i just read your blog for the first time and i had to write and tell you how much i thoroughly enjoyed your postings. i am moving to panama this spring and it has been very difficult to find anything written about panama where some expat is not trying to peddle something. I have not laughed this much in a long time. i do have one question, is arraijan a reasonable place for a retiree to live? (Chuck in Belize)

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at 7:51 this morning the comments section of panama after hours was violated. nothing unusual in that. even the best spam filters get a good rogering now and again. read more»

i’ve just finished vomiting sancocho into another marbella gutter when things suddenly get ugly.

“you wan floa mister?”

floa? what the fuck is floa? i wipe my burning mouth and look up. a shabbily dressed black man jabs at me with a withered rose.

“floa mista,” he says, more urgently.

he thrusts the rose into my face. my first thought is call the police. you know how these chombitos are; they load up on dangerous flora, and swoop down from curundu and chorillo like tropical huns. the average tourist never sees it coming.

i reach into my pocket for a buck. but then i remember, this is panama, do as the natives do. so i relieve myself on the side of a building, and tell the man to fuck off.