I lived in Volcán for four years as I was building my place here. The construction standards in Panama are extremely stringent. Not everybody follows them, so the responsibility lies on the person to work with a good builder. I have built four houses in my life, and on all of them, I oversaw the entire construction process.
In general, Panama has better building techniques than most of the United States. This is because most of what is done in the United States, especially in the Southwest, is what they call stick. This means 2x4 boards with foam and stucco sprayed on from the outside, which are aesthetically pleasing, goes up very quick, and are very well insulated, but not a real formable structure. In some walls that I’ve seen, you can certainly drive your car through them easily, or even punch your hand through some of them, especially if it’s drywall.
Most construction here in Panama is built with a thin wall with a 22-gauge metal. We call it the C-channel which is similar to metal studs but are much thicker than what we use in the States. In the States, we use metal studs, and put on gypsum or drywall. We had this in the United States in the late 20’s.
It’s dry cement, not stucco, has no lime, and they put it on with a trowel and polish it, usually on top of cinder blocks. They’re what you and I would call regular slump blocks, depending on where you lived in the United States. It’s like a regular slump block, cinder block, etc.
Here in Panama, they use a high-density foam that comes in two, three, and four inches with a metal grate on both sides. They take the cement and then apply it with a trowel or shoot it in under pressure, a process that you and I would call “shotcrete” or gunite.
Not everyone in Panama does this as this is certainly just one of the options available. You can have something built here with steel and cement and find that these are commodities that cost the same everywhere in the world. The price that I would pay for a sack of cement in my little town here in Chiriquí is very similar to what you’ll pay for in Phoenix, Arizona or anywhere else.
When the Chinese were building the dams on the Yellow River, cement and steel prices were astronomically high because that increased worldwide demand, and now those constructions have stopped.
The variable in the building costs in Panama is the cost of labor. Here in Panama, a person working with cement, electrical, plumbing, or something of that nature, is probably going to charge $25 - $45 per day. In the United States, they would charge that per hour. You’re going to pay the same for your materials but the labor will cost much less in Panama. The quality depends on who you’re working with, how much you know about what you want done, and your contractor. It runs the gamut from “excellent, great value” to “unacceptable.” I’ve seen it on all levels.
The house that I built here in Finca Cazador is made of solid, poured concrete with 18-inch thick walls and has 1-inch rebar welded. I built a bunker because that’s what I wanted but most people wouldn’t do that. Looking back on it, it probably isn’t necessary.
(Guest house on the off grid community, Finca Cazador, near Volcan, Panama, pictured.)
There are beautiful flowers, plants, and trees in or around Chapala and Ajijic. These are wonderful eye candy and many are perfumed, too. In contrast to what most people think that there are no seasons in Mexico, there are, but not the same seasons you would see north of the border, especially in the northern US and all of Canada. 
Nicaragua’s Department of Education has an excellent curriculum. However, most of the public schools have teachers that haven’t been trained to implement the curriculum, nor do they have the resources. As a result, the public schools here are pretty rough. The Catholic schools are a little bit better but there are about forty kids per class with one teacher and they also have very limited supplies. 
Belize does have islands. I am not sure about exact the number of islands we have in Belize, but most of them are small islands and I think most of them are not populated. The most common islands in Belize are Ambergris Caye and Caye Caulker, which are constantly visited and people are moving there. Ambergris Caye is the biggest island in Belize. We also have other islands that are coming along in popularity. 
Dental care is cheaper in Portugal than anywhere else comparable. I have heard that there is a move by the government towards trying to get the Algarve to be a health holiday place but this is still in its early stages. Compared to India and other places like that, dental tourism in Portugal is still highly negligible. 
In these days that moral and family values seem to be hiding in different ways, we are responsible to fight back to ensure that the new generation has a place where they will raise their children that will be safe, not only from crime or violence, but the safest place we can provide to give them values, as the best legacy we can give them.
Panamá has always been on a global path, “pro mundi beneficio” (for the benefit of the world).
