I have had the pleasure of meeting hundreds of foreigners that moved to Panama in search of a better life. A large majority of them weren’t born with four aces and thus, need to work to survive. And a large majority of those who work in Panama do so for themselves: running their own business or operating small companies. Of course, every living environment has it’s benefits and its drawbacks, but what really speaks volumes about a destination is what people say about it in retrospect. 

There’s nothing quite like asking your mom if you can call her back, that you have a gangster who’s been calling all day on the other line and you’ve got to take his call. This was the scenario yesterday and my mom responded passively the way she might with any other friend. “OK, well tell him I say Hi or something.”

If the first step in going to San Blas is to make up your mind, the second is to be sure you can get there and back.  I was walking into my hair salon when I got a call yesterday that several friends of mine were stuck in a dense rainforest because the river was too high from rain and their car couldn’t make it through.

The first time I visited Panama, I was sitting at a bar in the banking district when the people to my left overheard my conversation with a friend. "Excuse me, we don't mean to be rude, but we couldn't help but eavesdrop..." and I wanted to stop them right there. I've been in this position many times, sitting close to an interesting conversation and wanting to listen in, and I can tell you that it's not as if the decision is compulsory. You either choose to be nosy or you start a conversation of your own.

I've always enjoyed drinking beer outside and have done so for the majority of my adult life until, at the age of 24, I was arrested for it. This was in Panama, which makes the infraction all the more embarrassing. Tell someone you got arrested in Panama and they rationally assume that, after stealing someone's car in a drug transaction gone bad, you shot an innocent grandmother in the leg with a pistol, the last part, the unregistered firearm, being illegal under Panamanian law. "Anything goes," that's the impression I had, so when two cops came up from behind Casey and me for drinking in public, it was a true surprise.

(Panama City, PANAMA) Columbian-born and internationally-renowned fashion designer Claudia Szerer comes to Panama. As interviewed by The Panama Report contributing writer Pascale Schwander, Claudia Szerer explains how a career in computer science segued into regular trips to Italy and France and an arrival on the world stage of fashion. Panama is increasingly beginning to attract such impressive names.

Lately weI've focused a lot on relocation opportunities in Panama, for Americans looking to evade depression-like circumstances at home. There's a special niche though, of 20-30 year olds that, while not necessarily hit the hardest by the economy, may benefit the most by leaving the USA. It's an interesting demographic that will have impact on Panama's development as a travel and investment nation.

I've never been the kind of American to overly commit himself in the language department when abroad. Against what's recommended in cultural immersion books and on the back of cereal boxes, I always figured simply immersing oneself in a culture would transmit, through a process I envisioned looking like osmosis, the improved ability to speak a foreign language whether you wanted it to happen or not.

Junior year of college, my friend Ben Wiley arrived in Madrid after being taken hostage by his drunk frat brothers while studying abroad in France, stuffed in a car trunk around three in the morning, only to wake up in Spain's capital city disillusioned at lunchtime and smelling of cheap pot.

Growing up in the United States I, along with an astounding number of others, had no idea that there were other countries besides the US. And that these others countries actually could have something to offer besides malaria and other third-world ailments. As many others in the US, I grew up with the "American Dream" embedded in my subconscious.

There's no better time for an American to move to Panama. From a massive job crisis to politics, to inflation, more and more Americans are looking to the land of the Canal for refuge. Here are 5 reasons more and more Americans are considering leaving the USA and relocating in the Republic of Panama. 

A new haircut, makeup, and clothes can change 80% of what you look like. Some people would disagree with this high percentage but it is true. Mother nature can help a lot but pampering yourself is what makes the difference between the girl next door and the woman who walks into a room and everybody (women included) looks at her. Cindy Crawford was the girl next door back in her Georgia hometown.

As a young person in Panama, sharing an apartment with someone might just be the best decision you ever make. It slashes rent in half, offers a kind of default social life, and can even be the catalyst for various business endeavors. When I arrived in Panama though, I wanted originally to live with no one but myself.

Because things were slow in the office, I sent my assistant the other day on a kind of fanciful wild goose chase. She was to find a specific new palm pilot which I hadn't been able to locate-in fact, one which they said couldn't be purchased in Panama.

At the age of 22, I moved to Panama with, among a number of other goals, the intention of learning Spanish. I had planned not to buy dictionaries or enroll myself in language courses because those would have defeated the purpose. The idea was to pick up the language through osmosis; a process of natural cultural immersion which seemed way easier than it actually turned out to be.

I often get emails of people asking me if I think they could make it in Panama. Do you think I could start a really excellent pool cleaning business? they'll say or what are my chances of making fine wood furniture and selling it to tourists? My response usually starts off explaining that we've only known each other for the extent of this email and from the sounds of it, you are pretty much a loser.

Panamanians refer to their country by some very grandiose nicknames: “the bridge of the world”, “the heart of the universe”, “earth, wind, fire, with our powers combined we create Capitan Planet”. Ok, so I made the last one up, but Panama's nicknames are not the only embellished facet of its culture. Its language and more specifically its Spanish-English slang, has fully evolved into almost a quirky dialect of its own.