Casco Viejo Could Be Your Home
May 5, 2009 by Mary
Filed under Attractions, Panama Canal, Panama City, Panama City Attractions, Panama City Real Estate
Casco Viejo, which is Spanish for “the Old Quarter” is a very special part of Panama City, the home of the President. Yes the President’s palace is here. In addition the entire area is dedicated to the classical style buildings that you see in the pictures below.
This is the view of Panama City that you get from Casco Viejo, near but not at your doorstep.
These buildings have been renovated and depict the classic style you find in Casco Viejo
Bolivar Square and edificio. This plaza and building are dedicated to Simon Bolivar who liberated 6 countries, including Panama from the rule of Spain.
The entire area of Casco Viejo is dedicated by the government of Panama as a special area where they focus events and activities for the general enjoyment of the populace. So you never need to leave home to participate in the wonderful events of Panama, they come to you. This is not true of Carnival which is simply too large for the small area of Casco Viejo but the Jazz Festival held a full day of free concerts here and included an art show and auction. You had no parking issues and you had the comfort of your home whenever you wanted it, but you also had wonderful entertainment right at your front door, in some cases literally.
You can own a floor in one of these wonderful old buildings, or you can own a smaller condo or you can buy an entire building that needs renovation and enjoy the process of bringing one of these grand old properties back to its former glory.
You can also just come to visit. There are some wonderful old hotels here and bed and breakfast properties. Walk around and just imagine what it was like to live here 100 years ago. There are numerous restaurants with fantastic food choices and often the weekends here include great jazz concerts at places like Simon Bolivar plaza. If you love history be sure to go through the Canal Museum.
So whatever your motivation is to come to Casco Viejo, come! You may find your heart is here and your dream home is calling. Real estate here is booming, but there are still homes for all budgets, from tiny $100,000 bachelor apartments to three bedroom plus penthouses with your own pool and entertainment area, costing a couple of million dollars.
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The Smithsonian Institute… a Marvel in Panama
March 18, 2009 by Mary
Filed under Attractions, Panama Canal, Rainforest
A Visit to Panama’s Living Lab
Washington Post Staff Writer
Sunday, March 15, 2009; Page F06
At the Smithsonian Tropical Research Institute, on an island in the
Panama Canal, the experiments were running wild. A giant anteater was
lumbering up the trunk of a ceibo tree, playing hide to a scientist’s
seek. An agouti, a rabbit-size rodent, had evaded a trap — and a
researcher’s clutches — leaving the bait for an unsuspecting spiny rat.
Army ants were halting foot traffic as they hauled larvae home, and,
high in the trees, howler monkeys were making faces and tossing
branches at interlopers below.
How, I wondered while watching a light rainfall of sticks, does anyone get any work done here? Or, is thisthe work?
“Barro Colorado is the longest-studied piece of tropical real estate
in the world,” said Beth King, the institute’s science interpreter.
“It’s not a park; it’s a research island. It’s like walking through a
living lab.”
To be sure, the Smithsonian “lab” is neither sterile nor controlled.
It occupies a 3,707-acre island, part of the Barro Colorado Natural
Monument, and is an active petri dish of mammals (93 species), birds
(366), plants (1,368), amphibians and reptiles (90) and visiting
scientists (up to 300 a year). The humid tropical forest has been
barely touched by Homo sapiens; the man-made constructions
include a small dock, a weather tower and a smattering of simple
buildings. In this barely adulterated environment, international
scholars can pursue their life’s devotions: the foamy nests of tungara
frogs, the night vision of bees, the dreams of sloths. In addition, a
limited number of tourists (10 on weekdays, 20 on weekends) may visit,
to hike, lunch and observe the resident brains and beasts.
James C. Nieh, an associate professor of biology at the University of
California at San Diego, who recently lived on the island while
collecting data on the language of bees. “In this forest setting . . .
you can understand better why it’s interesting to study tropical
biology.”
