6Ws in Panama City

Here we are in Panama City, Panama, the first stop on our potentially three-year tour of living in warm places around the world. So how goes the World Wide Writing, Water, Wine, and Watching Birds? It’s all come together in just two days!

For World Wide, we can say that Panama City, with its 2 million people, is one of the most diverse cities on the planet. Convenience stores, which are on almost every corner, generally are owned by ethnic Chinese, whose families came over in the early 1900s to work on the Panama canal. Korean, Japanese, and Lebanese restaurants abound. An Orthodox Synagogue sits across the street from our Air B&B. We are looking forward to celebrating the Panamanian national holidays this month, so expect a blog post on that in the coming weeks.

For Writing, we stopped yesterday by the offices of Live and Invest Overseas, https://www.liveandinvestoverseas.com/, the online magazine for which I’ve written a few articles. I met the new editorial director of the Panama Letter. She already likes my idea for “It’s not as easy to travel internationally with your dog as the internet claims,” and says she’ll be contacting me for more. Yea!

For Water, it’s everywhere. It’s rainy season, and when it rains, it can really pour. The Pacific Ocean is visible out of our bedroom window, and the Caribbean is a mere 50 miles to the north. Rivers and canals snake throughout the city and countryside. Here in the city, at least, it’s safe to drink.

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For Wine, we were pleasantly surprised at the diverse and affordable selection at the nearby grocery store. We realize this store caters to expats, but that’s OK. We’ll let you know more about the individual selections once we get to selecting them.

For Watching Birds, even in this bustling city of 2 million, it’s possible. This morning on a walk along the coast, I saw the usual pelicans, kites, gulls, egrets, and herons. Panama is full of beautiful, soaring vultures, who love to pick up the currents between the high rises. Also this morning I saw a pair of parrots, just as bright green and as loud as they could be, trying to compete with the traffic noise along Avenida Balboa, the main drag on the coast.

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This is fun!