Panama Real Estate - Century 21

Azim Haidaryan
The Panama City skyline.
By SILVANA PATERNOSTRO
Published: November 20, 2005

Teddy Roosevelt, Cómo Está?

On my flight from Newark to Panama City, I wonder what I will find after years of being away. People say Panama is going to become a destination for packaged ecotours, much the same as Costa Rica. I still find that hard, and sad, to believe. From 1977 to 1986, Panama was my home - it was a Latin Casablanca, with arms runners, drug lords and revolutionaries as well as Farah Diba, Margot Fonteyn and Graham Greene.

Panama Today

Azim Haidaryan

An alley in Casco Viejo, the colonial part of Panama City.

I returned years later as a reporter after Manuel Noriega was thrown out. That Panama was about discothèques serving Dom Perignon. The men wore starched guayaberas and drove shiny BMW's, and the women wore high heels, even to the beach.

Now I am back again. As we near the city, my driver, shows me with pride all that I've missed since I've been away. "Panama has really grown," she says, pointing at MultiCentro. "The mall that competes with Miami."

I meet a landscape architect who says her Panama is not about hair and makeup. "I came here because I saw a white owl on the beach," she says.

Who will prevail? I wonder. The shopper or the nature lover?

Want a Hotel Room? Better Know Someone

Aware that there are no good hotels in Casco Viejo, the colonial part of the city, where I wanted to stay, I call my friend Ovidio Diaz Espino, a Panamanian banker who lives in New York. When I lived in Panama, Casco Viejo was rundown and dangerous. Ten years later, people are renovating buildings and opening restaurants, art galleries and jazz bars.

Ovidio bought a four-bedroom apartment around the corner from the National Theater and turned it into a bed-and-breakfast called Casa Mar Alta. It's always booked, but using Ovidio's name gets me the master suite, with all the charm and decadence of the Chateau Marmont - wraparound balconies, roof terrace, original 1920 mosaic floor tiles.

Vielka Quezada serves as the casa's lady-in-waiting. No request is taken lightly. She can iron clothes, get white cheese from Queso Chela and charter a private plane, all in one day. But alas, even my pull can't help me remain. Other guests are coming. Vielka arranges for me to move to the University Club, which turns out to be a lovely duplex with a balcony that faces another balcony belonging to a bright blue house with a rusty zinc roof that transforms the rain into a jazzy accompaniment to the blaring reggaeton.

For those who prefer a bigger hotel, there's the Intercontinental Miramar Panama Hotel, a glossy high-rise on the bay of Panama that is "so tacky," an Italian expat tells me, "Mick Jagger thinks it's cool." Jagger has been seen in Panama City a few times on his way to boarding a friend's boat that is anchored in nearby Coiba, an archipelago of 35 islands or so off the Pacific coast of Panama. I am, like Jagger, on my way there.

But First, a Little Cultura

Casco Viejo is a walled area of colonial buildings where artists, journalists and prominent rabiblancos - the local expression for the well bred - live. Rubén Blades, the musician and now the minister of tourism, was one of the first to move in. It feels like a mix of the Lower East Side and Old Havana, with a couple of prettified streets like the ones you find in Old San Juan. Some of the buildings and parks have been beautifully restored. Others are decrepit and scary.

I sit in the Cathedral Square sipping sangria, away from the neon lights and glass-and-steel towers of Panama City. The lovely old plaza is nearly deserted. It is probably the only colonial square left in the Caribbean that is not overrun with foreigners. Women who look like grandmothers walk to 6 o'clock mass; some kids kick around a soccer ball. Don't tell these ladies that Panama is no longer about hair and makeup. I see a woman with rollers the size of soup cans taking communion.

Outside Las Bovedas, the old Spanish fort and prison, the Kuna Indians sell trinkets to tourists. Elderly women in traditional dress don't say much, but a young man in a T-shirt tells me he is a university student majoring in tourism. Downstairs, in what served as prison cells for pirates, is an art gallery that houses la coleccion de la dictadura, the dictator's collection. I've noticed that everyone now refers to the Noriega years as la dictadura, as if reducing them to a generic label affords some patina from the past. Of the hundreds of confiscated paintings, my favorite is the one of Noriega's wife wearing pearls, with much whiter skin than she has. I ask about prices, thinking it would be fun to own a piece of art from a deposed dictator, but the receptionist, who has gone back to filing her long nails, tells me it is not for sale. The collection is considered national patrimony.

Is Biology Destiny?

In 1992, soon after Noriega was hauled off to prison, I flew over Panama with the new drug czar, who wanted to show journalists how, with the nature of the coastline, it was going to be "very hard" to eradicate drug traffic in Panama. "Look at all those nooks and crannies," he said. Where he saw ominous drug depots, I saw amazing places to surf and to dive.

Panama Today

What I didn't know then is that all those beaches are also unique and fragile. Panama has one of the richest ecosystems on the planet. "It is Mecca for tropical research," says Hector Guzman, a scientist stationed here with the Smithsonian Tropical Research Institute at Naos Marine Laboratory. "All the theories of tropical evolution originate here." He tells me how three million years ago, North and South America were not attached by Central America. The Gulf of Mexico and the Pacific Ocean were one body. Panama used to be hundreds of tiny islands that came together through a geological process. This closure brought much change in climate and in rainfall. "It all happened right here," Guzman says.

For tourists, this means more birds than Costa Rica, more sharks, more whales, more coral reefs. The place is such an important ecological site that Frank Gehry, who is married to a Panamanian, has designed a museum to celebrate its biodiversity. A campaign is afoot to save the island of Coiba, which is its own Galápagos, a breeding ground for endangered sea life and home to plants, monkeys and birds that exist nowhere else. When I finally make it here - in a soaking rain and an uncovered boat - I am greeted by huge mangroves whose roots resemble black serpents, as entangled as the electric cables of Mexico City. I see dolphins and whales and a rainbow as big as the Brooklyn Bridge. I get to meet Tito, a tame crocodile that comes when called, if you have food.

Coiba is pristine because it was a penal colony for years.

In July of 2004 it finally became a national park, and there is just a handful of cabins for visitors. It has a population of about 25 policemen and park rangers and a dozen prisoners who help with the cooking and upkeep. It is the only place I've been where you can have coffee in the morning made by a convicted killer.

Getting the Goods

A day of driving, shopping and eating in Panama City is like going around the world. There is so much Hebrew spoken at the kosher deli in Punta Paitilla that it feels like Tel Aviv. Cross the gate with the red dragons and yellow lanterns of Barrio Chino, and you feel as if you've landed in Shanghai. Casa Danté, an elegant Spanish-style house on Calle Cincuenta, is a mini-Bloomingdale's. It's a nice, sobering sight between a huge McDonald's, the banks and a slew of supersonic-looking Ferrari and BMW dealerships.

