2021, A Year in Review . . . MORE RESILIENCE

Last Updated on October 7, 2026 by Retire in Panama

Well, here we go again. 2021 has once again proven to be a turbulent year across the world. We hope you had some bright moments in your life this year, as you remember 2020 made us all stronger and more resilient.

When I started writing this article, I had a list of all our company’s accomplishments, how many tours we were able to do, how many people we helped to move here, how many great reviews we received. But then I realized that this isn’t about us; it’s about you. It should be about your year first, then we will talk about ourselves.

So, what about you? Why not share your year with us and your difficulties, as well as your triumphs. Let us know about your plans for Panama, and we’ll be happy to assist you to make it a reality. They may be on hold right now, but don’t give up hope; in 2022, they can happen.

Take a moment of your day, and reply to this email, or comment down below, tell us about you, we are truly interested in what is going on in your life, we promise to read every email and reply to you. We look forward to hearing from you. Your comments and experiences will assist us in improving our services to our customers in 2022 and beyond.

Now on to us. 2021 was a good year. We managed to have full tours, 10 – 12 people every month, follow all COVID safety protocols to keep our guests safe, and still provide the experience people need on a relocation tour.

Our guests from 2021, were from all over the place, North America, Europe, Great Britain, and South America. We assisted dozens of people to move to Panama from 2021 tours, and in previous years, it certainly was a busy year. And we have a growing list of people arriving in 2022.

It wasn’t without difficulties, I believe anyone who is thinking of moving to Panama in 2022 needs to be aware of this. We are living in different times, and you will need to adjust. Changes in flight schedules are common, testing requirements always changing, customer service hold times for the airlines are long, trip cancellation insurance is required, but we’re here to help you through it all so you can realize your vision of living in Panama.

It was a difficult year for us personally also. On April 5, 2021, I received a text at 6 am from Oscar: “Mom didn’t make it” His mother had been in the hospital and had passed away. Megan, Oscar’s fiancé, was in the US, and we had a tour starting in 3 days.

It was now about Oscar since he was very close to his mother in Colombia and they talked on the phone nearly every day. I got dressed and drove to Boquete to be with him and just talk and be there for him. We had contingency plans in place for things like this, but on this day, I really come to understand something about my best friend and business partner. I understood that this was the type of business partner I had always looked for. One that puts others’ needs before his own.

In our 2019 year in review, we picked a word that summed up that year, the word was “Resilience”. It always had been Oscar’s favorite word, and during the pandemic lockdown, he had it tattooed on his chest.

So the resilience came out in Oscar again, as the next day he drove to Panama City, Megan flew back from the US, since travel to Colombia was not realistic at that time during the pandemic, he attended a Zoom funeral on Wednesday for this mother, and received a group of 12 people the next day and did the tour.

In honor of Oscar and his mother, for the second year in a row, we choose the word Resilience to sum up our year.

Oscar is the kind of guy that you want leading your relocation tour, as he calls himself “mamma goose” when you first meet him, as it is his job to protect you in every way he can the entire time you are in his care.

Oscar’s personal story was just one of many that were difficult throughout this year. Maybe you lost a loved one or lost a job, or business, struggling with this COVID situation, we hope that you have the resilience to get through it, and the people around you to care for you. 2022 is about to start, and sometimes we have to look to the future for better things.

 

Thank you to our business partners, including hotels, restaurants, lawyers, insurance agents, banks, rentals agents, and real estate professionals. We acknowledge each of you for your commitment to assisting our guests that we introduced you to in 2021 and appreciate it.

It really was an overall great year, for us, a year full of collaborations and new friendships. 2021 has shown us a lot about what can go wrong sometimes, but it’s also shown a lot about the strength of people and how they get back up and move on.

Many of you have touched our lives, by moving to Panama and beginning your new life experience. We’ve been grateful to be part of the process and humble in knowing that you sought our assistance and accepted our advice; we’ve made so many new friends this year that this happiness outweighs many of the difficulties we faced in 2021.

Oscar, Megan and myself look forward to 2022, and meeting many more of you, as we show you this great country.

 

 

Rod Larrivee
Retire in Panama Tours
It’s more than a tour . . it’s an experience.