We have a big day planned after Patrick's treatment this afternoon. I am going on a tour of the Stem Cell Research lab this morning. I had a quick minute to type a few observations about the country and Panama City.
We are staying on the outskirts of the city near the Canal. It is beautiful here. The weather is pretty much the same year round....80's day time, 70's night time. What a climate! The trees and flowers are beautiful..vibrant green, colorful flowers. The animals native to the country are boa's, pit vipers, pumas, jaguars, toucans, iguanas, armadillos, to just name a few. We are across the river from a dense rain forest and there are crocodiles in the river. Interesting huh?
Other than the traffic in the heart of the city, everything here is laid back. Spanish is the primary language but there are a lot of pockets of small languages from islanders in some of the small regions. There is a large American presence here with people who have moved here for climate, retirement or to work in the very stimulant economy.
When I told people we were coming to a hospital and clinic in Panama they acted like I was going to a third world country without running water. Ha. :) Well my husband and I have both been shocked at the construction going on. We both commented that we have not seen construction of this magnitude going on in the US for years. I bet there are at least 20+ high rise buildings going up at once. The city skyline is amazing....think Miami etc. Several local Panamanians we have met have compared Panama City with Miami.
There are very poor sections....same as our cities but we probably plan more to "hide" these areas whereas here they are right next to exclusive condominiums or shopping areas. UNESCO came in and made the old city a protected area and now there is major re-hab and projects going on to restore these mansions and churches. We were in a church yesterday that was built in the 1600's and the altar was solid gold from floor to ceiling. The story is when the Spanish took over back then the villagers painted the gold black so it wouldn't be carted off back to Spain.
The old city reminds me of New Orleans...balconies, lattice work, beautiful wrought iron. Today we are taking the train that runs the length of the Panama Canal. We have a driver taking us to Colon' (we are told this is a dangerous "Caribbean side city") and then we will board the train for the hour ride back to the Pacific side.
One thing we did not expect is the vast amount of luxury cars and luxury goods shops. One of the main malls the "Multi Centro" has as many (if not more) luxury shops then you would see on Worth Avenue or Rodeo Drive. This is just one mall too. We walked in and I was shocked to see Chanel, Jimmy Choo, LV, D & G, Salvatore Feragammo, Tiffany, Armani, and this it just to name a few. What really surprised us though was how BUSY the mall was and that people were "shopping." I would say 95% were Panamanians and money appeared to be flowing freely. The designer Carolina Herrera had just made a stop in her shop to deliver her "newest handbag" personally. I found all this interesting to view as an outsider so to speak.
The hotels seem to be springing up, a new Hilton is under construction right down the road and the casino business seems to be thriving as well. We noticed that police presence seems to be increased right now too. The President of Taiwan and (I think Spain) are both here visiting Panama's President.
Very stimulated economy, very modern city. I will post more on the stem cells tonight.
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