There are a few fun, kitschy stores like Sol de la India on Avenida Tumbamuertos, which specializes in everything Indian. The best magazine shop is in a drugstore in Punta Paitilla, the Farmacia Arrocha, where I could leaf through Hola! for hours. Bargain hunters head to Salsipuedes, which means "get out if you can." It is Panama's bazaar, a street so narrow and filled with vendors that it is dark at noon. A step away is Santa Ana's Plaza, where on a weekday at noon you can visit a doctor and have your fortune told, each for $5.

You can buy lottery tickets and three different tabloids ablaze in brightly colored gore. You can also get a shoe shine.

At Café Coca Cola, an institution among the Avenida Central crowd, they do a good café con leche. If you like eating at Chino-Latino dives in New York, go in. Be careful crossing the street. The Red Devils, Panama's infamous buses, seem to stop for nothing. Panama is famous for its "bus art." On the windows, drivers write their girlfriends' names in gothic letters, and they compete with one another to see who has the better pop portrait spray-painted on the back. Britney Spears and Shakira are current favorites, after Jesus on the cross, of course.

Lo Que Pasa, Pasa

I think Panama will never be Costa Rica, although Panama clearly surpasses it in natural beauty. Costa Rica is an unambiguous magnet for ecotourists; Panama is too hard to categorize. It's a laboratory for scientists; a private Xanadu for the jet set; a moneymaker to real estate developers; and, yes, a money hider. Panama would like to become a place where people go to forget about their lives and see birds. But that is all pretense.

As I stand on the corner of Avenida España and Calle Argentina, an ugly intersection far from the charm of the Casco Viejo and the beauty of Coiba, I realize Panama is uncontrollable; it is a place that serves as a thoroughfare. Panama has a canal mentality - it lets anyone and anything move through it, as long as they pay. While some visit Panama for the birds, and many more will, many still go for the paradox.

North Carolina's Charlotte Observer:
27th of November 2005
ANNABELLE GARAY Associated Press

In Panama, the canal is just the start, enjoy a tropical excursion, have an inexpensive meal or explore a colonial city.

PANAMA CITY, Panama - Known for its famed waterway, Panama's capital boasts more than just a spot to watch the ships cross through the engineering marvel.

Visitors can chose between a swim in the Pacific or the Caribbean, hear tales of pirates looting the city's original site, find bargain shopping, sample tropical fruits and try their luck at the horse races in Panama City.

OUTDOORS: Head to the Amador Causeway and snap photos of Panama's downtown or the Bridge of the Americas, where traffic crosses over while ships cruise through the canal. Once part of the off-limits Canal Zone guarded by the U.S. military, the causeway has become a favorite of locals and tourists. The thin strip surrounded by the ocean houses duty free shops, restaurants, hotels and dance clubs. Construction signs and sites make it evident that there's more on the way. Kiosks sell hammocks, guayaberas, hats and molas, brightly colored fabrics with elaborate, hand-sewn designs of the Kuna Indian tribe.

By day, twenty-somethings and families catch the cool of the ocean breeze while biking, in-line skating, or jogging along the causeway. It's a strenuous and humid walk, so renting multiseat bikes at the stretch's entrance works best.

For a day of diving, snorkeling and other water sports, head for Taboga Island, on the Pacific Coast. Ferries bound for Isla Taboga leave from a Balboa pier and the causeway each morning and return in the late afternoon.

MUSEUMS: Check out any of the Smithsonian Tropical Research Institute's stations. Visit one of the island sites, such as the Barro Colorado Field Research Station, for a boat ride across the canal's Gatun Lake and a chance to see a half-dozen native monkey species in their natural setting.

At the Marine Exhibition Center in Punta Culebra, view sloths, pelicans and other tropical forest-dwellers along with an unfettered view of the ships crossing and the rhythmic pounding of waves crashing on jagged rocks. Both kids and adults will be mesmerized watching the crab-eating shark and hearing the boas slithering in the dry forest walk within the park.

CUSINE: For breakfast, sip a frothy cafe con leche, made with locally grown coffee beans, or cinnamon tea. Beer connoisseurs should look for local brews Soberana, Balboa and Atlas, which have a light taste that's thirst-quenching in the sticky climate.

Pencas offers a view of the ocean and authentic Panamanian cuisine, which is inexpensive even at many upscale eateries. On the restaurant's menu are mini-tamales wrapped in plantain leaves, pesada de nance (a cereal-textured fruit dessert with bits of white cheese), dorado en salsa de coco (fish in coconut sauce) and ojaldas (a fried bread). On Wednesday nights, Pencas features a troupe of foot-shuffling folk dancers and a live band complete with accordion. As the show wraps up, dancers and some of the servers extend their hands for a dance with audience members. When I told our waiter that I didn't know the steps, he turned to my mom and asked "Does the lady dance?"

HISTORY: History buffs should explore the remnants of Panama's colonial past to learn about its history in the quest for riches in the Americas. Just a taxi away from most points in the capital city is Panama la Vieja. In 1671, Panama la Vieja was sacked by pirates, led by Sir Henry Morgan. Red-brick streets, a cathedral spire and crumbling walls, arches and buildings of the Spanish settlement era remain.

Guided tours telling of the colony's former grandeur and demise are available.

Some miles away is the Casco Viejo, an old colonial neighborhood with narrow streets and pastel-colored buildings in the midst of renovation. Its architecture resembles New Orleans' French Quarter.

Just like locals have for centuries, watch the sunset from the Paseo de las Bovedas, a sea walk along an old Spanish military fort that served as a prison. Other sites include the Catedral Metropolitana, El Teatro Nacional and the unguarded Church of the Golden Altar. Several restaurants and cafes also dot the neighborhood.

GAMBLING: Place a bet on the horse races at the Hipodromo Presidente Jose A. Remon on a Thursday afternoon and mingle with locals and visitors. The horseracing park also opens weekends and holidays.

More than a half-dozen other casinos also offer all-night games of chance in Panama. Among the favorite spots is the casino at the Hotel Panama.

NIGHTLIFE: Hit the causeway or the city's financial district for some dancing, dining and drinking.

ELSEWHERE: Panama City also connects travelers by plane, bus or boat to other provinces. You can spot large green plantain leaves and dozens of noni plants heading out of the capital city. If you roll down the car windows while driving through heavily forested areas, you might hear the monkeys shrieking.

The province of Colon is where gold and silver from the Americas passed before being transported to Europe. Explore the cannons and the lush green Spanish fortress in Portobelo.
Bocas del Toro offers scuba diving and national parks for trekking.
Baru volcano is Panama's highest point at 11,408 feet. Close by is the alpine town of Boquete, in the province of Chiriqui.

Pana-mania
DETAILS

SMITHSONIAN TROPICAL RESEARCH INSTITUTE MARINE EXHIBITION CENTER: www.stri.org. Adults, $2; retirees, $1; children, 50 cents.HIPODROMO PRESIDENTE JOSE A. REMON RACING PARK: www.hipodromo.com/general.