In the early morning, I went to Gamboa Pier, 45 minutes north of
Panama City, to catch the boat that carries workers and tour-takers to
the institute. I shared the commute with tanned, fit men and women
dressed in light khaki clothing, tall rubber boots and wide-brimmed
hats. The workhorse vessel sped along Gatun Lake, passing vibrant green
islands shaped like jigsaw-puzzle pieces. Where the land opened to the
sea, I glimpsed massive cargo ships drifting by, their black hulks
smudging the otherwise pristine landscape. About 30 minutes into the
ride, Barro Colorado loomed into view, its dock and red-roofed
structures making it look like a recluse’s private sanctuary.
The Smithsonian’s link to Barro Colorado dates to 1910, when
President William Howard Taft asked the institute to assist in an
environmental impact study concerning the construction of the Panama
Canal. The island, which was designated a biological reserve in 1923,
grew into a world-class field station for tropical research. Through
the years, high-profile scientists have come to this ecologically
diverse landmass to study evolution or disease-carrying mosquitoes, for
example, or to test the resilience of certain materials, such as Kodak
film, under extreme conditions. Congress designated the Smithsonian the
administrator of the reserve in 1946, and when Panama gained control of
the canal in 1999, the organization received permission to use the
facility through at least 2019.
“For a century, this has been the central place where people
studying the tropics go,” King said. “A lot of guidebook information,
like where do toucans make their home, was discovered on Barro
Colorado.”
My own biological training stopped after frog dissection. So I had
to take King at her word when she said, “I smell howler monkeys,” only
minutes into our walk. However, with a little guidance, I could now
clearly identify the monkeys’ chorus: a deep, throaty baritone that
reverberated through the forest. Yet, in this instance, scent plus
sound did not add up to a sighting.
In many cases, it took a sharp eye to spot the animals. The thick
forest, debris-strewn ground and pallid sunbeams create the perfect
camouflage for creatures of varied shapes and hues. I nearly mistook an
agouti tucking into lunch for a mound of dirt. Even the scientists
sometimes struggle to locate their specimens.
“She’s spent a lot of time sitting under trees looking for
anteaters,” King said as a young woman passed us, carrying a metal pole
with a looped end and a determined expression.
“I can find them, but I can’t catch them,” the woman retorted, en
route to a giant ceibo where an anteater recently had been detected.
Because the island is essentially an office, visitors are expected
to respect the scientists and not interfere with their work or bombard
them with questions. However, King said many of the researchers are
eager to share their experiments with layfolk. A young Dutchman with an
overstuffed backpack let us follow him into the brush to check on a
trap. Swishing through sharp branches, he explained that he was part of
a team studying the role agoutis play in forestation. So far, the team
has trapped 29 of the critters, but not this time. A guileless rat had
fallen for the coconut bait instead.
Before lunch, we tagged along with Meg Crofoot, a postdoctoral
fellow at the institute who specializes in capuchin monkeys. She took
us off-trail, into a thicket of trees many stories high. In the upper
levels, a handful of howler monkeys watched us watching them. It was
unnerving, as when a child or a dog stares intently at you. Crofoot
said that was normal monkey behavior: We were in their domain, and they
were simply checking us out. Forming a circle overhead, they scrunched
their faces into ugly masks and started tossing sticks. “They are much
less scared of you,” Crofoot says. I could only imagine what they’d
throw if they were frightened: an anteater?
On my way to the boat back to the mainland, I heard one last bellow
from a howler monkey. Maybe one day, because of the Smithsonian
scientists, I will read in a guidebook or magazine what it was saying.
The Smithsonian Tropical Research Institute runs its Day
Visit Program five times a week (no Mondays or Thursdays). The $70 fee
includes round-trip boat ride from Gamboa Pier; interpretive tour and
hike lasting up to three hours; and lunch. Reservations required. Info:
011-507-212-8951 or 011-507-212-8026, http://www.stri.org.
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Panama’s Stimulus Package
March 16, 2009 by Mary
Filed under Invest, Panama Canal
Article found in The Statesman. Panama fortuitously had a huge stimulus package organized well before it became obvious to the world that stimulus packages planned by the governments would be necessary and a good thing in almost any nation. Whether or not it is the right thing to do only time will judge but certainly you continue to feel a buzz in Panama. Things are still going strong and with an incredibly strong demand for rental accommodation for all the people coming to help with the canal expansion, even housing is balancing out. As one of the developers told me, “Prices may not be going up like they once were, but they are not falling either.”
