Christmas Decorations in Panama City, Panama

Like any other city in the Western Hemisphere, Panama City is loaded with Christmas decorations.  Everywhere you go, you will find venues elegantly decorated with Christmas themes.  The malls are packed with customers carrying all kinds of packages on their hands.  The cash boxes are full to the hilt while they ring the money symphony business owners love to listen to.  Santa Claus is ubiquitous in his big red chair talking to open-eyed children on his lap.

Christmas carols are played incessantly over large speakers in Spanish and English.  Jingle Bells, White Christmas, Rudolph the Red Nose Reindeer, Arbolito, Noche de Paz are favorites among the Panamanian people.  The little baby on the manger is also present in some malls, but not as much as I would like.  After all, Christ-Mass is about the birth of Jesus Christ and not about a Ho Ho Santa Claus.  But that is the way it is.

Oh, and let us not forget the Christmas tree.  We don’t have evergreens in Panama.  They are imported from the United States and Canada.  We don’t have snow either.  Snow is imported from the States in spray cans.  Snowmen, artificial snow and evergreen trees are all imported from other countries.  I wish we would create our own cultural Christmas season.  For example, we have our very own tropical palm trees, why don’t we use them as Christmas trees?  But that is the way it is.

Below are some examples of Christmas decorations you will find in Panamanian malls; not much different from what you will see in New York, Los Angeles, London or Paris.  Here we go.

Snapshot of a huge Christmas tree in the middle of El Dorado shopping center. It was so tall, it almost reached the roof of the building. Photo by ©Omar Upegui R.

Photo by ©Omar Upegui R.

Photo by ©Omar Upegui R.

Photo by ©Omar Upegui R.

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Hunting For Windows Ads

As a hobby, I like to go out to the city and look for attractive ad displayed on stores’ windows.  It’s amazing what you will find.  Panama is a highly developed commercial hub, and depend on creative marketing to move their huge deposits of merchandise.  The Colon Free Zone is the second largest in the region, moving millions of dollars worth of merchandise from all corners of the world.

If a new product is launched anywhere in the globe, you can be sure, it will be displayed in Panama in a few days.  For example, yesterday I saw the new Apple iPad mini.  I even held it in my hand and played with the screen for while.  The salesperson told me they were selling like hotcakes, albeit the price is pretty steep—$499 plus a seven percent sales tax.  Ouch!

Going back to my subject of today’s blog post, below are two snapshots of attractive ads I found in a recent foray into El Dorado malls about 2 miles from my home.  I thought they were we excellent.  What do you think?

Snapshot of Polo sportswear ad displayed outside a store in Panama City, Panama. I really liked the composition of this ad, including the horse in the middle of the picture. Photo by ©Omar Upegui R.

The movement of the subject captured my attention. This is a very dynamic picture and the black and white colors add to the activity of the subject. Take a look at his floating hair. Photo by ©Omar Upegui R.

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A Family Trip To The Mall

Snapshot of a family visiting El Dorado Shopping Mall during the celebration of the Chinese Lunar New Year. Take notice that the size of the grandmother to the left of the picture, is almost the same size as the mother and its two siblings to the right. Photo by ©Omar Upegui R.

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The Children’s Train

This is not the first time I’ve posted a picture of a children’s train in Lingua Franca, and probably it won’t be the last.  I’m in love with these miniature trains, and when I see one, the child inside of me, comes to the surface.  There are two of them here in Panama.  One is located at El Dorado Mall, and the other operates at MetroMall.  They are exactly the same.  Even the color of the wagons match.

It’s nice to see the faces of satisfaction on the children’s faces when they travel on the train together with their parents.  Below are several pictures of this attractive train at El Dorado Mall.  I love it!

Snapshot of a children's train at El Dorado Mall in Panama City, Panama. Photo by ©Omar Upegui R.

A closer view of the train with a copper bell announcing that the train is coming and avoid unnecessary accidents inside the mall. Photo by ©Omar Upegui R.

Snapshot of one of the wagons of the train. This one happens to be blue. The other day I showed an enticing red caboose. Photo by ©Omar Upegui R.

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Mechanical Tables

Snapshot of an eye-catching café at a mall in Panama City, Panama with an ingenious mechanical theme. There were screws, bolts, gears and other mechanical stuff decorating the XXIst century café. The name of the mall is MetroMall. Photo by ©Omar Upegui R.

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The Real Story of Black Friday

As you probably know, I was born and raised in Panama.  My native language is Spanish, though I’ve been struggling with the language of Shakespeare since I was six.  I’ve been to the United States on several occasions when I worked for Texaco, but never lived in the country.  Therefore, there are hundreds if not thousands of idiomatic phrases which I don’t fully understand, since it only makes sense to a native American.  For example, “you’re pulling my leg”, has nothing to with a  leg being pulled.  I could give you several examples more, but you get my point.

When I first bumped into the term, “Black Friday”, I thought it was related to something bad or sinister,  like a Wall Street crash or the assassination of a Mafia member.  I was absolutely wrong.  It has nothing to do with Wall Street or Al Capone.  Anybody in the States will tell you that Black Friday is the day after Thanksgiving when shoppers swarm the stores and malls looking desperately for bargains. For businesses, the day after Thanksgiving can be the highest sales day of the year and is considered a barometer for planning what to do the rest of the season.

