The handover of the canal will culminate a very eventful year, one marked by Panama's second democratic election since the fall of the Noriega dictatorship and by the transition to a new government. Panama City, with more than 1 million people, is an easy place to live. The American presence is strong, visible and, despite the military's continuing departure, growing. American visitors, airlines, hotels, banks, restaurants, retail chains, cars, computers, cell phones, consumer goods, TV shows and first-run movies are omnipresent. Panamanians are pro-American and proud of the many Panamanians playing U.S. major league baseball.
Local baseball is superb, too, and there seem to be as many teams as there are banks.
The biggest difference between Panama and Miami is that more English is spoken in Panama. During evenings, people go for a walk along the bay, and almost everything shuts down on Sundays. Right in the city, there's a spectacular glimpse of what the canal diggers confronted early in the century. Metropolitan Park, a large expanse of preserved, dense rain forest, boasts safe walking trails and a huge variety of plant and animal life, including the tropical sloth. Embassy staff take advantage of the many opportunities to transit the canal by boat, visit the canal museum or just take the kids out to watch the canal locks raise and lower ships.