Richard Detrich’s Boquete, Panama Weblog

Old Paul Revere could be right about Panama as well!

It seems a middle-aged British fellow by the name of John Darwin had financial problems, so in 2002 he cooked up a scheme to fake his death in a boating accident, collect an insurance settlement, and create a new debt-free life, without giving their grown sons a clue.  His red boat washed up on shore and it was assumed he was lost at sea.  A funeral was conducted and his wife dutifully grieved.   Yet for three years he lived in a secret room at his home in England, taking strolls on the beach with his only disguise a hat, a cane and a walk with a limp.  Then the couple discovered Panama, and purchased an apartment in Panama city.  The scam may have worked but, unfortunately for the Darwins, an enterprising Panama City real estate agent had posted a picture of the couple on the Internet . . . and things started to unravel.   Last fall the drama of the “canoe man” and his attempted escape to Panama played itself out daily in the British tabloids and captured the imagination of Brits saddled by high prices, congestion, taxes and buoyed up with British Pounds worth a fortune compared to the US dollar. 

Ever since Brits have been fascinated by the lure and promise of Panama . . . and well they should be!  The strength of the Pound against the US dollar, currency of Panama, makes investing in Panama a tremendous opportunity, one which has not gone unnoticed by British investors.

“Experts say the biggest investment potential is in the emerging markets – in particular the likes of Bulgaria and even Panama, Egypt, Brazil and China. The past 3 years have seen a surge in interest in less traditional overseas property destinations . . .” 

UK’s Finance Daily 

“RECORD numbers of Britons are fleeing the country for more appealing climates, lower taxes, more affordable property and fewer traffic jams.

Latest figures from the Office for National Statistics show that 200,000 people left Britain for good last year, and the majority of them were retirees . . .  Panama, now infamously the chosen destination of “back from the dead” canoeist John Darwin and his wife Anne, comes a close second [to Cyprus] . . .

Panama’s main attraction, apart from its year-round 30C temperature, lies in the fact that English is widely spoken.

Other benefits include a low cost of living, a minimal crime rate and, for retirees, its “pensionado-” scheme – which offers discounts on services such as healthcare, travel and leisure activities.

Panama’s main currency is also the US dollar, so with just under $2 to the pound it has become increasingly attractive for British retirees recently.

Tax:  Income from assets outside Panama, whether they be your pension, bank deposits or your investment portfolio, is completely free from tax.

However, there is a 5% transfer tax on goods and services, which is roughly equivalent to British Vat.

Don’t think you will escape tax completely, however. While there is no inheritance tax as such, gifts of property attract rates from 4% to 33% depending on your relationship with the beneficiary.

Property costs: Panamanian property is not as cheap as you might think, with a typical property likely to set you back about £110,000. However, there are some useful perks for people who intend to rent out property there.

If you receive rental income from a property, you will normally be liable for income tax up to a maximum of 27% on income of more than $30,000 (£15,000).

If you invest in one of Panama’s special “tourism zones”, though, you may be exempt from income tax for 15 years.

Ease of gaining residency: Anyone buying property may apply for permanent residence one year after having applied for a residence visa, as long as the value of the property and any local bank deposits equal $200,000 or more.

Five years on, it is then possible to apply for Panamanian nationality.

Healthcare: Under the pensionado system, pensioners get 15% off the cost of hospital services in private clinics, 10% off medicine, 20% off medical consultations and surgical procedures and 15% off dental and optical services.” 

London, Sunday Times, The Sunday Times, January 20, 2008

Not that Brits finding Panama attractive is anything new.  There is a good contingent of British ex-pats already living in Panama and around Boquete.  For Boquete it’s nothing new: the town was founded some 100 years ago by Europeans who found it a beautiful, comfortable and attractive spot for agriculture.  So in Boquete you find lots of English names of families who have lived here since the town began.  “JR” Watson and his brother own El Constructor, one of the big local hardware stores.  “JR” has stories of his great-something grandfather, an English sea captain who fell in love with a Panamanian and moved to Boquete when the town began.  In those days, according to “JR”, it took three days to go from Boquete to David by ox cart to get supplies!  And to think I wince at the 40 minute drive!

