All the visitors' guides, government pronouncements, encyclopedias and other usual references on the Panamanian economy will tell you that the canal, commerce, tourism and financial services are the mainstays of this nation's economy, and that bananas, coffee and seafood exports are also important.

All that is true, but what often gets overlooked is the informal economy --- in the cities, this includes the people who sell things at traffic lights, many of those who work out of their homes and myriad other little niches that people have devised to survive.

The rural informal economy is generally about artesanal fishing and subsistence agriculture.

Moreover, the lines between urban and rural, and between formal and informal economies, are not necessarily clear-cut.

Take this woman, who lives in the rural northern part of Capira district, as an example. Those two boxes in the foreground are full of achiote, these red seeds that come from brown pods that grow on trees. Achiote is a mild spice that's usually used in soups or with chicken.

She told us that the family would go into the city to sell part of its achiote harvest, but that they would consume most of it themselves. Photo by Eric Jackson

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