Panama hopes to beat the global financial crisis
Central American nation expects economic growth and budget surplus in 2009
By Jeremy Schwartz
INTERNATIONAL STAFF
Sunday, March 15, 2009
PANAMA CITY — Cranes hover over the skyline like futuristic insects, buzzing around half-finished skyscrapers that make Panama City look like Miami or Hong Kong.
If any country is poised to withstand the ravages of the global financial crisis, it just might be tiny Panama, which has quietly become a regional economic powerhouse in the past five years.
Fueled by a superheated real estate market, windfalls from the Panama Canal and a burgeoning banking system, economic growth hit 9.2 percent in 2008 after soaring to 11.5 percent the year before.
As nations from the United States to Japan confront shrinking economies in 2009, officials in Panama are predicting relatively robust growth of 4 or 5 percent this year.
“This global crisis arrived in a moment in which we find ourselves stronger than we have been in the past,” Minister of the Economy Hector Alexander said. “In Panama, the dominant topic isn’t the recession.”
While unemployment has soared in the United States, the unemployment rate in Panama fell from about 14 percent in 2004 to 6.5 percent last year. And as the U.S. is adjusting to life with 12-digit budget deficits, Alexander said Panama is hoping 2009 will be its third consecutive year with a budget surplus.
But the nation hasn’t been immune to the global recession. Its real estate market might be heading for a sharp downturn.
Matt Landau, a New Jersey native and Panama City investment consultant, said real estate sales have declined precipitously in recent months, especially among the U.S. and European buyers who largely fueled the boom.
“When I first got here (about four years ago), people were buying (properties) for $200,000 and then flipping them for double or more in six to 12 months,” he said. “That was happening even up to a year and a half ago.”
Now, Landau said, Panama City is bracing for a glut of high-priced condominiums.
And as global trade is pummeled by the recession, Panama Canal officials expect the number of cargo ships passing through the waterway — and the tolls they pay to the Panamanian government — to fall almost 6 percent this year.
Even there, Panama has an ace up its sleeve in the form of a $5.2 billion Panama Canal expansion, which will widen the canal’s locks to allow larger ships to pass through.
Although recession wasn’t on the minds of Panamanian voters when they approved the expansion in 2006, officials see the megaproject as a perfectly timed stimulus that will directly create nearly 7,000 jobs in a country of 3 million and spark the creation of thousands of secondary jobs, just as the economy begins to sag.
“It’s as if we are increasing public sector spending by 35 to 40 percent,” Alexander said. “Today it works as a fiscal stimulus.”
Percentagewise, the canal expansion dwarfs any stimulus project the United States is planning. The project represents nearly a quarter of Panama’s $23 billion gross domestic product. By comparison, the $787 billion stimulus package in the U.S. represents about 5 percent of America’s $14 trillion gross domestic product.
Counternarcotics officials have long suspected that Panama’s boom has also been aided by an influx of money from criminal organizations. According to the U.S. State Department’s 2008 International Narcotics Control Strategy Report, the country’s construction and offshore banking sectors are particularly susceptible to money laundering.
But Panama’s economy has been helped by a stable and peaceful political scene, which the nation has enjoyed since the 1989 ouster of dictator Manuel Noriega.
When Noriega was captured by U.S. troops, Panama’s economy was in shambles, paralyzed by an economic embargo of Noriega’s regime. Successive democratically elected administrations have focused on economic recovery, enacting reforms and privatizing sectors such as telecommunications and electricity.
But some critics say Panama’s spectacular economic growth in the past five years has left out the majority of its people.
“The problem is that the growth has stayed in a few hands,” said Rolando Gordon, a University of Panama economics professor. “The economic boom hasn’t been able to resolve any of the great social problems of the country.”
Gordon said government statistics obscure the fact that even as the country’s economy exploded, the percentage of Panamanians laboring precariously in the nation’s informal sector — doing things such as selling fruit at intersections — has risen from 33 percent in 2001 to 44 percent today.