Rodrigo Julio Molino Ortega, Esq. is Senior Partner in the lawfirm of Molina & Co in Panama City.  He wrote an excellent year-end piece about Panama that’s well-worth reading for anyone with any interest in investing or moving to Panama.

“This past Christmas season 2007 everyone was asking: What is happening in Panama?

Every single hotel, whether in the city, at the beach or up in the mountains, is full.  The malls and streets are throbbing with tourists from the whole world, in a shopping, business and holiday frenzy.  Workers from hundreds of construction sites emerge at 3 o’ clock, invading streets, squares and stores with their lunch boxes and backpacks as they make their way home. Cranes scattered everywhere are becoming part of the scenery.  All the restaurants are full to capacity and long lines await customers trying to get a table.  The streets are congested with cars, newly acquired for the most part. Sprawling and modern shopping centers boasting fabulous designs bedazzle both foreigners and locals.  We have already surpassed the 1 Million threshold in terms of tourists coming into our country every year, mainly through the newly refurbished and enlarged Tocumen International Airport.  The Canal expansion projects are underway, generating many direct and indirect jobs, with good wages.  The Atlantic and Pacific ports see millions of containers every year and have become the largest in Latin America.  The banking center is steadily growing and many banks from different countries have opened for business in the last few months.

Residential tourism, especially the US retiree kind, has grown in the last years and constitutes an important aspect in the country’s economic growth.

The Colon Free Zone, which generates huge earnings and plenty of jobs, is at its best, showing incredible figures for import and export ventures to and from many countries of the globe, especially Asia, the United States, Europe and Latin America.

Amazing public works are underway:

• The Panama-Colon freeway
• The Biodiversity Museum
• The coastal route and new public roads
• The Panama Bay clean-up project

Economic growth has been gradually achieved since the Canal and Canal Zone handover. The Panama Canal administration has yielded important earnings for the National Treasury, thanks to toll fees, which have also increased precisely to the benefit of the rightful owners of the waterway. In seven years of Panamanian administration, the Canal has generated more revenue in terms of taxes than what was produced during the eighty-five (85) years of American administration.

Significant progress is being made in the field of non-traditional produce exports, such as melons, watermelons, pineapples, fish and medicinal plants.

This is a positive overview, albeit very abridged, of present-day Panama. Following I will try to reminisce the Panama of yesterday.

During the thirties, poverty was global due to the world financial crisis. The so-called Canal Zone was an oasis of wealth because the overwhelming majority of canal and defense workers earned wages higher than those earned in the rest of the country. These workers bought their food, clothing, shoes and other items in Canal Zone stores, in direct and illegal competition with homeland trade.  Smuggling goods from the Canal Zone was a common thing and was tolerated by both national and US authorities.

In December 1941, the Second World War broke out and lasted four years, ending in 1945.  During the armed conflict, the US Empire dotted the landscape with military bases, making use of the right that the 1903 pernicious treaty gave them to do so. The Panamanian workers and artisans for the construction and functioning of so many bases not being nearly sufficient, foreign laborers, chiefly from Central America, had to be imported.  The streets were teeming with soldiers and marines going in and out of bars that back then, just as today, thrived in the capital city.  Thousands of soldiers were posted in the military bases, others deboarded their ships or planes, in transit towards the European and Pacific fronts.  The city swarmed with men and women, soldiers and civilians, of all ethnic groups and nationalities, the nation’s secular cosmopolitanism, which was boosted by the state of war of that time.  Many were the verbal and physical abuses committed by soldiers against Panamanian citizens, especially women, in spite of the presence of the Military Police that patrolled every street. Fights would break out very often between Americans and locals, which brought to mind episodes, such as the watermelon slice incident in 1856, when Panama was the route chosen by American adventurers coming from New England to cross the isthmus by railway towards California, attracted by the Gold Rush.

