reasons to love panama


1. the lack of professionalism. that may sounds like a bad thing. and yes, it does really frustrate me when people show up to a meeting an hour late or the 3rd grade teacher tells me i look sexy. but something happened the other day to make me like this aspect of panamanian culture. i was in my provincial capital and there was a political rally going on for one of the presidential candidates. there were all these people in a crowd and very large speakers set up. blasting what you may ask? blasting reggaeton. now if you know me at all, you know there was a big smile on my face. and that got me to thinking...imagine a bush or clinton rally blasting 50 cent.

2. recklessness. i know i have written before about the amazingness of a machete. but here's another story that warms my heart. i was walking around a small beach town the other day and saw the 2 cutest little boys of about 3 or 4. they were picking up and eating mangoes that had fallen off the trees that line the dirt road. all very cute, no? then along came their 5 year old brother, swinging a machete at them as their dad sat nearby and said nothing. hmmm...

3. another story of recklessness. back in january i was sitting on the front porch of my host family's house reading a book. my host brother and his cousins were playing out front. and by playing, i clearly mean lighting things on fire. they climbed up a tree and lit it on fire. all the dry palms began to burn, and then dry branches. the fire started to get pretty large when the kids all decided to go swimming down at the river and took off. and there i was, a paranoid little gringa with a potential forest fire on her hands, thinking what am i supposed to do? and then the answer came to me. clearly, i was supposed to ignore it.

so anyway, panamanians are are fearless, i just don't give a $%@*, sort of people. sometimes it drives you crazy, but sometimes you really admire it. or, you're just entertained.