President Martinelli gave serious weight to his “soon” timetable, declaring that he and his close associate David Ochi, who will head the project, are giving themselves a deadline of 700 days in which to complete the new highway.
Of course, deadlines of public projects in Panama are proposed so that they can be broken. Still, with $114 million in government funding budgeted for the highway, it seems clear that there is some serious money to be made on the project. Both the President, as well as David Ochi, are well known to be highly motivated by money.
Given that workers on the road expansion are already actively looking for places to rent in Puerto Armuelles, it seems that Martinelli's speech was not just talk. The road expansion really does seem like it will happen "soon", even in the North American sense of that word.
As a sidebar to this story, for sometime there has been talk of President Martinelli’s friend Mr. Ochi quietly taking over the leases on many hectares of the former Chiquita Banana plantation around Puerto Armuelles. With the defunct banana workers’ syndicate, Coosemupar, safely out of the way, it was just a matter of time before a major Panamanian player found a way to wiggle into a position of control of the Banana Plantations.
What does this mean for Puerto Armuelles? Plenty.
After the departure of Chiquita Banana from Puerto, several international fruit companies, including Dole, Del Monte, and even Chiquita, have expressed interest in taking over the production and distribution of bananas from Puerto Armuelles. However, each interested party has been either given the cold shoulder by politicians, or actively scared off by threats of more labor union action.
The real problem was that there was no major Panamanian investor who stood to benefit from the renewal of Banana production in Puerto Armuelles.
Now that David Ochi, and most likely, President Martinelli himself, stand to make millions of dollars from the sale or lease of the banana plantations, as well as making tens of millions of dollars on the construction of the new Puerto Armuelles/Paso Canoas highway, the project is a “definite”.
Better still, if the president and his associate David Ochi want to get funding under his own administration, then they will have to get started right away.
Meanwhile, gringo retirees continue to trickle into Puerto Armuelles, at an increasing rate every year. It’s not a flood yet, but it seems clear that the Ex-pats are in Puerto Armuelles to stay. The new highway is sure to draw more attention to Puerto Armuelles from retirees, as well as foreign investors.
June 1, 2013
If you have all three, you can communicate freely.
Well, except for when the electricity or internet goes out.
FYI: This is North American/Panama focused technology discussion. I believe what I am suggesting works worldwide, but I have very limited experience with using it in that way. I would love to hear comments from people who communicate regularly with folks in Europe or other non-North American locations.
If you buy or have a phone with those two items you can use it throughout the world.
When you get to a new country, pop out your sim card and pop in the new one. Or have a cell phone person do it for you. Your contact information in your phone remains intact.
I finally purchased my smartphone, an Iphone 4s, a few weeks ago. I wish I had done it long ago.
Frankly, I had been intimidated by smartphones and trying to use it in different countries.
It seemed so complicated:
Like most things, once I went through the process it was so easy.
I chose an Iphone because I am an Apple person. I own 3 Apple computers. I bought an Iphone 4s. However, the Samsung Galaxy looks like a very nice phone as well.
Keep in mind that unlocked phones are more expensive than phones you buy from a cell phone provider.
The cell phone provider offers cell phones free or at reduced prices in exchange for a 2 year contract. You will more than pay for that phone over the course of 2 years.
I bought my unlocked Iphone on eBay and my daughter's on Amazon. You can buy your iphone unlocked or get it unlocked by your provider once your contract expires. You can also get your phone unlocked here in Panama or using a service elsewhere.
An unlocked GSM network phone means that you can use the phone with any provider or pay as you go service. Keep in mind that you cannot use a Verizon or other CDMA phone in Panama.
One of the most wonderful side benefits is that you have no cell phone contract. You only pay money if you are using your phone. You can choose your provider and what you pay.
When I was in the States I bought one month's worth of service from Ultra mobile for $49. I had unlimited talk, text and data. Plus a $20 credit to call internationally. I never used up the credit even though I called my family in Panama, including reading bedtime stories, often.