TIPS

SAFETY: Panama is relatively safe, but be aware and don't venture into questionable neighborhoods at night. The country has a special police force to help tourists.

DRIVING: Driving within the city can be erratic and some areas have few traffic signs or lights.

TAXIS: Taxis looking for a fare usually honk. Wave to flag them down and settle on price before taking trips.

RESOURCES

Panamanian Consulate, 2801 Ponce de Leon Blvd., Suite 1050, Coral Gables, FL 33134; (305) 447-3700; www.visitpanama.com.

New York Times - September 9, 2005
Panama City, Panama
By Denny Lee

PANAMANIANS joke that the McDonald's franchises and glass skyscrapers make Panama City the " Miami of the South," except that more English is spoken here. But more than a decade and a half after an American invasion leveled part of the city and about six years after United States troops pulled out of the country and ceded control of the Panama Canal, the city is asserting itself as a tourist destination, not just a scenic overpass for an engineered waterway. Fashionable hotels now dot the cosmopolitan skyline. Crumbling colonial homes are being polished into bohemian gems. Emerald rain forests woo eco-tourists. There might even be a Frank Gehry-designed museum in the future, with the hope of sparking a so-called " Bilbao effect" for the port of Balboa. For now, anyway, Panama City hasn't been overrun by tourists. But with daily direct flights from about six cities in the United States, including New York, Newark and Los Angeles, that might not last.

Friday
4 p.m.
1) Colonial Explorer
Go back to the future with a stroll through the cobblestone alleys of Casco Viejo, a colonial-era neighborhood frequented by snow-cone vendors. Abandoned by the city's elite in the 1950's, the area became a squatters' slum. In recent years, however, artists, professionals and snowbirds have turned skid row into real estate gold. Among the prominent residents is Rubén Blades, the musician and actor who is now the country's minister of tourism. Take a taxi to the Plaza de Francia, at the peninsula's tip. From there, you can walk to the Golden Altar at the San Jose Church (Avenida A and Calle 8a Este), one of the few treasures that wasn't ransacked by Henry Morgan, the pirate captain, in 1671; the heron-infested presidential palace (Avenida 4 and Calle Eloj); and the slick if encyclopedic Interoceanic Canal Museum (Plaza de la Independencia, 507-211-1649).

6:30 p.m.
2) Cerveza Garden
After wilting in the tropical heat, grab a cold Atlas beer at La Casona de las Brujas (Plaza Herrera), one of the trendy lounges and cafes that have sprung up in Casco Viejo. This one has a raw gallery upfront (photographs of local artisans were recently on display), and a concrete garden out back, lending it a transitional East Berlin flavor that goes well with the artsy crowd. Guitar bands take over a makeshift stage at night, playing a brash mix of "rock de Panamá."

8:30 p.m.
3) Dinner and Dancing
For Panamanian cooking (similar to Cuban with a lot of seafood), try Tinajas Restaurant (22 Calle 51, 507-263-7890) in El Cangrejo, the central banking district. National staples like corbina ceviche ($4), jumbo shrimps in coconut sauce ($12.50) and ropa vieja ($7.50), spicy shredded beef over rice, are served accompanied by live folkloric dancing in a homey atmosphere. The costumed dance begins at 9 p.m. on Tuesdays, Thursdays, Fridays and Saturdays.

11 p.m.
4) Hit the Clubs
Like South Beach in Miami , Panama City has its share of velvet ropes, although the lower model quotient provides for less attitude. Many doors don't open until 11 p.m., so for a preclub cocktail drop by the Martini Bar at the Radisson Decapolis Hotel (Avenida Balboa, 507-215-5000) and watch the city's peacocks preen on bright orange sofas. After a martini ($6 to $9) or two, many head to nearby Calle Uruguay, where there are no fewer than a dozen hot spots catering to straights, gays, punks and fashionistas. At Moods (Calle 48 and Calle Uruguay, 507-263-4923), the stiletto-heeled and open-collared partygoers grind their hips to Panamanian reggae until dawn.

Saturday
10 a.m.
5) Café con Leche
Suppress your urge for an Egg McMuffin and nurse your hangover at El Trapiche (Vía Argentina, 507-269-4353), a busy diner in El Cangrejo, for a hearty breakfast of carimañola, a savory roll made of mashed yucca and stuffed with ground beef and boiled eggs, and a side of corn tortillas, which look more like silver-dollar pancakes than taco shells. The bill should come to under $8, even with a second café con leche.

Noon
6) Boat Spotting
No trip to Panama City is complete without a visit to the Panama Canal. Instead of standing around in your fanny pack, have lunch at the Miraflores Locks, the southernmost of three sets of water elevators that fill and drain as ships wend their way between the Pacific and Atlantic Oceans by way of the Caribbean Sea. Just five miles from the city's center, the new Miraflores Visitor Center (507-276-8427) is home to a multilevel exhibition and a third-floor restaurant (507-232-3120; shown top left) where you almost touch the passing vessels while you refuel. To ensure a choice table, call the restaurant for reservations (the lunch buffet is $17); you can also call the center for the day's scheduled crossings.

2 p.m.
7) Suburban Jungle
To complete your self-guided tour, go halfway up the 50-mile-long canal to the Gamboa Rainforest Resort (507-314-9000), a 340-acre nature reserve complete with an aerial tram that slices through the Soberanía National Park, a Tarzan-like jungle that is home to a staggering 500-plus species of birds. An observation tower offers another bird's-eye view. Situated 30 minutes from the city center, the resort is as idyllic and unspoiled as downtown Panama City is hurried and urban.

5:30 p.m.
8) Sunset Strip
As the day wanes, there's no better place to rejuvenate than the mile-long Amador Causeway, which juts out between the canal and Panama Bay. Made from rocks excavated from the channel, the three connecting islands form an esplanade of parks, cafes, oceanfront condos and a new cruise ship terminal. By day, bicyclists ride and joggers stride along the narrow roadway, soaking in the dazzling views of the city's crescent-shaped waterfront - a veritable timeline that spans from 17th-century steeples and fishing nooks to modern office towers and airy penthouses. By night, the distant skyline comes alive like twinkling stars.

8 p.m.
9) Fancy Fusion
For a memorable meal, take a cab to Eurasia (Calle 48, 507-264-7859) in the busy central district of Bella Vista. Reflecting the city's immigrant stew, this Chinese-owned restaurant marries local ingredients with French techniques and Asian flavors. Favorites include a gravlax timbale filled with a passion fruit-cured ceviche ($12.50), and cornmeal-encrusted prawns in a tamarind and coconut sauce ($15.50). The stately dining room has marble floors and handsome artworks that evoke a colonial manor.

