OK, here is a question that I have not found an answer to before....my wife and I want to spend a crazy 3-4 days real estate shopping in the Jaco and surrounding area and 3-4 days outside David in Panama (Volcan, not Boquete) doing the same. Fly into PC, rent a car, drive to Volcan....then drive up thru and over to Jaco and back to SJ or is it way too much drive? We can always fly in-and-out to each but I wonder if the time frame changes if we fly rather than drive plus we miss the visuals along the drive. Any experts out there? If you don't want to post but rather regular email.... [email protected] . Thanks much.

You most likely won't find a rental car company that will let you drive a car over the border. Very few will. That is a long drive and it takes a good long time just to get through the paperwork to cross the border even if you could. We used a border guide and it still took over an hour.

Haven't been to Volcan just Cerro Punta and Boquete. If it is like either of those it will be beautiful. The Cerro Punta area was wonderful. I didn't find the road between David and Boquete very pretty although Boquete itself is very nice.

Jaco and those places in Panama are very different. House Hunters International on HGTV had people looking in Boquete for a house on the show last night. We never saw developments like that when we were there but that was a few years ago. It was a little disappointing to see a golf course.

Good luck with your house hunting. We move into our new house in Costa Rica in June. We are in a little town with few english speakers in the southern part of the country near Chirripo. Some of the local indians are from Panama. Building has been a challenge but I think it will be worth it.

You can fly between San Jose and David these days on TACA. It's a pricey $240 round trip (about an hour one-way) but it would save you long hours on the road and would eliminate the problem of crossing the border with a rental car, which, as Suzie points out, you can't do.

In another thread you were asking for a comparison between Boquete and Volcan saying you wanted to retire "in peace." I'm not convinced that's possible in Jaco.

Thanks Suzie and Jeff. The drive was an adventurous thought but you two have convinced me....plus I called Avis and they said "no thank you"! Suzie, why did you chose SE of san Jose to build? Just curious. Jeff, I understand about Jaco itself. We would want to look a little bit outside. I have a builder friend (Daystar properties), thus the thought about Jaco area. Originally, we wanted buy land and build about 2 km west of a wonderful B&B called AmaTierra near San Pablo, between Orotina and Santiago Puriscal. Greta peace int he highlands....not sure why we wrote that off.

Hi,

A little long winded but where and why you buy property in a foreign country, or any country for that matter, is not something done without some thought.

After many (15) years of traveling around the country and looking at properties (some we are kicking ourselves for not buying because they were near the coast and really cheap at the time- we turned down 90 titled acres in Drake Bay for $100,000), we finally settled in the most unlikely place of all. It is actually in a developement which is what we always said we wouldn't do. There are 20 lots on over 200 acres so it isn't so bad. We have a small rancho like most developments but it doesn't amount to much. Most of the people are great. There are only 4 of us building at the moment.
Our first love is the Osa but as time went by we decided it was just too darned hot down there as were most of the places we looked at along the coast. We orginally thought Turrialba would be a nice place, and it probably still would be. The idea of spring temperatures year round appealed to us more and more. In the meantime we went to Panama for a visit. Cerro Punta is beautiful. Boquete is darling. Lots of people leaving CR and moving to Panama because it is cheaper. Our reason for buying where we did was based more on the friends we have made over the years and the fact that we were close to a large city but not a huge city like San Jose. We are 20 minutes from the larger city where we can go to a small mall, the movies, the hardware store, restaurants, etc. We can drive to the Osa fairly easily and Dominical is only an hour away if we just want some beach time for the day. There is a new hospital being built an hour away and they are talking about an international airport in that same area. We are at the end of the road and there is nothing beyond us but one ranch and National Parks and reserves. On very bad slow going roads we are only an hour to the start of the trail up Chirripo. The Skutch farm is just a few minutes away and as we love birds this was another factor in our decision, we have wonderful birds around us. It is also in an area where there are very few tourists. Most of the people in our little town speak little to no english and yet we have made lots of friends already. We even have an internet cafe on the road up to our place.

In just the 5 weeks I spent there at a little pension during the house building, I fell in love with taking pottery classes, went to organic gardening classes, learned to attach orchids to trees and to pollinate them. I have increased my spanish by leaps and bounds and have helped with an ESL class in the city.

We never really considered the Atenas, Orotina area even though it is very beautiful now. We were worried about the potential developement and loss of natural habitat. As they are pretty much on the main ways to get to the central pacific the potential for growth is huge there it just didn't appeal to us over the long haul. Probably good from an investment point of view but that isn't why we are building down there.

We all have different reasons for buying where we do. Just be sure you are buying a place that is suited to you. Good luck with your search.

The following is where we are.
http://www.vistasdechirripo.com/

hansboomer,
Hi! We flew from SJO to David last year as well, but it wasn't TACA. I think Air Panama. . .

Oops, wasn't quite finished with that thought.

