Cambio equals Change

The word is Spanish, cambio; change. It has been nearly four years since I moved to Boquete Panama and more than a year since I added to the Panamania Series I started shortly after I started this blog. I am writing this without reviewing my original writings, I want this note to be how I feel today without my retrospection altered by what I wrote before.

Change is the operative word. Panama has changed, but far more relevant to me is that I have changed. I came to Boquete with my wife to start a new life when our last of four children moved onto University. Within eighteen months my wife left and for many reasons has not returned; change. We purchased a small property with a marginally livable house above Boquete, compared to our suburban life in a larger home in Tucson AZ this was a massive change. The move from dry heat to wet temperate; change. The move from suburban to rural; change. From 33 years of marriage to effectively alone; change. The only course in which I ever earned a “D” in college was Spanish, now I am learning it to survive; change. Without the need for discovering religion I have been reborn, what a nice change.

During my University days I was considered a student activist, very political and aware. During my years of work raising a family I was totally focused on earning and surviving, now I have changed again. I am interested in what is going on in Panama, but I have learned to accept that I cannot change any of it. On a micro level I have had some influence but in the real world, nothing that will make a long term impact. The change in Panama is driven by greed like change everyplace in the world. The change in me is driven by opportunity and exposure to new realities.

Years ago I shook off the illusion that any of us in the polity, the masses, shaven or not, can alter the grand scheme of things on this planet. Only if you reach a position of great power and influence whether through birth right or earned, can you even nudge the direction of international greed. Stripped of the need to change the world and largely free of the rewarding shackles of raising four children, Panama has been my opportunity for personal change. It is not that I, or you, could not change elsewhere, it is just easier when everything around you is different and you must change or leave.

In doing the transition from first person to third person, from me to you, I can come to the point of this Panamania. Unless you are willing to undergo a grand transformation this is not the place for immigrants from the US or Canada. It is different here in Panama. If you intend to come here and can make the change you will not be comfortable returning to where you started, you will have morphed. If you are set in your ways, have a driven type A personality and cannot float with nothing working as you anticipate, visit for a holiday and go home.

Emigration from the US is becoming something considered by many people for economic reasons. I can live here on Social Security, that check might have covered my utility bills in Tucson. I had a significant gain in selling my house in Tucson, if I was still there and could find a buyer, that gain would be reduced. I was burned in multiple stock market cycles that cut into my retirement, I was not alone. Reality is making many people my age look at an option they never considered before, leaving the US to retire. The land of streets paved with gold is really a land of hard work and for many people, a treadmill to an early grave. In migrating to Panama or other places with a lower cost of living, people who are capable of change can live a lifestyle they cannot afford in the US; but they need to change!

If you are considering retirement in Latin America, the first and best advice I can give you to place you on the road to happiness is learn Spanish. You can never really integrate into the culture without the language, without that change you are limited to a small english speaking community. With the change the culture and wonderful people living here are open to you.

Sell your car, sell your stuff, come here to start a new life and be ready to live longer and happier. Learn a new culture, learn a new language, learn to cook with seasonal ingredients, learn to dance Salsa, learn Merengue, try some good local rum, eat Sancocho and you will also change. Dr. Andrew Weil has written about how as we age we need to keep our brains growing to avoid dementia. Here, you can try to do something new. Panama lets retirees create businesses, do a business for fun, something you always wanted to do, a change.

My life changed in Panama, my children and friends in the US say I look and act younger today than I did four years ago when I left. I like the change, I feel the change, I plan to keep changing and growing, perhaps if you can make the change it will be good for you also. If you cannot change, do yourself a big favor, try Green Valley or Sun City, don’t come to Panama, you will hate it here.