11 p.m.
10) Ships That Pass in the Night
If you still have the energy, pop back to the causeway, to the Fort Amador Resort and Marina, located at its tip. For a civilized nightcap, head to the bar at Café Barko (507-314-0000), where the crowd ranges from fun-loving locals to chatty cruise passengers. Should a second wind strike, there are several dance clubs in the entertainment complex, including Alcatraz, a popular nightclub for well-heeled club kids.

Sunday
10 a.m.
11) Old Panama Hat
History buffs won't want to miss the tombstone-like ruins of Panamá Viejo, the original 1519 Spanish settlement sunken along the eastern fringes of the modern city. A Unesco World Heritage Site, its stumpy walls resemble a sprawling Central American Stonehenge. When your camera runs out of memory, check out the nearby artisanal market for last-minute souvenirs.

The Basics

Direct flights from Newark Liberty International Airport to Panama City take about five hours. Tocumen International Airport is about 12 miles northeast of the city center, reachable by taxi for about $25 (the United States dollar is used in Panama).

Although there are buses, routes are not clearly marked. Taxis are cheap and should run under $5 for most trips. If you find a driver you like, consider hiring that person for as little as $40 for part of the day.

The 240-room Radisson Decapolis is new and centrally located (Avenida Balboa, 507-215-5000). Published rates start at $160, but lower rates may be found online.

El Panama Hotel (Vía España, 507-215-9000), a modernist landmark, has 330 rooms starting at $115.

The oceanfront Intercontinental Miramar (Avenida Balboa, 507-206-8888) has 185 rooms starting at $200, though lower rates can be found online.

FORTUNE MAGAZINE -July 11, 2005
RETIREMENT GUIDE 2005 Paradise Found: Where to Retire Abroad
By Ellen Florian Kratz

Who can resist the fantasy? Instead of catching the early-bird special in Florida, wouldn't it be more fun to sip away your sunset years in Provence? Such thoughts often occur on vacations. During a pastis-induced haze, you think, Who needs Target or Oreo cookies or 100 cable channels to make life enjoyable? I could live here forever. You nurse the dream, lingering over real estate ads in a local café. But soon you realize that your nest egg isn't going to let you buy one of those overpriced villas and live like Peter Mayle for the rest of your life. Before you know it, the vacation is over, and so is your reverie. Don't fret. We found five idyllic placesfrom Patagonia to Phuketwhere you can still live like a king on what you've saved. So dream on.

Boquete, Panama
Janet 51 and Newton Osborne 68

The Osbornes had been thumbing through retirement community brochures from all over the U.S. when Newton, a professor of obstetrics at Howard University, considered the possibility of retiring in Panama the country where he was born. "There are certain advantages to Panama," says Osborne, who has lived in the U.S. for 45 years and is planning to retire in the next few months. "I won't have to shovel snow, and I won't have to pay property tax for the next 20 years." So in 2001 he took a trip to visit both a coastal and a mountain community. He chose the latter and brought Janet to Boquete a few months later to look at property. They purchased a lot on a hill overlooking a golf course and have built a three-bedroom white-stucco house with a red-tile roof (total cost: about $250,000). "You can hear the sound of rivers here," says Janet. "It's very peaceful."

San Carlos de Bariloche, Argentina
Paul Schutt 51 and Merry Tuten 50

Since they were married 27 years ago, Paul Schutt and Merry Tuten have been planning for retirement. "It was always our goal to retire by 50," says Paul. They were ahead of the game when it came to timing. But figuring out where was another matter. After living for six years in Chile, where both of them worked for an Australian company, they moved back to California in 2001. That retirement lasted all of six months. "They say you can't go home again if you've lived abroad," says Merry. So when Paul, an energy consultant, was tapped by the Bahamian government to evaluate liquid-natural-gas projects, the couple jumped at the chance to get back to work, and over the next three years got a taste of island life. It wasn't for them. While living in Chile, they had visited Argentina and liked the welcoming culture, which they see as a magnet for intellectuals, artists, and scientists. They first considered Buenos Aires, then settled on Patagonia because of the seasons and the outdoor activities. From their 3,300-square-foot home, which they moved into six months ago and which they describe as "Frank Lloyd Wright meets the Andes," they can see the fourth hole of a golf course and a ski area in the distance. "I've lived in pretty places, but this is magical," says Merry. "It's like being in the Alps, but bigger. The trees are bigger, the vistas are more grand."

Dubrovnik , Croatia
Bob Benmosche 61

For Bob Benmosche, chairman and CEO of MetLife, 1999 was a very good year. An avid wine collector, he visited Croatia that year to see for himself where the Zinfandel grape originated and to check on how well the country had fared since an earlier visit in 1986. While there, he heard about a 7,000-square-foot home for sale on the Adriatic Sea, two miles outside the walls of Dubrovnik, a city that George Bernard Shaw called "paradise on earth." Garbage lay all over the ground. Pieces of shrapnelmementos of Croatia 's recent warswere embedded in the trees. The inside of the home, which had been used as military barracks, was wrecked. Though Benmosche had a vague idea that he'd like to retire abroad, he didn't want to purchase a house then and there. But when he stepped onto the second-floor balcony to take in the Adriatic, he says, it was "unbelievably beautiful I had this view of what it could look like fixed up." He bid about $1 million for the house and won, and over the past few years he has been making that vision a reality. Renovations on the home are expected to be finished by the end of this year, just in time for his retirement next spring.

Mérida, Mexico
Sylvia 60 and Ron Jackson 62

The Jacksons had planned to make Houston their retirement haven and then buy a place somewhere else in the world. But during a weekend trip to the Yucatán two years ago that plan changed. "For some reason, we decided that's where we would buy a home," says Sylvia, who is now learning Spanish. "It's like we belong here." They made an offer within days and are now the proud owners of a 200-year-old, 8,000-square-foot hacienda, listed on the historical registry, which they recently finished restoring. The house cost $155,000, but they plowed another $500,000 into the property. "We have a nice lifestyle here," says Ron, president and CEO of Meadowbrook Golf in Florida. "It has one of the most unique cultures in Mexico." Jackson hasn't decided when he's going to make the move to Mérida, but the Houston house he has owned for 22 years is up for sale.

Phuket , Thailand
Janpen 43 and John Magee 66

John Magee had always worked in big cities. His banking career took him across the globe from New York to Copenhagen, Beirut, Cairo, and finally Hong Kong, where he spent the last 17 years of his career working for American Express Bank. On weekends, he would visit Phuket, an "indescribably beautiful" little fishing village in Thailand. The place was so remote he couldn't find a fax machine. Eventually he leased a piece of property on the beach and built a house, where he retired in 1992. He sold it four years ago, not long after meeting his wife, to build a four-bedroom, two-kitchen house (cost: $375,000). Soon after he retired, he started the island's first English-language newspaper, the Phuket Gazette, as a hobby. "I love writing," he says. "But I had never had the opportunity to do it." The fishing village has come a long way since Magee first visited. "There used to be a lot of backpackers here," he says. "Now there are a lot more retired lawyers, bankers, and businesspeople." And a lot more fax machines.

