“It’s an interesting thing, moving around the world right now,” remarked my friend over lunch in Paris Friday afternoon. “Visit the U.S. or the UK or Ireland right now…and the world is ending. People are nearly paralyzed with panic,” he continued.
“Come here to Paris…and all seems well. Life continues as it has…as it will…
“What are things like in Panama?” he asked.
“Like here in Paris…continuing as they have and as they will,” I responded. “The Panama City property market is down and will fall further, but the country in general surges ahead. It’s mostly to do with the Panama Canal Expansion Project.”
“Ah, right,” my friend replied. “That must be bringing great amounts of money and of talent into the country.”
“Indeed, and it will continue to do so. It’s a public works project on a grand scale that means Panama will weather the current global financial storm better than most. We won’t see again this year the 8%+ growth that this country has enjoyed over the past five years, but 2009 in Panama won’t be the disaster that it’s shaped up to be elsewhere around the globe.”
After three weeks in Europe, we return this morning to the Hub of the Americas. It was minus 6 degrees Celsius in Paris when we departed…
Friday afternoon, after my friend and I had finished lunch, we crossed the river to walk through the gardens of the Louvre. The walkways of the Tuileries were covered with snow, and the fountains were frozen mid-spout. Paris is beautiful in every season, but last week’s winter scene was magical.
From quiet winter in Paris back now to frenzied growth in the tropics…
Kathleen Peddicord
