![\"\"](\"https:\/\/panamaadvisoryinternationalgroup.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/08\/mary-taft.jpg\")
<\/a><\/p>\nCatey Hill reported this story about Mary Taft and her decision to move to Boquete.<\/p>\n
You can live on about $2,000 a month, experts says, and Panama has a generous \u2018pensionado program\u2019 \u2014 but there are drawbacks.<\/p>\n
Mary Taft lives with her two daughters, seven cats and two dogs in a mansion in Panama \u2014 and she wouldn\u2019t have it any other way.<\/p>\n
But the former teacher and school administrator didn\u2019t always know that a Panamanian retirement was in store for her. Indeed, as she consulted with her two adult daughters about where to move, dozens of spots were on the table. \u201cWe had this blue-sky conversation \u2014 where can we all go and live together?\u201d the 63-year-old former Springfield, Mass., resident recalls. \u201cCanada was out because it was too cold. We wanted the tropics because we were sick of winter. We ruled out Asia because it was too far and [because of] the language barrier. Australia was too expensive.\u201d<\/p>\n
The Spanish speaker had been to Latin America numerous times, and her older daughter, a musician, worked a lot in Brazil, so they began looking around there. They ruled out Belize because of a \u201clack of infrastructure,\u201d and Costa Rica because of its cost and \u201cpoor track record with health care,\u201d according to Taft. But Boquete, Panama \u2014 a lush, mild-weather town in the Panamanian highlands that\u2019s popular with expats \u2014 checked nearly all their boxes.<\/p>\n \u201cIt\u2019s a place of indescribable beauty, and the culture is complex and vibrant,\u201d she says. \u201cIt\u2019s not a sleepy town in the mountains; there\u2019s arts and culture, birding, sailing, hiking, restaurants with chefs from around the world \u2014 it\u2019s a foodie paradise. There\u2019s so much going on here.\u201d (Travel guide Lonely Planet has this to say:<\/a> \u201cBoquete is known for its cool, fresh climate and pristine natural surroundings. Flowers, coffee, vegetables and citrus fruits flourish in its rich soil, and the friendliness of the locals seems to rub off on everyone who passes through.\u201d)<\/p>\n Plus, Mary says she and her daughters were fed up with a lot of things in America \u2014 including the high cost of living, repeated mass shootings and what she saw as a lot of \u201crage and hate.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cThe U.S. has gotten so out of control \u2014 the social fabric is shattering,\u201d she says. \u201cIt is an act of insanity to continue to stay in the U.S.,\u201d she adds, noting that in Panama crime is low, you see guns less frequently<\/a>, and life can be more affordable.<\/p>\n (Indeed, Panama is a pretty safe country: The U.S. government puts Panama at a Level 1<\/a> in terms of safety, the best ranking you can get \u2014 though it advises Americans not to travel to parts of the Mosquito Gulf and Darien Region due to crime. And it\u2019s important to note that some types of crime may be more prevalent in Panama than the United States<\/a>, and there are plenty of countries that are even safer.)<\/p>\n iStock<\/cite><\/div>