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Panama introduced to Canadian eyes
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Casco Viejo, from around the Mercado de Mariscos

My Panama Dream come true

story and photos by M. Davidson

Before I begin, I must say this, I love Panama. I spent just over two glorious weeks, mainly in Panama City and loved every minute of it. It was everything I could ever want and everything I expected. I look forward to making Panama my new home, which I will discuss later. In my 28 years on this earth, this trip was the most exciting and rewarding trip I’ve ever been on.

I had arranged to stay with a friend of mine and her family who live in the city, get the true Panamanian experience --- I can’t thank them enough for being so wonderful to me, so gracious and welcoming. They made me feel so at home and took time out of their days to show me around and give me an experience I will never forget. I will refer to them as the H’s.

I hail from Winnipeg, almost smack-dab in the center of southern Canada, about 5,000 kilometers north-northwest of Panama City. Traveling to Panama has been a dream of mine for sometime now. I have always held this fascination with the country, its people, climate, music, traditions, language, history and geography.

I started bright and early, flying into the congestion of Chicago’s O’Hare airport and then to hustle of Miami International and then finally to Tocumen International. I was able to navigate those big airports, finding them very easy to get around in and made all my connections easily enough. My luggage did not have the same luck and didn’t meet me in Tocumen till the following day, an inconvenience but it was expected and I was prepared for that. Besides, I was too excited to really let that worry me as just being in Panama was a dream come true!

I guess I should start with the things that first struck me the moment I stepped out of the airport. What struck me first was the humidity and interesting smells. From backpacking across Western Europe to laying on a beach in Jamaica, I have found every place has its own distinctive smells. Panama definitely has it own smells, a healthy mix of tropical sea air, car exhaust, food of all different types and street barbeques. A volley of sensations I will never forget. The humidity was wonderful. Coming from a cooler temperate climate where we rarely see this sort of heat and humidity (Only one or two months during our summers is pretty humid and toasty), I loved it. I loved the heat in Panama, being surrounded by that warmth was wonderful. The humidity was also great for my skin too. Back home, we get so dry my skin cracks on a constant basis, the humidity cleared that up right away. It being the rainy season, it rained almost every day but I also experienced the sun shine which was intense. Stepping out into the sun was quite a shock, it really beats down on you. As long as you dress appropriately for it, it wasn’t much of a problem. The rain would cool things off a bit when it passed by and the evenings were perfect, a light breeze, still hot but nothing that made me uncomfortable. Although, I can’t imagine what it would be like in the Panamanian summer (dry season)…I might find that a bit tough to get used to, but I look forward to trying it out.

The next thing that I discovered was driving and transportation in and around the city. Driving was pretty crazy, I, myself didn’t try driving around, but I drove with my friend around town and wow. There is order in the driving of Panama City but it’s a bit different than what I was used to. Let’s just say it makes driving in Winnipeg look like a walk in the park. I figured if the police enforced traffic regulations and ticketed violators, the city could make a fortune! I wasn’t a big fan of the driving habits of Panamanians but they’re all not really that bad. You just have to drive with certain degree of assertiveness and always be aware of your surroundings as taxis, buses and small little cars will try and squeeze their way in anywhere there is room. There is order in the chaos of the roads which it might look like to the new-comer but you get used to it and you begin to pick up on the way the unwritten rules of the road work… The condition of most of the roads were the same as back home, not great but not terrible either. Just watch out for potholes, cracks and missing drainage grates on the side of the roads and sidewalks ---  people steal them and sell them to scrap yards. One thing I did find annoying was that people tended to stop their cars in the right hand lane of a busy two-lane motor way either to pick up a passenger or talk to their friends on the side of the road completely holding up traffic behind them and take their time doing it. No amount of honking would make any difference. This brings me to Panamanians and their car horns. They love their car horns! Honking is way of communication on the streets of Panama City, something I found very interesting.

