It was cold!
Getting ready to close shop for the day, Betty Pino, secretary of Focus Publications (Int.) S.A., turned off the office’s air conditioner on a late November afternoon and spent a couple of extra minutes chatting with co-workers. Well into the conversation, Verónica Villanueva, the head of the art department, noticed a strange feeling in the air: "I thought you’d turned off the air conditioning, Betty? It surely feels a bit chilly in here."

Then they realized that the out side temperature was lower than the airconditioning, It was a very "chilly" evening –the result of a strong Canadian cold front that dropped overnight temperatures in the metropolitan area to the mid-60’s F, while daytime temps only rose to 81 F the following day (normal temperatures during this time of the year is 74-90 F.

Cold fronts do sweep across this tropical land every once in a while, but often manifest themselves through rain and windy conditions, and thus are often ignored by the majority of people in the lowlands, who often have to travel between two to seven hours to enjoy cool weather in the mountains of Chiriquí, Veraguas or El Valle de Antón.

The months of October and November have been rather strange weather-wise in other parts of the country, such as the mountains of Los Santos, where hundreds of cows have died in recent weeks due to unusually-low temperatures and non-stop rain.

University reopens
Thousands of students of Universidad de Panama sighed in relief after the institution’s directors decided to re-open the facility, which was closed indefinitely earlier this month after a small number of students staged a stick-and-stone riot to protest the recent visit of U.S. president George W. Bush (the riot took place on Vía Transístmica, far away from the presidential party). Many thought the university would remain closed until after the Christmas holiday –a possibility that would greatly affect the 75,000 pupils of Panama’s largest, institution of higher learning.

Earlier this year, university students also took part in nation-wide protests against a proposed law to save the country’s social security institutions.

Social Security talks end
The talks aimed at amending controversial Law No 17, which seeks to save Panama’s ailing Caja del Seguro Social, have finally ended after five months of in-depth discussion. The private sector agreed to a 4% increase in their pension/retirement-fund quotas. The government, on its part, has accepted to pay millions of dollars in delayed payments to the Caja within the next few years.

Workers will also contribute to the solution, with a gradual increase of installments (from 9.5% to 13.5%) and a new retirement age of 57 for women and 62, for men.

The law will enter into effect on January 1, 2006.

Noriega appeal postponed
A court of appeal in Paris postponed again the decision on the date on which it will hear the case against the sentence given to former general Manuel Antonio Noriega and his wife for the laundering of US$ 34-million origination from drug trafficking. In June of 1999, Noriega and his wife, Felicidad, were condemned in France to 10 years in prison and fines of US$13.57-million. Mr. Noriega is still in prison in the U.S. where he has served 15 of a 40 year sentence for drug related crimes. Sentence was reduced to 30 years in 1999, making Noriega eligible for parole in 2006.

Help from Cuba
Over the next four years Cuban doctors in Havana will perform free eye operations on 12.000 Panamanians who are living in conditions of extreme poverty, it was reported by the Presidency of the Republic. The project, "Operation Miracle Panama", is part of a convention of cooperation signed recently between the departments of health of Cuba and Panama.

Cleaner fuel
Panama is gearing for the hoped–for era of cleaner fuel. A total of 80 projects in Panama have been presented. Five have already received financing and another 32 are being considered. It is expected that next year some eight of these projects will be carried out, among them, a refinery for ethanol, and projects of water and wind power. This was announced by the administrator of the National Environmental Authority (ANAM), Ligia Castro.

Panama Railroad novel
Author and Panamanian lawyer, Juan David Morgan yesterday presented in Madrid "The Golden Horse", a novel on the history of the Panama Railroad built in the middle of the 19th century, a railroad that he said, was "the transition between the road of the colonizers and the present Panama Canal". "The great adventure of the construction of the Panama Railroad" is the subtitle of Morgan´s work, published by Editions B in Spain.