Ultra has plans from $19 to $59 a month. There are now many options for non-contract phones. I chose that one. It worked well for me.
Given that one of my sisters has a plan with Verizon that cost $100 a month, but does not included unlimited talk, text, and data, I was especially happy with it.
I use Movistar in Panama. I bought a sim card for $7.50 and a card for talk minutes of $5 (tarjeta de movistar). If I had wanted to I could buy Internet time seperately (from $2 to $14), or get a plan that covers only Internet, not talk time. Instead, I decided to use wi-fi for my internet needs. The gentleman that helped me at the Movistar stall at the Albrook Mall in Panama City was very helpful.
You should ask people what cell phone provider currently works best in your area of Panama. It can change.
The word on the street is that Mas Movil has the best coverage in Puerto Armuelles these days. I am happy with Movistar though. Cell phone towers have a tendency to pop up everywhere in Panama. So coverage can change.
Cell phone towers are off the topic of this post, but I cannot help mentioning this issue. I am hoping that the many cell phone providers here start entering into agreements so they can use each others cell phone towers. Right now each company feels compelled to erect their own towers to get full coverage, instead of using another company's towers to bridge a gap.
In Panama it is not uncommon to see 2 to 4 towers within 1000 yards of each other. For the most part, people do not object to cell phone towers. Getting a cell phone tower on your land is money in your pocket. The monthly lease can be significantly more than most people make in a month.
The world of apps had always bewildered me. But that was only because I had never used them before. I have lived in Panama throughout the most of the smartphone revolution so my contact with smartphones has been very limited. Once you have one, the world of apps becomes much more clearer and obvious.
Also the world is becoming more conversant with apps. I took a taxi ride to David, Panama a month ago, and my driver was showing me all the apps he had on his android phone. He even had an interactive app that pinpointed the location of police with radar guns. Very useful.
I also bought my daughter an iphone, an Iphone 3gs. Within minutes of getting her hands on it she was downloading apps, mostly games. She is acutely aware about how the world of app works.
You will want a some apps. (FYI, apps is short for applications)
As I mentioned, I am new to both smartphones and apps. However, I have researched apps that allow me to more fully use my Iphone while in Panama. That is texting and international phone calls.
Heywire allows you to text people in many countries for free.
I investigated many free texting apps. I discovered that for most the promise of free was deceptive. That is you could text for free only if your recipient had the same app on his or her phone.
I did not want to deal with either asking my friends to sign up with that app or to pay for texting them. Heywire does not require that. Also, it works seemlessly with my phone. I can text using my contact in my phone, not via the app service, as I had been doing in the States.
So far Heywire has worked well for me. Everyone I have texted in the States have been able to receive and text me back - free for all of us. Yippee!
You can have your Skype account on your phone. You can even do video calls from your phone.
I downloaded it and it seems to work well so far.
Vonage has at least 2 apps to use on your cell phone. Vonage Mobile and Vonage Extensions are the 2 I looked into.
With Vonage Extensions app you can, theoretically, route your Vonage number to your smart phone. However, I was unable to get my Vonage number routed to my phone using that app.
The stumbling block is Panama's 11 digit number for cell phones. The Vonage Extension app only works with cell phones that are 10 digits long, including area code or country code. Panama, Costa Rica, and every other country that has a 8 digit phone numbers will have the same problem.
You can also use the Vonage Mobile app. You do not need to have a Vonage account to use that app. Although, you will need to determine for yourself if the app is a cost savings to you. For me it is not. Currently, I can call the USA with my Smartphone, using no apps, for 8 cents a minute.
However, I was able to simply forward my Vonage phone number to my smart phone, even though it is an 11 digit number. That way I can get phone calls on my smart phone from people in the USA - at no charge to them.
MagicJack also has an app for your Smartphone.
I have not used it. The reviews of the app were so mixed I decided to wait to see if I could find something better first.
Also, you should be be careful if you have more than one Magicjack number. MagicJack will not let you change your MagicJack number on your smartphone once it is assigned, via the app, to your smartphone.
