Panama Real Estate Investment Travel Information


First Impressions of Panama City

(7 votes)

Written by Matt Landau

Sunday, January 22 2006

When you arrive the capital of the country of Panama, Panama City you get this weird feeling—it's a feeling of excitement, it's a feeling of surprise and it's almost a feeling of confusion. It's this baffling feeling and your senses immediately try to make sense of it all. Where am I?

I smell the warm, misty, flowery air and think I'm in the tropics until the aromas of bubbling European cuisine sway me otherwise. I see a coastline of high reaching buildings and inventive architecture and assume I'm in a metropolis yet I feel this relaxed and laidback breath of Caribbean life—I've lost all my bearings. Am I in Spain? South America? Miami Beach?

I soon realize that wherever I am, I don't want to leave. The country of Panama--an amazingly seductive place.

It's Friday afternoon when I arrive and the streets of Panama City are dancing with energy. Men load yam-jammed duffle bags onto vegetable trucks, families gobble down afternoon snacks at open-air bistros, and taxi drivers buzz around looking for new friends. Along the coast, yachts lazily drift along the cities banking district, antsy fishermen anticipate a big day's catch, and freight ships wait anxiously to take the greatest shortcut in the world—the Panama Canal.

There's something endearing if not seductive about the way of life here. It's this perfectly balanced blend of old and new—of tradition and innovation. I've only been here for a few hours but I already love it. The fusion cuisine, the imaginative architecture, the hearty sense of culture, the hi-tech gadgets, the ocean's reflection of the city line at night. Jogging through banking districts, produce markets, and rainforest parks...I already love it all. And I haven't yet been outside city limits.

Comments (2)

john oughton: ...

I'm on my first visit in May/June to find somewhere to live in Panama.I know it has to be done, and your articles,this one in particular, increase my interest in the country.
I'll keep you in touch with my forays on the net and eventually my first visit.

March 03, 2008

sutton47: retired money broker

We changed our minds and now arrive 30th March!

March 20, 2008

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