During the Second World War years, Panama’s performance was probably null. Many people from the countryside moved to the capital, attracted by the jobs available in the military bases and other works carried out by the American Armed Forces, such as the Transisthmian highway and other roads within the Canal Zone. Dollars showered upon the capital and sprinkled the interior as well. The soldiers and a good amount of the local population were so fond of gambling that the National Lottery doubled and even tripled the emission of bills. Back then, just as today, people spoke of the great business boom and the abundance of money circulating in the country

All of this bonanza could be explained due to the millions of Dollars that the United States spent in our country during the war. But one must remember that workers did not pay any taxes in Panama and that they bought their food and all their household items in Canal Zone stores. And on top of it all, income arising from taxes levied on Canal activities did not reach one Million dollars per year. Outrageous abuse from the occupying country!

When the war ended in 1945, the United States negotiated the Filos-Hines Agreement, whereby the Panamanian state granted the United States the right to maintain one hundred and thirty military bases in the Republic of Panama. The National Assembly did not ratify this agreement due to the opposition of the Panamanian people, who demonstrated massively and forcefully against such ratification. The students of the University of Panama, founded in 1935 by Octavio Méndez Pereira, led a huge demonstration that spilled over the French Plaza, demanding that assemblymen reject the agreement. Once the military bases were vacated, many Panamanians lost their jobs and many apartments that had been rented out to American soldiers and technical support personnel in the cities of Panama and Colon were left unoccupied. This economic situation was temporary, since the war in Korea and Vietnam brought back military personnel to the colonial enclave and the Canal terminal cities. Around 1949 the Colon Exterior Free Trade Zone commenced operations, which has steadily grown until this day, holding a key position in the nation’s economy. In May 1951, the School of Medicine opened for classes in the grounds of our sole university, a transcendental event in the history of Panamanian education and public health system. This school has seen many a student from underprivileged groups graduate as doctors and lead the health teams required “to redeem our race”, as stated by its founder, professor Octavio Méndez Pereira.

When the new Canal treaties that were subscribed in 1977 came into force, the Railroad was handed over, and the ports and canal zone areas were reintegrated into the national patrimony. We have seen how the ports, the railroad, as well as the power and telecommunication services have been privatized. We have also witnessed the wonderful development of the Amador area and the big success of the City of Knowledge, which houses important national and international organizations.

I have but outlined some of the facts of the Panama of today, threading ideas from the Panama of yesterday. These are my personal observations and follow no historical rigor.

Following I will try to expand on the expression: the Panama of Always. Since the appearance of the Isthmus of Panama three million years ago, it has always served as a communicating bridge between Central and South America, and between the Atlantic and the Pacific oceans. Through this land and air bridge numerous species of plants, mammals, insects, plants and other biological organisms have passed, including man.

The waters of both oceans are home to hundreds of species of fish, whales, shell fish, turtles and other sea creatures that prefer our warm waters to mate and reproduce. Our extensive mangrove and solitary beaches represent an important ecological atmosphere for the cycle of life of numerous species.

Interoceanic communication is possible today by land and train, but ever since Balboa traversed the isthmus and discovered the Pacific Ocean in 1513, communication is chiefly made by land. Let’s remember the Camino de Cruces and the Camino Real, which linked the city of Panama to Chagres, Portobelo and Nombre de Dios. Witness to the history of these terminal ports are the Puente del Rey in Panama Viejo, the ruins of San Lorenzo in Chagres and the old Customs House in Portobelo.

The Panama of always is that which has been forever globalized and cosmopolitan, with cyclic and transit-based economy.

We could visualize the economic activity and the hubbub that reigned in the city when the conquest of Peru was being planned.

We could visualize in our minds the commotion and activity when those great shipments of gold and other treasures from South America transited through the isthmus and to then leave Panama and Portobelo?

And what about the trade and military activity conducted by the Spanish empire in the isthmus of Panama?