There are apps out there that promise free phone calls, but I have not tested them as of yet. I will update this post as I learn more.
You can simply have 2 cell phones. One you use in the States (or elsewhere) and one you use in Panama.
I own a Cricket phone. With Cricket you can stop and start your cell phone service in the States.
I had thought you could keep the same phone number each time you restarted Cricket service, but that turns out not to be the case. You do keep all your contact information intact in your phone. If you buy a Cricket phone then you must use Cricket for your cell phone service. Therefore, you cannot use the Cricket phone in Panama or outside the USA. Basically it is a phone contract that you can stop and start.
While in Panama, you simply buy whatever cell phone you desire and pay as you go cell phone service.
I much prefer having one phone now, not 2.
I have used both MagicJack and Vonage. Both are good.
Skype
I use Skype as my plan B. As well as a good option for video calling.
It is especially useful if you need to make phone calls to someplace other than the USA or Canada. When for various reasons my other phones have failed me I have even used Skype to call Panama numbers while in Panama.
Skype is a free service. However to make a phone call to a regular phone using Skype it costs money. The cost depends upon where you are calling. I have never done an analysis of the costs. But it seems very reasonable. I love that I can use it from any computer and from anywhere and to anywhere in the world.
Usually when you need to use Skype, you need to make your phone call immediately. For this reason, I keep my credit with Skype at $10. I set it up to happen automatically.
The video calling is free. To do group video calling between more than 2 computers there is a fee.
For most people, being able to get a bunch of people on the same phone call is not needed. But after many time-consuming attempts to set up strings of 3-ways calls , I have found a reliable conference call necessary.
Over the years, we have discovered that the best choice is is Free Conference Call. We have tried Skype, using 3 way calls, a more. None of those worked well consistently.
I have had great experiences with FreeConferenceCall.com. I highly recommend it.
In the last 6 or 7 years telephone technology has really improved. Expensive and hard to make international calls are in the past.
You can now communication with your friends and family around the world very easily and cheaply. This means even if you don't live in the same country with someone, you can still keep in constant communication. If you want to.
What telephone technology do you use while abroad?
Then we dropped down to David to do some shopping before heading back home to Puerto Armuelles.
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Have you been zip lining before?
Your questions and concerns are likely the same as ours:
We had and have all the same concerns.
We moved down to Panama when my youngest (and only at that point) was 5 years old. At the time of this writing, she is now 11 years old and has a 6-year-old sister.
First, you should know that I am a very involved parent. I wholeheartedly practiced attachment parenting when my children were younger. My older child attended a co-op preschool in the States.
Skylar had completed 2 months of kindergarten in a Spanish/English language immersion school in the States before we went down to Panama. In addition, my husband Reyn has spoken to her in Spanish since she was a baby. Not all the time, but often. Also, Reyn is not a native Spanish speaker.
At that point, we weren't sure if we were going to move to Panama or not. We traveled for months in Panama before finding Puerto Armuelles. We liked it in Puerto and found a house to rent.
We decided to put our child into school and explore living here permanently. So after 2 months in Kindergarten in the USA and 4 months on the road, we put our 5-year old into 1st grade. The kindergarten, at least at the school she attended, seemed too babyish for her.
She attended a private 7th Day Adventist school in the Rio Mar neighborhood of Puerto Armuelles, Panama.
Except for one English class, it was all in Spanish.
Of course, Skylar has always been an outgoing child. She loves to make friends and embraces new experiences. She also had the advantage of knowing some Spanish. My husband, Reyn, has spoken Spanish to her since she was a baby.
Every child is different, so not every child will be comfortable with the immediate immersion approach. My youngest, who is now almost 7, could never have embraced school here as Skylar did at 5. In general, I think the younger the child starts school the easier the transition. I find the younger the child the faster they pick up the language.
