El Cangrejo: a quick visit

For a quick glimpse of a Fulbright experience that has some big differences from my own, here's a peek at a lovely dinner I had about a week ago.  M, a Fulbrighter who arrived in December, moved with her daughter into a two-bedroom apartment in the heart of Panama City, in a popular neighborhood called "El Cangrejo" ("the Crab").  

She doesn't walk past crocodiles, ñeques, coatis, parakeets, etc like I do, but she has much more immediate access to people-related things: a nearby park with active playdates for her daughter and Zumba classes for neighbors, stores and restaurants galore literally around the corner, a short walk to pedestrian- and bike-friendly areas like the Cinta Costera, a metro station just down the street.  

One view from the balcony.  It's the city!

Kind of ironically, even though I chose my AirBnB partly for its walkability, M is getting LOTS more walking and general exercise in her life than she did in the U.S., which is the exact opposite for me.  The tall buildings provide more shade than the intermittent trees do, so she says it's not quite as intense walking there as in other places; I on the other hand know that any small mid-day walk will leave me coated in such sweat that my arms will stick to the table and any paper nearby.  She is the main shopper, while I have my husband to run errands.  But even more, she has the main exercise ingredient I've been missing: community.  Dang, I miss my running buddies so much!  But maybe if I'd chosen an AirBnB downtown, I would have found local substitutes, is what I've learned from this dinner we shared.  

In short, she's moved into a place that has much of what's making me miss my own home in my small city back in Pennsylvania. 

Another view of the city from the pool balcony.
(Oh, did I mention that M's building has a pool?)

She deliberately looked for an apartment with two bedrooms, because of being her with her daughter.  That's twice as many bedrooms as we have; she also has twice as many bathrooms.  Also, she is paying twice as much for housing.  Panama can be an affordable place to live, but that doesn't mean it's always affordable; her place is pricey -- but it's worth it to her.  The location is perfect for getting to the university and to her daughter's school, and the building itself has some lovely perks: views of the city, great air conditioning and internet, a little play ground area, and the pool that they use daily. 

I'd preceded M to Panama, and so in the past I'd offered her lots of advice on navigating the immigration process when she ran into snags that had already snagged and released me. But it's nice to be at the point where I get to learn new things from her. She's thriving here, and sees Panama as a possible future haven if (when?) things get really bad in the U.S.  

We had dinner together near the pool, and even went for a dip in the pool with her daughter afterward. It was a lovely, lovely way to wrap up the part of our Panama stay that overlapped with one another.