A New Video for Expat Kids

Hello again,

This is going to be a really short post. I'm not sure if I've mentioned it here before, but my kids were so excited to be a part of Panama For Real, that Marlene and I were thinking it would be great to give them their own project. As much as we love including the whole family in our videos when we travel, we don't want the location reports to become Powers family vacation videos. So, how could we get them more involved?

Our new video even shows you the words 

to the Spanish version of Happy Birthday

Well, after reading through tons of emails from young families relocating to Panama, we figured out the perfect project for our kids. Oftentimes young business owners, with online companies, are content with being virtually present, meaning it doesn't matter where they are physically. So they plan an early retirement, chillin' out beachside while they conduct business on a laptop. That, or young people are often brought to Panama to assist a Panamanian business. This means, the spouse and sometimes even young children are kind of forced into an overseas move. That can be downright scary. Can you imagine? At a young age being told that you're going to leave your family and friends and go to a country where everyone speaks a different language? 

The kids had a blast making this new video

(Victoria and Nico on the right)

Well, that's the reason we started Kidpats. Estefania (11), Victoria (9), Matteo (5), and Nicolas (5) have been living that reality. They've had it a little bit easier with Marlene's family being here, but the girls didn't even speak Spanish when we moved here (the boys were infants and didn't speak much of anything at all). They've learned to make the best of this new lifestyle and our Kidpats series is aimed at helping other kids do the same. The idea is that you'll be able to sit your kids at the computer and let them see how our kids are handling a life in Panama. 

We just put our second video on the website, yesterday, and I wanted to share it with you guys. This one is all about birthday parties in Panama. You'll find our first video, with the kids hanging out at Parque Omar, on the site as well. We really hope you enjoy these. The kids are bugging me to do another one, so we should have others out soon. 

For some reason blogger is giving me a hard time embedding the video here in this blog, but if you follow the link below, it'll take you right to the page of our site that has the video. You can also see it on Youtube. Here's the link to the new Kidpats video:

http://www.panamaforreal.com/kidpats/kidpats-birthday-parties-in-panama/

Live video interview about living in Panama

Hey guys, 

This is a short post. I just wanted to show you the video above, my first interview about thestayathomegringo blog and www.PanamaForReal.com. The interview is with Michael Drouillard at www.canpanconnection.ca. Head over to his site too and check it out. It's full of great information about Panama. He really does his research. Karen at www.localtravelexcursions.com was also part of our conversation. She's been a reader for awhile and was very supportive. I just want to say thanks to Michael and Karen for making this a great opportunity. It was a lot of fun!

Oh and please like and share the video with everyone you know!

Chris

Check out Cerro Azul, the closest mountain town to Panama City, Panama

Good morning everyone,

I'm super excited this morning because I'm about to participate in a live video chat with Michael from the Canada Panama Connection. His website is: http://www.canpanconnection.ca/ if you want to check it out. Karen from Local Travel Excursions (http://www.localtravelexcursions.com/) will also be on the call. She's been working with the Canada Panama Connection to put together some really cool relocation tours.

This Google+ Hangouts chat will be posted on Youtube after the conversation takes place, for anyone who wants to check it out. I'll be talking a lot about blogging, about living here, and about www.PanamaForReal.com. 

I'm a little bit concerned because I got some feedback the other night from someone (you know who you are!) who seemed to feel that I was kind of abandoning this Stay At Home Gringo blog for my new site at Panama For Real. That's not the case at all. They're kind of one and the same. In fact, I copy this blog over there on that site, in the PFR Blog section. Every blog post I write will show up here first, then will be copied over there. But there is a lot of other info at PanamaForReal.com. It's much more than a blog.

For anyone who isn't sure what Panama For Real is, let me explain. I moved to Panama a little over 4 years ago and it was a lot to handle. And I had my wife's Panamanian family to help. Most people moving here don't have that support system waiting for them. So I want Panama For Real to be like that extended family, that support system for people moving here. It's the only site, as far as I know, that takes people to each and every province, town, and neighborhood in Panama and shows through very detailed written and video reports, what it's like to live in or visit all of these places in Panama. And it's 100% free. All the information on the site will always be FREE. I will probably sell a book in the sidebar at some point, or add a section about developments and investment opportunities you can get involved in, but I'll NEVER sell my reports and information about living here. I don't believe in charging people an arm and a leg like some of these other companies out there, just for info that everyone should be privy to. 

Here's an example of what I'm talking about. I'll post the first couple of paragraphs here, then, if you like what you're reading, click the link and read the whole report at Panama For Real. This is our most recent report on Cerro Azul, the closest mountain town to Panama City, Panama. I won't post the whole thing here because it's just double the work, and I really do want you guys to check out the new site and become comfortable with it. 