The buses around the city were interesting too --- the regular transit buses were refitted school buses, painted with all kinds of colorful designs, giant exhausts with little or no mufflers on them. Rather noisy but fun to see. Transit fares on those buses will run you anywhere from 25 to 35 cents --- an eye opener for me, that’s for sure. Then there are the cushier corridor buses that cost 75 cents. They’re smaller refitted tourist buses, not so colorful or noisy but they do have a TV in them usually playing music videos. They will whisk you downtown in a jiffy while you sit in fairly comfortable seats. Taxis were plentiful and usually very efficient. The price ranged depending on where we were going. I was with my Panamanian friend every time we used taxis, so a taxi ride cost us no more than $6 US, and that was a long ride going about half way across the city. Typically it would be a dollar or so. For a quick comparison my taxi ride to the airport from my apartment back home cost me $27 Canadian, and that was only a 20 minute ride in the wee hours of the morning with little or no traffic.

Dinner's cheaper here than in North America, and the seafood tends to be a lot fresher

Bus prices weren’t the only things that were cheaper. Browsing through the malls and department stores I found bargain after bargain. A nice pair of jeans cost me $6.50 US, shirts and t-shirt run about 3 or 4 dollars US. The undisciplined North American tourist shopper would probably wear the bumps off their credit cards with all the deals they would find! I couldn’t get over the prices. The only things I found that were similar in prices to home were electronics, dvd players, dvds, cds, stereos, TVs..etc… Even restaurants had good prices. The only restaurants that were priced the same as home were American chain restaurants like Bennigan’s, TGI Friday and the like. But I didn’t come to Panama to eat at American grease pits. There are so many other restaurants to sample, so many different foods to try, why bother going to a place you can go to at home? I loved ceviche (similar to a pickled herring we can get back home). My friend also took me to a casino on one of my first nights there where the rumors were confirmed… Coronas for $1 US!! Heaven is! I bought a bucket! I did sample local brews and found Soberana to be my favorite Panamanian ale. I also had to try their Seco Herrerano, locally made rum. It was pretty good but be warned, the hangovers are killer.

After looking at my photographs I took (about 450 megs of pictures and small videos), I realized how much miss the palm trees, flowers and other plant life --- I think about 65 percent of all my pictures are of plant life. Anyone interested in horticulture would find this country doubly fascinating. All the green was so mesmerizing to me. Seven months out of the year here, we have no green --- our summers are pretty green but not the kind of lush green of the all the fauna of Panama. A part of me wanted to jump out of the car and go romping through the rainforest, those green hills and small mountains were calling my name. I was obsessed with the palm trees, flowers and the insects. Watching the leaf cutter ants carry their bits of leaves across the wall of my friend’s back yard was almost too much for me. The bugs never really bothered me, the odd mosquito here and there but that’s about it. I thought they would carry me away but there was hardly any…

Many of my remaining photographs were of Panama City and surrounding area. I loved Casco Viejo, the Causeway, downtown and the suburbs as well as the countryside. I was interested in seeing the way Panamanians lived, what the houses looked like, how the average middle class got along. One thing I wasn’t expecting was that everyone had gates and walls around their houses. Not the little fences we have here but high walls and bars to keep people out. I even saw some people had cemented broken glass shards on the tops of their walls. Everyone had bars on their windows too, first and second floor houses all had bars or a grated fixture on all entrance into their house holds. We also passed a few gated communities with guards at the entrances to the properties --- something I’m not too used to seeing in my sheltered world. But the architecture and colors of the houses and properties we drove though were really wonderful. I took a lot of pictures of the bight pastel colors and some of the designs. Buying a house there would be fun as the designs are much more stylistic than they are here with our bland boring properties.

Casco Viejo had some of the best character I saw in terms of architecture, the old buildings being restored were just amazing! I took pictures of as many of them as I could and every street we walked up. Even the un-renovated buildings had some good character and it wasn’t difficult to picture what they could look like once they have been restored. This part of the city has so much potential to become a unique and exciting area. It was like walking through a totally different town, seeing a side of the city entirely different from the rest. And the views out from Casco Viejo of the bay and downtown were wonderful. Those living in this area should consider themselves very lucky as this area has so much to offer and has an excellent style all its own. The old churches, apartment buildings and coble stone streets were so nice. I’m not sure if there were any horse and buggy rides going through that area, I didn’t see any, but that would be a wonderful additive to this spectacular area and would add so much to the character. I would surely have paid for a guided tour of the neighborhoods in the back of a buggy.

