Sylvain’s Panama Adventure

Progress this week consists mostly of work on the pool, the pathway, and the bedroom module’s roof structure.

Here’s the roof structure above the bedrooms. Notice how the roof is square and extends past the hexagonal walls:

Here’s the completed wall of the pool on the livingroom’s side:

Here is the path that goes from the livingroom to the bedrooms. Notice the culvert to allow rainwater to flow underneath the path:

Tags: Construction, Panama, Tropical

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We visited our construction site again and met with our builder just before departing Panama. He assures us that the guest house will be ready in about a month. They have begun putting the roof on it and as soon as that is completed, they will start painting the interior.

This is a steel roof on top of which will be installed Spanish-style half-pipe red-clay tiles. You can see the little elevated part of the roof in the middle to allow for better light and air circulation.

While in Panama City we also purchased the light fixtures, ceiling fans, and appliances for the guest house. We also reviewed and finalized the kitchen design with our cabinet maker.

Tags: Construction, Panama

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Our return from Panama on Mexicana went even smoother then the first leg of the trip. As a bonus, we were even allowed to upgrade to executive class for only $150 per person.

I’m very impressed with Mexicana. Excellent service, new airplanes, good meals, no lineups at the airports, good price. What’s not to like?

Tags: Panama, Travel

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We visited our construction site last Saturday and construction is going well although things have slowed down due to heavy afternoon rains and our builder has concentrated mostly on the swimming pool. He tells us he intends to deliver the guest house by the end of this month. I think he might miss by a few days, but close enough.

We found a couple of small errors that will be easily fixed. We also discussed with our architect the need for a retaining wall behind the bedroom module. Also, our builder warned us that he will submit a letter to us explaining the need for an unplanned retaining wall along the side of the driveway, which will increase our cost a bit. We won’t be too hard on him as we are aware that construction materials, mainly cement and steel re-bar, have nearly doubled in cost since he submitted a quote to us for building our house. There has been several small but unexpected changes due to the steepness of our lot, and so far he has not charged us for any of them.

Here are some pictures…

Getting ready to pour the rest of the pool floor:

Working on the pathway between the bedrooms and the living room:

Working on the roof structure for the guest house:

The view from the guest house:

Tags: Construction, Panama, Tropical House

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We’re really enjoying our stay in Casco Viejo, Panama City’s historic old quarter.

Our Casa Mendez appartment is really cool and very well located. We have a dozen nice cafes, bars and restaurants within two or three blocks, as well as three different plazas with beautiful churches and monuments, a half-dozen art galleries, the National Theatre, the Presidential Palace, the Panama Canal Museum, and the National Cultural Centre where there was excellent live jazz last night. We’re also only about 500′ from the Pacific Ocean promenade.

Here’s a picture of our appartment:

And here is a gallery of pictures from around Casco Viejo!

Tags: Casco Viejo, Panama

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Excerpts from the latest IMF report:

The strong economic performance of the last few years continues, despite the deteriorating global environment. Panama was one of the fastest growing economies in the world in 2007 with real growth rising to 11.2 percent, following an average growth rate of nearly 8 percent in 2004-06.

Construction soared, and the well developed financial center quickly responded to new opportunities and has attracted significant new investment. At the same time, employment expanded significantly, leading to a decline in unemployment to an unprecedented low level.

Like in the rest of the region, inflation has sharply accelerated, reaching almost 9 percent in May, after averaging about 1½ percent in the last twenty years. Although the surge in inflation is mainly due to higher global food and fuel prices and distortions in the agricultural sector, core inflation (excluding food and fuel) is rising as well reflecting the buoyant economic growth and the emergence of some capacity constraints.

The public finances have remarkably strengthened. The overall balance of the nonfinancial public sector (NFPS), excluding the Panama Canal Authority (PCA), turned from a deficit of about 5 percent of GDP in 2004 into a surplus of 3.5 percent of GDP in 2007, despite a major increase in capital spending in 2007.

The strong fiscal performance combined with the fast pace of growth has led to a rapid decline in the public debt ratio. A new Fiscal Responsibility Law (FRL) that sets a deficit limit of 1 percent of GDP for the NFPS, excluding the PCA, and a debt target of 40 percent of GDP by 2015 was approved by the National Assembly in early May and should help sustain the improvements in public finances.

From Panama Investor Blog

Tags: Economy, Panama

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Our flight down to Panama went very well. I had booked tickets with Mexicana and I was a bit nervous that it could turn into a horrible flight, but we were rather positively surprised! When I booked my tickets from Toronto to Panama City, we had a choice of American Airlines through Miami, but that was $1100 per person. Then there was Continental via Newark, but that was $880 p.p. and flying through the New York area is usually not a pleasant experience. Mexicana was only $600 p.p. with a connection in Mexico City.This trip also provided the shortest stop-over at 2 hours.

Things didn’t start too well when we showed up at the Toronto airport for check-in and found out that we were not sitting together and both had middle seats! I complained and the ticket agent said she was sorry but this was a very full flight and those seats were assigned a long time ago. I complained that I had booked these seats 2 months ago and wasn’t given the chance to pick seats even back then. She said that was because this is the high season (uh???). She could tell I was getting pretty upset and finally volunteered to put us in the exit row if we didn’t mind. This is great as you get about twice the normal amount of leg room! But to my surprise, once we boarded the plane I noticed that the flight was far from full and I counted no less than 6 rows with two seats together! So the girl at the counter was obviously playing games with me, or simply unwilling to make a tiny effort to help us.

Anyway, after that everything went smoothly. The plane was a brand spanking new Airbus 319, clean as a whistle, and with an entertainment system (some of Continental’s airplanes are not so equipped!). The staff was very friendly and all smiles, and the meal (yes, I said meal) was excellent. I was still a little aprehensive about how a stop-over in Mexico City was going to go, but it went pretty good. The Mexico City Airport is huge and like so many others it looks like a giant shopping mall. We were not supposed to have to go through customs and security but took a wrong turn (the signage is awful) and ended up doing just that. Still, there were surprisingly no lineup and we had plenty of time to look around.

The second leg was also in a brand new A319 and we also had a good meal. We arrived in Panama City on time and I must say that this was our best flight to Panama so far, much better than either Continental or American. So two thumbs-up for Mexicana!

Tags: Panama, Travel

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Next weekend (August 30th) we’re heading back to Panama for a week. It will be my 8th visit in two years. We will spend the first weekend in Altos del Maria checking out our construction site, and then we’ll spend the whole week in Panama City shopping for electrical fixtures, furniture and appliances. We’ll also be meeting with our architect to discuss some small changes to our house.

For our week in Panama City we will be trying something different: I rented an apartment in the historic neighbourhood of Casco Viejo. We will be staying at Casa Mendez, an apartment building managed by Los Quatro Tulipanes. We haven’t been back to Casco Viejo since our first visit to Panama. Should be fun and interesting.

Tags: Casco Viejo, Panama

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An excellent article from The Guardian.

Panama City used to be somewhere people travelled through, not to. But the transformation of a run-down neighbourhood into one of the hippest barrios in Latin America is changing that…

Read it here.

Tags: Casco Viejo, Panama, Portobello

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Well, wouldn’t you know it, we’ve already sold our house! And I was afraid it would take a while… As a bonus, they well let us stay in the house until January, couldn’t have asked for a more convenient deal.

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