Cerro Azul--Mountain Living Only Minutes 

From Panama City, Panama

We moved to Panama with the intention of living a different lifestyle from what we were living back in the States. We're still a young family, trying to figure out where we're going to settle down, and a constant challenge for me has been the debate over whether to stay in Panama City (where Marlene wants to remain) or move out to the interior of the country (where I believe I'd be happier). So far, the closest thing to a happy medium seems to be Cerro Azul.

This is a mountain town, or really I guess it's a mountain gated community, that's only about a 45-minute drive away from Panama City. It's so close that I'd actually consider it part of Panama City. This is a place where I can easily see owning a home and basing my writing studio, with 360-degrees of fabulous views. I can imagine looking out over the Chagres National Park while penning my next novel or working on these PFR Location Reports. I'll tell you more about the views later. First, let's talk about how you get to Cerro Azul.

Getting to Cerro Azul

To get there you just hop on the Corredor Sur, in the direction of the Tocumen Airport, and keep going until the corredor ends. Then you keep going straight until you reach 24 de Diciembre (not the date...that would be a hell of a drive, but the town).

At 24 de Diciembre you'll see all of the usual Panama City findings, from large supermarkets, gas stations, and local department stores to small clinics, banks, and fast-food chains. A left hand turn behind the Xtra supermarket, then a right, and another left, and you're on your way to Cerro Azul. You turn left right after the Fucer park (just try to pronounce that without giggling). My wife swears it's pronounced Fooser, but I refuse to believe it. It will always be FOOKER in my book.

You never feel more welcome than when some says to you

"Welcome Fucer."

Be advised, there is a police checkpoint at the corner of Fucer Park and the street you need to turn onto to drive up the mountain. The first time I visited Cerro Azul, I got stopped and had to show my passport and all that. This time I got lucky and drove right through, but make sure you have your paperwork or ID ready if you're planning a trip up the mountain.

To read more about Cerro Azul, click here. 

To see the video we put together on Cerro Azul, click here. 

To see a quick budget comparison of all the locations we've covered, click here.

If you haven't "liked" the Facebook page, please do so here. 

And if you want to see all of our videos, go to the Youtube channel here and subscribe and share please! 

I'll continue to post every blog post here, but these location reports are completely different and will only be at Panama For Real. 

We've also put together a special series for kids being dragged to Panama during a relocation. Hopefully it'll help relax their minds about the overwhelming overseas move. It's called Kidpats and you'll find the first video in that series here. 

Thanks for reading,

Chris

Kidpats, a new kid-friendly video series by Panama For Real

I'm up late again, totally pumped about this new series we're starting. I've been hearing a lot lately about people bringing their kids with them on this "moving overseas" adventure. Well...here's the text from the "Kidpats" page at www.PanamaForReal.com.  I'll be working on putting these videos out, with some others hopefully, between the location reports. 

We moved to Panama a little over 4 years ago, and when we made that decision to move, we tried to make it a family decision. We were lucky in that our kids wanted to move to Panama to be closer to their abuela (grandmother), abuelo (grandfather), and their primas (their cousins). 

Not every kid being whisked away to Panama (or to any overseas location) has relatives already living there. And not every kid gets to be part of the decision making process. I’ve received numerous emails from people stating that they were on their way to Panama because the husband or the wife was hired by either a Panamanian company or an American company with a Panama branch. 

The kids at Parque Omar in San Francisco, Panama City

It’s not only people from the U.S. facing this situation. When I first moved to Panama, I met several of the dads from my kids’ school and we were all in the same boat. My friend from Finland was here because his Panamanian wife wanted to be close to her family. They had two kids. One of the other dads was from Costa Rica and his wife was an American here managing a call center. They had a young son. My Mexican friend is a pilot on contract here and has a wife, two daughters, and a son who’ve all been relocated to Panama. It’s happening and it’s happening a lot.

Estefania (11), Victoria (8), Matteo (5), and Nicolas (5) have all gone through this. None of them spoke Spanish when we moved to Panama. The girls understood it a little bit from hearing my wife speak Spanish from time to time and hearing their grandmother only speak Spanish when she’d come to visit, but they definitely weren’t fluent.

Raspados at Parque Omar

They’ve been through many of the trials and tribulations. They’ve tried three schools here, they’ve taken ballet classes, they’ve swam in the many rivers, played in the many parks, shopped in the many malls, and forced themselves to make it through the countless hours of ridiculous homework. They’ve done it all and they want your kids to know that if they can do it, your kids can too. They’ll show your kids the fun stuff to do in town and give your kids some tips and pointers from time to time. 

In this new video series, Panama For Real presents Kidpats, they’ll be showing your kids what it’s like to live here as an expat kid…or what we’re calling Kidpats.

Here's the link to the new Kidpats vidoe at www.PanamaForReal.com. Check it out and let me know what you think. It's also on Youtube at our Youtube channel: 

http://www.panamaforreal.com/kidpats/kidpats-in-parque-omar/