Cost of Living
The inflationary index in Panama continues to rise says a report of the Comptroller’s Office. Seven groupings of goods and services registered important increases and only two dropped in the past month of July. The July increase was 2.8 percent, caused mainly by the rise in the cost of transport by 13.7 percent.

Gambling
The bets of Panamanians in games of chance reached US$370.7 million in the first semester of the year, 19.5 percent more than in the same period of 2005. According to the Gambling Control Board, most of the bets were in the A-type machine parlours and in the complete casinos amounting to US$347.9 million. Horse racing bets in the semester reached US$13.1 million, which was an increase of 16.7 percent.

In the National Assembly a proposed law regulating gambling which includes restricting entry to casinos to people who earn less than $1,000.00 per month is being debated . The former president of the Panamanian Association of Business Executives (APEDE), Enrique De Obarrio thinks the entry of compulsive gamblers to the casinos should be regulated by the casino owners and not by the National Assembly. "I do not agree with the type of restrictions that the deputies want to impose", said De Obarrio "not because they involve a casino, but because I do not believe that the solution is through these suggested restrictions which would be an act against the economic liberty of businesses in any country of the world". "Prevention, sensitizing, and raising consciousness I would support," he said.

To privatize ATLAPA
Once again the government will try to privatize the ATLAPA Convention Center, a process that has been going on for nine years. Cecilia Perez Balladares, director of the Bureau of Conventions and Visitors of Panama, indicated that she has knowledge that the Panama Tourism bureau (IPAT) has received proposals from foreign consortiums interested in administering this center.

Bogota’s Ban
Colombia is planning to present Panama with a document to prove that 80% of Panama’s exports to Colombia are contraband, after a deadlock in negotiations and an accusation placed before the World Trade Organization (WTO) on the ban imposed by Bogota on Panama’s exports from the Colon Free Zone, it was reported by the Colombian newspaper, El Tiempo.

Plastic Surgery
The plastic surgery business in Panama has grown in recent years to such extent that mammary implants alone represent US$252,000 a year. This type of surgery heads the operations that are done in the country, followed by abdominoplastía and liposculpture.

Traffic congestion solutions
Surprise, surprise! Traffic congestion in Panama City is going to get worse. By the year 2020, it is estimated that in the City of Panama there will be a 1.2 million inhabitants more than at present. It is calculated that 30% of the families will possess at least I vehicle, while 5.8% will have two cars, and 2.4% will use three vehicles.

The South Corridor leading from Tocumen to Paitilla solved a lot of problems when it was constructed a couple of years ago but now it is causing problems by depositing too much traffic into certain areas of the city via the new Punta Pacifica area and Avenida Balboa.

The government is now considering extending the South Corridor by way of a marine bridge around the bay parallel to Avenida Balboa and then through a 500 meter long tunnel under the Casco Viejo which is deemed feasible since it is built on rock.

Colon Freeway promise
The construction of the Panama-Colon freeway before he ends his mandate and work on infrastructures on the Atlantic coast that exceed US$142-million, were announced by president Martin Torrijos.

Copa expands routes
Copa has announced that the airline will fly to six new destinations in Latin America. There will be direct flights to Manaus in Brazil, Santiago de los Caballeros in the Dominican Republic; San Pedro Sula in Honduras; Maracaibo in Venezuela, and Montevideo in Uruguay.

Howard Aerospace project
Singapore Technologies Aerospace is expected to sign a contract to operate in the Special Economic Pacific Zone, in Howard. They would establish a center dedicated to the maintenance of airplanes at regional level, which could imply the creation of some 1,000 jobs.

Avenida Balboa, seen from Parque Vasco Nuñez de Balboa.

Don't be confused. The discoverer of the Pacific Ocean has been honored with so many streets, avenues and parks in Panama that using the name to give directions could sometimes be deceiving (even the country’s official currency is called the Balboa.)

In Panama City, if you are going, say, from Tocumen International Airport to the downtown district using the road that flanks Panama Bay, it is always best to tell the taxi driver to take Avenida Balboa. If the word Avenida is omitted from the address, you might end up in the neighborhood of Balboa, a suburb that was the capital of the American Canal Zone until 1979. Also, if you plan to endure the esoteric experience of getting to Avenida Balboa by bus, and happen to say "voy al Balboa" (which in local parlance means 'I'm going to the Balboa supermarket'), the driver might drop you off somewhere between Río Abajo and Juan Díaz, an area which offers very little to visitors, except for a supermarket which changed its name from Balboa to something else decades ago, the new name of which older Panamanians refuse to accept.

A suburban home in Balboa, former Canal Zone.

If you manage to get to Avenida Balboa, be sure to visit Parque Vasco Nuñez de Balboa, a beautiful seaside park which features a large, marble statue of the famous conquistador in its center. Once again, be sure to say the word parque and not mistake it for 'plaza'. In recent years, a number of skyscrapers in the area have been christened as Balboa Plaza, Plaza Balboa, Balboa Bay, Bahía Balboa, et al.

Vasco Nuñez de Balboa is the name of the new convention center built within the premises of Hotel El Panama, which, fortunatelly, is located on Avenida Manuel Espinosa Batista, a few blocks from Vía España. There is an Avenida Balboa in Colón, on the Caribbean coast, and a Barrio Balboa, in the city of La Chorrera.

The monument to Vasco Nuñez de Balboa.

Pet of the Week

Robin.

Our "Pet of the Week" is Robin, an eight-month-old, grey-and-white pussycat who loves people. A calm tempered little fellow, Robin expects to be adopted as soon asa possible.

For more information, contact Olga Kottmeier: 250-0236, or at the e-mail: kottmeier@rocketmail.com