Colorful town signs have been popping up all over Panama.
After much anticipation, Puerto Armuelles has one of its own! (see photo above)
Our beach town is coming up in the world!
Panama's national tourism agency, Visit Panama, is promoting Puerto elsewhere too.
I was able to photograph its banner promoting Puerto Armuelles (see photo).
The banner was hanging on an overpass outside of David, on the way to Puerto Armuelles.
It is not at the roundabout.
Many people assumed that the Puerto Armuelles sign would be installed on our new roundabout.
The roundabout, the only one in Puerto, is near the entrance to town. It was installed as one of the final parts of the road expansion from a 2 lane to a 4 lane road.
It seemed like this wide round expanse of lawn was custom-made to celebrate our town's sign.
Safety Issues Determined Location
But the design aesthetics of putting it on the roundabout lost out to safety concerns.
Not only would the two-word high sign hamper visibility, but that location would put pedestrians in harm's way.
There is no parking nor sidewalk at that location. People would have to cross the circle road, on foot, to take a photo of themselves by the sign. It is not a busy road, but there is enough traffic to make that potentially dangerous.
In fact, the sign was up for only a few hours and people were already climbing all over it to take town-proud photographs.
We are very much looking forward to taking a group picture by the sign ourselves.
I have been impatiently waiting for Puerto Armuelles to get its own colorful 3-D sign for quite some time now. I am quite happy that we finally have it.
Sign Location
The sign is located on the main road - past the roundabout - as you head into town.
More specifically, it is in the Los Angeles neighborhood, between Restaurante Enrique and ESPA.
There is plenty of space for pedestrians and cars to hang out by the sign. No need to endanger yourself by dashing across the street to take a photo.
Feel free to post your photos of the sign in the comments below.
