Shopping in Panama

The cost of food, clothing, hardware and most other items including beer seems to be less in Panama than in Costa Rica. You are also more likely to see familiar brands like “Hunts,” “Jif” and “Armour” here than in CR. Plus, we are actually slightly closer to Panama than to Limon (our closest city of any size in Costa Rica). The town we frequent most is called Changuinola – a full blown city with stores of every variety as well as restaurants, a casino, feed store and more. It takes about 45 minutes to get from our house to the border town of Sixaola. There we walk over the Rio Sixaola on an old railroad bridge (see photo) to the town of Guabito and take a bus or taxi a few more miles to Changuinola. Trucks, buses, cars and people all use this bridge to cross. Another more limited shopping choice is the village of Chase. Here there are half-a-dozen variety and electronics stores plus a small bar. To reach this area you drive down several unpaved, unmarked roads to the rivers edge and cross via motorized dugout canoe (see photo).