No Room at the Canal
The Panama Canal will reach its full capacity for accommodating ships from the west coast of the US in 2008, according to the latest study carried out by the consulting firm of Drewry Shipping and ordered by the shipping line, APL. Studies carried out by the Panama Canal Authority defined that with modernization work, the capacity of the waterway would arrive at its maximum volume in 2010 or 2012.

A technological and industrial project to expand the Panama Canal, promoting the expansion of the American merchant marine, especially on the Pacific coast, was the main theme of the recent visit by president George Bush to Panama, according to businessman Lenin Sucre. He said the United States needs urgently to expand its merchant marine businesses on its Pacific coast (Seattle, San Francisco, Los Angeles, San Diego).

China bids to develop Howard
Chinese interest in Panama continues to grow. First a group of Chinese businessmen visited the National Assembly expressing interest in participating in the expansion of the Canal. The state company China Aerospace Science and Technology Corp is now eying the former US Airforce base at Howard. It is competing for a contract to be the "master developer" of what is hoped to be an "international incubator of businesses", according to the government agency in charge of developing Howard, which predicts investment worth $60, million and the generation of 25,000 jobs. Other entities bidding for the contract are Cabi Control (Mexico); Codina Group (USA) and London Regional Properties (U.K.) Diplomatic sources say this is the first time that China has participated in an international bid on this continent.

Traffic light busker
The most original traffic light hustler ever to be seen in Panama was operating at the junction of El Tumba Muerto and Galerias El Dorado this week. Rather than trying to wash your windscreen or sell you a dozen tangerines, this young gentleman juggled expertly with three flaming torches—almost as good as the Cirque du Soleil. He looked as though he probably was straight off the boat from China.

Orchid aficionados also have their "family" in Panama. It is called Asociación Conservacio-nista de Orquídeas de Chiriquí (ACOCHI).

Based in the westernmost province of Chiriquí, the organization was founded in 1990 with the main objective of training both its members and the general public in research, planting and handling techniques of these delicate, tropical flowers, many species of which are on the verge of extinction due to deforestation.

The organization is currently building an orchidarium in the area of Potrerillos Arriba, Dolega, a 25-minute drive from the provincial capital of David.

On its web site http://acochi.cjb.net/ visitors will be able to find interesting articles, pictures, book lists and news pertaining to orchids from Panama and around the world, as well as internet links to a number of major international orchid societies.

For more information, on ACOCHI send an e-mail to: didimov@hotmail.com or milviap@hotmail.com

By Alex Markels

When Larry and Honey Dodge of Jackson, Wyo., first visited this fledgling eco-tourist destination two years ago, they were thinking about retiring abroad and decided to take a vacation here to check it out. They had read about Panama's diverse climate of tropical beaches and mountain cloud forests, as well as its recent efforts to lure foreigners with residential visas for anyone with just $500 a month in personal income and generous breaks on property and income taxes.

Committed libertarians, Mrs. Dodge, 58, and Mr. Dodge, 63, both retired, also liked the country's laissez-faire stance on private property rights and entrepreneurship. Best of all, land prices as low as a few thousand dollars an acre and building costs starting around $40 a square foot meant the two could afford to sell their house, build a new one in Panama and still have plenty of money left over to cover their living expenses.

Their trip to Panama, an S-shaped isthmus with 1,600 miles of combined coastline on the Atlantic and Pacific Oceans, was a success. Before they returned home to Wyoming, they put down $27,000 for a small plot of land in Altos Del Maria, a mountainside real estate development an hour and a half drive from Panama City. "Almost from the minute we got there, we were, like, 'This is the place,' " Mrs. Dodge said of the creek-side building site with a view of the surrounding mountains. "It was perfect."

Little wonder that Panama is increasingly lighting up the radar screens of those searching for an affordable alternative to more traditional south-of-the-border retreats in Mexico, Costa Rica and the Caribbean, where escalating prices increasingly rival those along America's own beachfronts.

Touted as the "next Costa Rica" by travel magazines and newsletters like International Living, Panama is undergoing a land rush as its Tocumen Airport fills with planeloads of eager foreigners with cash in hand.

