Expat Community > Panama

802mark
Joined 2007
Posts: 1109

LOCALS AND YOU.

12 years ago

I pause before I write this because it is hard to get the point across without sounding like a person who thinks they are better then another. I have read many post here and other places from expats who don't want to come here and be in a expat type place. They wish to mix with the locals and to learn their ways, many say we are trying to get away from gringos not just move from the u.s. to panama and be in the middle of them.

you are and always will be a gringo to them. gringo means rich, and a person they sometimes will try to charge twice for items. When my wife asked why the price for her was three times as much then for the lady in front of her, the man told her your rich you can afford to pay more.

I find this does happen a lot here. I once saw a ad for a hike, just a hike, it stated locals 10.00, tourist 20.00. why the extra 10.00? because you can afford it.

what I found out living here was at first no one wanted to even speak to us, my wife and I stood outside on the sideway to say hello to people as they went by, very few even looked up at us, some did say hello back. To them I guess we were just another tourist coming to invade their town for a few days before moving on.

This all changed when we hired a local lady to clean our home, she took my wife around town and before the week was out, people were waving at me and yelling my name and I had no clue to who they were, after 6 years here that still happens and I just wave back not knowing who this person even is.

everyone wanted to be our friend. coming from a back ground of having more then the avg kid growing up I knew all about people wanting to be my friend for the perks that they could get. I warned my wife of this, which she could not see. My wife came from nothing, she knew what it meant to have hunger, to do without basic needs. Things that I had no clue of growing up.

I tried to be helpful to people, it started out small, I gave our yardman a raise and a couch I didn't want. I also bought some plants from an old woman just to help her out. next thing I knew there were people asking my wife for a meeting with me, and everyday people were just showing up at my home wanting to ask for this and that. All I had to turn away.

yes I still do give and try to help others but it's people I pick not pick me.

You have very little in common with these people, even thou you might try to it's just to hard sometimes. I have few very friends here but even less locals.

They are very hard workers and they live on very little. Even the ones that work for me have never stolen a thing from me, even thou it would be very easy to take a tool out of my shop they do not. even thou they might need the money for something very important.

This week school starts back, we were given a list of all the supplies my daughter starting K. would need. it came up to 125.00 total. while shopping for these things I saw the cheap end of it and then the way over the top on some of these items.

I grabbed the way over the top end of these things and stopped myself from buying them, I do want the very best for my daughters but I knew the other kids wouldn't be able to have those things so I put them back and we bought just the cheap stuff everyone else would buy.

They already know she is my daughter and from a rich family, so I can't rub that in, I have been trying to get them to look at her as one of them so she won't have problems. This didn't work her first year in school, she had very little friends. she was born here just like them but with blonde hair and blue eyes and having a gringo daddy that picks her up everyday in a car she was kinda pushed aside.

at three years old I had the two boy's across the street come over for snacks and to play ball and ride the toy's. she had a great day with them, but their mother told us they could not play with her anymore, when asked why she stated it was just not right. we are gringo and they are hired help.

so you can see that even kids here think that it's not right to cross a line that has been made up. even thou I try to erase it, they will not.

so when you think you want to be in the middle of no where living among them and trying to be a good friend they will only let you in so much, and many times it's only because they want something in return.

now that's not always the case and yes you will find good life long real friends down here.

once I had a meeting to be at in panama city, I had a flat, and found that my jack wouldn't get the truck up high enough to pull the tire, two men in a large truck passing by stopped and saw the problem, pulled their jack and changed the tire while I stood there and watched. I tried to pay them, they refused and I had to force them to take a 20.00.

It's like the men here, they hunt for the older american lady because they know they can live with her high on the hog and not have to work, same for the ladies here hunting the gringo male. Hard to trust what your being told.

William Russell

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William Russell

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William Russell

Get a quote for international health insurance from our partner, William Russell.
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Expat Community > Panama

LOCALS AND YOU.

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