Why is Black Friday called “Black Friday”?  The answer is pretty simple—it’s the day retailers go “into the black,” or turn a profit for the year.   It’s black because revenues exceed expenses.  On the other hand, a “Red Friday” would mean that a business turned a loss for the day, meaning that expenses exceeded revenues.  Probably you’ve heard the expression: “This company is leaking red ink all over the place.”  What the expression really means, is that the company is operating at a loss.   The goal is to operate in the black; the bottom line should show a profit.  That’s the way a capitalist system should normally work.

But it turns out the term has a darker, less happy origin.  In 1966, Black Friday was the name the Philadelphia Police Department gave to the Friday after Thanksgiving.  The police hated the day—massive traffic jams, overcrowded sidewalks, lots of shoplifters—all because downtown Philly stores were filled with shoppers taking advantage of the first holiday sales.

The negative name started to spread outside Philadelphia a few years later.  In a 1975, Associated Press article, datelined Philadelphia, a sales manager at Gimbels was quoted as saying, “That’s why the bus drivers and cab drivers call today ‘Black Friday.’”  At the time, she was watching a traffic cop trying to control a crowd of jaywalkers.  “They think in terms of headaches it gives them,” she said.

It was only later that retailers, and other people who rely on Black Friday to make money, attempted to redefine the term as something positive.  Nowadays, everybody goes bananas during this shopping extravaganza.

And now you know the rest of the story.  Good Day and happy shopping.

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An Enticing Red Restaurant

Snapshot of a small and elegant restaurant at MetroMall in Panama City, Panama. This is my favorite place to buy my stuff; excellent shops, high-quality merchandise, friendly workers, super clean place and perpetual surprises for customers. Oh, good ice cream too. Photo ©Omar Upegui R.

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Difference in Size

Snapshot of one of the "Twisters" Karol, comparing her size with the huge ad above her at a local mall. The dimensions of both subjects are impressive and captured my attention. Photo ©Omar Upegui R.

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The Christmas Season is Here

I’ve noticed that lately, the Christmas Season starts earlier than previous years.  In an effort to boost their sales, local retailers are decorating their venues with all sorts of Christmas attractions.  This colorful paraphernalia is a sure measure to attract customers to the cash registers.

The same phenomenon is happening in the States.  Yesterday I read that back to school sales were strong  and retailers have seen four consecutive months of sales increases, which bodes well heading into the holiday season.

Pundits agree that Holiday sales will increase 2.3 percent which is higher than the 0.4 percent improvement in 2009 and 3.9 percent decline in 2008.  Next Monday which is referred to as “Cyber-Monday” is expected to be huge.  Shop.org coined the phrase “Cyber-Monday” to illustrate the trend of people shopping online the Monday after Thanksgiving, when shoppers coming back from holiday travels or unsuccessful Black Friday trips started to troll websites for season bargains.  Retailers caught on, and Cyber-Monday was born.

We don’t have a Cyber-Monday per se, but we do like to buy like other bargain hunters do in other parts of the world.  December 1st is when our Christmas gets started.  That’s when the Caja de Ahorros returns the annual savings and the shopping  madness begins.

When I went to MetroMall last Monday, the place was already decorated with Christmas themes.  I like Christmas.  It brings the child inside of me.  I guess that happens with everybody; except Mr. Scrooge, mind you.

Below are some of the shots I took while strolling through the mall.  Here we go.

 

Photograph of a huge Christmas tree in the middle of the mall. It was being photographed with cellphones by numerous customers who came to the site. Photo ©Omar Upegui r.

Photograph of a cute little wooden house at the bottom of MetroMall's huge Christmas tree. Photo ©Omar Upegui R.

Photograph of a tall Christmas tree with beautiful red spheres suspended from the celing of the venue. Photo ©Omar Upegui R.

Another view of the Christmas tree and the lovely wooden house at the bottom of the tree. Photo ©Omar Upegui R.

Tried as I did, I couldn’t find the ubiquitous Santa Claus.  Guess he’s busy wrapping up the last  Christmas presents before making the global journey with his beloved reindeers on Christmas Eve.  Good Day.

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The Beauty and the Beast

We normally don’t have grizzly bears in Panama.  A grizzly bear is a powerful brownish-yellow bear of the uplands of western North America.  It isn’t that they disappeared from the isthmus, I don’t think there were ever bears in this part of the world.  This doesn’t mean you can’t find one or two if you look closely.  I found one at the entrance of a shop at a local mall last Sunday.  Of course it wasn’t a real bear, but believe me, it sure looked like a fierce mean bear to me.

This bear is one of the most photographed subjects at the small.  People patiently line up to have their picture taken with the mean-looking-bear.  I was no exception, except I was the guy taking the picture with my ole Birthday camera.  A little girl was brave enough to stand under the bear and pose for the camera.  This is it my friends.

Photograph of a brave little girl and an artificial grizzly bear at a local mall in Panama City, Panama. Photo by ©Omar Upegui R.

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