Travel Advisory? Count Me In!
April 9, 2009
Panama City, Panama
PLUS:
- Celebrating Semana Santa In Panama...
AND:
- Three-bedroom Beachfront Condo, US$75,000...
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Dear Overseas Opportunity Letter Reader,
"If you're like Vicki and me," writes intrepid Correspondent Paul
Terhorst, "you've been reading about violence in Mexican border towns. In
some cases, the police have given up and left.
"Whole neighborhoods have come under the control of gangsters. Obama
announced the U.S. will beef up security on its side of the border.
"What to make of all this? I figure it's time to start planning a trip to
Mexico. Other tourists will get scared away, and we'll have the place to
ourselves.
"Vicki and I first noticed the joys of traveling to hot spots years ago,
when Chileans were rioting in Santiago. Then-president Pinochet declared an
11 p.m. curfew to keep demonstrators off the streets. The U.S. State
Department issued a travel advisory, and Chile became off-limits for
tourists. But Vicki and I had been planning a vacation to Vina del Mar,
Chile, for some time. We decided to go anyway, even though most tourists
canceled their trips.
"Our first surprise was the hotel. We found a three-story, family-run
hotel on the coast road. The front rooms had magnificent views of the
Pacific Ocean and beaches. To our surprise, the front rooms were quite a bit
cheaper than those in the rear. Reason? Traffic on the coast road made the
front rooms too noisy. But with an 11 p.m curfew, we soon discovered there
was no traffic and no noise at all. We took the cheaper rooms with the best
views.
"The casino opened at more convenient hours, and restaurant owners went
out of their way to give us the best fish, to offer discounts, and to cater
to our every need. We were the only ones there.
"The same thing happened to us in Turkey during the 1990 war against
Kuwait. Turkey was on the sidelines in that conflict, but still tourists
stayed away.
"Last year we visited Oman, next door to Yemen. Yemen is on the alert
list, and we decided not to visit. Yet we talked to foreigners living in
Oman who had recently visited Yemen and fully enjoyed themselves. More to
the point: Oman is on the sidelines of the Middle East conflicts. This is a
very good time to visit Oman.
"More recently, Vicki and I have spent time in Thailand. First came SARS,
then bird flu, then terrorism in the south, and finally the political unrest
last December. In every case, tourists stayed away. We were the
beneficiaries, enjoying better deals, less crowded restaurants, and easier
travel without the hordes.
"Sometimes people stay away just because there's news, even if it's good
news. In the early 1990s, Mexico devalued the peso from 3 to 10 to the
dollar, and tourism dried up. The country was dirt cheap; prices were just a
fraction of what they'd been. Yet Canadians and Americans had heard about
'trouble' or 'collapse' south of the border. They decided not to visit, even
though that was, in fact, the best time to go.
"Let's be clear about this. In that long ago trip to Chile, Vicki and I
stayed away from the riots in Santiago de Chile, the capital. In Mexico
these days, you'll want to avoid the war-ravaged border towns and any other
places run by outlaws. But you could visit the old colonial cities up in the
mountains--my favorite is Guanajato. Or head for the beaches, from Mazatlan
south to Huatulco. My favorite is Puerto Vallarta.
"You'll need to exercise normal caution, as always, when traveling. But if
you pay attention to news stories and head for the right places, you should
have a safe trip. To paraphrase what one traveler says, 'Choose your
destination from the list of U.S. government travel warnings.'
"I take this to mean both that the warned countries have more to
offer...and that they'll be less crowded. Plus, the warnings tell you where
and how to avoid the problems."
Kathleen Peddicord
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----------
We leave tomorrow for two weeks in the States, visiting our daughter and
helping her to prepare for her summer stay with us in Panama
starting next month.
We depart Panama as Holy Week commences. Editorial Assistant Rebecca Tyre,
a Canadian expat four years resident in this country, writes this morning to
let us know what we'll be missing out on:
"Because more than 80% of the population in this country is Catholic,
Semana Santa is a big deal, and activities center around the
church.
"The small town of Pese in Panama's Herrera Province boasts
one of the most traditional Holy Week celebrations, 'Semana Santa en Vivo'
(Holy Week Live), when local volunteer 'actors' re-enact the Last Supper and
the Crucifixion.
"Good Friday is taken seriously, especially in the countryside. The elders
employ an interesting technique to encourage younger generations to respect
the sanctity of the day.
"The legend goes that, if you swim in a river or the ocean on Good Friday,
you will turn into a fish.
"If you climb a tree on Good Friday, you will turn into a monkey.
"If you smoke a cigarette, you will turn into ash.
"The older generation sees Good Friday as a day for reflection and
meditation. They try to 'inspire' younger folks to share their point of
view, but it doesn't really work.
"While their elders go to church, the younger population goes to the beach
and gets drunk. Taking the risk, I guess, that they may all turn into bottle
caps!"
"I think you guys are missing a most fantastic retirement spot--namely,
Santa Marta, Colombia.
"I have lived in Colombia for nearly seven years, four on the island of San
Andres in the Caribbean and the last three in Santa Marta on the Caribbean
coast, four hours by bus from Cartagena. For me, Cartagena is way
over-populated (especially with foreigners) and over-priced. Heck, Donald
Trump has bought up nearly all the coast outside Cartagena for his high-rise
condo developments. But Santa Marta is another story. You need to check it
out fast.
"The president of Colombia has been diverting tons of money into restoring
cities. Santa Marta is just finishing the refurbishment of its main
downtown/beach park, the entire boardwalk of 12 blocks in front of beach,
and the downtown Lover's Park (Parque de Novios), complete with free Wi-Fi
Internet access, etc.
"You still can buy nice homes in decent areas for US$15,000 if you look hard
enough. For US$75,000, you could buy a huge three-bedroom beachfront condo
with a fabulous ocean view at nearby Rodadero, sort of the Riviera of
Colombia. Fifteen minutes outside the main city, you can buy a country home
on nearly 2 acres for US$65,000. And on and on.
"Investing in business? Heck, there is a 15-room mini-hotel/monthly room
rentals, a half-block from main beach, US$85,000.
"But prices have jumped over 250% in the three years I have been here.
"There is an international airport."
-- Tom Y., Colombia |
