on occasion I visit The Panama Forum. I like to sip my morning coffee on the balcony while I read what other expats (and locals) are saying about Panama. Once in a while (re: when Eric Jackson posts) there’s helpful, interesting, verifiable information presented.
Most times its just folks searching for (or opining about) lawyers, […]

semi-drunk and down $40 I step out of the casino and get hit with warm rain. I dash across the busy street. Grenade-like dollops explode on my face and slam the roofs of cars on either side of Via Espania. It sounds like I’m shooting the rapids. Several Kuna Indians […]

You probably know that Panama has a rich history of pirating. Mostly they’ve been the victims of pirates. Henry Morgan made a famous raid on Panama Viejo in 1671. I remember reading about his exploits when I was a child. For a murdering bastard he was an amazing man. With only two thousand semi-starved men […]

at night there’s “Lord Jim” the fantastic Conrad tale. I read about “men who live in a crazy maze of plans, hopes, dangers, enterprises, ahead of civilization, in the dark places of the sea, and their death was the only event of their fantastic existence that seemed to have any reasonable certitude of achievement.” Is […]

This scene could be emblematic of my trip. I’m standing outside the Tica bus station San Jose Costa Rica. A cool breeze whips up garbage from the streets. Behind me a yellow dog studies, then growls at the swirling offal. It’s late and I’ve been waiting for over an hour. The bus is rumored to […]

what’s your reason for wanting to live in Panama? Do you imagine you’ll spend your final days here? Maybe be buried in a lead coffin off the coast of Porto Bello like Francis Drake? Perhaps your reality is a bit more pedestrian and you’re hiding out from an angry wife, the tax man, or legal […]

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