The world-known Portobelo Fairs, which paved the way for the Panama International Commercial Exhibit, saw commercial exchanges that generated enormous wealth. These riches sparked the greed of pirates, who sacked the ports of Panama and Portobelo.

And what about the Panama Railroad construction years, completed in 1855, where hundreds of workers toiled so that thousands of Americans could use it to reach California?

Between 1904 and 1914, the fabulous feat of building of the Panama Canal took place, and this period marked for ever the historical destiny of the isthmus of Panama.

The globalization of the world economy, the fantastic technological progress in the communications and information technology fields, total sovereignty in the entire Panamanian territory, juridical security, the efficient administration of our Canal, which is now undergoing expansion works, the development of shopping, ecological, health and cultural tourism, and the improvement of education and health indicators, are all factors that will certainly contribute to maintain and consolidate the Panama of today, with solid projections towards a bright future, for the benefit, well-being and joy of all those who live on Panamanian soil.”

Rodrigo Julio Molino Ortega, Esq

Panama is known to the world for it’s Canal, being the flag of registry for most of the world’s ships, an international banking and business center, and, increasingly the crossroads/hub of the Americas.

Yet where we live, the province of Chiriqui, you are far from the skyscrapers of Panama City.  Chiriqui’s main industry is agriculture.  Chiriqui provides most of the country’s dairy cattle, beef cattle, vegetables, citrus and bananas.  Our particular town, Boquete, provides some of the world’s best high-altitude coffee.

Each year at this time there is a “cupping” where major coffee buyers come to sample and bid at auction for coffee supplies.  Recently one of our “fincas” or coffee farms won first place and it’s coffee sold for $131 a pound at wholesale! You can buy a cup in one Toronto specialty coffee shop for $12 - a cup!

Consider that in Panama there are:

• 1,800 miles of coastline

• 940 bird species

• 10,000 species of plants

• 200 species of mammals

• 200 species of reptiles

• Mountain peaks from which you can see both the Pacific and Caribbean

• Rivers where rafters can ride 20 sets of rapids in a single afternoon

• 1518 islands

• More deep-sea fishing records have been broken off the Pacific cost of Panama than anywhere else in the world

• 7 indigenous Indian cultures

• 30% of the country is set aside for conservation

• 125 animal species found nowhere else in the world

• Variety of ecosystems including tropical rain forests, grasslands, mountain forest, cloud forests, mangroves and deserts

• Two national marine parks, one of which - Parque Nacional Marino Golfo de Chiriqui – is just a short boat ride from Boca Brava

How is that for diverse?

We’re generally not really social people, but this has been a busy week.

Sunday we were invited to a potluck lunch and there were ex-pats (ex-patriots from other countries) from Canada, US, England, South Africa, Holland, Spain, Italy, France and Hong Kong, plus Panamanians!  Fun afternoon, neat and diverse group.

Thursday we had a bunch of people over for a wine & cheese party that went from 4:30pm until 9pm!  One of our neighbors is a professional Poker player and his partner is from Taiwan.    Friday we were invited over to a  gay couple’s house down the road for dinner.  They’ve been together for 11 years. [Maybe a lot of straight couples could learn something from them about "family values". The biggest threat to marriage may be divorce, not gay marriage!]  Saturday night we went to the French restaurant in town for a 5-course dinner with 5 different French wines ($47 for two, including tax & tip) and at our table was a Formula One race car driver and a horse trainer, a Canadian, a Brit, a Panamanian, and a few Americans like us. 

 It is a VERY diverse, interesting and fun group!

Panamanians themselves are a historically diverse group with strains of indigenous Indian cultures, and Spanish ancestry.  There are many people in Boquete who have English going back to early English settlers who intermarried with Panamanians.  Jews, Greeks, Chinese, West Indian Africans, French, US and others all were involved in the Canal and entered into the mix.  The result is that Panamanians are a mixed and beautiful group of people!  When you throw an innate friendliness, politeness, and a lot of patience into the mix, you get a really great group of people!

