I am very fortunate to have made a connection with the Rotary International Club del Sur, one of the oldest Rotary clubs in the country and have as a result met some very fine new friends.  One of the advantages of such a network is all the social events I get invited to.  Just the other evening my family and I were invited out to a Rotarian party that feted a group of teachers from remote regions of the country.  They were brought each year from the various outlying regions of the country to Panama City and given specialized training in things like first aid, radio operations, local government and other issues that the educated person in a remote community would be expected to know.

We arrived at a home that only can be described as a mansion, a low spread out building in brick and stone complete with a pool surrounded by plush furniture in the back.  Servants had an open bar going that featured champagne, and there was a frozen Margarita machine buzzing along on a side board.  Off to one side a band was set up playing all the favorite “salsa” tunes, and in another area of the courtyard there was a wonderful “sushi bar” serving some delicious tidbits.

Later, cigars followed a full meal and somewhere in the evening a “Mariachi” band arrived with trumpets blasting much to our delight.  The teachers, a group of about fifty, joined the host and her guests of another thirty odd making it a very full night.  The stars twinkled in the sky overhead; much like the beads of condensation adorning the glasses of cool drinks we enjoyed as we tried to take in all this tropical splendor.  What really came through was a feeling that any notion of a poverty struck country with huge differences between the classes was somehow not a complete or accurate picture.  Panama enjoys a vibrant society made up largely of an industrious and hard working middle class.

Another event we had been invited to was the “Hasher Run”,  characterized thus - a drinking club with a running problem.  That is of course the members playing with the initiate a bit, since the running is very serious indeed.   However at the end of a “fox and hound” chase through the city there is relief from all the heat and hard running up one street, down another and through adjacent neighborhoods, when the “pack” turns the corner and comes to rest on some sidewalk where the coolers are flung open and beer is enjoyed by all.  It was my first “Hash” a couple of weeks ago and this time it was the first for my wife, so I got a picture of her initiation.  Really a lot of fun and a great group of people; again you would have a hard time to label this country as third world;  the fifty odd “hashers” were from all walks of life and included some of us new arrivals from abroad, but they were all up beat and happy girls and guys ranging from 15 to 70 in age, full of life.  Often in need of the exercise and always wearing the best equipment, this group could have been from any place in the world, where people were friendly, open, intelligent and up for a good time.

A call came at about 2 in the afternoon the other day and another friend invited my wife and kids and I to attend an open air concert by the Symphony of Panama that evening.  The event was at the Administration Building grounds in the old “Zone”, which part of the city still very much retains the look of the United States presence in the country as they built and later administered the famous Panama Canal.  The concert was a wonderful event as thousands of fans sat on the steep slope of the front lawn of the Administration Building watching the spectacle of music, (an orchestra of 70 plus musicians) and the visual presentation showing the screen clips from the famous Hollywood films that the music was taken from.  First it was Mission Impossible, then Star Wars, then the Pink Panther, and on and on through Harry Potter and many more... What a night of music and fun. 

Then it was a whisper and a nudge - can you get away to come to the Panama Cigar Aficionado Club meeting?  Thursday evening around 5:30 we meet for some food and a cigar or two for fun, you will love it.  Sure enough I caught a cab and made my way over to that part of town where the meeting was to be held, but for the life of me I couldn’t find the restaurant and the cab driver didn’t have a clue either.  So I got out and called my friend on the cell.

“Where are you?” he asked. 
“I’m right at Calle Cinquenta at the Banco Continental” I offered.
“Turn up that street and come to the first corner I will meet you.”  That was all it took to find the restaurant but there are parts of this city that are a sea of restaurants, so the “Sol Azteca” was a bit obscure for our cabbie.  No matter, I could take you there now! 

There were a group of men around a long table smoking an array of fine cigars from Honduras, Nicaragua, and of course Cuba, as well as others I’m sure.  On the table were a few buckets of ice and two bottles of “Abuelo” the Panama aged rum.  Very nice to wash down the waves of spicy Mexican food of the highest quality, that came sizzling out to our table.  But best of all was the good humour of these fellows.  One would tell a joke and then turn to me and translate causing a fresh outburst of laughter as they all enjoyed the joke with me once more.  It was a priceless evening the memory of which I will enjoy for many years.

No, in the end, if you hear that Panama is short of something you should take that comment with a grain of salt.  This little country between the seas and at the cross roads of the world, is a very potent society.  Because of it’s location it enjoys the best of what the world has to offer.  Cuisine from every corner of the planet is waiting to be enjoyed.  Every possible technological innovation is on the shlves of the local “Audio Foto” retailer.  Need your computer fixed?  Or a part to accessorize something, you can get it here and at a very fair price.  Ever been to the “Hard Rock Café”?  Well they have one in Panama.  What about a succulent dish of Octopus in garlic oil, over tender noodles with a piquant salsa, and a glass of chilled Chardonnay?  If you can imagine the best beef you ever tasted, you can get that and then some here in an Argentine restaurant where a filet of  grass-fed, free range Argentine beef , arrives at your table, so delicious my mouth waters telling you about it. 

Yes Panama has been under the radar for a long time, but if my experience counts for anything people will be telling their friends and more will come, you remember how that line went? “and so on, and so on, and so on!”   “They most definitely will come Jack, they will come.” 
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