According to a recent article in LA PRENSA,
The number of tourists who came to Panama in April fell 0.1 percent in comparison to April of 2007.
According to data provided by the Instituto Panameño de Turismo (Ipat) 118,590 tourists visited the country in April 2008, or 72 fewer than in 2007.
The reason for the drop has been attributed to a decline in the number of tourists who come by sea— 42.7 percent fewer with respect to 2007. Sources at Ipat said several cruise ships have suspended their plans to stop in Panama.
In April of 2008, 24,506 tourists entered the country through Panamanian ports, or 18,281 fewer than during the same month in 2007.
Ricardo Ledezma, an adviser to Ipat’s general manager, Rubén Blades, said the cruise ship sector is somewhat unstable. “We don’t have specific data on how many cruise ships have stopped coming. Cruises can be canceled because of weather or for other reasons, but it’s not a market you can control from Panama.”
Actually, Ricardo and Ruben, it’s more than that. There are factors that “you can control from Panama.” As I have mentioned earlier, perhaps Panama is not ready for cruise ship tourism. The drawn out and much delayed construction on the Colon road is referred to by cruise passengers as the “road to hell . . . and back.” No one wants to pay big bucks for a cruise and $100 for a tour of the Canal, Panama City or an Embera village and sit for 2 hours both ways on a bus creeping along the Colon road. The tour buses are substandard for this part of the world where the competition is Costa Rica. Panama tour guides are unprepared, speak barely understandable English rapid-fire-Espanol-style, and fail to show the enthusiasm or friendliness of their Tico counterparts. Colon, as a port for cruise ship tourists, sucks. The docks leave much to be desired and passengers are warned against walking around Colon.
The Panamanian cultural and business attitude of not caring about the customer is abundantly evident in tourist businesses from the top down. With Royal Caribbean homeportinga mega ship in Colon this fall, Panama has a unique opportunity, but I fear that with the Panamanian business-as-usual attitude Panama will once again shoot itself in the foot.
One poster on Cruise Critic responded to a question regarding ports that should be eliminated, “Colon, Panama: You don’t dare leave the port shopping area on your own – the surrounding area is burned-out slums. The bay is riddled with half-sunk boat wrecks and tramp steamers.” Every cruise line asks passengers to evaluate the ports they have visited. Enough bad reviews and the ships go elsewhere. So there is a great deal Panama can do to encourage cruise tourism. The fact that the tourist board, IPAT, says, “We don’t have specific data on how many cruise ships have stopped coming”, speaks volumes about not caring.
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Newest Dam Ship Departs Fincantieri Yard in Venice
If you haven’t been watching, Holland America has been building it’s newest ship, the EURODAM, in Venice. If you haven’t visited the Eurodam Blog you will find it fascinating to see how a great ship is built. If you are a ship buff you will thoroughly enjoy the Podcast of the ship departing . . . final announcements, Sarah Brightman and Andrea Bocelli singing over the PA system “Time To Say Goodbye”, and the ships horns and shipyard sirens . . .
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Back to Panama’s Flawed Tourist Attitudes
Sam Taliaferro, Valle Escondido’s developer, has an interesting and alarming, article on his blog about Panama’s inept attempts at “welcoming tourists”. He recounts an experience his wife, Talia, a Panamanian, had right here in Boquete!
My wife explained to me that she attended a party last night at a small club in Boquete and about 10pm, men dressed in military fatigues and carrying batons and sidearms, flashed lights in their faces demanding to see the documents of any foreign looking person in the place. There were a number of gringo tourists who had left their passports in their hotels and they were summarily hauled off. My wife, a Panamanian, was shocked and heard stories from other Panamanians that this had been going on all week, even taking tourists out of restaurants in the middle of their meal. My wife said she was terribly embarrassed by the whole ordeal. I have traveled far and wide and have never seen this kind of treatment before, except in war torn nations, and certainly never against people who come to enjoy and spend money in the country.
