Closing The Year With a Sweet Taste of Ice Cream

I’m writing this post blog at exactly 04:13 a.m.  It’s very early in the morning and it will be a long, hot, humid,  and noisy day.  It’s the last day of 2011, a year that will be remembered for the nearly collapse of the Euro and the perils of losing the European Union as an economic entity.   Spain and Greece are still having a hard time putting their house in order.

In Panama it has been an awesome year.  Our GDP grew 10.5 percent—the largest in Latin America.  Our employment rate was reduced to 4.5 percent which is full employment, and the inflation rate was contained at around 6 percent.  Not a bad batting average for such a small nation.  The Panama Canal expansion is moving along at full speed ahead, and so is the Metro or subway.  Both mega projects are expected to be completed by 2014—the end of President Ricardo Martinelli’s administration.

Panama City is rapidly modernizing, with a towering skyline and sprawling shopping malls that promoters hope will put it on the map of another Singapore.

The Panamanian monthly minimum wage was also improved in 2011.  It’s now within a range of $432.00 and $490.00; one of the highest in Central America.  Currently the monthly minimum wage varies between $376 and $416.  Better salaries mean that more dollars will pour into the economic system.  Our main concern will be to contain the inflation rate which usually activates when the money supply increases considerably in an economic system.  More dollars are assigned to the same amount of physical good and/or services.

During the year, my wife and I have had good and bad moments.  My attitude is to forget the bad days and to remember and savor the good ones.  I will surely remember my sojourns to the city to take pictures, spending time with “The Twisters”, and researching topics to include in my blog.

Yep, I will try to erase the bitter taste of the bad experiences of the year and remember the sweet taste of the good times that 2011 gave me.  I will remember them like the delicious sweet taste of an ice cream cone.

Happy New Year to all Lingua Franca’s readers wherever you are.  Thank you for coming to the site to read or view our daily posts.  I can’t express my feelings of accomplishment for keeping this blog for almost five years now, writing every day about something.  Your comments and your page views keeps me going.  I look forward to a healthy, prosperous, and creative year 2012.

Below is a picture of a delicious ice cream cone, in case you like this kind of sweet treats.  Enjoy this last day of the year and may the next one brings more enjoyable and sweet experiences.

Snapshot of an ice cream parlor at El Dorado Mall in Panama City, Panama. As you can see, the price of this ice cream cone is $1.25 apiece. Ouch! Photo by ©Omar Upegui R.

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