Catholicism is the largest group, but slowly declining.  The fastest growing group are evangelical charismatic churches.  Hosanna! is an Assembly-of-God-type church in Panama City that started 10 years ago in a storefront.  Today the church has over 25,000 members, a medical clinic, TV station, and numerous daughter churches around the country.  The sanctuary only seats 5,000, so when they want to get the entire church together they rent a soccer stadium.  I visited one Friday night and there were 5,000 people packed in!

Seventh Day Adventism is popular, and there are mosques in many of the larger cities, including David.  My background with Muslims was largely influenced by Black Muslims in the US, so I’m often a bit taken back when I see a Panamanian Muslim woman, dressed modestly and appropriately, but looking like she just stepped off the runway of a Paris fashion show!

One of the things we really enjoy is jumping in our Toyota 4Runner and exploring this diverse land.  This weekend we headed off to Puerto Armuellas, where there was nary a Gringo in site.  People were friendly, helpful even to two lost Gringos.

It was a great cruise, but, as always, it is good to come home.  I love coming home to Panama!  Spending a full HOUR waiting with hoards of people to get through US Immigration - oops!  “Homeland Immigration” - I forgot for a moment in my absence they’d changed the name of the country to “The Homeland” - and the “police state” image, all reminded me of all that I do not miss.   The meltdown of the US economy is going to get worse when the war spending stops, when all of the troops start getting back to work in the US, and the TSA minions hired mostly to keep the Bush-terror illusion alive, start getting laid off and going on welfare.  But enough about that!

Panama supposedly has two seasons, the “wet” season and the “dry” season.  The “dry” season, also called “summer” even although we are in the Northern hemisphere, could also be called the windy season, since it’s when we get Santa Ana type winds.  It’s not that it never rains in the dry season, it just doesn’t rain that much.  The tourism promoters like to call the “wet” season the “green” season, since everything is lush, lush, lush green.  “Wet” doesn’t mean that it rains all the time.  In Boquete it usually means we get rain sometime in the later afternoon or early evening on most days, but the mornings are usually brilliant.   Panama has lots of regional climates.  Weather in Boquete is different than in nearby David, and Panama City is totally different.  Even within Boquete we have lots of micro-climates.    The best description of Boquete’s weather comes from the folks at Coffee Estate Inn:

Mid-December to Mid-February: “We frequently have high winds (up to 40km/hr) and misting rain known locally as ‘Bajareque’ from the Atlantic side.  Most mornings the combination of sun, wind, and bajareque produces hour-long rainbows across the valley . . . During these months, one day can be beautiful and the next day stormy.”

“We usually have two annual storms that last 3-4 days each in late December, January or early February . . . These storm conditions are caused by cold air being pushed south-east into the Atlantic from the polar regions and blown south-west into the mountain ranges of Central America by strong northerly Trade Winds. The temperature during the daytime . . . may rise to 75º F or 26º C with evenings cooling to 60º F or 16º C.”

February, March, April, Early May: (In Boquete) “. . .  usually, these months are the driest, sunniest and warmest. During this period, temperatures rise to 80°F+ or 24°C during the afternoons and 64°F or 14°C in the evenings. We sometimes experience dramatic afternoon thunderstorms. April can be the driest and sunniest month of the year.”

Mid May to Early December:“During the rainy season that usually commences between May 12-16, we have no wind or light variable winds and brilliant sunny mornings. In the evening it is fascinating to watch the ‘lightning shows’ 15 kilometers away and to hear the thunder rolling around. The volcano is clouded over by noon and is followed by hard downpours in the afternoon for one to five hours (progressive with the advance of the months) and clear evenings. Usually, we have a weather condition similar to Indian summer, “Verano de San Juan” starting in July for 2-4 weeks. The Trade Winds return during this period pushing off the wet Pacific weather system. As a result, it is drier and very green from previous rains.”

“October can be the rainiest month with more cloud coverage . . . November and early December can also be wet.”

