Thread: What's with all the negativity?

I get it, Panamanians are lazy, the country sucks, everyone in his right mind should stay away, they steal, dishonest, the bureaucracy sucks etc...
These are just the highlights posted by people in these forums, why despite all their concentration on trying to scare off and discourage people still make Panama their choice of living. Obviously it is either that the pros outweigh the cons or they are suckers for punishment or are the dumbest people alive still being in Panama (maybe lazy or stuck). I have lived in 4 countries on 3 continents ten years or more each and never found a place where all was 100% to my liking. Are these people just trying to cut down the competition by scaring people off or are the type who would bitch and moan even if heaven suddenly manifested on Earth?

In the context of time it's not so bad, but almost every interaction in Panama, especially with the government is a fkn nightmare.

You could turn the question around instead. How come there are page up and page down with lies on every webpage about Panama - they are selling something. People who post here are (mostly) not selling anything. The effect on the market is none.

I do not think it is negativity. I think it is people wanting to warn others about how things work/are here. It is about giving people the information that IL will never give them.

This is just my opinion and it is worth exactly what your are paying for it.

I think many of the comments on this site are positive if you are discussing where to find things or have you been to or directions those type of questions basically the basic stuff then this site is great very helpfull.

If however you are wanting to find out about more practical things or about Gov procedures paperwork, then the reality is that Panama is a very difficult almost stupid place to get things done and no its not that we are use to something differnt, I also have lived in many countrys rich and poor and I can easily say that Panama by far is the most frustrating place to get the most simple things done.

Again just my opinion, it is however based on expirience and not hear say

I have to say -- that in the last few months this forum has become more of the "Anti Panama Forum".

I am glad I am not the only one who seems to get this feeling.

Originally Posted by No-Non-Sense-Matt

I have to say -- that in the last few months this forum has become more of the "Anti Panama Forum".

IMHO one reason may be the people who no longer post here. One of them in particular was very helpful and always had mostly positive things to say. He would call it like he saw it when things were fked up, but he always tried to see the silver lining in every cloud. A lot of the posters these days don't look for the silver lining - although I admit, it may be damn near impossible to find sometimes!

I've lived in Panama for a total of six years and a lot of what is being posted is absolutely accurate. In my experience, the biggest pains in the ass were associated with living/working/commuting/doing business in Panama City. I've spent most of my time in the interior and the problems don't seem so insurmountable there. When we retire for good and return to live in Panama, it will be in the interior. No way in Hell would I live in PC.

Just my two cents worth...

well people are calling it like they see it , i enjoy panama but it does have its warts , if those who think everything negative being posted is unfair , they can get a dose of peaches and cream from the likes of IL and I agree with Tennvol with living in the interior , because living in the city would just suck . just be in the city on a long weekend , it is empty , even the locals hate it and leave whenever possible . now if you are gringo that has kids , you are pretty much stuck in the city if you are doing the private school thing , as we know the public school system works out to about a grade 12 here is equal to a grade 8 in north america . and we need to remember that as we are dealing with the locals , not everyone made it as far as grade 12 . so what would a grade 9 dropout equal .

Personally -- I've been living in Panama City for 6 years and I love it. Not quite ready to move to the beaches and mountains.

As far as what's being written on these boards... The problem isn't that there's "negative reality" being written. Where's the positive?

Murder, genocide, suicide, rape and wars are part of "reality". Personally -- I choose not to focus on these things in my life. At the end of the day, I choose whether to focus on positive things or negative things.

There's waaay more positive things in Panama than negative things IMO. That's why I live here. I could live anywhere in the world.

Also: 99% of the negative crap in Panama has become irrelevant to me. I've orchestrated my life so that it doesn't affect me -- I don't spend time dealing with it.

Matt, Well said. You and Ed Bowers are the bright spots in my day with a perspective a lot of the members should embrace.

I understand why persons from other countries that come and live in Panama find fault with the panamenian way of life, we come from developed countries and with that we bring our own standads that has nothing to do with Panama. Panama is an underveloped country, with lots of poor people living in it, that should know better, but they do not, they are not as lucky as us, because we know better. I`m greatful to be in Panama with the good the bad and the ugly.

It seems from what I have read on Panama and many of the hassles that people have to deal with usually have to do with people that are working there or own or plan on buying property or a house. I spent last August traveling throughout Panama, and the people I talked to were mainly frustrated over the government deals with these issues, the paperwork, lack of cooperation, changing rules, etc.. I have yet to hear from someone who is retired there that does not work or owns a house that has the same frustrations other people do. Sounds to me like the people that retire to Panama and does not have to be involved with the above issues has an easier time adjusting to the changes they have to deal with.

