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Written by Matt Landau
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Thursday, October 09 2008 |
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My friend Ryan was about six when he met then President Bill Clinton jogging one morning in Marta's Vineyard. The President's personal security team had sequestered Ryan's parents off to the side, given him a brief pat down, and allowed him to shake Clinton's hand, the same hand that would later feel up Monica Lewinsky.
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Last Updated ( Thursday, October 09 2008 )
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Written by Matt Landau
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Saturday, September 27 2008 |
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It was on the toilet paging through an old copy of Men's Journal when I came across an interview with celebrity Jeff Bridges and the question, Where's the weirdest place you've ever woken up? While it's difficult for written text to convey the pulse of silence, I imagined Bridges toiling with the locks of his beard and looking into the sky before revealing his answer. "A sensory deprivation tank," he said. "Invented by a friend John Lilly in the early 70s."
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Last Updated ( Monday, October 06 2008 )
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Written by Matt Landau
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Thursday, September 11 2008 |
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Somewhere back in middle school, I was forced against my will to attend an adventure camp in the hills of Blairstown, New Jersey which was intended to increase self-confidence in youngsters through the magic of mother nature, scary rope courses and bad trail mix.
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Last Updated ( Sunday, September 14 2008 )
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Written by jamuna
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Sunday, September 07 2008 |
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The
Gorgona Co-Operative was founded on December 15, 1997 by Mr. Dagoberto Torrero
Gaona, a native to Cocle Province. Gaona belonged to the Farallón
Fishing Cooperative, near Decameron. “Working as a fisherman in
Farrallón, I had occasion to visit with the Gorgona fishermen. I
realized their work life was difficult and the prices they were
receiving for their catches were very low. So I decided to help them.”
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Last Updated ( Sunday, September 07 2008 )
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Written by Matt Landau
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Sunday, March 09 2008 |
Thanks to an undiagnosed case of attention deficit disorder, I was never able to sit through movies unless they offered a bathroom break somewhere in the middle. On the rare occasion that I'd be dragged in to see a film, I preferred to use the time-barring an exceptional screenplay-to nap in chairs that were at least more comfortable than the ones at school.
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Last Updated ( Monday, August 11 2008 )
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Written by Matt Landau
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Wednesday, October 10 2007 |
There tend to be two kinds of gringos in Panama today I have noticed. The first kind makes a valiant stab at learning the national language (however lame it may be). And the other kind whose idea of Spanish is fairly simple in that it merely involves adding the letter ‘O' to the end of every English word.
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Last Updated ( Monday, August 11 2008 )
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Written by Matt Landau
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Wednesday, October 03 2007 |
As a young American living in Panama, much of my business and pleasure is done in the presence of people significantly older and more astute than myself. There are times at dinner parties or office meetings, when conversations inevitably take a turn for the serious and in an effort to thwart this gravity, this weightiness of my social existence in Panama, I recently decided to opt for a bit of a younger crowd.
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Last Updated ( Monday, August 11 2008 )
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Written by Matt Landau
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Sunday, September 30 2007 |
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Don't wear sandals when you go to the fish market in Panama City. That's a lesson I learned the hard way as upon leaving the establishment, my toes encased in fish scales and seafood entrails. The sort of thing that you usually associate with smelly and suntanned boatmen named things like Skippy or Ron Jon.
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Last Updated ( Monday, August 11 2008 )
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Written by Matt Landau
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Wednesday, September 05 2007 |
Over the course of three months, I explored Central America's hottest travel destination, staying at the finest hotels, eating at the most exclusive restaurants, and taking the most exciting tours: none of which I ever paid for. I slept in beds overlooking the sea, I ate six course meals designed for princes, and I caught prize-winning marlin aboard a luxury yacht, all without paying a dime.
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Last Updated ( Monday, August 11 2008 )
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Written by Matt Landau
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Thursday, June 28 2007 |
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For my eighteenth birthday, I bought myself a crossword puzzle book created by Will Shortz, a clever mastermind behind some of the world’s most difficult puzzles. I had hinted to several friends that this was definitely something worth buying, but when no one took the bait, I splurged and ended up spending nine dollars of my own money.
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Last Updated ( Monday, August 11 2008 )
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Written by Darrin DuFord
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Monday, May 14 2007 |
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Three dollars. It can’t even get you a beer in a New York City bar. But it’s the going rate for a haircut in Panama City. Peppered all over the El Cangrejo neighborhood, the barbershops, too many for the available number of scalps, all advertise the same rate. Then again, I never saw a Panama City dweller with a hair out of place.
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Last Updated ( Monday, August 11 2008 )
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Written by Administrator
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Friday, October 13 2006 |
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Riding a Chivas Parrandera in Panama City has all the safety of lunch with a blind contract killer. “Um, excuse me” the hit man would say, running his hands over my face. “Are you about five foot eight, one hundred and fifty pounds?”
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Last Updated ( Monday, August 11 2008 )
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Written by Matt Landau
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Thursday, September 14 2006 |
Walking out of my apartment the other day I saw one of the regular hobos who sift through the dead motherboards and soiled linens and dried out fish heads that most people call trash. To the public, these things are past their prime and are not worth the space they take up anymore. To this hobo though, the stuff is cool. I was sort of envious of the man, as he fished around in a garbage bag–one which I recognized as my own—as he pulled out one thing after another. Broken alarm clock, used up razor blades, batman blow-up doll with air leakage problem. He didn't look at the things as garbage though. No, he looked at them with optimism. He looked at them the same way a football coach might look at the scrub of the team, as if to say, I could make something out of you.
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Last Updated ( Monday, August 11 2008 )
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Written by Matt Landau
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Thursday, June 15 2006 |
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I met a guy the other day in an elevator who introduced himself as soon as he caught eye of the English written on my t-shirt. He wore a dirty John Deer tank top and a Corona hat with mesh on the back. “Clete's the name,” he said to me with a giant smile that revealed a severe shortage in teeth.
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Last Updated ( Monday, August 11 2008 )
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Written by Matt Landau
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Tuesday, February 28 2006 |
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It's the morning of the first day of Panama carnival and I think I am ready. According to the lore of carnaval and memorialized in song, one should sleep with his fingers crossed the night before to bring him luck throughout the following four-day festivities. Indeed, with the help of a rubber band and some gauze pads, I expect to have good fortune. I like to invent traditions.
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Last Updated ( Monday, August 11 2008 )
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Written by Matt Landau
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Tuesday, February 28 2006 |
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After a semi-intrusive pat down by national guards at the gate, I entered the main street of Carnaval for a second time. Knowing sort of what to expect, I was a little more comfortable and a little less inhibited.
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Last Updated ( Monday, August 11 2008 )
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Written by Administrator
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Thursday, February 23 2006 |
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I moved to Panama for none of the usual reasons, or so I thought. My infatuation with the country started simply enough, ad mere weekend away from my older, less attractive lady (Costa Rica).
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Last Updated ( Monday, August 11 2008 )
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Written by Matt Landau
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Sunday, January 22 2006 |
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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?
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Last Updated ( Monday, August 11 2008 )
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