Driving home from Panama City, from Santiago to Boquete was a spectacular drive! Many of the forest trees that bloom burst into bloom at the beginning of the dry season.   The first to bloom are brilliant yellow.  And the road home was lined with huge, brilliant yellow Guayacan  trees in full bloom, promoting me to call this the “Golden Season”.  The yellow trees will be followed by spectacular white, pink and hot pink trees.   Botanists tell me that the shift from the abundance of rain to the dry season stresses the plant, and it is the stress that pushes the tree to flower.  Hmmm . . . there should be a sermon illustration in that!

Anyway, it is good to be home!

I’m in Costa Rica today: Puerto Limon on the Caribbean side.

Costa Rica knows how to court tourists, and tourism is big business.  Yet times are tough in Costa Rica.   Serious economic problems continue leading to high crime rates.  Many expats are moving from Costa Rica to Panama.

Last year a group of cruise passengers from Carnival’s LIBERTY hired a van in Puerto Limon.  As they were leaving the van near a beach the group were accosted by three knife-wielding young thugs.  Unbeknown to the thugs, one old man was a Marine.  [Marines tell me there is no such thing as an "ex-Marine"!]  The 70-year-old former [Is "former" OK?] killed his attacker with his bare hands!  Warning to all young thugs out there: “Don’t f*** with old gringos!”

The Costa Rican “Tico Times” reports that 2008 is off to a bad start.

Violent deaths in Costa Rica numbered 34 between Christmas Eve and New Year’s Eve 2007, casting a shadow over a festive holiday week and rounding off a year in which incidents of fatal road crashes and murders soared.

The figures only include deaths that occurred at the scene of an accident or crime, without counting people who died later in the hospital.

From Dec. 24 to 31, a total of 13 people died in automobile accidents and eight were murdered.

If you’re around Gatun Locks or Colon today and see a Holland America ship . . . WAVE! 

Today we’ll be doing a partial Canal transit going through the Gatun Locks, cruising Gatun Lake, disembarking passengers for various tours in Panama City including the Embera Indian Village tour, and then exiting through Gatun Locks and tieing up at the Colon Cruise Terminal.  This is the first of three voyages I will be doing this Spring on VOLENDAM, before taking the ship on a repositioning cruise through the Canal and up to Vancouver.

If you check out the Panama Canal Web-cam page you might just catch us in the act!

http://www.pancanal.com/eng/photo/camera-java.html

You may also want to check out the Holland America Web site for more information. 

Controversial Boquete developer Sam Taliaferro, who has an ongoing fight with Panama’s Tourism Minister, Ruben Blades, posted this on his Prima Panama Blog.

I made a short one day trip to Costa Rica yesterday to look a major development project underway in Golfito. I will be making a report on this later this week, but while it is fresh in my mind, I want to take this opportunity to rant about the insanity I witnessed in Paso Canoa, the border town between Costa Rica and Panama.

As I stood in the line waiting to be processed back into Panama I saw a number of foreigners turned away by immigration officers because they did not have an airline ticket showing that they were leaving Panama in the future. It did not matter that they had airline return tickets from San Jose, Costa Rica back to their respective countries. The immigration officials demanded they have an airline ticket out of Panama or they could not come in.

Americans, Canadians, Germans and many other nationalities were being turned away as I stood in utter amazement. Their crime was wanting to visit Panama from Costa Rica to spend money in hotels and restaurants and tourism operations. The very things we pay the Ministry of tourism 10% of all our bookings to do, the ministry of immigration is stopping with vigor. Imagine the frustration of these people who came either by bus or car for 5-6 hours and then waited in long lines to get through immigration in Costa Rica, only to be told take your money back to Costa Rica because Panama does not want it. I saw justifiably angry people saying they would never again try to come to Panama, and I don’t blame them. They will return to their homes praising Costa Rica and cursing Panama. No wonder we have less than 18,000 tourists in our province last year. They are actually stopping them from coming! Maybe Panama is using the velvet rope theory with tourism. Make it so difficult to get in that everyone will want to come! Yea, Panama is so great that we can put bouncers at the entrances and only let the beautiful people in just like the hot night spots in Miami.

