Panama

Visited: April 1997, 2005, 2009-10, 2013-16, 2017-20

Duration of travelling: 60 days

Duration of living: 2,040 days

Capital city: Ciudad de Panama

Population: 4.2 million (2020)

Estimated reading time: 3 minutes

• Exploring Bocas del Toro before being developed as a prime tourist destination in Panama.
• Crossing the Panama Canal on a sailing boat – one of the most impressive engineering achievements that impacted global transport.
• Manhattan of Central America – city of skyscrapers – Ciudad de Panamá.
• Finding the love of my life – a Panamanian architect in Bocas del Toro.
• Visiting paradisiac San Blas Islands and meeting Kuna culture.
• Encountering the enormous leatherback turtles on playa Armila.
• Panama becomes my second home in 2013.
• Political campaign along Rio Calovebora – a week long expedition to the Caribbean coast.
• Solo trip to Darien Gap for less than 200.00 US$ – complete improvisation to reach remote Emberá communities.

The first association with the word Panama is a connection between Atlantic and Pacific Ocean through the Panama Canal. The singular goal on my bucket list before exploring this narrow Central American country was to experience the Panama Canal.

I visited Panama on various occasions for pleasure, business, as well as living for several years:

1. In 1997, Panama was part of my American Big Tour, which started in New York City and ended in Buenos Aires 15 months later. I was already an experienced backpacker, able to communicate in Spanish by the time I crossed the border from Costa Rica. During my two weeks trip I visited Bocas del Toro, David, Panama City and San Blas archipelago.
2. As I entered into a relationship with a Panamanian girl, I began to visit Panama more frequently. Rather than solely exploring tourist sites, I took the opportunity to engage with the culture, learn about family relationships, explore local venues, and understand Panamanian mindset and interests more closely.
3. In 2013, our family made the decision to establish a permanent residence in Panama. The process of establishing a home in a different country is quite demanding, and in Panama, the challenges are even greater. In a country where everything is based on a capitalist system, financial limitations pose the greatest obstacle. From 2013 to 2020, I familiarized myself with every part of this stunning country, which has much more to offer than just the Panama Canal and luxury found in the capital’s upscale districts.

Panama is another Central American country whose recent the history has been written under US supervision. It became independent in 1903, when it separated from Colombia. The United States immediately recognized Panama as an independent state, receiving in return the rights to build a canal that would connect the Atlantic and Pacific Ocean.

The entire Canal Zone was under full US control until 1977, when a treaty was signed between the 2 countries to hand over the Canal to Panama on 31^st December 1999, in a gradual smooth process.

America’s last intervention took place in 1989, when the area of ​​Ciudad de Panama was attacked from the air during the Operation Just Cause. The main goal was to remove the then president (dictator) Manuel Noriega, who was becoming too important in drug trafficking, connecting Colombian cartels to Miami drug dealers, from power.

After two weeks of pressure, loud rock music around the surrounded Apostolic Nunciature (de facto Vatican Embassy in Panama), where Noriega took refugee, he finally gave up and surrendered. The ex-dictator was deported to the US, where he was later convicted of involvement in drug smuggling.

In spite of long dictatorship, Panama is the richest country in Central America, and certain exclusive areas of Panama City are perhaps even more luxurious than what you can find in Western European countries.

The main contribution to country’s prosperity is the Panama Canal; in addition to large direct earnings from tolls, there are also many side effects: relative peace, security and stability, strong financial sector with representations of foreign banks, a large number of jobs, the second largest free zone in the world in Colon, luxury hotels, construction boom and off shores companies.

Due to the transit position of Panama, its inhabitants are of very different origins: from whites to Chinese, from Indians to blacks. There is no way to define a typical Panamanian.