Full story. Sam has been critical of Panama’s tourist ministry and it’s singing minister, Ruben Blades, in the past, and since he owns a tourist resort he certainly has a right to be concerned.
Lastly . . .
Visiting The Embera
Anna, from the UK, wrote:
Hi Richard,
San Juan [Embera Puru Village at San Juan de Pequini] sounds really interesting. You say it’s possible to visit independently of a tour company (which I would prefer). Once we get to Nuevo Vigia, is it easy to arrange the boat ride? How much does it cost (2 people)? Would the people be happy if we just arrive in their village? We speak some Spanish but are not fluent. How much would this hinder us? We would prefer to get there on our own rather than go to places with tour guides, and also the prices for the trip with Embera VIllage Tours are pretty high for just two people… Your advice would be very much appreciated – I leave for Panama in a few days! Thanks.
You can certainly do it yourself, although I’m not sure that’s what I’d recommend, particularly if you’re only going to be in Panama a brief time. You’d have to drive yourself to Nuevo Vigia, which is a 2 to 3 hour drive depending on traffic over poorly marked roads. And the last time I was there the turnoff had NO sign and the area was under construction. You can call the chief of the village, Erito Barrigon, and make arrangements. Understand they live in the jungle, so no Internet, and usually you have to leave a message and Eritowill call back, if and when he is within cell range, often not in the village, and he’s not going to call the UK. So, you can wait until you get to Panama and take your chances . . . or you can arrange with a tour operator. The ride up to the village is 1 hour by dug out canoe. They will come and get you and bring you back to the landing at Nuevo Vigia so it’s two roundtrips for them. With gas at $4.50 a gallon I’m sure their prices have gone up considerably, but it isn’t a whole lot different than a tour operator. It’s the same preparation and program, so it costs less for a large group than for two people. There is a guy at Nuevo Vigia ed “Toto” who will sometimes hire a boat for you. But before the increase in the cost of gas he used to charge $85-100. Speaking Spanish will definitely be a help if you’re doing it on your own. Hope that helps! [Erito Barrigon 6713-6257]
3 responses so far ↓
Max Hartman // June 27, 2008 at 1:38 pm
. . . My children were born at Gorgas and Coco Solo Hospitals in the old Panama Canal Zone in the 1970’s. (Both US and Panamanian Citizenship by Birthright) Having lived through the turmoil of the Carter-Torrijos Treaties (my ex-wife is 1/2 Ngobe-Bugle Native American),having lived 4 years in Chiriqui Grande, Bocas del Toro Caribe from 2000-2003(Big Oil-Big Poverty Territory),I know the United States Mainland has VERY FEW places where the average temperature is 80 degress year-round, with pure air from two oceans constantly refreshing the atmosphere above.
Investors in Panama won’t have to pay $2000 per month for heating oil in their residence in Panama City, Colon, Santiago, Penonome, David, Boquete or elsewhere from November through March of 2009.
The true Government leaders of Panama, knowing this, are weeding the “fair-weather” investors from the experienced ones who know each crisis has a hidden blessing at the end (opportunity) . . .
MAX HARTMAN
Puerto Limon, Costa Rica
Will // July 5, 2008 at 12:35 am
My American friend doing a small tourist project in Azuero tells me that the small investor (.$40000 )route to resdency is ending very soon and that $75k will be the minimum.
Have you heard this?
My understanding is that this is the proposed new law. Like any country what is proposed isn’t always what gets approved or signed into law. MyPanamaLawyer is a good source for this kind of thing, and here’s their summary of the proposed law.
Charles Metz // March 31, 2009 at 9:27 am
Hello Richard.
I hope you are well.
Some time ago I made a few comments on your blog regarding building in Panama.
I did not think much of it at the time but I wanted to tell you that I have recieved nearly a dozen inquiries for more information on the subject from all over the world. Interesting the power of the internet.
I thought I would forward the latest . Hope all goes well in Valleescondido.
