The disclaimer: I do not have a Phd in Anthropology or Sociology, this strictly my anecdotal observation based upon living in Boquete Panama and traveling to other locations. Feel free to disagree or agree based upon your own knowledge.
Boquete Panama is a little pond, a district of maybe 15,000 people. In my absolutely unscientific guess there are about 1000 ex- patriot families living here, at least part of each year. Boquete had and might still have a zero unemployment rate due to the impact of these families. Many, not all of the people who have migrated here since International Living proclaimed Boquete a best place to retire have built homes. Homes so different to the previous local houses that it has taken some time for local builders to learn how to construct them. Boquete has long been a
venue for Panamas residents to retreat for holidays, it still is, but the impact of “gringos” is very evident here.
That impact of these new immigrants is the Ripple Effect. One thousand new people entering a small community bringing new expectations, a different culture is a big stone thrown into a little pond, that causes big ripples. The effect in Boquete has been dramatic. New construction, more jobs, more banks per capita than any other town in Panama and a cultural transition. Traditional Boquete culture which has always been open to immigrants overlapping with an English speaking culture. The separation is more than language, it is also culture.
Culture in Panama is family centric, families live together in a traditional multigenerational lifestyle. They share housing, share meals, share life. There is a strong family support group on a daily basis. Much of the imported culture is of people moving here without families and when multigenerational families do relocate here is into separate homes. Many of the poorest of the people living in this area own their own homes, often built by them on land that is owned by the government but occupied by the family, Right of Possession land. New immigrants buy land (ROP), titled land, the government is trying to force all ROP land to be titled. now. The impact of that has been to make some poor but land rich families, wealthy. New wealth for those who have sold land obtained at little to no cost for huge profits.
Businesses in Boquete have profited also. Just the increase in population would help, the increase in population with increased discretionary income, helped even more. Part of the immigrating group consists of what for lack of a better word I call carpet baggers. These English speaking opportunists take advantage of new immigrants and they have fathered a new game, gringo bingo. Through practices like net real estate sales and other rip offs local opportunists have also learned the new immigrants are often easy pickings.
Taxi drivers figured it out early, a $.50 fare became a $1, then at the municipal market a pound of tomatoes doubled in price if you could not speak Spanish, then it just increased for everyone. Real estate prices increased enough to price a local person out of the market. If they sell their land they need to move from Boquete.
The Anglophones have created community theater, scores of charities some needed, some a refection of what they see as needed from their cultural lens. Many felt wages were too low, so out of the goodness of their hearts increased the wage of a maid or gardener out of the reach of local people. Some maids earn more than college educated bank managers, who can no longer afford a maid to watch their children when they work. The entire economy has become distorted.
The Ripple effect is the unintended consequence of interference in a local economy and social structure by new members of the community. Whether intentionally or not the results are the same the community is altered, often for the worse. The smaller the pond, the more rapid the change.
Boquete is a great community. I love it here, I love the people here and if you are an English speaker considering immigration to the highlands of Panama I recommend it above all other places. Boquete is being terraformed into something different, something you will enjoy.
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