This year the Vice President of Panama, Samuel Lewis, visited the border area and promised that they would be working to make border crossing easier for tourists to come to Panama from Costa Rica. Like most commitments made by politicians, this was just lip service. Instead of making it easier, they have made it impossible for any tourist to come into the country at a border crossing. Unless you are coming here by airline you better not come as far as they are concerned. And be sure not to warn them. Better to make them spend a day of their vacation dragging their luggage around and waiting in long lines.

Why has Panama implemented this insane stop tourism strategy? Maybe they are trying to keep foreigners who reside in Panama without a permanent visa from leaving the country for 72 hours and returning to stay another 90 days. The question we must ask is, why should they care if people stay 30, 90, 180 days or years? They are not coming to take jobs. The foreigners are spending money which employs Panamanians.  Why do they care if they are  legal residents or permanent tourists? They spend money just the same.

I used to ask myself, why would I want to live in a country that did not want me as a tourist? Why would anyone want to limit the time a tourist stays in the country? We need to look at countries as we do hotels. We pick the ones that fit our lifestyles and budgets. I have never seen a hotel say they limit the time a  guest can stay. As long as they pay, they can stay as long as they like. Only a moron operator would put up barriers to the time a person can visit.

Utter stupidity!

It is interesting to compare the approach to tourism of Panama and Costa Rica.   Costa Rica knows how to court tourists and promote tourism.  Granted, Panama is relatively new to the tourism thing and is getting better, but we have a long way to go.  While Blades and Taliaferro may disagree whether or not “residential tourism” is really tourism, Blades has done a lot for tourism in Panama.  You may want to visit the English Panama Tourism Board Web site.

Now if we could just get Immigration to see the big picture!

Thank you Panama!

One of the big benefits for construction in Panama was the 20-year tax exemption on new construction which expired in August 2007.  This benefit has now been extended until December 31, 2009.  It makes sense to keep the economic ball rolling and is a major benefit for “residential tourism”, which, incidentally, the Minister of Tourism denies is “tourism.”

Another big benefit to folks who have, or wish to have, a Panamanian home they use for only part of the year, is that the 90-day visa for US citizens has been restored. 

The death of a Sovereign that has been well-loved all these many years and a symbol of all that is good and great about Britain should not go unnoticed, even if she has not officially died . . . yet.   But she is on her last legs and in a few months will pass into history.  But what a glorious history!

The other week the QE2 set sail on her final global voyage before being turned into a floating hotel in Dubai.

Her sister ship, the new Queen Victoria, set off on her first world cruise at the same time, with both ships bound for New York.  Today, January 13th, all three Cunard Queens (QE2, Queen Mary and the new Queen Victoria) rendezvouz in New York harbor!  In a spectacular moment of maritime history, at 7PM all three Queens will sail by the Statue of Liberty under exploding fireworks.

Carnival Corporation, who rescued Cunard from almost certain demise, has sold the QE2 for a reported $99 million.

FYI: QEII is Queen Elizabeth and QE2 is the ship.  QE2 was launched by Queen Elizabeth in 1967 and is Cunard’s longest-serving ship.  Until the Carnival purchase of Cunard it was a hodge podge of partial renovations with no unifying theme and badly showing its age.  Carnival reinvented not only Cunard Line but the QE2 as well..

The ship has sailed more than 5.5 million nautical miles — the equivalent of travelling to the moon and back 13 times — undertaken 25 world cruises, crossed the Atlantic more than 800 times, and carried more than two million passengers.

Two travel adventures I will always wish I had enjoyed: flying on the Concorde and sailing on the QE2.  I came close to doing both, but it never happened.  God speed on your final voyage.  There is nothing quite so sad or depressing as a former ship, permanently moored: witness the Queen Mary in Long Beach.

OK, so what is the most frustrating thing about adjusting to a new country and retirement in Panama?

