Panama Living Newsletter

Global forces train to prevent Panama Canal attack

Protecting the canal is a top priority which gives all of us in Panama a sense of security. Here is an article from the Washington Post about military exercises here in Panama.

Reuters
Thursday, August 24, 2006; 8:52 PM

PANAMA CITY (Reuters) - Eighteen nations are preparing for a weeklong series of maneuvers off Panama's coast designed to safeguard the country's famous canal from terror attacks, a U.S. military chief said on Thursday.

"All nations of the Western Hemisphere have a vested interest in safeguarding this vital waterway," said Cmdr. Bruce Erickson of the U.S. Southern Command in Panama City on the eve of the official start to "Panamax 2006," an annual event sponsored by the United States since 2003.

Local zookeeper wings to Panama to help save frog species

I have posted several articles about the frog dying issue in Panama. Why? Because frogs are most susceptible to environmental damage. Here is another article about the slippery creature.
This artilce from the Rochester Democrate Chonicle.

(August 28, 2006) — John Adamski spent his summer vacation walking through the thick underbrush along Panamanian streams and snatching dozens of tiny gem-colored frogs from the air as they leapt away from his footfalls. He put in hours of hard labor installing fish tanks in the tropical heat, spent his nights in a hotel suite bathing hundreds of frogs in an antifungal solution — and he can't wait to go back.

What do you want from Panama?

SEND US YOUR OPINIONS AND RECEIVE A FREE COPY OF PARADISE MAGAZINE (AND A FREE DVD TOO!)

Giving our members information on what's happening in Panama in a timely and accurate fashion is the goal here at Prima Panama. Whether we're conducting research on the local real estate market, talking with the developers and builders or just passing along tips regarding immigrations, health care or a variety of other subjects, we're constantly trying to find information that will be both valuable and useful to our members.

But we've never asked you about what you want in your search for a new lifestyle in Panama or the things that are most important to you to help during your planning process.

Panama Survey

Foreign Residents In Panama – A Survey of Attitudes and Preferences
                           
To better serve the needs of foreign residents in Panama, we are conducting a survey to determine the attitudes, preferences and needs of the growing expatriate community. Any personal information gathered in this research will remain strictly confidential and the responses given by individual survey participants will not be shared, sold or transferred to any third party. Your participation is greatly appreciated and this information will be used to improve life in Panama for all foreign residents.

             

Each Participant in our online survey will receive a copy of the tabulated results by email. The survey is multiple choice and takes about ten minutes to complete. Thank you for your time! 
Prima Panama

Click here for the survey...

Baby Boomer death clock

You will definitely like this.
Internet satirist, James Love, created the Baby Boomer Death Clock http://www.boomerdeathclock.com in order to give what he called “a well deserved humorous jab at one of the more narcissistic generations in human history”. Love grew tired of hearing journalistic exposes on how “the Boomers are turning 50; the Boomers are turning 60”, without facing up to the reality that the days for this generation are numbered. He decided to create a web site which documented the fact that “the Boomers are about die on mass.”

Visitors to the web site will find a dancing skeleton from a famous Black Death period wood cut. “I chose that image because the original wood cut celebrates death as the great equalizer. The poor, the rich, the ignorant, and the wise will all be embraced by the reality of the human condition. The grass withers and the flowers fade … and one day the Baby Boom generation will be no more” says Love. The web site also includes a collection of “Already dead Boomers” listed by year.

At What Cost?

The Washington Post
August 4, 2006
Tse Tomoeh Murakami
Houses built now are bigger, but they're on smaller lots. More people are living in the suburbs, but not necessarily in a house with a yard. And the typical American home these days is constructed with more bathrooms, more bedrooms and more amenities than in the past -- but on average shelters fewer people. Using Census data to examine housing patterns of the past 30 years reveals not wholly surprising changes in measures such as popular home styles and where people have settled. But the numbers also yield insights into the rate at which the size of homes have grown and the forces that are driving that. Traditionally, middle-class homeowners have purchased larger houses to accommodate the need for more space -- a growing family, for example.

The Coming Housing Crash

The link to the article on the housing market bust is from Dean Baker, the co-director of the Center for Economic and Policy Research. Considering the source and the obvious handwriting on the wall it may be time to make some hard decisions. If you subscribe to this line of thought (as I do) you will find this article a wake up call. If I believe the future for housing is in the U.S. is bleak  I would try and sell my home while there is more equity in it than there will be in the future.

What will happen here in Panama if the market bursts in the U.S.? Well, with housing costs at such a low price per square foot to begin with (In most places) they are still very competitive with most of the U.S. housing market. Couple that with the low cost of living and low taxes for homeowners and Panama is still a favorable alternative.

Read the coming housing crash...

Excerpt;
The crash and post-crash world will not be pretty. Millions of people will lose their jobs and their homes. Unfortunately, the economists who led us down this path are not likely to be among the ones who suffer severe consequences.

Panama frogs are dying, are we next?

I have read and posted several articles about frogs in Latin America dying in large numbers recently. Whole species are dying out and it seems a bit spooky. Are we next? The writer of this story should be writing novels.

Excerpt; The face peering out from the plastic bag has a look of wise inscrutability, with a touch of dismay, if such emotions are possible in a frog.It's a fantastic creature, made for fairy tales.
Bumps above its wide-set eyes look like tiny horns. Its body seems the model of a tank for an elfin army: low to the ground, camo green, with the appearance of armor forged from leaves.

Read the rest of the story here...

City of Gold

As readers of my blog you have read where I have called Panama the "Dubai of Latin America" on several occasions. The analogy goes beyond the great amount of construction now taking place in the city. Everywhere you look are cranes, but no where to the scale of Dubai. Dubai is being built not by Arabs, but by foriegners for foriegners. Here is an interesting article about the transformation from a desert to a stunning new modern city/country. Can Panama make a similar transformation from third world agricultural society to a first world destination and is that a good thing?

Dubai Shocks Visitors with Notions of Islamic Austerity

Excerpt;Like, for instance, the beautiful Arab women who have no qualms about walking with their faces exposed. What is more, they may wear the traditional veil that cover their bodies, but beneath it lies a fascinating lesson in fashion, a sure indication of a splendid butterfly trying to wriggle out of the ugly pupa.

More good news for chocoholics

I posted a story about this report several months ago but now the makers of Mars chocolate bars are using the data to sell more of their products. I am all for it a chocolate lover. Lets put it in everything! The link to Panama is the study was done on the Kuna Indians of Panama.

Excerpt;

Kuna Indians studied
The study by Harvard scientists looking at the effects of cocoa flavanols on two population groups of Kuna Indians who live on islands near Panama, has also been published and was the subject of an article on NutraIngredients.com in February.

Read the story here...