Since 2001, once sleepy rural towns like Boquete, which AARP's Modern Maturity magazine named one of the world's best places to retire, have seen real estate prices rise as much as fivefold as developers transform farmland into high-end developments like Valle Escondido, a gated golf-course community where half-acre lots now sell for $100,000 and more. Prices in coastal areas like Bocas Del Toro, on the Caribbean Sea, have also skyrocketed, and a restoration under way in Panama City's historic Casco Viejo neighborhood has drawn foreigners eager to get a piece of its 330-year-old history.

Yet despite the price increases, property here remains a fraction of what one would pay for similar real estate in the United States. And with enticements like a 20-year suspension of property taxes to those who build houses or renovate in a historic district, and an income tax hiatus for those starting some small businesses, the opportunities are appealing not only for those seeking a place to retire but also for entrepreneurs.

At least that is what Douglas Lonneker, 39, and Gloria Esguerra, 28, are counting on. Eager to spend a few years in a foreign country before their 2-year-old child is old enough to go to school, the couple recently bought, as an investment, development property in the western highlands near Boquete and in Bocas Del Toro along the Caribbean Coast, as well as an apartment in downtown Panama City, where they plan to live full-time. A real estate investor and stock market trader, Mr. Lonneker was attracted by Panama City's thriving business community, including more than 100 international banks and a tax-free manufacturing zone, as well as a technological sophistication, including high-speed Internet service in his new apartment. "Everything works," he said. "And because it's a financial center for Latin America, it's easy to establish banking relationships and locate money managers and accountants. You don't get that in places like Costa Rica."

Then, of course, there is the lure of Panama City's urban lifestyle, including a young, hip population and a bevy of good restaurants, bars and nightlife. Ms. Esguerra, a dog groomer, is especially taken with Casco Viejo, where high-profile residents have renovated once-crumbling buildings, like the waterfront three-story home of the musician-turned-politician Ruben Blades, who is now the country's minister of tourism.

Many North Americans are investing in the good (and more economical) lifestyle which Panama offers.

Resembling a cross between the French Quarter of New Orleans and Old Havana in Cuba, the neighborhood is situated on a small peninsula that juts out into Panama Bay on the Pacific Coast. Its ornate Spanish colonial and neo-Classical architecture offers a stunning counterpoint to downtown Panama City's glass-enclosed high-rise buildings poking up across the water.

Largely abandoned by the city's wealthy beginning in the late 1950's, many of Casco Viejo's buildings fell into disrepair as squatters moved in. Yet the United Nations declared the neighborhood - one of the oldest settlements in the Americas - a World Heritage site in 1997 (the Panama Canal didn't even make the list), and the government has since poured millions into infrastructure improvements, building restorations and additional policing.

Thanks mostly to property tax breaks, low-interest loans and other incentives, once crumbling buildings like the Hotel Colombia have been transformed into upscale apartment houses with stunning views of ancient churches, palaces and the Pacific Ocean.

"It's like walking through one of the old cities of Europe," Ms. Esguerra said of the neighborhood, where she and Mr. Lonneker hope to find a building to renovate. "It's absolutely where we want to be."

While property prices have approximately doubled in the last five years, "there's still a ton of upside potential in Casco," said Kathleen Peddicord, publisher of International Living, which recently renovated a building there to house its local office. "Every time I visit, it gets more cleaned up, and these grand old buildings are being resurrected. The more that happens, the more people will want to come."

She is less sanguine, however, about some other areas on buyers' radar screens. For example, she does not recommend buying in Boquete or Bocas Del Toro, two of the most popular places for foreign buyers in recent years. "It's really beautiful, but there's been a buying frenzy in that little pocket of the country," she said of the highland and Caribbean coastal areas near the country's border with Costa Rica.

There is also the problem of untitled property, especially in the coastal areas around Bocas Del Toro, where several lawsuits are now pending over land illegally sold to foreign buyers by the former municipal government.

