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Volume
13, Number 23 |
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Also
in this section: The
emails I get I'm not talking about the things I publish on the letters page, or the words of encouragement and hate mail I get, or the bundles of spam. Yeah, I get lots of all that. But several times a month I get variations on a couple of themes, generally from the USA, and I try to answer individually but I don't always answer everything. These two themes are: 1. 'I am thinking about moving to Panama and I want to know about the job market. How come you don't have help wanted ads? I am an experienced ____. How do I look for work in Panama?' 2. 'Where is the best place to live and where should I avoid?' Once in awhile I get something from the States on a third theme: 3. 'I am moving down here with my kids. What are the best suburban school districts?' I usually try to be nice, even to the clueless. First, were you born in Panama, or is or was one of your parents a Panamanian citizen? If not, you should reflect on the possibilities of a young Panamanian sales clerk who wants to just move to the United States and get a job there. Think that Homeland Security will be friendly and welcoming? Would your neighbors be? Would you be? One form that American hubris takes is a sense of shock that reciprocity might apply. You have most of those who would carry the Republican banner in 2008 scrambling for the dubious honor of hating illegal --- or even legal --- immigrants the most, a large part of the American public hysterical about people who may owe allegiance to Mexico or some other Latin American republic living among them, the government making visas harder to get and the experience of entering the United States ever more unpleasant, and you don't think that this is going to affect policies regarding Americans who want to live and work in Latin America? Excuse me. Get real. Yes, for certain skilled positions you can get work permits, generally for no longer than a few years. Yes, if you have enough money to open a business that employs some Panamanians you might get an investor visa. You are not supposed to be able to work here on a tourist of pensionado visa, although some people do so illegally. This, by the way, is not the way I would like it to be. There is a large congregation of people who make the almost unrestricted free international flow of capital and merchandise an article of quasi-religious faith, and I am not part of it. I'm not sure if there are enough people who believe like I do --- in the almost unrestricted free international flow of human beings --- to even form a small sect. But moving from California or Florida or Michigan to Panama is not like moving to Kansas or Oregon. It's a move to a different country, with different customs and laws and a different language. Where is the "best" or "worst" place to live in Panama. I could tell you about certain notorious high-crime areas. I could tell you about urban problems. I could tell you about rural isolation. I might well be describing hell to some of you, but others would love what I describe. And are you going to plunk your money down on a piece of land that you see described, maybe even pictured, on the Internet? If you do it without having set foot on it, and having the deal reviewed by your own reputable and competent Panamanian lawyer, you are a fool and you may well lose your money. You go house hunting here by getting a place to stay temporarily while you travel about in search of what fits you. This will depend on your tastes, your special needs and your budget. There are no true multi-listing real estate agents in Panama. There are no "realtors" in the US sense of the word in Panama. Most properties for sale are not listed in any classified ads, although some of them are. Mainly you figure out the general area where you would like to live according to your own criteria, you ask around, you go looking at signs, you network with others (understanding that there are predators, many of them Americans, eager to network with you). Do you want to network online from abroad? I could make a long list of those in whom not to trust, but I will make but one recommendation. There is the Panama Forum, a Yahoo email group, which will have discussions that you will want to ignore and delete but also a core of people who will share experiences. Yes, there may be hustlers lurking about, but the people who moderate the forum are neither scam artists nor shills for such. In fact this forum became what it is when people fled after a thoroughly dishonest character took over what had been the largest English-language email group in and about Panama. And what can I say about people who are looking for suburban school districts? If it's avoiding black people that you mean by "suburban," do not move to Panama. White people are a small minority in this multi-racial society. US race relations are a disease we don't need to import. If you believe that Panama's political geography is about "inner cities" and "suburbs," you are mistaken. If you have some notion that richer people have created enclaves, you are not all that mistaken. If you further presume that these enclaves have called dibs on a larger share of the public school budget for their kids, that really doesn't happen here. The public schools are, except for an elite high school or two to which kids are admitted on a competitive basis, horribly funded. Almost everyone who can afford it sends their kids to private schools, with the most expensive and pretentious not necessarily the "best." Who and what are you, what are your kids like, and what every child needs to learn to get by in Panama, and the specifics about what she or he will need to get a further education all come into play here. What's the "best" depends an awful lot on the kid's personal characteristics. So are you thinking about coming to Panama to live? It has many attractions. Let me not discourage you. But visit here first, and then take a serious reality check. See, if you come here with too many illusions, you will end up disillusioned. Also
in this section:
Make
the Executive Hotel your headquarters in Panama City --- http://ww.executivehotel-panama.com
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©
2007 by Eric Jackson email: editor@thepanamanews.com or phone: (507) 6-632-6343 Mailing
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