I’ve been recommending people spend time and money in Panama for more than 25 years.
That recommendation has been based, from the start, on my personal experiences.
I visited the country for the first time in 1998… and made my first property investment here (a vintage building in Casco Viejo called Casa Ramon that Lief and I renovated into three apartments and space for our office) in 2000.
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Lief and I went on to purchase a condo on Avenida Balboa… and a commercial building in El Cangrejo.
Today we own riverfront, land planted with teak, and 300 acres on the Veraguas coast called Los Islotes. Here we’ve built a family home and have master planned a private beachfront community. It’s a legacy undertaking that Lief and I will spend the rest of our lives turning from vision into reality.
We lived in Panama full-time for a dozen years… based the Live And Invest Overseas business here… raised our son here… and now call the country our part-time home.
All that to say, Lief and I are all in on Panama.
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But no place is perfect. Some things about Panama drive me crazy.
For example…
The Rain
After six months away, we’re returning to Panama next week… just in time for the climax of what is euphemistically referred to as the green season.
Indeed, this time of year Panama’s landscape is as lush as the Emerald Isle… thanks to all the rain.
December through March in this country are clear and dry. April through July, brief showers punctuate every afternoon. By August, the rain falls hard and heavy… and come October, rivers break their banks and the streets of Panama City flood daily.
Here are my top tips for navigating high rainy season in Panama…
- Never leave home without an umbrella. Don’t be fooled by a clear morning sky…
- Don’t wear expensive shoes. They won’t survive a height of the rainy season cloudburst. This time of year, rain-proof footwear is your friend…
- Panama City isn’t super walkable under the best of circumstances (more on this in a moment), but, when the skies open, nobody walks anywhere. Expect even greater than usual traffic delays.
This leads to the next item on my list of things I don’t like about Panama…
The Drivers
When we moved full-time to Panama in 2008, we bought two cars—one for Lief and one for me. A year later, I told Lief to sell mine. Twelve months on the mean streets of Panama City were enough for me.
A few years ago, the country began requiring a test before issuing a driver’s license. Before that, you simply asked for a license and got one. No training necessary.
Your fellow drivers on the road, therefore, didn’t use turn signals because, I figure, they didn’t know they were supposed to. They didn’t stop at Stop signs or even, often, at red lights. They turned right from the far left lane across three lanes of traffic, again without signaling. They drove on the shoulder, across the median, on the sidewalks. They ran into each other all the time.
Despite the new requirements that would-be drivers take a class and pass a test, little has changed. The difference is that there are significantly more vehicles on the road than in 2008.
The country’s exploding middle class means more people can afford a car. The streets, meantime, remain as narrow, the parking as limited. Traffic jams are epic.
I have no tips for navigating the streets of Panama City from behind the wheel of a car. If you dare to try, good luck.
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The Sidewalks
My favorite daily pastime is walking. In Paris, I break up my day with walks to the bakery, the wine shop, or the bank, and, as often as possible, I sneak off for a wander along the river.
In Panama City, I avoid walking altogether. The city has made an effort in recent years to expand the areas with sidewalks. Still, much of the city lacks them. Where you find them, they’re uneven and cracked.
Manholes lack covers. Electrical wires hang low. Enormous tree roots interrupt the way. Etc.
Fortunately, Uber is cheap.
The Manana Attitude
It’s cliché, but cliches become cliches for a reason.
Nobody in Panama is in a hurry to do anything… except cut you off in traffic, but we’ve already covered that.
Over the two-and-a-half decades I’ve spent time in this country, my attitude toward their attitude toward life and business has cycled. I’ve sometimes found it charming. Other times I’ve had to walk away from encounters because I feared if I didn’t I might start shouting or maybe even punching.
When a banker we’re meeting with for a fourth time tells us to go away and come back with yet another document he’d failed to mention in any of the previous three meetings only that fifth meeting can’t be scheduled for a month because the banker is going on vacation, I start to lose my cool. Rum helps.
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It’s Always Summer
This is a con and a pro. Summertime is great… but I also enjoy spring, autumn, and even, briefly, winter. We balance constant summer in Panama with four seasons in Paris.
The Sun Sets At The Same Time Every Day
The day grows dark by 6:30 p.m. all year long. I enjoy the consistency until I don’t.
Litter
Litter is perhaps the toughest thing for me to handle about day-to-day life in Panama. It’s everywhere… on the sidewalks of Panama City and along highways across the country.
The country is beginning to make an effort to help people understand the negative impacts of such disregard for their environment. It will take another generation, though, at least, before real change is affected.
Poverty
As anywhere in the developing world, the have-nots are very present across Panama. This can be hard to take day to day.
The best response is to make an effort to give back. You bring valuable experience, skills, and talents with you from your old life to your new one in Panama. Find a way to put them to good use.
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