My trip to Panama 2023 August-September: flights, weather, public transport, currency, Friendly Nations Visa, tourist places, and goals.
Panama 2023 August-September – Goals
My goals for this trip were:
- close my corporation;
- perhaps open a second bank account;
- try to keep my exercise routine;
- search and perhaps purchase some electronics;
- visit again some nice places I’ve been before;
- study more about my new country.
Flights
In this screenshot from the site Flight Connections, we can see how Panama is connected to many places.
My idea in the future is to use Panama as a base and hub to visit places nearby.
I have a wish list here of the places:
- L.A. in the USA;
- Belize and Costa Rica in Central America;
- Medellín and Cartagena in Colombia;
- Dominican Republic in the Caribbean;
- and probably this list will grow in the future.
In my case, as I come from Brazil, I usually take a flight from Fortaleza to Manaus, and from there, to Panama.
If you travel in Copa Airlines Executive class, you have the right to use their VIP room at Tocumen Airport.
This can be useful if the flight departs at night, and you checked out from your hotel at 12 P.M.
Weather
Despite the fact it is pouring in August and September, I was lucky, with just 2 rainy days.
But even without rain, there were many cloudy days.
Public Transport
This time I chose a new option to go from the Airport to the hotel, by subway, departing from the new station Aeropuerto.
I found this video (in Spanish) showing how to do.
Coincidentally, this video shows exactly the way to Iglezia Del Carmen station, which is close to my hotel.
Basically, we go from Aeropuerto station to Corredor Sur.
From Corredor Sur, we have access to all Line 2 stations.
If our destiny is located on Line 1, we have one more train change at San Miguelito station.
Currency
The currency in Panama is a Balboa, which is 1:1 with the American dollar.
There are just Balboa coins, as the paper is the American dollar.
We also have the American dollar coins in circulation as well.
In this picture, some few coins (Balboa above, and the American dollar below): one dollar, a quarter, twenty cents, one dime, five cents, and one cent.
Panama Friendly Nations Visa
My most important objective in this trip was to close my corporation with my lawyer’s help.
It is something that I could be done remotely from Brazil, but I opted to do personally as I was coming anyway.
Each 2-year period, I have to visit Panama, so this way the government doesn’t suspend my permanent visa (to avoid last time problems, I decided to come each one and a half years).
The reason I didn’t need the corporation anymore is that the Panama Friendly Nations Visa rules have changed.
It has become harder to obtain a new Visa, as the candidate has to buy a US$ 200,000 real estate.
In the old rules, the requirements were a Panamanian corporation plus US$ 5,000 in a local bank account. Quite a change, isn’t it?
For the ones who already obtained the Panama Friendly Nations Visa, nothing changes.
Tourist places
As it was rainy, and in addition, I was with not much money, I decided no to make trips to distant places.
I remained in the city, visiting again the places I liked from other trips, like Bella Vista, Casco Antiguo, and J.W. Marriot (Trump Tower), and some new places I didn’t know.
One of them was the Albrook Central Bus Station.
From here, we can take a bus to many Panamanian cities, and even a bus to Costa Rica.
Next to the bus station, there is also Albrook Mall.
Goals
About the goals I defined:
- close my corporation – OK;
- perhaps open a second bank account – I decided to maintain by now just one bank account;
- try to keep my exercise routine – this was the most incredible as it was so easy to use Smart Fit Panama gym using my Brazilian Black Plan just putting my Brazilian tax identification number;
- search and perhaps purchase some electronics – after some search, I decided no to buy anything, as I didn’t consider advantageous;
- visit again some nice places I’ve been before – OK;
- study more about my new country – OK.
Conclusion – I love Panama
When I closed my corporation, I finished all activities with my lawyer’s help.
I thanked her for all the steps she helped me to obtain the Friendly Visa:
- first, the bank account in 2019 September;
- the incorporation in 2019 November (remotely);
- the Visa application, in the immigration, on 2020 February, obtained the temporary visa;
- the permanent visa was approved in 2020 July, but due to the pandemics, I could just return in 2022 February;
- the cedula (Panamanian ID card), at Tribunal Electoral in 2022 February;
- and now, finally, closed the corporation.
After all these steps, with one initial trip as a tourist, in 2017 July, I realized how I loved Panama and its people since the beginning.
It is so amazing to feel so good in a place that is not your birthplace.
References
- Expat Exchange Forum – Panama;
- Guia de Destinos – Panama (in Portuguese);
- Panama category;
- Albrook Mall;
- Smart Fit Panama;
- Panama Subway;
- Panamanian Immigration;
- Lamboglia Law Office;
- Flight Connections;
- Copa Airlines.