News is out today that pretty soon, Panamanians will be bilingual in Spanish and Mandarin. The National Assembly has conditionally approved a bill requiring all schools to teach Mandarin, a nod to the sheer power of China's economy. China is the biggest user of the Panama ...Click on a label to read posts from that part of the world.
Panama
Mandatory Mandarin in Panama
News is out today that pretty soon, Panamanians will be bilingual in Spanish and Mandarin. The National Assembly has conditionally approved a bill requiring all schools to teach Mandarin, a nod to the sheer power of China's economy. China is the biggest user of the Panama ...Panama Rules!
I thought I'd recap a few of the things I've learned over the past week. I'll call them My Rules of Panama.
Do not go to Panama City without hotel reservations. For some reason, there are way too few rooms to go around, even though P.C. is a big, modern city with an ...Cleveland or Panama? Migratory birds reveal all
Panama City is home to one of the world's largest rain forests inside city limits. It's beautiful. Great city and Pacific Ocean views on one side (like my picture the other day, taken from the park) and unbroken jungle-like views on the other side.
What's strange about the ...How many condos does Panama City need?
One of the things that surprised me the most about my trip to Panama is the amount of development going up in Panama City, Panama. There are literally dozens of highrises going up right now, in addition to the dozens that are already there. Panama is a fairly small city, ...Latin American airlines rock! Can we have them here?
It has been so refreshing to fly those little regional airlines in Latin America in the last couple of weeks. I have taken 4 regional flights so far and I love how well it has worked for me. Granted, the planes look about 50 years old, while the pilots look about 20, but ...War in Panama: attack of the sandflies
Yes, these are my legs. Yes, they have seen better days. I woke up a couple of nights ago and counted 85 sandfly bites on my left calf alone. I don't understand why I don't see anyone else chewed to pieces. Why do they love me so much?
Last week, I spent trekking through ...Photo of the Day (11/26/07)
Since I am in Panama now, here is a picture I took a few days ago in cloudy Panama City (it's the end of the rainy season). This is my first time in Panama and I am blown away by the amount of construction going on in this city. The obsession with highrises reminds me of ...Buses from the Devil Himself
One of the coolest things I´ve seen in Panama so far is the crazy bus-art. Now, it´s not uncommon to see buses painted wild colors all over Latin America, but Panamanians have this stuff down to fine art. Just about every local public bus is in the style of an ...Ola from Panama
Sorry I have been incommunicado for a while. My trip to Costa Rica and Panama has turned out to be a lot more remote than even I expected. I am finally back to civilization--or whatever you want to call a place with an internet connection and hot water--in Bocas del Toro, ...Where on Earth: Week 30 - San Blas Islands, Panama
Well done to Beverly Blass for identifying these kids as coming from the Kuna people who inhabit the San Blas Islands off the northern coast of Panama. This shot was taken on Achutupu Island, just a short boat ride from a great eco-friendly place called Dolphin Lodge. The ...Costa Rica: No gypsies and hippies allowed
It is not easy to be a backpacker these days.
I was buying air tickets from New York to Costa Rica (but out of Panama City) over the phone yesterday, using a free voucher. I am glad that I did it over the phone, otherwise I would have been spared this brilliant ...Mexico Named Best Place To Retire
Been to Mexico? I have a few times and I love it. It's not just the hot weather and the gorgeous beaches -- Mexico is a really friendly, vibrant place with a lot of energy and culture. At least what I've seen of it. Anyway, I digress. The point of this post is to write ...What Is Panama Like?
I am planning a trip to Panama. Not sure why. I don't know much about the country but I have a free Continental voucher to use up and they fly there directly from New York. That's a good enough reason for me. Plus, it sounds like a pretty interesting place.
I am sure many ...How Far Would You Go For a Beer?
How about delivering a fully functioning pub all the way from New Zealand to London? By boat. That's the sublime task currently being undertaken by a group of intrepid Kiwis. In New Zealand Speights beer is immensely popular - so much so that it's also a favourite of ...Tainted Toothpaste
Perhaps you heard the brouhaha about tainted toothpaste coming from China. This was in the news a few weeks ago. Turns out, a nasty chemical called diethylene glycol was found in Chinese imported toothpaste in the Dominican Republic and Panama. What should be used is ...Panama Canal Timelapse
One of the more interesting history books I've read in the last few years is A Path Between The Seas : The Creation of the Panama Canal by David McCullough. The book, while at times a rather dense historical document, reveals the incredible hardships endured by workers ...
Cheap Sleeps in Over Water Bungalows
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A dream of mine has always been to stay the night in one of those picturesque tropical bungalows that literally sits atop the water. It's another dream of mine to be fabulously wealthy one day--at which point I'll finally be able to afford to stay the night in a picturesque ...Word for the Travel Wise (10/14/06)
Even though it was only this past February I spent three weeks in the Caribbean and a year since I was in Costa Rica, thoughts of traveling somewhere in Latin America or the Carib has been swimming heavily around in my head. The question now is where to go or travel to ...Surf Panama
Just a little while ago, we did a podcast with the travel guide writer Joshua Berman. Joshua told us all about his experiences living in Nicaragua and how he came to write the Moon Guide Book "Living Abroad in Nicaragua", which just came out. One of the things we discussed ...