Charles Metz , VE lot # 52 ( and yes it is still for sale , see note at the end )
To: “Thomas Christensson” Hello Thomas ,
Where are you building in Panama ?
I continue to be surprised regarding how many people have written to me regarding my comments on Richards blog.
M2 is a good system if used as it was designed. It is intended to be a ” structural ” material. Self supporting. This is not the way it is generally used in Panama.
Masonry construction on Panama typically is a system of poured solid concrete columns and a tie beam conncecting the columns … and then the space in between the colums is filled with whatever concrete or clay tile is laying around and then parged over. This is the way the high rises are built in Panama City . You often see the “fill in ” as red clay tile because it is less expensive than block.
When presented with the M2 the Panamanian contractors just did what they always had done… and used the M2 for in fill. The other method of construction is to weld a frame together for the house of steel square poles and steel rafters. And then fill between the poles with M2 and stucco over it.
In either case the week point is how the M2 is attached to the framing. And generally it is not attached very well. After a good earthquake you could find yourself with a good frame of a house and all your M2 laying on the ground.
The correct way to build with M2 is an ” all M2 construction ” no other framing. The M2 is covered by wire mesh on both sides. The proper installation is to tile the various pieces together with lots of wire and then ” under forced spray pressure ” apply concrete stucco to both sides of the surface approx. 3/4″ to 1 ” thick. When this is done it creates a very strong wall that is also very flexible. Unfortunately … I have never seen M2 apllied as it was designed to be used.
The material is usually poorly attached to a disimilar material with different expansion and contraction properties and then the stucco is ” hand applied by trowl ” to a thickness of maybe 1/2″ .
The only thing keeping water out of a stucco surface is the paint. Concrete is pourous.
Panama is all earthquake zone. In addition the foundations installed are not always adequate and there is significant settling. Once the exterior stucco cracks… you have water entering the walls. Because the system is more flexible than masonry block… it will crack more easily. Panama is in a rain forest and has terrific problems with mold.
And finally working with M2 and a hand trowl stucco finish produces irregular thickness of the walls ( it is also sometimes used for the interior walls ) . Which not only makes for an out of plumb, out of square house, … but is a nightmare to try to install finish trim on doors and cabinetry installations and so forth. You sort of get a ” mud pueblo ” looking structure, rather than the sharp crisp angles that result from a concrete block structure.
A couple other things to consider. The M2 construction goes up faster which may be important if you are trying to beat the rainy season. It also costs perhaps 10% more than a block structure.
And finally 75% of the deaths caused by earthquakes around the world are caused by block walls falling on someone. Of course the M2 when covered by concrete on both sides would also be heavy and is not as well attached to the frame of the house. I would not want either one to fall on me.
In summation , I would probably build masonry with M2 interior walls. The Panamanians typically build masonry interior walls and then beat the heck out of them to run electric which makes no sense to me. With M2 they simply take a propane torch and burn out a groove in the M2 and run the electric in conduit ( Which is always easier to pull wires and repair later if needed ) I also like the sound proofing that the M2 interior walls provide.
I hope my comments are of some value to you.
I have what is probably the last and best lot in Valleescodido ( Boquete ) or sale if you might know anyone interested. $ 165,000 direct from me, the realtor is asking $25K more.
Beautiful long view lot on a bluff over the river overlooking the golf course and next to the indoor heated pool and country club. I hate to let it go … but sign of the times.
I wish you luck with your project.
Charles Metz
— On Tue, 3/31/09, Thomas Christensson wrote:
From: Thomas Christensson
Subject: Building in Panama
To: metzcharles@yahoo.com
Date: Tuesday, March 31, 2009, 1:41 PM
Hi Charles,
I read your article about building in Panama and after living 20 years in Latin America I am sure you are right in every point which I will consider when I start building my house.
I have one question as I was considering to build with M2, why do you say never more building with M2? What kind of negative experience did you have?
Best regards,
Thomas
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Thomas Christensson
E-mail: thomaschristensson@yahoo.com