Sure didn't plan to have a "up close and personal" experience with Panama's health care system but over the last two weeks I've seen the inside of two hospitals, dealt with five doctors and loads of other health care professionals and, of course, our insurance company. My experience was mostly very positive and I'm confident that if we need health care services in the future, we can get quality care in Panama. Read More...

Tags: Medical

Well, I'm back on my feet - sort of. For those of you who have had the bad luck to run afoul of a kidney stone, you probably already know more than you want to about the subject so I will skip the details. If your luck has been good with regards to this aliment - I only hope your good fortune continues. Suffice to say that I've only been "hurtin' for certain" a handful of times in my life and that these last few days rank right up their with the worst. I'm up and around, even doing a little work on the apartment, but basically feel like I lost a big time brawl - badly!

Hope to do another post with some details on our dealings with the Panama health care system and our insurance company - just give me a couple of days.

Thanks to those who emailed or phoned. Take care.

For only the second time in my life I found myself in a hospital as a patient this last Tuesday. After a little prodding from Jane (maybe it was a lot, can’t remember because of the pain) we were in a taxi on our way to Punta Pacifica Hospital where the emergency room doctor quickly made a preliminary diagnoses of kidney stones. After an overnight stay, and an initial attempt to grab the pesky stone failed, I’ve been just laying around the apartment. Will have a “insiders” look at health care in Panama when I get back on my feet, although I’d much rather be writing about the apartment remodel.

This week is a good week if you are a jazz fan living in or visiting Panama as the 6th Panama Jazz Festival takes place from the 12th through the 17th. The big, all day, free final concert will take place here in Casco Viejo. Read More...

Tags: Music • Entertainment

As a special service to those of you residing in the northern climes I’ve added the Panama City weather to the sidebar. It’s tough here - but somebody has to do it.

We’re taking a break from the apartment remodel work so I thought I would take a quick look back at our first six months in Panama. This won’t be real exciting, because our stay so far has been relatively free of surprises and disappointments. I think our current satisfaction with how things have gone can be traced to three things: First, we did a LOT of research before we made this move. Second, before we committed to Panama we spent a month here, in 2006, looking for potential problems. Lastly, we benefited in that we were moving from a place (St. Croix) that had a surprising number of similarities with Panama and we had long ago shed ourselves of most North American expectations on how things should be. Read More...

Tags: Observations

Jane and I had a quiet celebration as is our custom - just not into big parties. We did venture out just before midnight to check the fireworks. It’s not like we’re accustomed to, the city doesn’t have an “official display”, but it seems like everybody else and his brother does. Stuff is flying into the air from all directions. It loud and the night is lit up for miles. Just no way to catch the scope of the pyrotechnics with a camera. but it sure is fun to watch.


Hope to post later today with a little look back at our first six months (already) in Panama. Take care.