Gordon added that public schools are underfinanced, and access to drinking water remains problematic for many Panamanians. At the same time, the price of basic foodstuffs has increased.
“This boom we’re having is tremendous,” taxi driver Jose Cano said. “But for the poor, the humble, we aren’t seeing the boom. The price of food is going up. I have my own taxi, so I’m doing pretty well, but there are a lot of people who are recycling cans and stealing scrap metal.”
jschwartz@coxnews.com
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The Panama Canal Mules
February 15, 2009 by Mary
Filed under Attractions, Panama Canal
What is a Panama Canal mule? They say a picture is worth a thousand words so here is a picture.
This train engine is called a mule. The mules and there are usually several attached to the large ships, front and back, are there to stabilize the ships and keep them from crashing hard into the side of the canal or into the gates. The ships move through the canal under this own power.
Here you get to look up from the Canal as the water is pushed out and see the mule far above. Keeping those lines taut during the journey of these huge tankes through the canal is a real art form.
So now you know what the mules of the Panama canal look like
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The Panama Canal Museum
January 28, 2009 by Mary
Filed under Panama Canal
The Panama Canal is a modern marvel. Whenever I take people to the locks at Miraflores and we see one of those ginat Panamamax ships that take up every apparent inch of the lock and they are full of containers, it is quite a sight. “Wow” is about all there is to say.
But f this is imoressive today, imagine what it was like the first day those giant doors on the locks finally swung open to allow the passage of the first ship through the locks. What had been impossible for so many suddenly became a reality.
I would highly recommend if you are in Panama that you go to Casco Viejo, take some time and go through the museum there. However, if you are not in Panama, then go to the Canal Museum online.
www.canalmuseum.com (just cut and paste this into your browser if you have trouble opening it)
This is a fascinating way to spend an hour. There are photos dating back well into the 19th century. The machines that they used to create this huge project will amaze you. They were tiny. See the way they worked in 1886 and see the lives that were dedicated to this mammoth undertaking. To think that this canal has now served the world for 95 years is phenomenal.
You can follow the building of the canal from the first unsuccessful attempt to build it, through the French period and finally to the successful completion of the construction by the Americans. You can also see how it works today.
I love museums and this one is a good one. I hope you will enjoy it.
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Historical New President in the US
January 20, 2009 by Mary
Filed under Caribbean Real Estate, Featured Real Estate, Financial Investments, Pacific Real Estate, Panama Canal, Panama City Real Estate
It is January 20th, 2009. Barack Obama is being sworn in as the President of the United States. Here in Panama there is just no getting away from this news as it is compelling here as it is to people the world over.
What does his Presidency portend? While there is a lot of hope and there is no question for the black movement in the United States, and perhaps in other countries where there is a black minority, there is now no going back. A black man is the President of the United States.
But the question which holds the world’s rapt attention is the financial crisis. Can Obama somehow get the economy in the US moving again? Can he somehow stem the flow of red ink that is overwhelming the financial sector.
For Panama one of the important questions is world wide trade as the traffic through the canal yields substantial fees which definitely help support the economy of Panama. In addition, Panama has a huge expansion planned for the canal. Can they get all the money they need to complete that and does it make sense in the current economic climate?
In addition there are a lot of developers in Panama who are concerned about the sale of their projects. It was reported in the press this past weekend that some of the developers who have luxury-high-end condos to sell may be having trouble finding buyers for those units. If that is true, is there any chance of that slowdown spreading generally throughout Panama’s burgeoning real estate market?
While only time will tell what really is true with respect to all those questions, the promise of Obama plays a big role in so many of those answers. And so a new era with Barack Obama at the helm in the White House starts today.
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Attractions You Must See
September 26, 2008 by Mary
Filed under Attractions, Caribbean Hotels & Resorts, Panama Canal, Panama City Activities, Panama City Attractions
You can’t come to Panama and not go to the Canal. The display at Miraflores is amazing. Watching as two huge ships go through those locks at the a same time, is breathtaking. Awesome is the only word that comes to mind as you watch spell bound. And now the ships going through the locks are going to be even bigger? How is that possible? 
