Almost a week as passed here in Panama, and not a single day without clouds and/or rain! I had no idea how gloomy rainy season could be here in the tropics. It sure does make the grass and the palm trees grow really green and lush, though.
Our days have been spent at Plan’s Regional Office of the Americas, or ROA in NGO acronym-speak (pronounced “row-ah”). The office is on the outskirts of Panama City, in a humongous office complex called “Ciudad del Saber” (City of Knowledge) that used to be U.S. army barracks back when the U.S. still controlled the canal here. The buildings are a simple beige with the classic Spanish tile roofing, lined up in neat rows across the campus. It seems like every NGO in the world has a regional headquarters here, including the Red Cross, Special Olympics, ChildFund, CARE, all the United Nations Agencies, and Doctors without Borders. Then of course there are the finance institutions, the foreign corporations, etcetera. Not only that, the campus also houses the families of many of the expat workers here, in ranch houses with modest carports and jungle gym equipment out back. The complex also houses barber shops, laundry services, restaurants, and cafes. A private international school is called Balboa Academy is also housed here. The gym and outdoor Olympic-size swimming pool are only about a quarter mile down the road in the complex. Soccer fields and tennis courts also make an appearance. Everything that an ex-pat worker could want or desire away from home (with the big exception of Starbucks—bummer) is here in this ex-pat complex.
View of the Panama Canal (on a hazy and rainy day) from the office window
Plan’s offices themselves are rather small but well-decorated and brand new looking inside, with the same style of plastering cute children’s faces all over the office as in Plan’s DC location. The office has a modern and comfortable feel to it, with new laminate hard wood floors, a nice kitchen with a coffee and espresso machine, and about 20 or so employees. From my office area I can look out over the barges going through the Miraflores locks of the Panama Canal. It is surreal.
Wednesday was the Gold Cup semifinals, Panama versus the USA. You can guess the kind of reception we received in the office (as the only Americans here) on Wednesday before the game. I have a feeling people knew that Panama was likely to lose and therefore the heckling wasn’t as bad as it could have been. We went out to the game Wednesday with a young co-worker and her husband. She said to meet them at a bar called (this is what we heard—“Pit Bull”) along the uber-hip and trendy Calle Uruguay. It turns out that instead of Pit Bull the bar was actually (thank goodness) called “People”. And it wasn’t actually a bar; I’d call it a dance club, complete with music blaring, neon lights, fog machines, the whole 9 yards. It was packed. Clearly the it was the true Panamanian way to watch a big game.
Leilani (who is clearly trying to get her passport stolen), Noras (a co-worker) and I at "People"
In the background they were playing the game, and everyone would stop dancing to stare at the TV whenever a play was about to be made or the game looked serious. Occasionally they would throw up their hands after a bad play or a foul, or something they thought should have been called a foul. Afterwards when Panama lost our new friends weren’t too mad at us, thankfully, and they took us out to the “Amador Causeway” for a late dinner.
This Causeway connects three separate islands on the Panama Canal are connected to the mainland by long bridge and the view from everywhere on the islands of the city lit up at night was unbelievable. We sat outside at a restaurant on the water and watched the boats go by in the Canal. It was a great experience, especially with the heat lightening in the humid night air and the lovely $3 chicken dinners. Although I wish Panama had won so we could have see the crazy fiestas that would have followed, it turned out to be a great night.
Now back to work, but more about the actual project I am working on here soon to come!
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