It seems from what I have read on Panama and many of the hassles that people have to deal with usually have to do with people that are working there or own or plan on buying property or a house. I spent last August traveling throughout Panama, and the people I talked to were mainly frustrated over the government deals with these issues, the paperwork, lack of cooperation, changing rules, etc.. I have yet to hear from someone who is retired there that does not work or owns a house that has the same frustrations other people do. Sounds to me like the people that retire to Panama and does not have to be involved with the above issues has an easier time adjusting to the changes they have to deal with.

Today I had the pleasure of receiving a speeding ticket for driving 86 km/hr in an 80 km/hr zone. One can but assume that the speedometer was calibrated in the factory 8 years ago.

Panamanians are very evil shits and I will leave nothing but piss behind me for them. They go into four categories: Evil, Corrupt, Apes and Too Stupid to Rate. All of them are of course egotistical little children where the world is a trash bag and their noise, their space, their lane is 200 times more important than courtesy and decency.

I was sitting in my favorite lunch restaurant recently and I took a detailed look around. The first thing that popped into my head was that I hated everyone I saw. Lazy, fat, ugly, slow, stupid space occupiers.

The only thing they know is to steal. Name one invention from Panama.... Instead of doing something with the other 99.999 % of the country, they spent 80 years bitching about wanting the canal and celebrating their "drunk martyrs".

Luckily there is enough nice and orderly foreigners in Panama that you don't have to deal with the human garbage here, except for mail delivery and toilet scrubbing which they barely manage even under supervision.

Is there any positives about the country? Why are you still in P? I am not trying to excuse idiocy simply wondering what the good things are that outweigh the bad since you are not moving to greener pastures?

Originally Posted by Contrail

Today I had the pleasure of receiving a speeding ticket for driving 86 km/hr in an 80 km/hr zone. One can but assume that the speedometer was calibrated in the factory 8 years ago.

Panamanians are very evil shits and I will leave nothing but piss behind me for them. They go into four categories: Evil, Corrupt, Apes and Too Stupid to Rate. All of them are of course egotistical little children where the world is a trash bag and their noise, their space, their lane is 200 times more important than courtesy and decency.

I was sitting in my favorite lunch restaurant recently and I took a detailed look around. The first thing that popped into my head was that I hated everyone I saw. Lazy, fat, ugly, slow, stupid space occupiers.

The only thing they know is to steal. Name one invention from Panama.... Instead of doing something with the other 99.999 % of the country, they spent 80 years bitching about wanting the canal and celebrating their "drunk martyrs".

Luckily there is enough nice and orderly foreigners in Panama that you don't have to deal with the human garbage here, except for mail delivery and toilet scrubbing which they barely manage even under supervision.

Sorry you're having a hard time adjusting to Panama. I have only visited Panama twice, so there isn't much I can say about your impressions of the people there, but something occured to me when I was reading your post. Since I live in the USA, I feel I am qualified to speak about some of the problems in this country. There are some similarities to your complaints about Panama that seem eerily similar to what is going on in the USA. The corruption here is through the roof. Anybody that feels this government is working for them is just fooling themselves. As far as common decency is concerned; I've lived all over this country and common decency is really hard to find. Everybody protects their space and god help the person who gets into it. Sorry to hear about your speeding ticket, sounds pretty unfair to me too, but did you hear about how the police in Washington DC are now putting people in jail for having expired tabs on their cars? Your right about the trash. I couldn't belive the mountains of trash along the roads, but where I live now, Tampa, they have to periodically close the beaches due to runoff pollution and its going to take 5 years to clean up the Everglades. Makes me wonder what people from other countries that move to this country think about it. A few months ago, two college kids from Europe where here on vacation, and ended up being shot and killed for their money. I'm not saying the USA is as bad as what you described about Panama but this country is no paradise either.

well....this is the fourth country that I have lived in and I find it pretty great!!

well it is a good thing there is no Lazy, fat, ugly, slow, stupid space occupiers, where you come from .

Great, in-depth analysis as always. Are they "better" if I was repeatedly raped in my country of origin or how does your faulty logic work again?

Driving into Buenaventura today from the west side. They choose to live in garbage and throw it onto themselves. I have never seen anything like it, except for parts of Nicaragua. Why would a person do that to themselves, their children and country? Obviously they see it - maybe the logo on a used quart of motor oil adds visual value to the grounds for them.

Originally Posted by nakedguydb

well it is a good thing there is no Lazy, fat, ugly, slow, stupid space occupiers, where you come from .