I read a blog recently which had some good insights on introducing ex-pat children into local Panamanian schools. Go to Elizabeth Ballard Spagle's blog post for her experience with her American son going to local Panamanian schools in Boquete, Panama.
School here starts at 7 in the morning and ends around 12 or 1. This is so the kids aren't in school during the heat of the day. For the same reason, the school year here starts in late February/early March and goes through mid-December.
It is obvious that we were still very much in vacation mode when you read what we did with ourselves when our child was in school.
At 12:30 we would pick our child up from school.
We'd go home to eat the lunch our maid, Yolanis, had waiting for us.
It was a very good life.
Then our adoption papers came through unexpectedly. We had been waiting 2 years and were told it would be another year. But we got a call saying, "here is your child". You need to go to China and pick her up right away.
That call turned our world upside down in many ways. For instance, because of required post-adoption visits, we ended up staying in the states for one year. Skylar went to 1st grade (again) in the States in the same Spanish/English language immersion school that she attended for her 2 months of kindergarten. Most importantly, we received an adorable 10-month-old baby girl into our family.
It was a startling experience to go from that school experience to the one in the States.
The changes that had the biggest impact:
Panama had spoiled me. Compared to many, I had an easy life in the States. The school was walking distance from our house. A friend of mine shared drop off and pick up duties.
But still, somehow I always felt behind the 8-ball. There always seemed to be a pile of laundry and dishes to do. People and places to see. Often very pleasant things to do with friends, but it all seemed so rushed. I am sure suddenly having a 10-month-old baby made it more stressful and active than it would have been with just Skylar.
Once everything was said and done, we returned to Panama 1 year after we suddenly left to go pick up our wonderful daughter Blaise from China.
1st Day Of School for Sky (5th grade) & Blaise (1st grade)
The girls recently had another 1st day of school (see photo to the left) at Colegio de San Antonio, a private Catholic school located near downtown Puerto Armuelles, Panama.
Over those 5 years, we have mostly dabbled in school here.
We have never been able to replicate the great experience we had with school initially
Since our return to Panama, we have mostly homeschooled.
Skylar has returned to the 7th-day Adventist school twice. Neither time for a full school year.
Both children have also attended the local English school, Las Palmas. Again not for a full school year.
However, this last school year was different. I was determined that they would go to school for a full year.
I had 2 primary motivations:
The difference was huge. For one, if you take it seriously, they take you seriously.
For the first time, a school insisted I get approval from the Ministry of Education before Skylar could start school. We had to have stamped and notarized transcripts and more.
However, once again, Blaise at least has dropped out of school. She is much happier with a private tutor.
Skylar continues to go to school. She has mixed feelings about school, like all kids, but in general, she likes it.
Bring your children' transcripts from your current school with you to Panama. This will make the process much faster and easier for you. Also, try to have the transcript comply with the suggestions below.
Learn about my teenage daughter's experiences in Panamanian Schools.
You can find out some reasons to homeschool in Panama.
This impacts Panama property within 10K of both Costa Rica and Columbia.
(FYI - 10 kilometers is the same as 6.2 miles.)
The same restriction used to apply to all island property, but in 2006 that restriction was eliminated. So unless the island is less than 10K from Costa Rica or Columbia, a foreigner can buy land on an island, or the whole island, in Panama.
It seems like a very clear cut rule, but it isn't.
The rule says that a foreigner cannot own property within 10 kilometers of a border Panama shares with another country. The 10 kilometers is measured from a proposed property to the closest point on the border from that property.
However, many foreigners have purchased land within 10 kilometers of Panama's borders, especially the Costa Rica border.
Technically, the buyer of rights of possession (ROP) property is not the true property owner. The true owner is the Panama government because the government holds the title. (This also means that ROP land is also exempt from property taxes. Find out more about Panama property taxes and exemptions here. ) Therefore, it is perfectly legal for foreigners to buy ROP property in Panama less than 10 kilometers from Costa Rica or Columbia.
Such corporations designed to keep the owners of the property hidden. A Panamanian, often a lawyer, is the face of the corporation. The true owner(s) are kept anonymous.
