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A health warning has been issued for people traveling to San Blas. There have been over 42 people in the San Blas islands which have become victims of the Zika virus. Panama had the first confirmed cases of Zika in December.

The only way to contract the virus is to have been bitten by mosquitoes, specifically the mosquitoes of the Aedes species. While the virus itself feels like the flu for most people, women of child bearing age are at a dangerous risk of bearing children with a birth defect called microcephaly (children born with smaller-than-usual heads and less developed brains). This is serious enough that the Center for Disease Control has issued a Level 2 travel warning.

Even though this is a risk for most people simple precautions and actions will prevent mosquitoes from biting you. Wearing long sleeves and pants to cover up is the number one prevention, followed by insect repellent, staying indoors in the evenings and make sure windows have screens. Common sense regarding this should not make you have to change travel plans, but only to be cautious and protect yourself.

The population of Panama is slightly over 3 million. Unemployment here has been steady between 3 to 5 percent. That is the lowest in Latin America. This year Panama is expected to have an increase in jobs by 31, 476 according to recent projections by the Public Employment Commission.

The biggest sector in growth continues to be construction. Therefore it is expected to have the largest increase in job growth of all the 6 highest sectors of employment. The other sectors include trade, logistics, agricultural, tourism and industrial.

These sectors represent 60 percent of the GDP of Panama and 66% of the employment.

These projections for 2016 make it look like a good year for Panama.

It is that time of year again for the Flower Fair in Boquete. This year the fair begins on January 14^th and goes through January 24^th.

Dancers, music and more will liven up the fairgrounds with the addition of the beautiful flower arrangements. This is a great way to start off the new year.

With over 150,000 people expected to attend this year, this is one of the highlights of 2016 for Boquete.

Just cross the bridge going over the river. The fairgrounds are on the left across from the BCP theatre. Don’t forget to being your camera!

The facts are out. Panama is closing out 2015 with an increase in growth by 6%. This far out does any other Latin American country. Compared to the United States with a 1.5% growth for 2015, Panama is booming.

The projected outlook for 2016 for Panama has the growth rate set at 6.2%. Largely some of this will be due to projects involving the expansion of the new bridge crossing the canal, the new Metro line # 2 and the insurgence of money to get Colon revived.

In addition for Chiriqui it is expected that many jobs will be created in the construction industry with plans continuing for the new Federal Mall, work on smaller hospitals in the area and new housing developments.

Remember that Panama is considered the happiest country in the world. With the great expectations for Panama’s New Year, Panamanians should continue to be very happy in 2016.

The holidays are upon us here in Panama. Evidence is just about anywhere you look. Stores are decked out in the holiday colors and playing the Christmas carols we all know and love. Outside, lights are going up on homes and have already been up for a while on the businesses. Everything is decorated.

The first really showing of holiday spirit seems to always be the giant blown up air balloon of Rudolph that tops Arrocha for all to see on the Pan American highway. He initiates the rest of decorating for the season.

The smell of pine and fir trees scent the air at the entrances to the grocery stores where eager families buy them up, tie them to the top of their cars and whisk them away home. Some of those cars also are adorned with the reindeer antlers or big wreaths tied to the front grills of the cars.

Many aisles in the grocery stores have been restocked with holiday goodies with cookies, candy and other holiday sweets and treats. Hams and turkeys fill the frozen food aisle, while stuffing, pumpkins and lots of imported fruits are dotted here and there throughout the stores.

The display of Rum Ponche can’t be missed in any grocery as this is the time to stock up on the famous “egg nog” of the season.

Everyone here is in high spirits and just like everywhere else in the world; kids are eyeing all the new toy displays.

All in all, it looks like it is shaping up to be a nice Christmas and holiday season here in Panama.

It is not for sure, but Panama is considering developing a light rail system train to run between La Chorrera and David. La Chorrera is located across the canal from Panama City. Even though the train would not run into Panama City it will connect with the metro system in Panama City to provide transportation to the city center.

The project would be built in three stages from La Chorrera to Penonome and then to Santiago, with the remaining stage to David.

President Varela said he is committed to improving public transportation and wants to connect all parts of the country by 2030. This project would be well on the way to do just that.

Panama continues to attract tourists.  Seeing the potential for more booked flights the airlines are taking notice. Air Transat a major airline in Canada has announced that is it going to start delivering passengers from Canada to Rio Hato. Air Transat is following on the heels of the Canadian airline Sunwing which began flights into Rio Hato in 2014. Since that time, Rio Hato says that over 28,000 tourists have come from Canada.

Copa not to be beat has raised the number to twelve for direct flights to the United States and two to Canada. Copa now reaches across America. With the latest direct flights to and from San Fransisco the Pacific Northwest now has access to Panama. Copa has big plans. In April Copa and Boeing signed a $6.6 billion agreement for the purchase of 61 additional planes.

Set on the road to expansion, Tocumen International Airport  in Panama City is adding another terminal but even as it is being constructed, the future demand and need will make it probable that Tocumen will need to build a third terminal. When the second terminal is done, Tocumen will have 68 arrival and departure gates. Estimates of the number of people who will transit through the airport in 2020 will have reached over 20 million people a year.

Recently during the World UN summit in New York, President Juan Carlos Varela and SkyPower announced that SkyPower intends to build 500 MW utility scale solar energy systems over the next 5 years.

This hopefully will take some of the demand off the hydroelectric plants that currently provide for more than 70% of the power used by Panama. With the decrease of water in the canal due to El Nino, finding other options or additional options that don’t rely on high levels of water is a necessity.

In addition SkyPower will be providing Panama with over 10,000 new jobs and SkyPower is also constructing a 50 million dollar solar and environmental research center in Panama.

The bigger picture that SkyPower sees is the ability to have Panama become a major player in the new development of  solar technologies for all of Central America.