Panama Living Newsletter

Behind deaths in Panama, a culprit: Cough medicine

The bad news is that 22 people were poisoned and died. The good news is that it was not some kind of viral infection that could spread to the rest of the population.

By Marc Lacey and Denise Grady The New York Times Published: October 16, 2006

PANAMA CITY Lucía Cruz, healthy one day and then suddenly writhing in a hospital bed, is now known as No.17.

 

Her life was a quiet one, raising children and ironing other people's clothes. Her death this month and those of 21 other mostly down-and-out Panamanians was a mystery.

 

The medical nightmare of Cruz, a 74- year-old grandmother, began in mid- September when she realized that she had not urinated in two days. Her neighborhood doctor sent her to the public hospital. Her condition went from bad to worse.

ADVENTURES IN PARADISE!

Our next issue of the Prima Paradise magazine will be featuring mountain lifestyles. We will have interviews and stories about people living their dream here in the Panama highlands. The following story will be appearing in that issue but I want to give you a preview by providing the story here on this blog. Unfortunately there are no photo's yet.

PANAMA’S CHIRIQUI PROVINCE:   ADVENTURES IN PARADISE!

by Bud Smith

Imagine a beautiful and varied land with a year-round perfect climate, emerald green mountains, white-water rivers, golden beaches, steamy jungles, tropical rain forests ascending into misty mountain woodlands and all of this containing one of the most diverse eco-systems on earth.  Then throw in a peaceful, welcoming, hard-working and fun-loving people with a progressive government and the most successful economy in Central America.  What you then have is what is waiting for you in western Panama:  the Province of Chiriqui, one of the world’s most perfect places.

Bass fishing the Big Ditch!

Last week my wife and I drove to Panama City with some good friends, Kelly and Lauri Collier to go bass fishing in the Gatun Lake. The lake was formed during the construction of the Canal by damming the Chagres river. My wife had never fished a lake so this was going to be a new experience which I hoped she would enjoy. We had heard many stories of the great number of peacock bass, schnook and tarpon  that are caught in Gatun lake. I had even heard they just jump in the boat as soon as you get to the right spots. Well, we did not have them jumping in the boat but we did catch our share of nice bass. We stayed in the beautiful Melia Hotel located right on the lake near Colon. This is a 200 room first class facility that will soon lay claim to the being only master planned lake community in Panama. More on that at another time.

We spent one full day fishing and it was a fantastic experience. There was never a dull moment as we fished around the many islands dotting the waterway. We saw monkeys and parrots and heard so many unusual sounds  you thought you were in a Tarzan movie. The lake is stunning and there were very few boats seen all day. Only the tour boats taking groups of cruise ship passengers over to the Embera Indian village and to Monkey island. The sound of the train could be heard in the distance as it makes its way across the causeway, just as it did over 100 years ago carrying the multitudes of gold seekers making their way to the California gold fields. A great combination of history, wildlife, first class hotel and food and great company, made this a trip I will never forget. The best part is that my wife caught a big bass and said she can't wait to come back. In fact we left the boat there so we can return this month to catch the ones that got away! See the photos here.

Boys and toys

Last month while visiting Panama City I had a real treat. My good friend Chris invited me to  watch him and his friend fly their radio controlled aircraft near the Panama canal. I had seen a number of RC planes flying but these boys had something special. These were jet aircraft with real kerosene burning turbine jet engines. They sounded like jets and flew like jets. After take off they could fly straight up and the pilot had to be careful not to lose site of the aircraft or it could be gone in a second. At over $10,000 a copy you don't want that to happen! There are several RC clubs here in Panama which meet regularly to fly and form friendships.
Just another interesting morning in Panama. Check out these great photos.

Happy new year!

I took a few much needed days off to spend with my family between Christmas and new year. Santa left me a wonderful gift of a new Harley Davidson soft tail deluxe which I now feel compelled to ride almost every day. Like a lot of baby boomers I have that adventurist spirit that drives me to do things I dreamed about when younger. I am not the only one as  in the last month alone over 12 four-wheel motorbikes have been sold in Boquete by Marco Basil! Santa was good to many of my neighbors too!

A developer friend had asked me to walk some property with him in Volcan so my wife and I took a road trip over to take a look. We went down to David, then up to Volcan. That took about one and a half hours. After walking the property for a few hours we went on to Rio Serano, down to Paso Conoa and then back home. This was a 200 mile journey on wonderful roads. I had never made the trip before and I was in awe of the beauty of the country side.

I believe Volcan will be another retirement boom area in the coming years as people discover its beauty and mild climate. There is a lot of land over on that side of the volcano and it is some of the most beautiful I have seen. You can view my photos from the trip here.