Technically, even corporations cannot buy property inside the 10 kilometer line if a foreigner is part of the corporation, or if foreign money is used to buy the property. But given the nature of anonymous corporations in Panama, it is very hard to verify whether a foreigner is part of it or not.
At one time, it seemed that the existence of anonymous corporations in Panama were numbered. But each time the proposal was raised, it was also ultimately squashed. There are too many people in power who benefit from the opaque nature of these corporations. These days, it seems unlikely that anonymous corporations will be banned in the foreseeable future.
(Read how Panama proposed banning corporate anonymity and then a subsequent post on Panama suspends the proposal to ban anonymous corporations.
While we are on the subject, you may want to read about the dangers of buying property from an anonymous corporation in Panama.)
For instance, we own titled land, in our own names, in Panama within 10 kilometers of Costa Rica. Our property is recorded in the public registry of property. No one batted an eye. We know many people who have done the same. It is technically risky. However, it seems extremely unlikely that the government would claim the property from us.
However, everyone's risk tolerance is different. To be as safe as possible, you should buy at least 10 kilometers away from the border.
The 10 kilometer property rule is the only restriction on foreign ownership of property in Panama.
Panamanian law is very friendly to foreign investment in real estate.
If you want to buy land outside the 10K line in Puerto Armuelles, you need to buy land north of the San Bartolo bridge. This bridge is on the main road into Puerto Armuelles and goes over the San Barolo river.
This means Puerto Armuelles is situated such that it has some of it lands are more than 10K from the border with Costa Rica, and some are less than 10 kilometers from the border.
There is a surveyor's map below which gives distance from the border of various points in Puerto Armuelles. A good rule of thumb, as I say above, is whether a point is north of the San Bartolo bridge or not. If a property is north of the San Bartolo bridge than you are almost always more than 10 kilometers from the border of Costa Rica, per the 10k rule.
For instance, these Puerto Armuelles neighborhoods are more than 10 kilometers from the border with Costa Rica. There are more neighborhood outside the 10k line, but the ones below are the primary ones.
Here is the map of the Puerto Armuelles area with distances from border as done by a certified surveyor.
April 13, 2013
How Will This Effect Panama's Financial Sector?Proposed Bill 568 did just that.
Then, 3 days ago, on April 10th, President Martinelli froze debate on Bill 568 in the legislature.
Was it because of the recent leak of 1000s of bank accounts owners in tax havens, such as Panama? Most likely. The publication of these names was probably the straw that broke the camel's back.
This bearer share bill was controversial from the get go. Many lawyers and business people are against it, while many banks favor it. Of course, it was extremely unpopular with those using bearer shares to conceal illicit activity.
FYI: Bank accounts are involved because the real owners these corporations open bank accounts under the name of the corporation Of course, the real names of the owners of the bank account, and the corporation, are kept secret via the anonymity of the corporation's bearer shares.
The recent leak reveals the details of 1000s of offshore holdings by people and companies in more than 170 countries, including Panama. The majorityof the secret accounts whose owners are now "outted" are in banks located in the British Virgin Islands, the Cook Islands and Singapore. For more info on this topic, see this New York Times article and The International Consortium of Investigative Journalists
However, even without freezing the bill, its passage may not have kept Panama out of trouble with the OECD.
At the last minute, Section 27 was added to bearer share bill. Section 27 states that the share holder names would not be revealed for 2 years after the bill's passage into law.
No surprise there. There are lots of people, some in high places, who are hiding behind these bearer shares for various reasons:
The 2 year delay allows those who are actively trying to hide their assets to move them around so they can retain their anonymity. For instance, I have heard lawyers recommend those who currently own such corporations to transfer their assets into Private Panama Foundations. The OECD - and the USA's IRS - are probably pretty unhappy with that and other possibilities.
FYI: Bearer shares are anonymous negotiable instruments that confer shares of ownership in a Panamanian corporation whose owners and manager are not required to be disclosed anywhere on a public record.