NEWSWEEK March 14, 2005
Money: Running Away to Retire

After a lifetime in Minnesota , Randy and Rhonda Berg turned their backs on frigid winters, work and the high cost of living in the United States . They sold everything and retired to Costa Rica in 2002, enticed by reports of cheap Real Estate and a laid-back lifestyle. "The first week was an eye-opener," says Randy, 58, describing balky real-estate agents, an Internet-touted house that was "an absolute disaster" and the urge to head back home. They stuck it out, and now he and Rhonda, 48, have the retirement lifestyle of their dreams, complete with a sprawling mountaintop property, a custom-built home and household help, all for less than $2,000 a month. "There isn't anything that would entice me to move The Bergs are part of a trend that demographers say will only increase as baby boomers start cashing their Social Security checks: Americans retiring to other countries where the prices are low and the living is easy. Hot spots like Costa Rica , Panama and Belize look like Florida circa 1970: new developments, proximity to water, no snow and lots of hype. Numbers are hard to come by, but some estimates put 11,000 American retirees in Costa Rica , 2,500 in Panama and more than 100,000 in Mexico , which got an early start.

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WALL STREET JOURNAL March 14, 2005
Panama Seeks Miami 's Heat
Latin American Nation Lures Banks & Travelers in Post-Sept. 11 Era

By JOEL MILLMAN in Panama City, Panama, and EVAN PREZ in Miami Staff Reporters of THE WALL STREET JOURNAL March 14, 2005;

Anna Paula Gama, an accounts executive for MTV Brasil, got a cold reception when she arrived in Miami last year for a vacation. Despite having visited the U.S. four previous times, she was pulled aside by immigration agents and grilled about her finances. She emerged teary-eyed, vowing to never visit Miami again. "They pened all my bags, opened my wallet, dropping money all over the floor, then they left me to pick it up myself," she recalls.

Complaints about stepped-up U.S. border scrutiny since the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks are prompting any Latin American travelers to do more than gripe: They are using places like Panama City's Tocumen international Airport as a regional hub instead of Miami, once the preferred way station for Latin fliers making connections to Europe or North America or even destinations within the region.

It is just one way in which Panama is taking advantage of the post-Sept. 11 environment to help itself -- usually at the expense of Miami . The small isthmus nation, normally off the radar of international travelers and investors, also is luring banks that want to protect back-office operations from terrorist attack and is pitching itself as a safe but friendly port-of-call for businesses as diverse as cruise ships and call centers. Panama 's historical ties to the U.S. and its relatively large number of English speakers -- 14% of the opulation -- also make it an attractive alternative to Miami .

So far, the strategy is paying off. Airline seat capacity from Miami to Latin America, an indicator of assenger traffic, is down 15% in the current quarter compared with the same period in 2000, according to BACK Aviation Solutions, a New Haven , Conn. , consulting company. At Panama 's Tocumen, seat capacity to other Latin American destinations is up 26% during the same period.

For business travelers like Ernesto Baca, an Argentine who moved to Panama last year to run Telecarrier SA, a new data-services provider, being based in Panama helps him serve far-flung clients throughout the region and save two to three hours compared with flying through Florida . " Miami , with all the security checks, has become a hell for international connections," Mr. Baca says.

To serve people like him, Panama's main airline, Compana Panamea de Aviacin SA, known as Copa, soon will have two daily nonstops between Panama City and both So Paulo, Brazil, and Buenos Aires. In 2002, there were only four direct flights between those cities and Panama each week.

In October, Spanish carrier Iberia Airlines shut down its Miami hub, which previously ferried travelers between Central America and Europe . Iberia found too many passengers were missing connecting flights, and began flying passengers directly to different destinations in the region on different days.

"We were losing money because the new security rules turned what used to be a very good hub into a nightmare," says Jaime Prez Guerra, an Iberia spokesman in Madrid . To help attract carriers like Iberia , Panama approved a $12 million plan last year to remodel Tocumen Airport and add a second runway.

Also, last week Panama 's Copa made a surprise bid to take over Colombia 's second-largest airline, AeroRepublica SA. The move by Copa, which has the U.S.'s Continental Airlines as a 49% partner, could double traffic through the Tocumen hub by routing AeroRepublica travelers bound for the U.S. or other Caribbean destinations through Panama instead of Bogota.

" Panama today is the meeting point for all of the Americas ," boasts Pedro Heilbron, Copa's chairman, who notes the airline is Boeing Co.'s biggest customer in Latin America and has just added a fleet of 10 Embraer commuter jets to increase short-haul traffic through Tocumen.

Miami officials play down the notion of competition for Latin visitors and investors. Last year, Miami registered a 2.4% increase in overnight visitors from Latin American countries, says William Talbert, head of the Miami Convention and Visitors Bureau. That indicates that while fewer travelers may be using Miami as a way station, the number making Miami their destination is slowly growing.

Panama hopes more air traffic will give a boost to its cruise-ship business, too. As part of negotiations with Washington for a bilateral free-trade agreement, Panama is looking for a change in U.S. maritime regulations to encourage U.S. cruise lines to treat Panama City and Coln as home ports, a change that could make Panama more of an origination point or final destination instead of simply a canal crossing point for cruises going from one sea to another.

Panama 's offshore bank sector already has attracted some permanent residents from Miami . After Sept. 11, some banks based in Miami that catered in part to Latinos moved back-office and back-up operating systems to places like Panama to reduce vulnerability.

Telecarrier SA, a unit of Grupo Motta , Panama 's largest private conglomerate, invested $50 million to lure back-office business from U.S. banks, airlines and retailers. Telecarrier won't divulge its client list, but says nearly a dozen customers recently closed their Miami offices and moved to Panama .

Tighter scrutiny of financial flows to the U.S. similarly helped boost deposits in Panamanian banks. Deposits here reached $38 billion last year, mainly from offshore clients, despite tightening of local regulations since Panama was considered a major narcotics money-laundering center in the 1980s. The amount was up $5 billion in the year after 2001 alone. Meanwhile, foreign bank agencies in Miami held $17.1 billion in assets as of September 2004, according to the Florida Department of Financial Services. In September 2000, those banks held $20.6 billion.

After the Sept. 11 attacks, Panama eliminated a $1-per-call surcharge on international phone connections. That has brought nearly 5,000 call-center jobs here since 2002, led by such U.S. employers as Dell Inc., Spherion Corp. and Sitel Corp. "The reason we're in Panama is the great availability of bilingual workers," says Dell spokeswoman Cathy Hargett. "That, and the time zone: Same as Miami ."

