Jorge Arango

Update 2010-08-16: Deutsche Grammophon changed their online store infrastructure earlier this year. As part of the change, they limited the amount of countries they are selling to online. I am once again unable to purchase DG music from Panama. I wrote to the email address provided in their website inquiring about the situation, and their response was that they had made the change “for security reasons”. I have no idea what this means. So much for giving credit where credit is due.

File this one in the “giving credit where it’s due” dept… A few weeks ago I complained about the brain-dead policy of media companies that limit their online sales of digital media to a few “first world” countries (the US, UK, etc.) Now a major label—Deutsche Grammophon—has opened up its online store to 195 countries, including Panama. Last week I purchased a recording of two Bach cantatas, and while the site’s usability leaves a lot to be desired, I’m a very happy camper.

DG is owned by an even larger label (Universal), so there is hope for the broader industry still. (I suspect that the fact that DG focuses on classical music makes them less jittery about expanding the scope of their market; classical is less likely to be passed around than pop or rock, and probably less susceptible to long tail effects. An experiment, perhaps?)

Quality classical recordings are almost impossible to come by in Panama, and this has been an endless source of frustration to me since I moved back here in 2003. I plan to spend a lot of money in the DG store over the next few years.

Continue Reading

It’s sad that I’m excited about this, especially since it’s so far behind the US and other countries, but Google Maps is finally showing a street-level map view of my hometown. Yay!

(Doesn’t seem to have driving directions yet, though.)

Technorati Tags: panama

Continue Reading

Plaza Paitilla was one of the first enclosed shopping malls in Panama City. (It opened in the early / mid 80’s.) The mall concept never took off, and the place has always been half-empty. In recent years, some of the stores have been occupied by professional services firms such as lawyers, associations, etc.

Whoever owns the place has allowed it to decay to the point where it is derelict. Check out the escalators… neither side works, and the right side is totally destroyed. Was this caused by a horrific accident? A disgruntled maintenance crew? Who knows… I find it mildly amusing (and disturbing) that wimpy potted plants have been placed on either end, as if attempting to keep people from losing life or limb on this deathtrap while keeping the place "pretty".

-more->

Here’s a closer look at the sorry condition of the escalators, which stand in the middle of a three-story atrium. Because of the crappy Treo camera, you can’t appreciate the horrid, rusty state of the left escalator. Going up this thing is scary!

This used to be the mall’s food court; the restaurants have long been closed. (Un)fortunately the photograph doesn’t convey the overwhelming stench of frying-fat that still permeates this place. I didn’t take pictures of the bathrooms because I didn’t want to spend any more time in them than was absolutely necessary. Suffice it to say that they are not fit for decent human use.

It’s worth noting that this place is in the middle of one of the busiest, most thriving areas of Panama City, a short walk away from the two newest (and most luxurious) malls in the city. The Panamanian government is spending a lot of money to market the country as a “world-class” tourist destination. And yet it allows places like this to remain open, and in one of the main tourist areas to boot!

Plaza Paitilla is dangerous. There are people working in this place. Why haven’t the owners taken steps to either fix up or close this place? (Can you tell that lawsuits are not a very effective deterrent in Panama?)

Technorati Tags: panama

Continue Reading

Yesterday was the groundbreaking ceremony for the Panama Canal expansion: $5.25 billion dollars are about to be pumped into our economy. This prompts Time magazine to ask: Is Panama the America’s Hong Kong?

One thing is certain: Panama is changing radically. If you haven’t visited us in the past five years, you’ll probably be surprised the next time you come.

Continue Reading

I’m very proud of my country tonight. Once again, we have proven capable of taking a major national decision via democratic vote, peacefully and in a very organized manner.

I’ve always thought the phrase “Panama Canal” is a bit of a misnomer. It was US capital, know-how, engineering, equipment, and leadership that built the Canal. (Perhaps a more fitting name would be “The US Canal through Panama”.) As a matter of fact, Panama owes its independence to the fact that Colombia (of which Panama was a province) was hesitant to allow the Americans to build the Canal.

However, the generation of Panamanians that preceded my own fought to have the US turn over the Canal to Panama, and in 1977 the Torrijos-Carter treaties set in motion the transference of the Canal to Panamanian control. The official transference happened on December 31, 1999, at which time Panama took over control and operation of the waterway.

The Canal expansion project will bring many benefits—primarily social and economic—to Panama. However, perhaps the most important benefit is that this project will give us the opportunity to mature as a country. The expansion is a huge undertaking, and its effect will have an important impact on world trade. A large spotlight will be shone over the next few years on Panama; we can now prove to the world that we are capable of such an undertaking in an organized, transparent (a concern, given our government’s track record at undertaking large-scale, cash-rich projects such as this one) and efficient manner.

And, done correctly, the project will give us the opportunity to make this truly Panama’s Canal: cared for and improved by a Panamanian administration.

<!-- technorati tags start -->
<p>Technorati Tags: <a href="http://www.technorati.com/tag/panama" rel="tag">panama</a>, <a href="http://www.technorati.com/tag/panamacanal" rel="tag">panamacanal</a>, <a href="http://www.technorati.com/tag/referendum" rel="tag">referendum</a></p>
<!-- technorati tags end -->

Continue Reading