Bearer shares have been part of Panamanian corporate law since 1927. It is one of the reasons there are so many ships that register Panama as their home port. By doing so, ships can change ownership without any government knowing about it.
In addition, instead of directly declaring and publicly registering the owners names of the corporation in a sworn document there will be an intermediary custodian. This custodian, which can be a lawyer or bank, will theoretically be held personally responsible for any criminal activities of those who have Beneficial Ownership and therefore control of the corporation.
Panama is not the only country to go the custodian route. However, it is a method that can be corrupted so that the true owners names may still never come to light.
Martinelli has been promising to end the anonymity of corporate bearer shares for a while. His motivations:
I am unsure the effects of not passing Bill 568 will be for Panama and its financial sector.
I'll let you know when I learn more.
What Privacy? People In Panama Are Very Interested In What EveryOne is Doing All the Time.Everyone discusses everything here.
Perhaps you are trying to sort out a dispute with your neighbor. When an official calls you in to explain your side of the story, you will be explaining it in front of everyone else waiting to talk with that official.
Your business is everyone's business. Confidentiality is a foreign concept here.
Say you deposit a large sum of money at your bank down the street. Chances are that this weekend the teller or bank president will tell all the people he or she is hanging out with about it. It is news.
Panama is like a small town in many ways. The whole country only has 3.3 million people. People gossip as a pastime. They like the drama of it all.
Of course it also means that rumors run rampant here.
In Panama, more than any other place I have been, the phrase, "I'll believe it when I see it" is important to keep in mind.
Even more important is to remember that you should use extreme care if you want to keep something private here in Panama.
Don't assume that your banker, lawyer, neighbor, or friend will keep mum about something. Most likely they will not.
Reyn and I are not trying to hide. In fact the thought of being targeted by the IRS puts my guts into knots.
I really want to play by the rules, but of course, I don't want to pay more taxes than are absolutely necessary.
We went to Panama City on Tuesday to meet face-to-face with a couple of tax accountants who specialize in helping US citizens who live in Panama.
Okay so maybe we didn't need to meet with 2 accountants over 2 days, but we wanted more than 1 perspective on the recent changes. It was an enlightening experience.
NOTE: We met with one of the accountants near the statue of Einstein's head in Panama City (see the photo above). Even Einstein had a hard time understanding tax law, and I imagine it was alot simpler back in his time.
The difference for US citizens is that the IRS is in hot pursuit.
Most other countires might have laws saying their citizens must pay taxes even while abroad, but they aren't willing to pursue the matter.
Lots of expats in Panama want to live "under the radar". In many ways that is possible here. The cash economy thrives in Panama. Paying for things - even very large ticket items - in cash is the norm. Panamanians generally prefer it. Unlike the US where some places won't even accept cash.
Very few things are computerized here. Unpaid bills don't haunt you in Panama. They just disappear. There is no local financial tracking system, or any kind of tracking system. Well, except for immigration - but even that is limited by location.
Neither is true anymore.
The Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) has been exerting more pressure on "grey" countries. They are increasingly saying to countries that if you want to play with the big boys in the world market you need to play by the rules.
OECD has been targeting tax havens, putting countries on black, grey, or white lists depending upon whether they exchange information with other nations for the purposes of tax reporting, regardless of domestic bank secrecy laws
In April of 2009, Panama was put on OECD's "grey" list.
These countries, and more, have now all complied with OECD's Article 26 standards regarding information exchange.
Panama was conspicuously absent from the list. This is true no longer.
Panama has enacted a number of transparency rules, including a new law that requires reporting the names of the share holders of its many corporations.
So all you folks who are "hiding" under a Panamanian corporation or private Panama foundation, beware. Of course, if you are an American, you were always required to report any "bearer" or other shares you hold in a Panama corporation or foundation to the IRS. But now, it is much easier for the IRS to discover if you participate in a Panama corporation or foundation.