Besides the shopping in the malls, wandering the streets of Casco Viejo and tasting new foods, we spent a weekend at the Decameron resort. It was really exciting! This resort was massive, with beach that stretched as far as you could see in both directions. Music playing all the time, drinks always cold and made rather strong and the food was plentiful, tons of tasty options. My only comparison to this resort is a Sandals resort I went to Jamaica and I’d say this was almost on par with that. Actually many aspects of the Decameron were far superior to the Sandals resort I was at. The beach was huge, plenty of room for lounging by the ocean or by the pools, more restaurant options with much more food options, and the resort night club was much more lively with plenty of dancing. One weekend was certainly not enough time to see everything of the resort or try all the restaurants or drinks, although I did put a good dent in the drink list (my introduction to Seco Herrerano was here). The staff was very kind and courteous, but didn’t speak much English. I didn’t speak much Spanish, but communication wasn’t too much of a problem as your ordering from a menu or drink list most of the time anyways and if your in trouble, there was always someone around who would be able to translate for you if need be.

Which brings me to one of the best and most appealing aspects of Panama --- Panamanians! I have never met a more warm and welcoming people than Panamanians. Flash them a smile and they smile a huge toothy smile right back. Strangers would say “hello” to me on the street, on the bus, in the malls and restaurants. People were more than happy to help when asked for directions and even though they might not speak English very well, they did they’re best in trying to communicate. I loved watching Panamanians dance. I hit a few clubs with my friends and got a good taste of the kids showing off their best dance moves. I swear they’re all born to dance, even the little munchkins at the resort could move which was one of the cutest things I’ve seen. Being a big fan of merengue, soca, reggaeton and hip hop, I did my best to keep up but I’m afraid I must have stuck out like a sore thumb.

I know I’ve left out a ton of things from my adventures, including a fishing trip in the bay, getting seasick in the bay, strolling around Contadora Island, driving up to Colon and watching marching bands prepare for the parades coming in November --- so many things. Of course I did see the locks and did the regular touristy things. My apartment is now adorned with Panamanian flags and souvenirs and my Ford Contour is now sporting the Panamanian flag suctioned cupped to the inside of my windshield. I now listen to my Panamanian radio stations all day at work and at home with more intensity and interest than ever. I think it’s safe to say I’m heavily addicted to Panama. The only thing I’m worried about is that I might forget the little things from my trip, walking down the old sidewalks, going to Los Pueblos for groceries and watching the small cars zoom by underneath the walking bridges.

As I mentioned earlier, I want to make Panama my new home, I’ve had one too many winters in this country and need a change in my life. From seeing Panama, getting a glimpse of life there I made up my mind that this is a place I would like to try living. Its one of those dreams that you can’t ignore and if you do you’ll always look back thinking, “I wonder what it would have been like had I tried Panama out?” So, it’s time for me to try it and take that leap. As my boss told me when I returned to work, “Why did you come back? If I were your age, I would have stayed.” That’s exactly what I plan to do. I know I’ll miss our long hot summer nights, the wide expanse of the prairie sky, the autumn colors and the overall familiarity of being in a place you’ve known most of your life. I was going to try snowboarding this year but I think I could settle for surfing instead.

I had a successful interview with an up and coming company in Panama City and hope that something will take shape from that. I’ve never made such a huge decision or faced the possibility of relocating to a new country. I would welcome any advice from expats who have made Panama their home. I see Panama as a place of great possibilities and potential. Although it is a great and wonderful place it definitely could be even greater! I would be more than honored to be apart of that. Living and making Panama my new home would be a dream come true!

Also in this section:
Panama introduced to Canadian eyes
German Wild West party