Out of Pod Experience

The company I work for does a lot of analysis for people wanting to invest in Panama. And I agree on the investing, we currently rate you on our internal ratio as 9.32. Which is in our top 10. We've handled a few large firms / private investors wanting to invest and everyone has been green lit by us.

Alas I do not speak Spanish so my boss will never send me there on business.

Apparently the food is bloody amazing too.

We do Colombia as well, but not Venezuela for certain reason I shan't bring up here due to the moratorium on political debate. We'd like to, but not at the present. But who knows what future will bring.

And our policy is, if you dont speak it, you dont go. Saves on translators and leaks. Also stops mistakes and bad translation hampering negotiations / our fact finding. I just do Asia myself, I have enough issues getting up at 2am to talk to people in Singapore / China / Japan without having to be transferred to the Americas team and screwing my sleeping up even more!

We dont invest though, we advise people on if its a good idea and sum up the risks. Panama has few risks in our view. We just tell people if its a good idea to spend their money... and charge them a % on our analysis and data work.

Is it true all the food there is pretty damn spicy?

Hmmm not really, fact is, I find food here quite bland, then again, foreigners from predominantly white countries drink coffee that passes down here as watered leftover from the filter and food that tastes quite bland and feels artificial ... joking but you know what I mean.

Food here is mostly greasy and/or fried with a local topping called Guandú, which is a small flavory green bean, I enjoy the typical rice dish made with it, mixes well with Chicken/beef . Im more used to a bunch more of spices and flavors than the local dishes and I usually import venezuelan spices to add up flavor to local fare, this is personal taste as I know Panamanians dont quite enjoy Venezuelan meals and viceversa. Traditional meals are spicy in the region of Colon, since it has more Caribbean influence and reflects its particular cuisine. But as usual, these are broad generalizations tinted with my personal bias, since to be honest, I find the food here bland and simple. But then again I have only tried the most well known meals, and I know certain regions have a way of flavoring food that some people find fascinating, but that hasn't been my case so far.

If you worry about food, be aware supermarkets here carry US imported brands and foodstuffs if that worries you. What I have found Excellent here though, is bread. Im an avid bread eater, and I´m accustomed to several types of traditional bakery style breads and here, they sell a magnificent "Pan de Huevo" which is an egg heavy bread, that spoils relatively fast but tastes like heaven, its chewy and savory, have to try it. Its produced by a large retailer here, called Riba-Smith and is one of its trademarks in bread.

Also, I don´t know if you like kosher food, but Panama, boasting a very large hebrew population has very well stocked and supplied Kosher supermarkets that sell awesome kosher meat and cuts and cheeses. I enjoy kosher food and Panama is one of the best places to buy/eat kosher.

Arab restaurants here are very good and also Halal too. Chinese restaurants are ok, as I have tried them and found them too americanized for my tastes. You also have a plethora of International Cuisine restaurants that are excellent.

Now that you made me go into this, Meat here , beef in particular, the local produce is subpar to what I am used. Cattle here produces a very particular strain of meat that is very low on fat and has muscle, since cattle farms here are hilly, so the cattle develops differently. It has its uses, but I really enjoy prime cuts of red meat and what Panama offers is not very good.

On the other side, Pork meat is a staple, specially pork chops and they are of very good quality , but like most Panama meat has a low amount of fat thus reducing the "flavor" some people seem to enjoy.

Chicken is great and superior to what I have tasted in Colombia and Venezuela, Chicken producers here are top notch.

Fishes and Mollusks is an area I can not share anything as I despise the taste of it. But you can find tons of fish types here sold fresh at the famous Fish Market downtown, where it literally squirms still as its taken right out from fishing boats from the Pacific and taken directly to it.

Also I have discovered some entrail burger patties here that are, just marvelous and I eat them sparingly due to the amount of awesome grease and fat they leave on the pan, but they are just too tasty to avoid. They are cheap but is an amazing national product.

Can keep on going and going about food here, since its a favorite topic of mine, but if you ever come here I can point you out easily to the best restaurants so you can try them first hand.

In short? No, food is not that spicy, if at all, down here, perhaps Mexico, but thats quite a bit North XD



Well if you ever come down here, holler up I can show you a bit around. Country is very small but it has a TON of places to discover!