Expats West is an organization established about a year ago to meet the needs of a growing expatriate community west of the Canal. There are no membership fees, no agenda and just the barest of organization. The idea of the group is to socialize, have a good time and pick up advice and ideas from people already living in the area.

The meetings take place on the fourth Wednesday of every month at 5:00p.m. in the El Rincon del Chef restaurant in Coronado which prepares a special buffet for the occasion ($10.00 per person). Members come mostly from the beach areas of Coronado and beyond and all the way up to El Valle and Altos del Maria but everyone is welcome. There is a good mix of couples and singles, all eager to meet new faces and exchange experiences. The group has grown from 40 members to more than 140 in just a year. If you would like to be on their email list send your address to Honey Dodge at hslanham@aol.com

For those living in Panama City there is a sister group which can be contacted at www.expatsinpanama.com. They too have socials every month. They also have a group which call themselves Expat Explorers who organize regular trips to places of interest in Panama, an ideal way to get to know the country in congenial company. A recent trip explored Portobelo and Isla Grande. You can get in touch with this group at expatexplorers@expatsinpanama.com

VIPS at the inauguration.

Organizers of EXPOCOMER, Central America’s largest trade fair, recently announced that this year’s event surpassed all expectations, setting new records in the number of transactions carried out.

More than US$125 million were traded during the week-long event at Panama City’s Atlapa Convention Center last month. A record 452 exhibitors from 32 countries took part in the fair, representing 1,940 trademarks allocated in 899 exhibition modules.

First held in 1983, organized by the Chamber of Commerce, Industry and Agriculture of Panama, the event serves as a gateway through which scores of exhibitors from Europe, Africa and Asia seek to enter the growing Latin American market. Businesspeople from throughout the region come to Panama each year to establish partnerships with the exhibitors, offering everything from food and beverage to jewelry and computer parts. This year, the list of countries included Canada, Holland, Costa Rica, El Salvador, India, Puerto Rico, China, Japan, Argentina, Italy and the United States.

Vista panorámica del pabellón de México, donde se aprecian varios stands de ese país.

Vista de algunos de los stands de Taiwan.

Algunos de los stands del pabellón de la Rep. de Venezuela y Puerto Rico.

Stand de la Autoridad del Canal de Panamá (ACP) explicando a los visitantes acerca de la ampliación de esta vía acuática.

The claim that you can see both the Pacific and the Atlantic from one vantage point in Panama usually refers to mountains. Soon, however, you will be able to see both oceans from the top of a building in Panama City.

This collosus is Palacio de la Bahia, a building to be located on Avenida Balboa between 29th and 30th streets and Avenida Mexico. Construction has already been officially launched by the developers, the Olloki Group of Spain.

The skyscraper with 97 floors of commercial complexes, 300 room hotel, apartments, offices, a heliport and a revolving restaurant on the "summit", will be the tallest building in Latin America at about 350 meters ( feet).

There will be 24 elevators, an atrium over 100 feet high and 12 levels of parking. The cost is estimated to be US$130 million.