Write to Joel Millman at joel.millman@wsj.com and Evan Prez at evan.perez@wsj.com.

LOS ANGELES TIMES - February 6, 2005
In Panama , American retirees finding more paradise for less
By Chris Kraul, Los Angeles Times | February 6, 2005

BOQUETE, Panama -- Golf course manager John Sutton had enough of lawyers, telemarketers, and the US government. So the San Diegan and his wife took early retirement, sold everything they owned, and moved to Panama .

The Suttons, who bought a house here last summer, exemplify the wave of American retirees who want to get away from it all -- far, far away. Each month, about 20 new ones turn up in this remote coffee-growing town in the mountains of western Panama , buying houses and starting new lives. It is the latest hot spot in Central America , a region that over the past decade has attracted increasing numbers of US retirees.

''Boquete gave us the opportunity to have a great, comfortable lifestyle," said Sutton, 50, who with his wife, Dinah, had put $5,000 down on their new house without seeing it.

Other US retirees are making similar moves, attracted by Panama 's favorable tax treatment of foreigners, the relatively low cost of living, the lush surroundings, and the eternally mild climate.

''We got tired of the snow," said retiree Barbara Votava, who moved here from Spokane , Wash. , with her husband, Bill, after he sold his business. ''This is as close to paradise as you can get."

In recent years, retired foreigners have been drawn to Costa Rica , Nicaragua , and parts of Mexico . But Panama 's moment seems to have arrived. Boquete has turned up on several recent ''Best Places to Retire" lists.

''I paid my dues, got my two boys through college, and decided things have got to be better someplace else," said John Villegas, an Arizona transplant. ''They are."

Asked to define what Boquete retirees have in common, Villegas said: ''They have strong ties to their past and recollections of better times, nuclear families, respect for the law and civility. And they have no qualms about looking outside US borders to re-create those good old days."

Like most other Latin American countries, Panama does not keep statistics on the number of foreign retirees living within its borders. But immigration officials in Panama and throughout the region agree that the numbers are rising.

Panama , for example, granted 449 special retiree visas last year, nearly double the 229 granted in 2003, according to the nation's immigration office. A total of 2,500 pensioner visas have been issued.

Costa Rica , which has been the favored Central American destination of retirees, has issued 11,000.

Under the terms of the visas, Panama 's government exempts foreign retirees from paying property or income tax, as long as they prove they have $500 minimum monthly income. Newcomers can bring in a car and as much as $10,000 in belongings tax-free. Interest from their deposits in Panama 's banks is also exempt. Retiree visa-holders also receive numerous discounts, including 50 percent off most plane and bus tickets.

Panama says the special tax status is good for the country because retirees create jobs and inject cash into the local economy.

Consider Mike LaFoley, a Boston-area native. Since he and his wife, Annie, arrived in Panama four years ago, he has started a coffee farm and spent thousands of dollars in construction improvements on his property.

About 500 foreigners live in Boquete and its environs, but last year builders got permits to construct 2,000 more housing units in expectation of a Real Estate boom.

Life in this farm town of 18,000 is unhurried, for now. Many fear that the population of rat-race refugees is rising so fast that paradise may soon lose its charm. In addition to Hidden Valley , a half-dozen subdivisions geared to Americans are under construction or on the drawing boards on former coffee farms and cattle ranches.

Rising demand for property has caused a tenfold increase in land values in two years, said Judith Urriola, manager of the local branch of Banistmo Bank.

Does Boquete have any downside? Residents noted that there is no urgent-care hospital, the closest being a 45-minute drive away in the provincial capital, David.

But Ted and Louise Harrison, emergency-room doctors from British Columbia who bought property in Panama last year, are working on a project to build one.

The biggest savings are in health insurance.

Sutton and his wife pay $50 per month for government health coverage that would cost $1,200 in San Diego.

CHICAGO TRIBUNE January 23, 2005
Panama trying to jazz up image and lure tourists

Music festival contributes to an effort to promote national identity and shake off the Noriega stigma. By Howard Reich

Tribune arts critic. Published January 23, 2005
PANAMA CITY -- Like much of Central America , this lush strip of land separating two oceans doesn't get much respect. Best known for suffering under the dictatorship of Manuel Noriega during the 1980s, incurring an invasion by the United States in 1989 and allowing the U.S. to control its primary economic asset--the Panama Canal --for nearly a century, the country has not enjoyed much positive publicity or the tourism dollars that go with it.

Hoping to change that, Panama has turned to a novel attraction: jazz. For the past few days, several of the world's foremost jazz stars --from Chicago-born drum legend Jack DeJohnette to Panama-born pianist Danilo Perez--have ventured here for the Panama Jazz Festival, a citywide event funded mostly by the local government.

The festival is part of a larger campaign to pump up tourism to Panama , which regained control of the canal in 1999 but has been working since Noriega's fall in 1989 to lure visitors from around the world. A national tourism budget that was $14.8 million in 1993 shot up to $21.7 million a decade later, with visitors more than doubling from 365,000 in 1993 to 897,000 in 2003.

Last year the figure nearly doubled again, with 1.6 million people visiting Panama as its tourism budget soared to $24 million. Still, Panamanian officials believe they are just warming up. "We haven't been as successful as we should in letting the world know about Panama ," said Panama City Mayor Juan Carlos Navarro, who recently began a second five-year term. "And I think the jazz festival is one way to share Panama with the world."

In addition, President Martin Torrijos recently appointed Panamanian pop star and Hollywood actor Ruben Blades as minister of tourism, sending him around the world to beat the drum for Panama as an enticing place to visit. "People have no clear-cut image of Panama --except Noriega," Blades said at a luncheon promoting the jazz festival. "We have to create an image for Panama , a different face."

Nowhere is the public perception of Panama more negative than in the United States , said Arlene Lachman, Panama City 's assistant cultural manager. Through most of the 20th Century, Lachman said, the U.S. operated the canal while barely acknowledging Panama 's identity. "When America controlled the Panama Canal [from 1914 to 1999], they thought of us as a military base, like Cuba , but not as a country," said Lachman. "When they invaded us, they got rid of the hated Noriega, but they made us an occupied country, which was humiliating. We are trying to show with this jazz festival that we are a real country with a real culture, that we are not the Panama that Americans saw on TV."

Certainly the image of American troops blasting high-decibel rock music into Panama City 's Vatican Embassy, where Noriega was holed up before he was captured, has lingered in the U.S. and elsewhere.

Moreover, it's debatable whether the taping of a recent season of the wild and woolly television program "Survivor" on Panama 's Pearl Islands benefited the image of this country of 3 million people. But with jazz, many Panamanian officials believe they have found a powerful way to reposition their country as a cultural magnet.

Moment of self-discovery The strategy has caught many Panamanians by surprise because they tend not to consider their country a player in the world of jazz. "When we planned the first festival, in 2003, some of my friends came to me and said, `A jazz festival in Panama --what for?'" said Navarro, the mayor. "But after the festival started catching on, those friends came to me and said, `Why didn't we do this before?'"