Many Panama lawyers, either won't tell you this, or don't know about this new tax implication.
Do yourself a favor. Make sure you don't just talk with a lawyer, but an accountant who knows the tax implications both in Panama and in the US (or in your country-of-origin).
Okay, back to the OECD and Panama.
This means that Panama has signed information exchange agreements with at least 12 major countries.
The most far reaching agreement they signed was with the US government.
World-wide the US has become very aggressive in seeking out expats who aren't paying their taxes - no matter where they live. There really is almost no place to hide from the US tax-man anymore.
In 2011, Panama officially said "uncle" to the revenue-starved US. Panama agreed to grant bank account access to IRS agents - but only if they have a US-issued warrant in hand. This is similar to the agreement european and other countries have with the US for information exchange.
As part of that agreement, starting in 2014, Panama has to report any bank accounts over $50,000 to the US. The Panama banks are very scared of stepping out of line with this new agreement so they aren't waiting for 2014. They have already started reporting these bank accounts.
While these changes feel very much like Big Brother breathing down your neck, unless something changes with OECD or US Tax law it is a new global reality.
Compared to most other places, Panama is still an excellent choice to live, work, and invest
Panama is also a very easy place to set up a corporation.
If you have an off-shore business, for instance an on-line business, you can easily and quickly set up an off-shore corporation in Panama.
For your business to qualify, you must have:
You can have your office in Panama and do all your work in Panama, but your clients cannot be Panamanians.
An off-shore corporation gives you great tax freedom.
You not only don't pay taxes in Panama, but you can also qualify for a huge income tax exclusion in your home country.
For instance, if you are a US Citizens you can legally exclude the first $95,000 you earn "off-shore".
This is available to all US citizens if you live outside the USA for "at least 330 full days during any period of 12 consecutive months".
However, if you are a legal Panama resident and own your own home in Panama, you get the exclusion no matter how much time you spend in the USA.
To get this exclusion, you must file a 5471 form as part of your US taxes each year no matter how much or how little you earn.
Until next time,
Betsy
March 23, 2013
David Fair A Good Place To Look At Cows & RelaxThere are many many cows on display.
Awards are given for the largest cows and bulls.
With steady climb in cattle prices lately the owners of these cows are feeling very wealthy.
Not only are cattle prices increasing but the agricultural land that they graze on is also going up in price. However, the price of cattle is not the main reason for the increase in agricultural land prices.
The quest for land for palm oil plantations is fueling the price increases. Many investors are looking to make money in the soaring palm oil trade, especially now that your trees can produce oil in 2 to 3 years instead of the former 7 years of the older and taller oil producing palm trees.
Horses and equestrian events are also popular at the fair. It is a good place to be a cowboy.
There are not only displays of all the agriculture in Panama, but many vendors of all sorts of flowers and plants. It is a good place to get a wide variety of plants for your yard and vegetable garden.
The Fair is also a great place to visit for crafts of all sorts. Panama is not a place overflowing with crafts. However, you can find them at the fair. Crafts, paintings, hammocks, hand made chairs, and more are for sale at the David fair. In fact there are so many vendors this year that all the rides were consolidated across the street from the main fair.
Of course, a fair has to have rides. That is the main reason my children clamor to go to the fair. There are also rides on ponies and cows for young children . If you want to go on the rides, keep in mind that the rides don't start until late in the afternoon.
There is also a place to view a wide variety of animals and birds, not just those that live in Panama. The fair used to have 3 ostriches on display. Those have "disappeared" in the last 2 years. There are also lots of animals native to Panama on display like margays, and a variety of tropical birds.
Technically the fair is over on Sunday night. However, if you are looking to buy plants you can usually do so on Monday morning.
Oh, there is also alot of music at the fair. It is a party every night of its 10 day run. We usually leave before the partying starts but for many that is when they arrive.
It costs $2 to attend on the weekends, $1 if you are retired Admission is free if you are under 8 years old.
The David Fair is definitely worth a visit.