In Panama you can have 200 pages with bank records of bribes being paid and nothing will happen. The supreme court is openly for sale here. You can't even compare the US and Panama. People will take 1000 dollar gov positions instead of 5000 dollar private jobs for the bribes and favors. Crown land is illegally handed out to the left and right - it's in the news, next week they forget and nothing gets reversed. There are tens if not hundreds of completely open secrets in Panama. Everyone knows the price for a residency permit for someone from mainland China and so on. In Bocas they are still selling fake land titles after 10 years - it's in the open, but noone cares as they get paid.

Originally Posted by John22

Sorry you're having a hard time adjusting to Panama. I have only visited Panama twice, so there isn't much I can say about your impressions of the people there, but something occured to me when I was reading your post. Since I live in the USA, I feel I am qualified to speak about some of the problems in this country. There are some similarities to your complaints about Panama that seem eerily similar to what is going on in the USA. The corruption here is through the roof. Anybody that feels this government is working for them is just fooling themselves. As far as common decency is concerned; I've lived all over this country and common decency is really hard to find. Everybody protects their space and god help the person who gets into it. Sorry to hear about your speeding ticket, sounds pretty unfair to me too, but did you hear about how the police in Washington DC are now putting people in jail for having expired tabs on their cars? Your right about the trash. I couldn't belive the mountains of trash along the roads, but where I live now, Tampa, they have to periodically close the beaches due to runoff pollution and its going to take 5 years to clean up the Everglades. Makes me wonder what people from other countries that move to this country think about it. A few months ago, two college kids from Europe where here on vacation, and ended up being shot and killed for their money. I'm not saying the USA is as bad as what you described about Panama but this country is no paradise either.

6 figures.

Originally Posted by Sir Stressalot

Is there any positives about the country? Why are you still in P? I am not trying to excuse idiocy simply wondering what the good things are that outweigh the bad since you are not moving to greener pastures?

So just enjoy it.

Originally Posted by Contrail

6 figures.

6 figures and you driving your own car? Get a limo

well wont it be a happy day when the 6 figures job runs out and you can leave this chit hole you hate so much with all its fat , lazy and ugly people . and you can return the perfect world where all the people are slim , motivated , and beautiful .

As I said on my post, I wasn't comparing Panama to the US, just showing similarities. I could of listed many others such as the crminal justice system, cost of health care, number of homeless, people kicked out of their homes due to banks scamming them, interest groups buying the government and country (bribes), etc., etc., etc, but this would take a very long post to write all of this. Just trying to make a point.

Originally Posted by nakedguydb

well wont it be a happy day when the 6 figures job runs out and you can leave this chit hole you hate so much with all its fat , lazy and ugly people . and you can return the perfect world where all the people are slim , motivated , and beautiful .

I plan on retiring soon, so, could you give me a list of places where everybody is slim, motivated and beautiful. I've traveled a lot and never been to any place like this lol.

Originally Posted by John22

I plan on retiring soon, so, could you give me a list of places where everybody is slim, motivated and beautiful. I've traveled a lot and never been to any place like this lol.

in asia u will get at least 2 out of 3

Yes, well, I'd be happy with any option where people look over their shoulder to check if they would be blocking traffic before they slam the brakes. Where people look for a garbage bin when they have something in their hand that they consider useless. Probably I would need to pay quite a bit of tax for living under some government's rule where they have invested resources in teaching the population not to pour their excrements onto themselves?

I remember going to the carnival in Las Tablas - looking at the parade I asked myself - why do they even bother? Most of them can barely put the left foot in front of the right. The whole thing was a joke without even a hint of energy or interest, just like any other workday.

After more than five solid years in Panama I can only say - avoid Panamanians at all costs! The occasional exception I hang onto for dear life.

Originally Posted by nakedguydb

well wont it be a happy day when the 6 figures job runs out and you can leave this chit hole you hate so much with all its fat , lazy and ugly people . and you can return the perfect world where all the people are slim , motivated , and beautiful .

Living in the US illegally appears to be one of the best options from my research. I don't really give a flying fcuk about countries anymore, nor can I subscribe to the tribalism that would come with emotions of attachment. Some have nice flags, but it's really just a piece of paper.

Originally Posted by John22

As I said on my post, I wasn't comparing Panama to the US, just showing similarities. I could of listed many others such as the crminal justice system, cost of health care, number of homeless, people kicked out of their homes due to banks scamming them, interest groups buying the government and country (bribes), etc., etc., etc, but this would take a very long post to write all of this. Just trying to make a point.

Originally Posted by nakedguydb

well it is a good thing there is no Lazy, fat, ugly, slow, stupid space occupiers, where you come from .

nakedguydb,
There is just no end to your silver tongue, Keep strong brother.