Though Panama 's ties to jazz may be obscure, they run more deeply than many connoisseurs might realize. Jazz pianist Luis Russell, who was born and raised in Panama, thrived in Joe "King" Oliver's incendiary band in Roaring '20s Chicago, led one of the nimblest large swing ensembles in New York from 1929-31 and accompanied Louis Armstrong on some of his first orchestral recording dates. Decades later, pianist Victor Boa built a reputation as "the Art Tatum of Panama ," saxophonist Armando Bosa led a rip-roaring big band staffed by some of the country's most accomplished jazz virtuosos and trumpeter Victor "Vitin" Paz blended the influence of Harry James' clarion horn with the distinct rhythms of Panamanian dance.

If Panama cannot be considered as influential a formulator of jazz-related genres as Cuba , the undisputed superpower of Afro-Caribbean jazz, Panama 's jazz legacy easily supports the festival's premise that the country has earned the right to identify itself with this music. "We are actually in the process of rediscovering ourselves as Panamanians, through jazz," said pianist Perez, who left the country in 1982, at 15. Long based in Boston , where he teaches at the Berklee College of Music, he ranks as Panama 's most famous musical export since Blades. "This festival is reminding us of our past," said Perez, who created the event and serves as a cultural ambassador for Panama . More important than his official titles, however, Perez has been at the forefront of bringing indigenous Panamanian music into mainstream jazz. In recordings such as "Panamonk" (1996), "Central Avenue" (1998) and "Motherland" (2000), Perez has proved not only that jazz and Panamanian folk culture are compatible but also that they share roots in African antiquity.

With this second installment of the Panama Jazz Festival, Perez and friends are attempting to make these connections apparent. Judging by the opening nights of the festival, they appear to be succeeding. On Thursday evening in the city's immense Teatro Anayansi, up-and-coming Panamanian pianist Dino Nugent sleekly incorporated Afro-Caribbean rhythms in a jazz-trio setting, producing bracingly contemporary improvisations.

The festival, which includes Americans such as saxophonist Joe Lovano and bassist John Patitucci and Panamanians such as trumpeter Paz and singer Danilo Perez Sr., who is the pianist's father, ends this weekend and commands a budget of $150,000. Though that might seem slight compared with the multimillion-dollar budgets of events such as the long-running Montreal International Jazz Festival, it is significant in a country where the annual per capita income is $4,020 and a taxi ride across Panama City runs $2.

Budget on the upswing: More important, this year's budget is an increase of 50 percent from the first edition, and Blades promises an increase the next time around as well. Yet many observers believe the country has a long way to go in persuading visitors to explore its natural and cultural resources. "Until now, Panama sure hasn't promoted itself very well, though it's one of the most beautiful places I know," said Dr. Joseph Bremer, a Chicago emergency-room physician who is vacationing here. That's why the country needs to embrace jazz, said Perez, the pianist. " Panama is in a very fragile and important transition right now," he said. "We can go up, or we can go down.
"Jazz can take us up."

Howard Reich's review of the Panama Jazz Festival will appear Monday in Tempo.
THE ASSOCIATED PRESS December 30, 2004
Panama Canal profitable 5 years after handover
Success spurs consideration of ambitious expansion project

When the United States gave Panama control over its canal, many international observers predicted the international waterway would be plagued by problems at best and chaos at worst.

But the tiny country bucked popular opinion. On Friday, five years to the day after Panama took control of the canal, the country is looking forward, not back, proudly noting that the canal has doubled its income, lowered its accident rate and is considering its most ambitious expansion plan ever.

At the end of 1999, there was a lot of worry at the local and international level about whether Panamanians could operate the canal or not, canal administrator Alberto Aleman Zubieta told The Associated Press.

But, Aleman Zubieta said, none of the doomsday predictions came true. Panama is running the government-owned canal much like a private business that is operating at maximum capacity.

Panama mulls expansion
In fact, the country is planning to hold a referendum on whether it should invest the estimated $5 billion to add new, state-of-the-art locks that would allow larger ships to cross the canal. No date has been set for the vote, which must be approved with a simple majority.

Ten percent of the world's ships are unable to pass through the narrow waterway, and the canal says the expansion would help it remain one of the fastest and easiest shipping routes between the Pacific and Atlantic oceans.

But many worry that the project will mean too much debt for the small country. Officials are investigating international financing for the project, which will likely require expanding Lake Gatun and flooding nearby communities.

If the United States was still the canal's owner, it wouldn't have the headache of coming up with the money, said Fernando Manfredo, a former assistant administrator of the canal who cautions that the government must make sure the expansion project will pay for itself. But Panama is a small, vulnerable country, and this would put us at a great risk.

Still, the 90-year-old canal, which uses water from lakes and canals to raise and lower ships, is doing well.

Increase in income, decrease in accidents
For the first time in its history, the canal raised more than $1 billion during the last fiscal year, which ended Sept. 30, and had a record surplus during that time of $183 million, administrators said. In 1999, it recorded only $500 million in income.

The waterway registered 10 accidents last fiscal year among the 14,035 boats that crossed it. That was the lowest accident rate since 1923, when only 3,967 boats passed through the waterway.

The increase in income and decrease in accidents is attributed in part to a $300 million project that widened an eight-mile stretch called the Culebra Cut , boosting the canal's traffic potential by 20 percent.

In 2002, the canal also eliminated a 1912 pricing system that charged all ships a flat per-ton rate and it began setting rates based on the type of ship and cargo.

The United States managed the canal according to its interests, said analyst Marco Gandasegui. Now the canal is in Panamanian hands, and technically, it is running better than when it was under the United States ' control. Shipping companies are very happy.

1999 handover
The United States opened the canal on August 14, 1914. But under treaties signed in 1977 by former President Jimmy Carter and Panamanian strongman Gen. Omar Torrijos, the United States handed over control of the canal on Dec. 31, 1999, a few hours before midnight.

The treaties gave Panama 360,240 acres of Real Estate that made up the Canal Zone, a fenced-in U.S. civilian and military enclave that was a sort of miniature, tropical United States .

Some initially complained about the loss of the estimated $300 million the Americans spent in Panama each year.

But most believe an increase in tourism, due in large part to the development of former U.S. lands, has created new jobs.

The situation is much better, said Ivonne Campos, a swimming instructor. The country has progressed, changing its image and creating large shopping centers and other businesses in the old military zones.

Still, Campos worries that the country is less secure without the thousands of U.S. troops once stationed here.

Lots of foreigners come here now, and they stay, including undocumented workers, she said.

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CONDE NAST TRAVEL February 2005
Panama: Tropic of Desire
February 2005 by Alan Weisman

Panama has temperate rain forests, great surf and beaches, and more birdlife than any other country in Central America. Now, Alan Weisman finds, it also has a newly elected administration that wants travelers to enjoy every bit of it.