While you can click into the cameras at Miraflroes or Gatun or even Pedro Miguel the three sets of locks currently in use, there is nothing like standing on a deck of a building where you feel like you are only inches from the ships and watching as one of those giants comes into view.
Then of course a walk in a rain forest is a must, or go to Gamboa and take a ride on the monkey boat. The monkeys are not tame but they know that when they see that boat, bananas are a coming and they are ready.
Even the beautiful Melia Hotel set up near Gatun locks will give you opportunities to walk in the rain forest and experience it for yourself. 
Have you seen a Jesus Christ lizard? So called because they can get up on their hind feet and walk on water. I am not kidding and I am not making it up. Walking down to the canal at the Melia Hotel, I watched in disbelief as a bright green lizard, maybe 10 inches long, hard to tell there is so much tail, got spooked by my arrival and got up on his hind feet and ran about 50 -60 feet across the water. Allegedly that is a short run as these guys are so quick and light they can stay up on the water for a long time.
Visit Summit Zoo, check out Panama’s Harpy Eagle, the National Bird. This is one huge bird. They have one live eagle, the other one died recently, but they have lots and lots and lots of pictures in the display area. Take it in. There are also lots of monkeys, one howler monkey does not like it if you try to feed the other monkeys and Howlers come by their name honestly, you won’t believe the racket he can make. There are jaguars and other big cats, you may get to see the caiman, (small crocodile) and there are tapirs, big, big rodents and many other animals native to Panama. Take a picnic lunch and spend the day. Don’t be shocked at the entrance fee. I know I was… $1 an adult. Where can you have a days fun for a dollar?
Visit Amador Causeway. Turn right at The Country Inn and Suites, find parking and walk out to the causeway. Gaze back at the Bridge of the Americas, day or night, this is an awesome sight. 
Look out to the water where the big freighters are readying for their h journey through the canal or leaving th canal to continue their journey in the Pacific. The biggest of these are called Panaamamax. It is ahrd to think there are going to be ships bigger than these plying these waters. You can walk down to the marina and enjoy something o to eat or drink while you enjoy the sites, or head for TGI Fridays at the Town and Country Inn. Enjoy the walkway down to Flamenco Island. Rent a bike or get out your roller blades run or walk, drive if you must but enjoy everything there is to see and do. This is definitely more about the journey than the destination
The Frank Geary designed Museum of Biodioversity is taking shape there are lots of neat little shops to explore and wonderful food to enjoy. There are numerous marinas and lots of ships to admire, some you won’t admire but there are lots to admire. Millions and millions and millions of dollar are afloat in the ocean here. This is a great place to spend a day.
Be sure to get out of the city to one of their wonderful beaches. Sand, sun warm water and lots of fun things to do, are characteristic of all Panama’s beaches. Walk, sun bathe, play frisbee or beach volleyball, build sand castles bur don’t forget the UV rays are extreme so cover up and stay out of the sun in the heart of the day
There are numerous other attractions in Panama to see and enjoy, but miss these, and you have not seen Panama.
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Passage through the Panama Canal
September 9, 2008 by Michael
Filed under Panama Canal
A trip through the Panama Canal in 2 minutes and 30 seconds!
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NBC’s Matt Lauer at the Panama Canal
September 9, 2008 by Michael
Filed under Panama Canal
Matt Lauer sails the Panama Canal
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Bridge of the Americas
August 27, 2008 by Mary
Filed under Pacific, Panama Canal
What a magnificent sight, the Bridge of the Americas, or Puente de las Americas brightly lit at night. Doesn’t that stir your imagination, the bridge over the Panama canal, the bridge that joins the land masses of North/Central America to South America.
Once the canal was built, effectively the Western part of Panama was severed from the Eastern part, and no longer was there a connection by land from North America down through Central America to South America. Hence the Bridge of the Americas is what reunited Panama and in fact the continental mass of the western hemisphere.
I often marvel at the fact that the small country of Panama is what keeps the oceans separated, and when man made it possible to traverse by water, from the Atlantic to the Pacific or vice versa, he effectively divided the land mass separating South America from the rest of the western hemisheric land mass. The Bridge of the Americas restored this contiguity.
Whether seen by day or brightly lit at night, it is magnificent.
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