Without any explanation you might think the picture at the left has something to do with the Thanksgiving/Christmas holiday season. The colors may seem unique but the words (if you read Spanish) saying Happy Holidays lead to the same conclusion. In this case however the City Hall in Casco Viejo is all decked out for the nearly month long celebration of Panama’s independence from Spain and then Columbia. We’ve had numerous “official” holidays already with the big celebration coming this Friday, November 28th, with the celebration of Panama’s independence from Spain in 1821. Several big parades will take place - but surprisingly Casco Viejo will be eerily quiet with no government workers around and the narrow streets not very conducive to big parades. We will just watch the fireworks across the bay and avoid all the excitement.

Enjoy your holidays, whatever they celebrate and wherever you are. Take care.

A while back I did a “note” about the doors of Casco Viejo. Today I want to show you what we think is the most important door in the neighborhood. You might also remember that I had briefly mentioned that Jane and I were busy with a little project and offered that as an excuse for the lack of posts lately. Well, the “project” and today’s door offering are related - Jane is standing in front of the door to our home we just purchased in Casco Viejo. Read more

Tags: Casco Viejo, Our Casa

Last Tuesday I was out with Wags and noticed a long line of people at the National Theater. We’d been told the scheduled concert had been canceled, but obviously, something was going on - I’d never seen a line like this. So, back to apartment for a quick change of clothes and I’m off to see what’s happening. The line was gone, but lots of people were still arriving and I didn’t see any ticket takers (another freebie) so in I go. Turns out the canceled concert was indeed going to happen. Read more

Tags: Casco Viejo, Music

Every now and then I plan to include “notes’ from special correspondents who may have a special viewpoint on life in Panama. This “note” is from our roving reporter who has had his nose to the ground over these last four months sniffing out aspects of our adventure that may be overlooked by us mere mortals. So, from the paws of B.G. Wags some observations - woof, woof, woof-woof, woof. Oops, forgot to turn the translator on, now that that’s fixed you can. . . . Read more

Tags: Wags

After a lot of research, and a one month visit in 2006, we decided to make the move to Panama and were pretty confident that our decision was the right one for us at this particular time. What we were less sure of - where in Panama did we want to live? We arrived determined not to rush, to explore our options, talk to people, and gain some first hand experience within the country. We considered everything from Cerro Azul (east) to Cerro Punta (the far west) and lots of places between. Jane ruled out “high rise” living and our island experience left us with no great desire to reside in a beach community (Caribbean or Pacific), other than that we were pretty open. Read more

Tags: Casco Viejo