The crumbling colonial jewel that is Panama City's Casco Viejo, the capital's old quarter, is gradually being resurrected. As my wife and I stroll the cobblestones, two bicycle-mounted Tourism Police appear alongside us. Clad in shorts, faultlessly polite, they offer their services on our first day in Panama. They take us to see the gold church altar that was saved when Morgan the Pirate sacked the city in 1671, and the market where Kuna Indians sell their elaborately appliqued molas. They show us fishing docks and former dungeons. Finally, they proudly point to an impeccably restored three-story house whose curving pastel facade overlooks the Pacific.

Its architectural meld of Spanish balconies and French doors recalls the two European intrusions that reshaped this New World isthmus: the first by conquering it, the second by digging the canal that eventually sliced it in two. Yet a third foreign power, the United States, which financed the canal, instantly begat a new nation in 1903 by recognizing Panama's first ambassador. (Since he happened to head the company that Teddy Roosevelt favored for the digging, some minor concerns over his credentialsthat he was self-appointed and actually Frenchwere dismissed.) America's diplomatic blessing effectively severed the province of Panama from an uncooperative Colombia; a century later, I still hear Latin Americans decrying this galling act of gringo imperialism, but not Panamanians, whose grateful forebears had long tried to escape distant Bogot's fitful rule.

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WALL STREET JOURNAL - June 9, 2004
Retirement Havens For the Intrepid
Nicaragua , Honduras , Panama Vie to Be the Next Florida ; Bring Your Own Horseradish
By ANDREA PETERSEN

Staff Reporter of THE WALL STREET JOURNAL June 9, 2004

Add this to the gift list for new retirees: a Spanish-English dictionary.

As legions of baby boomers prepare to retire and relocate to warmer climates, a widening range of Central American countries are vying to be their new home. While places like Costa Rica , Mexico and Belize have long lured U.S. retirees with pristine beaches and cheap living, prices in those countries have risen sharply during recent years. As a result, a new breed of intrepid retirees is branching out to countries including Panama , Honduras and Nicaragua . These countries, in turn, are rolling out the welcome mat in an attempt to snare Americans' retirement dollars.

In Panama , the hilltop town of Boquete now has a population of about 300 American retirees. Dozens live in the new real-estate development, Valle Escondido, which has a nine-hole golf course, high-speed Internet access, and a 24-hour manned security gate. On the island of Roatan in Honduras , retirees have snapped up beachfront property and are taking advantage of "pensionado" visas that allow noncitizens to live in Honduras income-tax-free if they can prove they have income of $1,500 a month.

A home like this in Palmetto Bay Plantation, Roatan , Honduras , runs about $350,000.

And while Nicaragua may conjure up images of civil war, real-estate agents are offering entire islands off the Caribbean coast for less than the cost of a condo in Florida.

No one tracks the total number of Americans retiring abroad, but there are sizeable settlements springing up. Costa Rica , for instance, is home to between 20,000 and 30,000 Americans, according to the U.S. embassy there. Overall, in 2002, 242,128 American retirees had their Social Security benefits sent to foreign countries, according to the Social Security Administration. That is up slightly from the 219,504 who listed a foreign address in 1999. Those numbers don't represent all of those retiring overseas, since many people keep a U.S. mailing address.

The move by retirees to more off-the-beaten-path destinations is being driven partly by rising prices in some of the more traditional hot spots. Home prices in San Miguel de Allende, a Mexican colonial hill town that is home to more than 10,000 Americans, have risen 8% to 11% a year for each of the past three years.

Annie and Michael LaFoley moved to Boquete , Panama , from Colorado in 2000, after deciding against Costa Rica . Instead, they plunked down $144,000 for six acres of land in Panama that include a working coffee plantation. They built a main house, a guesthouse and a greenhouse for Mrs. LaFoley's orchids.

BEYOND FLORIDA

See the growing number of countries that are courting retirees to leave the U.S.

"The quality of life, the cost of living is a lot better" than the U.S., says Mr. LaFoley, 56 years old, who owns a shopping center in Massachusetts.

Countries like these are rolling out the welcome mat to Americans with a variety of financial incentives. The LaFoleys, for instance, are in Panama on a pensionado visa similar to what is available in Honduras , which lets them live there after proving they have $500 a month apiece in income. Panama also lets retirees import a car tax-free every two years, import $10,000 of household items tax-free, and buy property tax-free if it is the owner's only home. In Honduras , those over age 65 receive a card good for discounts on airline tickets, medications and their electric and water bills.

The primary appeal is the cost of living, which can make it possible for retirees to live on nothing more than their Social Security benefits -- or live lavishly on a bit more money. Retirees are hiring live-in housekeepers for $150 a month in Panama City.

Countries like Costa Rica have been so successful at luring retirees, it's starting to eliminate some of the perks it once offered to lure Americans. "We used to have incentives, but today there are not many," says Alejandro Cedeno, minister counselor and consul general at the Embassy of Costa Rica in Washington , D.C.

The beach at Palmetto Bay Plantation on Roatan Island in Honduras

Next door in Nicaragua , real-estate agents say that Costa Rica 's cooler reception is partly what is driving some retirees to consider the formerly war-torn country. The expat community is small and residential communities are just getting off the ground. On the Pacific Coast , Rancho Santana is a new beachfront community with pools, tennis courts and a helipad. Two-bedroom houses are selling for prices starting around $99,000. Quarter-acre ocean-view lots begin at $52,900. Some of the tiny islands that dot the coasts are also for sale: A five-acre Caribbean island with a two-bedroom house, a generator and coconut trees is currently being advertised online for $230,000.

One big promoter of retiring in Central America is International Living, a travel newsletter published by Baltimore-based Agora Publishing Inc., and Agora Travel, a related travel agency. International Living (http://www.internationalliving.com/) acts as a broker for Real Estate in Panama and is one of the backers of the Rancho Santana development in Nicaragua . Agora Travel runs real-estate tours of Nicaragua , as well as Panama , Honduras and Europe .

A few other resources for people considering retiring abroad are ExpatExchange.com, which includes country-specific message boards, and the Web site for the Association of American Residents Overseas (http://www.aaro.org/), an advocacy group that has information on tax and health-insurance issues.

For retirees abroad, the living isn't always easy. For one thing, Medicare doesn't cover medical care received outside the U.S. Many have the added expense of emergency-evacuation insurance, which pays for flights to U.S. hospitals in case of a serious illness.

Shopping can be tricky, too. Mr. LaFoley, the retiree in Boquete , Panama , likes to cook but has trouble finding some ingredients at the markets in Boquete -- and even in the Costco nearby. "I had someone bring me horseradish from Miami ," he says.

Write to Andrea Petersen at <