It’s not the coffee flies.  Boquete doesn’t have many mosquitoes (breezy, too cool, whatever) but it does have pesky coffee flies that leave a “no-see-em”-type bite.  They say that in time, when you’re no longer “fresh meat” it’s not a problem.  In the meantime we screened in our porch.

It’s not the bureaucracy.  Frankly, I think Panamanian red tape is less onerous than in the US.

It’s not Spanish.  Probably more people speak English in Boquete than Oxnard!  And the locals are very patient and eager to help you with learning Spanish.So what’s the fly-in-the-ointment of this paradise?It’s a very different frame of reference and understanding of one of our most fundamental concepts in the US.

• Freedom?  You’ve got to be kidding!  Have you read  the co-called “Patriot Act”?
• Taxes?  Come on!  Half of my income in the US was going to one government or the other.

The basic difference comes in the fundamental understanding of the meaning and value, or lack thereof, of TIME!

Gringos come here with a US understanding of the value of time - “Time is money!  Steal my time and you steal from me!”  In my case this is overlaid with a Calvinist/Protestant work ethic which means seizing every moment because each moment is a gift from God to be used and invested.  At 24 Hour Fitness I worked for a boss who was a time fanatic!  If a meeting was to start at 10AM it was to start at 10AM not 10:05AM.  If we were 5 minutes late in starting we received a lecture on the cumulative value of our salaries and incentives and exactly what that 5 minute delay cost the company.

Now I come to a country where the dominant attitude is “Mañana!“  The accepted excuse for everything is, “This is Panama!”  (Implied, “And what did you expect?”)  And, amazingly, that’s OK!  [In my humble opinion, spoken respectfully and as a guest, with Panama's tremendous assets and potential workforce, although tiny, it could be the economic powerhouse of the Americas were it not for this attitude.]

Consider: It took me ABOUT TWO YEARS to get more-or-less reliable Internet service.  First it was getting telephone service.  The builder had never installed the wiring from my house to the connection at the road.  Then the developer had used inside cable instead of outside cable.  The cable had deteriorated and had to be replaced.  When I finally got telephone service I couldn’t get DSL from the phone company because the developer had some fight with someone.  Promises, problems, delay . . . And coming out of a .com background, a refrigerator wasn’t essential, but a good Internet connection was a requirement of life!

Consider: Three months before I arrived I ordered bookcases and furniture to be ready for installation when I arrived.  I waited and waited!  “It’s New Year’s.”  “It’s after New Year’s.”  “It’s the Fair.”  “His wife is having an operation in Panama City.”  “It’s Carnival.”  “It’s the week after Carnival and we had to fire everyone.”  “It’s Lent.”  “It’s Holy Week.”  “There’s no more stain.”  “Stain has to come from Miami, none in Panama.”  And thrown in have been dozens of appointments to install when nobody has called or shown up.  And it goes on and on and on.  It took me over 9 months to get my bookcases! You could have a baby in less time!

Some folks say: “Rant and rave if you want to get anywhere!”  Others say, “Be friendly!  Try friendship and sugar.”  Still others say, “Just wait.”  Probably the best advice I’ve received was one word: “Surrender!  You can’t control it, so surrender.  Don’t get all worked up.  In a year it will be done, and you’ll look back and will have forgotten the hassle.

If you go to a Panamanian party announced for, say, 7PM, expect to find your hosts in the shower.  7PM Panamanian time is not the same as 7 PM Gringo time.  So you learn to ask, “Is this Panamanian Time or Gringo Time?”  Problem is, nobody can give me a fix on Panamanian time.  Does 7PM mean 8PM, or is it 8:30PM, or 9PM??If someone is gong to stop by at 11AM, they most certainly won’t be there at 11AM, but you don’t know if it will be 12 noon, 3PM or not at all - and it’s not rude, or inconsiderate, or a snub or anything else: it’s just the way it is.

So back to my “Time is money!” upbringing: I’ve got things I have to do!

Learning to relax: the hot springs at Caldera