I was going to move to Panama, but ended up in Puna. If you need to know the ins & outs of ex-patting to Panama, ping me & I can tell you my personal experiences.
There's a lot that the web sites don't tell you. They're always going to tell you the good stuff, not the bad, and often they are very far from the reality of daily living in Panama. We read both those sites and snicker at how blatantly inaccurate some of their articles are.
One big change for Panama is that the law just changed so your visa only is vaid for 30 days - it used to be 90...so you have to go back to Panama City every month to renew your tourismo visa.
IMHO, Puna is a better bargain for land and building prices right now & you can legally work here
![Smile Smile](http://punaweb.org/forum/images/smilies/smile.png)
Food is dirt cheap in Panama. And if you can't handle 'island time' in Hawaii, being a gringo in Panama will kill you. I LOVE Panama, but prefer Puna for full time living.
I'm planning to head back to Panama in September - will probably look at buying again cuz I love the place so much. And yes, there's the snake thing...down there they kill you dead. Heck, the lot I had money down on had a jaguar that sunned itself in the road [:0]