Atenas, Costa Rica…Revisited

Atenas, Costa Rica…Revisited

This cool mountain town is welcoming and attractive—and hardly a secret. And yet…new arrivals are breathing fresh life into Atenas. Right now I’m at Kay’s Café. Canadian Ania Dudek recently revamped the beloved expat hangout. She didn’t strip the menu of classics like chicken parmigiana or chocolate cake. But she did call her Polish mama for recipes, adding zing with savory mushroom pierogis and Hungarian pancakes...

Finding a Healthy Mix of Affordability and Variety in Panama City

Finding a Healthy Mix of Affordability and Variety in Panama City

Panama City. It’s the kind of place that wows first-time visitors. The downtown area, which shines and twinkles with sky-scrapers and deluxe hotels…the deep blue waters of the Panama Bay…the romantic Casco Viejo sector, dripping with colonial gems. There are scads of concert and performance venues, green spaces galore...it’s incredibly modern and unexpected.

Rent From $400 a Month in Panama’s Hidden Caribbean

Rent From $400 a Month in Panama’s Hidden Caribbean

A typical warm, sunny day in the tropics…it’s a marvel to behold. Postcards can only convey so much. But oh, that first true glimpse of the Caribbean...Stepping onto sparkling white sands surrounded by grass-green palms, the dense rainforest filling the in-between spaces with deeper, darker shades… The sunlight playing on baby-blue waters…the clean...

A Warm Bienvenido in Panama’s Lush Crater Town

A Warm Bienvenido in Panama’s Lush Crater Town

I can’t remember the last time I woke up to anything but the sound of my alarm. Today, however, I awake to the sound of birds. Lying in my bed, I hear the occasional bark or rooster’s cock-adoodle-doo…the breeze blowing through the trees and rattling fallen leaves… muffled sounds of salsa music coming from a neighbor’s kitchen. Comforting, small-town sounds...