Services




address
WhyPanama
Costa del Este
Panama City, Panama




Donna


Tom


Tom



Services we've used
 

These are some of the services that we have used or been in contact with

  • Canada Embassy – their phone number here in Panama is 507-264-9731
    PanCanada is the Panama Canada Chamber of Commerce 507-223-6788
     

  • Continental & Copa Airlines – this is who we use now for travel.
     

  • Wellmed Clinic is where we had to go for our health insurance tests. Dr. Jorge Rodriquez is wonderful, speaks English. They also are set up for stress tests. see "people" for contact info
     

  • Laboratorio Clinio Fernandez is the lab for blood work and all those other labs.
     

  • Health Insurance - when we first arrived we signed up for Blue Cross as it was something we were familiar with - but after a couple of years we figured out our day to day medical needs were minimal costs so we decided to buy catastrophic health insurance only - meaning insurance to cover only really dire straights - either huge very expensive surgeries or very long term extensive/expensive care - with large deductibles - we used Gonzalo de la Guardia as an agent and we had Bupa initially - good company, great service and no concerns over coverage - used once for my knee surgery - it got expensive so we shopped and found  Cigna http://www.cigna.com/ -  a lot less expensive for similar coverage - Donna also tops up with travel insurance from Bupa
     

  • Optica Sosa y Arrango S.A. is where I got Tom’s replacement lenses for his sunglasses and where I will go for my progressive glasses. They are in Punta Pacifica.
     

  • Lawyers - see "people"
     

  • Dr. Lee as our dentist - he and his wife run a clinic downtown Panama City - excellent service, great prices, immaculate and up to date equipment and great English. 507-269-3744 -drlee@clinicadentallee.com
     

  • Veterinarian - Originally - Pets & Animals is where I take Cricket for her haircuts. Those cost 8.00 and if you want a flea and tick bath, those cost 8.00 as well. I do have shampoo at home that I use that is for fleas and ticks. She also takes a heart pill for heart worms and we use a liquid on her coat for fleas and ticks. These are things you must do living here where the temperatures are always high. When we first arrived in Panama the vet at our Costa del Este store, Dr. Frank, has a huge heart for pets and have helped us with treating strays in our area. Unfortunately he moved and the store has not been the same since. Before Cricky passed we had been going to a new vet above the Super 99 - the clinic is called Orion but he's closed. Our friends Rita and Jordan use Vets4Pets in Paitilla and we've met the vet and she is really nice.
     

  • Creative Hair Design is where Donna get her hair cut out here in Costa del Este. Velvet used to own the shop and charged 8.00 for a haircut. She also goes for pedicures before every trip. Recently the operators took over so Donna goes to the same place but her stylist is Harnan - same price
     

  • Studio siete is where we get our business cards made, very reasonable!
     

  • Panafoto and Multimax are where we bought our small appliances and tv’s.
     

  • Mailboxes Etc is where you want to set up your mail delivery – they do not have mail delivery here in Panama, so we have a mailbox in Miami and they send out mail out here where we pick it up. They also email you to let you know you have mail. Great service.
     

  • I used to get two magazines here, ABC Living and Vivir Bien – both Spanish and English and keeps you up to date. There is also another magazine called the Panama Planner, your guide to travel in Panama that is well worth getting. Not too much here in English and no newspapers in English except for one called The Visitor which you can pick up at hotels etc. Full of good information on what is happening in and around. Unfortunately Vivir Bien seems to be very limited in its publications recently.
     

  • Best Expat and English news - The Visitor (Visitante) https://www.thevisitorpanama.com/ - Focus Panama - English information on Panama http://focuspanama.com/ and finally Panama Good Times www.ThePanamaGoodTimes.com 
     

  • IDAAN is who we get our water bill through
     

  • Our internet is from PaNETma - great wireless service in Panama City (and maybe soon in the Caribbean, if we can convince Roman there is an audience. We use PaNETma as one of our two internet providers in our office as well. Compared to the local providers, PaNETma is attentive and responsive - not the cheapest but reliable and friendly - we have migrated to his voip services totally both at home and the office. www/.panetma.com
     

  • We used to use Direct tv for satellite then we used SKY as we found out Sky bought Direct when they cut off our services and offered us "more" (useless) channels for 60% more money - our recommendation - DO NOT USE SKY - we moved to CableOnda - the local cable company - didn't chose them initially as Direct had more English content - now i don't care - ANYTHING BUT SKY - they have to be the single worst company for customer service I've ever had the DISpleasure to deal with. Since then we have moved to a full online TV using Roku and we cancelled CableOnda - the cost of Amazon Prime, Hulu, and Netflix - 20% of the cable company.
     

  • ENSA (used to be called Electra) is our electricity company
     

  • Rosetta Stone is the Spanish program that Tom is using
     

  • We bought three cell phones so each one of us has one (and one for our guests while they are in Panama) and we just buy minutes for them as we need them. We use both Movistar & Cable & Wireless for our cell phones on pay as you go plans. We finally succumbed to smart phones and we bought them through Claro under monthly plans  - 29 and 39 per month for 18 months. Update - Claro turned out to be very disappointing so back to prepaid cell and monthly data from Movistar - all are now LTE so pretty good speeds - check them as some companies claim LTE but do not really give it to you unless you complain
     

  • Optica Lopez - if you need eye glasses you have to check this company out - Donna just got two new pairs of glasses with her progressive prescription and one was even done with a transitional lens - and one fram was $40 the other a whopping $120 - and the total bill for both $400 - the service was excellent - delivered on time and as agreed - no issues - how great
     

  • Hotel de Perros - Hotel de Perros y Gatos en Albrook (Albrook Kennel and Grooming) located at locale #13 in the Pan Canal Plaza (El Rey Plaza) in Albrook.
     

  • Importing good from the USA or Canada - we found a broker that seems to know what they are doing and handled our major appliance import when we bought our stove, washer, dryer and dishwasher - - contact Jorge Luis P. at MVC Logistics
     

  • Passport photos - American passport photos are simple, almost any Arrocha can do them but Canadian or European require a place that understands the specific requirements for these countries - the best we found is Foto Colors Win - Paitilla, Centro Comercial Via Pacifica - Telephone 215-3515 there is a lady there who does speak English fotocolorswin@gmail.com
     

  • Translated Documents - a site that offers some common documents translated and available to download. I liked the traffic accident form and the PH Laws - if you buy a condo you need to know your rights and obligations. PanamaTranslationServices
     

  • Foto Colors Win - For Canadian looking to get passport photos done in Panama here is a great place not far from the Embassy.
    Paitilla, Centro Comercial Via Pacifica
    Telephone 215-3515 there is a lady there who does speak English
    fotocolorswin@gmail.com
    Others can go there as well, but for Canada we need a special size and this was recommended to us by the Canadian Embassy.


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