From Las Vegas to my country… Panama

Panama is one of the most globalized economy in Latin America and is located in Central America, between Colombia and Costa Rica.

Every year I travel to Panama to visit my family and friends and always take the opportunity to walk around and explore a bit of my beautiful country.

Panama is known as the “Hub of the Americas.” More than 60 corporations including, Dell, Hewlett Packard, General Electric, Proctor & Gamble, Caterpillar and the United Nations all recently decided to make Panama their regional headquarters.

The reason is simple: Today Panama is the best place in Latin America to live and do business!

 Panama’s jungle is home to an abundance of tropical plants, animals and birds – some of them to be found nowhere else in the world.

I had the opportunity to visit my hometown of Puerto Armuelles and its beautiful beaches. I was also in Volcan, Boquete and Cerro Punta, where the weather is nice and where hundreds of foreigners have decided to retire.

Numerous USA publications have called Panama one of the best places in the world to retire.

The climate in Panama City and on the coasts is tropical, hot, and humid. However, the climate in the highlands can be temperate and tempting.

The currency is the U.S. dollar, making the adjustment easier for many American travelers.

 It was interesting on this trip to visit the site of the Panama Canal expansion as we travelled to the province of Colon on the Atlantic Panamanian coast. The program consists of the construction of two new sets of locks – one on the Pacific and one on the Atlantic side of the Canal. Each lock will have three chambers and each chamber will have three water reutilization basins.

The Panama Canal expansion is the largest project at the Canal since its original construction. The project will create a new lane of traffic along the Canal through the construction of a new set of locks, doubling capacity and allowing more traffic. 

The existing locks allow the passage of vessels that can carry up to 5,000 TEUs. After the expansion the Post-Panamax vessels will be able to transit through the Canal, with up to 13,000 TEUs. The expansion will double the Canal’s capacity, having a direct impact on economies of scale and international maritime trade.