"It's definitely a place where you need to be very careful about what you're buying," said Michael Manville, a real estate consultant who leads buying trips to Panama. As for Boquete, he, too, is wary of rising prices, and instead recommends areas closer to Panama City, such as Sora, where the Altos Del Maria development is located.

The Dodges heartily agree. They consider towns like Boquete and Volcan too far from Panama City. So enamored were they with Altos Del Maria that they recently decided to trade up to a larger lot nearby to build their dream house, part of which they plan to open as a bed-and-breakfast business. At $105,000 just for the land, "it wasn't cheap," she said.

"But it's got 50 papaya trees, 100 banana trees and a dam on the creek that makes a little pool where you can swim," she added. "And if the B&B thing doesn't work out, we'll have extra bedrooms for everyone to come and visit."

This artivle was reproduced from the page, www.rhinopanama.com

Match Ship Management:

"Our objective is to extend the average stay of yachts to an average of five days. We want their crews to take time to discover the natural beauty of our coves, bays and rivers," said Mr. David Manriquez, the company’s General Manager.

A naval engineer and ship builder, Mr. Manriquez told The Visitor that, in addition to the potential of the Panama Canal for attracting yachts to the Isthmus, the recent storms that have affected the southeastern coast of the United States present great opportunities for the growth of yacht tourism in Panama, since more and more yacht owners are looking for safer and cheaper locations to berth their vessels. The rising cost of insurance in places like Florida or the Bahamas are prompting many yacht owners to look to places like Panama, which is completely out of the hurricane track and is relatively close to the U.S. mainland," he said.

Taking part in numerous maritime fairs and events around the world, Match Ship, based at Flamenco Resort & Marina, on the Pacific coast, is actively promoting Panama as one of the safest places to berth luxury vessels. "We are currently managing yachts from clients as far away as Belgium and New Zealand, among other countries," he explained.

Yacht tourism is a potentially lucrative segment of the leisure industry, as a single ship can easily spend US$70,000 in supplies in only three days.

In addition to yacht management, the company offers land tours to yacht crew members and passengers, including city excursions (restaurants, shopping), and visits to the tourist communities of Gamboa, El Valle, Boquete, the Perlas Archipelago, Coiba Island, the San Blas Islands and Bocas del Toro.

"Our clients leave the country satisfied, and the great majority of them choose to return", said Mr. Manriquez, who also offers maritime tours on board the "Marie Blue", a 50-foot vessel managed by the company.

Located out of the hurricane track, Panama is a safe haven for luxury vessels.

Children at 100% kids are free to touch, learn and experiment.

With the school year in Panama finally over, most parents are turning to the somewhat daunting task of managing kids activites for the next three months. When flights to the north are over and the trips to the beach have been exhausted, a new solution appears on the horizon: the summer camps organized by 100%KIDS.

Starting on the first week of January, the camp will include a weekly series of themed programs. The world of sound and scientific inventions are only two of the topics to be addressed during the activity. Each of the programs will also feature guest presenters to complement the theme, excursions and a wealth of entertainment opportunities.

This morning camp is bilingual (separate afternoon enrichment is totally in English) and caters to the "young and the restless" ages 8 through 14. Space is limited, early registration encouraged. Cost is $75/week or $125/ two weeks. Sibling discounts available.

100%KIDS is located in Bal Harbor, Paitilla next to Pita Pan. For more information, call 215-4545.

The coldest inhabited region in Panama, according to Candelario Vargas Araúz, a tour guide who specializes in the province of Chiriquí, is the area of Cerro Punta, where temperatures can drop to around 50 degrees Farenheit during day time. However, weather experts have recorded temperatures as low as 46 F at 10:00 a.m. in the region of Fortuna, Chiriquí.

Many are often surprised to know that the period between December and February are actually Panama’s coldest months, not only in the Chiriquí mountains, but throughout Panama as well. Even in Panama City, it is possible for temperatures to drop to the upper 60’s F during the small hours, especially in the higher elevations and forested suburbs. This is due to the combination of high humidity levels –the remnants of the peak of the rainy season, which takes place in November—and the arrival of the trade winds from the north around the second week in December.