Although I don't usually recommend the company (they booked much of our Panama trip and there were a few problems), CentralAmerica.com set up the airline travel between SJO and PC, PC and David, and then David back to SJO. We had a layover in David en route to PC. It was considerably less than $240, but with higher oil prices now, that may no longer be true. . .

Very good advice about taking time to plan and doing it methodically, Suzie. I'm surprised so many people don't follow it. How many people have I met over the years who come to Costa Rica on vacation, think they've fallen in love with the country, and buy property right then and there? It's a big step, not that it can't work out, but the potential for pitfalls is there and for anyone to do things so quickly worries me.

I love the area you're moving to. I bet it will be great.

Shillmac, TACA is brand new to the San Jose-David route. Air Panama has been doing it for a couple of years now, and is charging around $240 round-trip too.

Yes, agree with Jeff--good point Suzie. We've met at least 4-5 couples who were there for the first time and looking to buy property. I've wanted to give them one of my "little speeches" about that, but refrained. Live and learn. NOT a good idea, though.

I know, without a doubt, that I could move there and be happy--in a heartbeat. But you have to take the time and get familiar with the CONS (and there are plenty) as well as the pros. Then you have to decide if you can deal with the cons on a daily basis!

Last year, I was just appalled when a friend of a friend called me to ask advice about visiting for the first time (single guy, early 50's, retiring from schoolteaching). A few of his comments, "I'm looking for a possible property purchase near the beach."; "Where can I meet women?" ; "I don't care about seeing any monkeys--see plenty of those at school."

It was all I could do to ignore the insufferably rude Ugly American comments and just keep to advising on itinerary, road conditions, general stuff. What a piece of work. Couldn't have cared less about the country or the people. Just the kind of new resident Costa Rica doesn't need--one that will not contribute one iota to the country. Or appreciate the best of it. He now owns that condo and will soon be moving there.

Oh well. . .

There is a reason a lot of people don't make it past 2 years. People go down with stars in their eyes and don't see the realities along with those stars. I have always tried to advise people to LIVE in a place even for just a few weeks to see if they can deal with the grocery stores, the banks, the weather, etc. At least it is a small dose of reality. I seriously don't know what the rush is to buy. Plenty of places to rent to try it out. I know not everyone would be happy where I will be but it is where I will be happy and that is what counts.

There will always be expats around who are not there for the beauty of the country but I know they won't be where I am living.

Good point about doing a trial run of a few weeks actually living in Costa Rica. Rent a place. See how you like it. Living in Costa Rica is MUCH different than being on vacation there, and I'm not sure all visitors grasp that point.

Costa Rica has a lot of resources that make living there less of a culture shock than many other countries, but if you move there expecting it to be like Florida or Hawaii, you're in for a big awakening.

Hi everybody!
I am a cab driver/tourist guide,i have a lot of experience driving between PC and CR because my mother in law have her normal place of residence in Alajuela(45 minutes away from SJO)my wife and i been in CR 3 times from 2003.
The roads in Panama are OK!,unfortunately is the oposite in CR roads(thousnads of pot holes everywhere
More or less 1000 kms from PC to SJO in CR.(16 hours in a non-stop trip,including the hour spend in customs offices,and a couple of stops to luch and dinner,and using the faster way called La Costanera,this is not the interamerican highway,is an alongside Pacific Cost road at the edge of the ocean.
Driving with the average of 80 kms hours from PC to David the main city in Chiriqui would be take u 7 hours of superb landscapes,u have plenty of time to stop at any "cafe" shop or panamenian dishes shops(the better)like the carimañolas(yucca with meat inside)my prefered with chicheme(kind of corn drink with milk).
If you leave PC at 8:00 am that means you would reach David at 3:00 pm(lunch time included)probably in Santiago(kfc's,McDonalds,panamenian rests,etc.)this city is at 4 hours of Panama.
You can still reach Volcan at dusk. between 4:00 pm and 4:15 pm,because will be the first time for u driving to Volcan(sharp bends)remember is the highlands at more than 1000 meters over the sea level,the average time from David to Volcan is 45 minutes in the day,maybe 55 minutes in the dark.
If u leave Volcan in the morning at 9:00 am u will be in David at 10:00 am,from David to the borderslines with CR(Paso Canoas town)1 hour more(11 o'clock)take your time for get in the custome offices and luch time,you would restart your trip at 1:00 pm to reach Jaco in CR at 5:00 pm or 6:00 pm using La Costanera(the dusk in CR is 1 hour later than in Panama,so u would reach SJO still with daylight,this is my recommended route/time for your trip,from Jaco to SJO u will have to drive maybe 3 or 4 hours more,depend of the waether and the pot holes in the roads,or THE BIG 'OR',you can use my services and my experience driving also to guide you in all the way,i have contacts in the custom offices for help with papers faster as we need.
Panama have a lot of advantages:
We have the dollar,the lower criminal levels in Central America,we have not activities volcanos,earthquakes,hurricanes,twisters,tornados, crazy dictators,100% of the panamenian people are friendly,including me(jaja!!!),so don't think more move to Panama,ARRRRRRIBA PANAMA!!!!!!!!!