Rob-Rivera.com

Posts Tagged ‘Articles’

Panama and Immigration

With more than a million foreigners coming to Panama in 2008 and a trend that indicates we’re far from seeing the peak of visitor influx, you’d think that Panama’s immigration office would be up to the task to receive and process every single foreigner in the country. After having recently visited the main office I’m happy to report that the old addendum about government entities continues to jam its rusty blade into the annals of our society: the Panamanian Immigration Office is a clusterfuck quagmire of fairy tale insanity, the sort of unique mess that is not fantastical in its matter-of-factness but it boggles my feeble mind nonetheless.

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Enrique Jaramillo Levi and the Future of Writers in Panama

In December of 2007, an article by legendary Panamanian author Enrique Jaramillo Levi graced the Opinion section of La Prensa, Panama’s highest-circulated newspaper. The short essay, titled “Escritores Ante Nuevos Retos” or “Writers Facing New Challenges” was placed on my desk after a long day on the streets, being charming and trying to earn my [...]

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Bajo Tierra – “Los Killer Monkeys”

Colombian band Bajo Tierra has apparently been rocking all the bitches in the biker shots since 1988 and all I can think is “where in the world was I?” This punk rock fusion band is right up my alley, as evidences by their first single off their 4th album in 20 years, named Los Dias [...]

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Rock Cafe and the Tacos of Calle Uruguay

Oftentimes I find myself in the unenviable position that forces me to make a choice in regards to post-drinking eatables, and since I’m not one to be rolling in excess the options before me can be somewhat limiting at, say, 2AM. I recently found myself in that particular crossroads: I was at one of my [...]

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A Modest Theory on the Future of Commerce in Panama

Let me begin by saying that I am not an economist and the rabbit hole goes much deeper than I’ve managed to crawl myself into regarding the following, and this thesis is open for discussion in and out of my chunk of the internet. Having said that, I was having lunch writing down facts to [...]

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The Panama Gamers League

As videogames continue their climb to become respected forms of art and entertainment, Panama doesn’t fall behind. I jumped in the video game bandwagon during its second generation (as of 2007, we’re on the 7th cycle) I can’t deny that stem of my roots even if I wanted to. More than two decades later, we’ve [...]

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The Panama Flag League

Since both Porto Diao and myself peruse Facebook daily for both pertinent and extracurricular activities, I get a lot of invites to events of all shapes, sizes and topics. As great a tool as the social networking site is, sometimes it can become quite overwhelming and douched in its own particular brand of bullshit that, [...]

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Panama, El Dorado and the Dorado Drivethru Market

The Dorado Shopping Mall (known in Spanish at Supercentro El Dorado) was the first of its kind in the country when it first opened in the late 70’s. From what my elders have told me, the whole Dorado district was a first for the country; constructed around the first avenue that would connect the entire [...]

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Panamanians and Hobos

In case you didn’t know, I like movies. I like the storytelling medium of moving pictures and, as an avid fan of tales on celluloid, I make it a habit to buy off-the-beaten-track titles I read about on the movie websites I frequently visit, and every so often I’ll make going to the video rental [...]

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A Guide to Recognizing Your Call Girls in Panama

You’re a tourist in a foreign country, have a couple hundred bucks in your pocket and you’re feeling lonely. What do you do? One of the benefits tourism services don’t tell you when planning your trip to Panama is that underneath the glossy sheen of blooming commerce, beautiful beaches and outstanding vacationing experiences lies a [...]

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Panama and Delusional Culture

I’ve been called a megalomaniac before. A “pathological egotist.” I wonder why that is, but then again, if I didn’t have to wonder then it wouldn’t make me much of a megalomaniac because they have delusions of grandeur. Keyword here being “delusion.” People who are delusional usually don’t know it because they’re so into their [...]

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Bathroom Etiquette

There are certain things in a society that, no matter in what part of the world you are, will always be considered universal. Certain concepts like courtesy, contempt, class and other words that start with “c” are inherent to every individual; that is why most of us can watch videos on YouTube of crazy Japanese [...]

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Porto Diao: Changing the Ways of Panamanian Culture

Porto Diao continues to expand. Who would’ve thunk that a year ago the Little Portal That Could was nothing more than me playing around with a server, figuring out what to do with it? Now we have a gazillion things going on, and I’d like to take the time to showcase them because, modesty aside, [...]

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Extreme Planet

Extreme Planet helped me appreciate movies and grow up as a cinema fan, but like everything you grow out of there comes a moment where you are forced to move on, because as much as you’ve matured and demand a better movie-going experience, this place has stayed true to its beginnings established when I first [...]

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The Fantastic Four: Rise of the Silver Surfer

Since writing is cathartic, I’m going to sound off on the Fantastic Four movie sequel. I saw “Fantastic Four: Rise of the Silver Surfer” the other night and now the mere thought of it makes me angry like you have no idea. I know I shouldn’t feel that way considering that the first Fantastic Four [...]

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