In spite of this, due to psychological and cultural factors, many Panamanian believe that the rainy, but muggy days of October and November are the coldest part of the year. Locally, the rainy season (May-mid December) is known as "invierno" (winter) whereas the dry season (the rest of the year) is called "verano" (summer).

Nevertheless, no one can deny that the first two months of "summer" are the best time to visit Panama, as low humidity levels and fair weather create the perfect environment to enjoy the country’s great outdoors.

Visitors better get their copy of the unique 2006 Panama Calendar . Published for the 20th consecutive year, the calendar is an informative publication of activities, events, concerts, expositions, religious dates, Jewish holy days, country fairs and national holidays of the Republic of Panama. The calendar also features Carnival and Easter dates through the year 2012, plus information on each of Panama’s nine provinces , flag etiquette and more.

The calendar is the creation of Panamanian journalist Carmela Lowe de Gobern, Editor of the Panama Cyberspace News. Price per copy is US$5.00. For more information, call 315-0398 , or send an e-mail to goberncl@cwpanama.net

Site of the Flat Arch, in San Felipe.

Two years after the collapse of the Flat Arch, one of Panama’s most treasured historic symbols, a team of architects, historians and restoration experts has vowed to reconstruct the arch, which is historically important because it was the ultimate proof needed to convince the U.S. congress to build an ocean-to-ocean canal through the Isthmus of Panama early last century.

A "re-launching" ceremony was recently held where the "Arco Chato" once stood, in the colonial sector of San Felipe. The reconstruction works are headed by Panama’s National Institute of Culture, Oficina del Casco Antiguo (the entity charged with the preservation of historic landmarks in the city’s Old Quarter), and Hurtado & Flores Marini, a local architecture firm.

A beam linking two ruined walls, the Flat Arch was part of an old Jesuit convent –Panama’s first university—built in the 18th century. Defying gravity for centuries, the arch was used by supporters of the Panama Canal route at the turn of the 20th century to prove the low frequency of potentially-damaging earthquakes on the Isthmus of Panama.

Although a symbol of pride for Panamanians, the arch, as well as most of the San Felipe district, fell victim to urban decay throughout most of the 20th century. By the late 1970’s, the structure was already invaded by deeply-rooted vegetation and fungi which, combined with the effects of vibration caused by modern traffic, prompted its collapse in early November, 2003 to the dismay of the entire nation, which at the time was celebrating its centennial anniversary as an independent republic.

According to experts, the new Arco Chato will be an innovative structure, following norms pertaining to the reconstruction of old structures.

As a result of the Flat Arch catastrophe, the government of Panama has passed a number of regulations targeted at protecting the centuries’-old structures of the Old Quarter, such as increased traffic regulation and the prohibition of public parties at national monuments. In recent years, a number of private and public organizations have also invested millions of dollars in restoring other endangered colonial structures, such as the Old Panama ruins.

Getting married in Panama?

Wedding at Park Eden bed & Breakfast, El Valle de Antón.

Whereas many foreign couples are choosing Panama as a honeymoon destination, many others are tying the knot in beautiful natural Isthmain settings.

Getting married in Panama is relatively simple, providing you supply all the necessary paperwork and follow the required procedures. Below, we have listed the requirements for foreigners who wish to be married in Panama:

• Birth & Bachelorhood Certificate - must be authenticated by the Panamanian Consulate in the country from where you are leaving. Afterwords, they must be taken to the Ministerio de Relaciones Exteriores in Panama (Departamento de Legalizacions y Autenticaciones) in order to be authenicated.
• Medical Certificate - issued by a Panamanian doctor within 15 days prior to wedding; the general medical examination must include the following lab tests: urinalysis, AIDS, blood test, V.D.R.L.
• Valid Passport, or Carnet de Migracion if you have been in the country for more than 30 days.
• Two witnesses of legal age with passport, that are not family members of those being marrried.

This material must be presented to Marriage Courts (Juzgado de Turno en Matrimonios), preferably two or three days prior to the expected wedding date.