at Pacific Lutheran University in Tacoma, Wa, B.A. in education and art, currently international flight attendant for major U.S. based airline since 1980. Looking for a great place to retire in 10 years or so.

Hola Ormaloo;
Head down and have a look.  We did that in 2010 and are now just completing our house and getting ready to retire later this year.  Good luck in your quest!!!
Cheers ....

Welcome to the  Costa Rica forum! I would recommend George Lundquist's tour for a start. (duckduckgo or google him to find the tour)

Plan:
1. Take the tour which is something like 3 nights and 4 days. Choose a spot you like from  the tour.
2. Stay in that spot for a month or more in a rented house or apt, not a hotel so you can see what it's actually like to live there - buy groceries, cook, pay bills, get around by bus etc.

DO NOT BUY ANY REAL ESTATE until you have done the above! You may be tempted to do so on the tour but please do not. wait until you complete all steps above.

Then, only after you have done the above, check out San Ramon! (it's actually on the tour, or was) Once you live in the place for a month or two and like it THEN start looking at real estate.

Don't purchase anything until you have either taken a few trips or even better rented for a while....
Check out the legal requirements

Ormaloo,

As it has been suggested, the best thing to do is to take a look. Generally, people take a few trips prior to deciding what whether to live here and where to live.

This would be my suggested list of things to do:
1.    Explore the country.
2.    Talk to people. Blogs and Facebook are ok as a place to start. But talk to the people in the communities that you may be interested.
3.    Decide where you want to live.

Something to keep in mind is that people are going to try sell you stuff you do not need. Notice that,  even if you did not mention whether you are interested in buying real estate, you are already being dragged into it.  So when you are traveling around, don't let yourself be persuaded by people trying to sell you stuff.
What everybody here suggests, is to take a trip and explore. Go ahead and do that. Take your time. There is no rush.

Good luck!