Panama City has already taken in those looking to weather the economic storm. The investment sector boasts a blossoming real estate market, attractive offshore/immigration laws and the up-and-coming historic district of Casco Viejo (think prenatal New Orleans). Casco Viejo is lined with cobblestone streets along which you’ll find breezy European-style plazas and addictive nightlife that goes on past dawn. The budding ecotourism industry highlights fascinating indigenous societies and all the rafting, zip-lining and hiking your muscles can take. Looking for luxury hotels? Panama City hosted the latest James Bond film crew, many of whom, in the end, didn’t want to leave.
In 2009, Panama City will continue to cater to a bevy of incoming brand names such as Nikki Beach, Maserati and Donald Trump (officially opening a residential tower on the downtown waterfront). The cost of living remains curiously low yet manages to offer the familiarities of home: movie tickets for $3 and filet mignon for $9. Similarly, a no-appointment checkup at Panama City’s Johns Hopkins Hospital (the only outside of the USA) runs around $50.
Part of Panama City’s greatest charm is that its contrasts are still widely unknown to the masses. Its people enter 2009 amid more buzz than ever before, trying simultaneously to keep secret a quality of life that’s off the charts.
No related posts.
