Live Salsa, Fresh Ceviche, Cheap Rum, Cool Breezes, And Rooftop Bars—Our Favorite Things About Panama
Lief and I traveled from Panama to Paris over the weekend, and yesterday I shared some of my favorite things about this time of year in Paris. This is our first autumn in the City of Light in nearly a decade, and we’re looking forward to the days and weeks to come…
Meantime, back in Panama City, where our Live and Invest Overseas team is holding down the fort, it’s summer.
It’s always summer in Panama!
That’s one thing many people like most about life in the Hub of the Americas.
I enjoy contrast, and it’s difficult to imagine two more contrasting points on this earth than Paris and Panama. Lots to love about both places.
My favorite things about Panama? I called on my expert expat team in Panama City to help me formulate as comprehensive a response to that question as possible.
Expats on the Live and Invest Overseas team in Panama City hail from the United States, Canada, Germany, France, Britain, Ireland, Finland, Russia, Jamaica, and Venezuela. We’re an eclectic bunch… 20-, 30-, 40-, 50-, and 60-somethings… single, married, divorced, and with children… with broad and diverse takes on the bests of Panama… including:
- Being back in a time when kids play outside for hours with nothing but a bucket and a stick…
- Having a nice man pump my gas for me…
- Literally watching the green grass grow in the Green Season…
- Surfing in the Pacific and the Caribbean in the same day if you want to…
![surfing in the pacific]()
- Taking a long bike ride along the Amador Causeway…
- Sharing a cold Panama beer with friends from around the world at the La Jirafa Rooftop bar in Casco Viejo…
- Ceviche, ceviche, ceviche…
- The cool, fresh breeze after a storm…
- Lunch at Café Coca-Cola…
- Walking through Santa Ana on a busy Saturday…
- Sitting in traffic in a taxi with salsa music playing loud…
- Panama City’s big-city yet small-town feel…
![big city small town feel]()
- All the options for where to go to watch live U.S. sporting events…
- Free boxing events on TV that you’d have to pay US$79.99 to US$99.99 to watch in the States…
- Dancing with my husband to live salsa bands at some of the local casinos…
- Attending zumba classes at outdoor venues along the Cinta Costera, Parque Omar, and Parque Andres Bello…
- Jogging along the Amador Causeway at sunset…
- Taking a do-it-yourself architectural tour of Casco Viejo…
- All the cheap, exotic fruits and fresh vegetables and herbs…
![fresh fruit stand panama]()
- The Colón accent… I’ve arrived at a destination in a cab and made up an excuse to have the driver keep going so I can carry on listening to his accent…
- Los tamboritos… Panama’s typical music…
- The wild, deserted beaches…
- Cheap rum…
- The fact that people never get angry or stressed out…
- The opportunity to see monkeys, sloths, and toucans every day… even in parts of Panama City…
![sloths panama]()
- Being able to swim and surf without mobs of other people in the water…
- The warm ocean waters year-round… so you never have to wonder whether it’s too cold to go swimming…
- Having almost everything from back home available… no matter where “back home” is… our LIOS expats from around the world all are able to find their favorite things from wherever they’ve come from…
- Canal Skatepark in Paraiso…
- The chance to pull a wild mango off the tree and cut into it to find it’s the best mango you’ve ever eaten…
![picking a mango]()
- The options for staycations—Casco Viejo in the city and the mountains the so many beaches just an hour-and-a-half away…
- Going to the movies for half the price I pay at home… then ordering sushi and wine to be delivered to me in my reclining armchair…
- Being in the same time zone as family and friends back in North America…
And here’s one more favorite that I want to highlight…
Our Canadian Conference Assistant Allison says:
“Best thing about Panama? The heat!
“Some people think I’m crazy… but I love it. There’s a reason I don’t live in Canada anymore…”
Kathleen Peddicord
