I have lived in Panama for 4 years and unfortunately I live in La Chorrera. I'm assured that other parts of Panama are more 'welcoming' to foreign people.
Perhaps a lot of this depends on your appearance, locations etc. There's a lot of people who write about being treated with respect etc by the locals. I'm not one of those lucky people.
I'm young, white, blued eyed and English. When my husband is at work, I walk to town to buy food and take the bus. This is where my nightmare begins.
In my 4 shorts years I've had 4 occasions of men trying to force me into their vehicle. I've had to jump out of the way of a speeding vehicle twice, I've been robbed, I regularly receive physical violence in the form of hair pulling, arm punching, being pushed into traffic, being spat at and even being sexually assaulted and verbally assaulted.
I'm verbally assaulted every time I leave my house. I'm told to get the **** out of Panama, I'm told I'm a bitch, puta, zorra etc and the list goes on.. They have made it perfectly clear that I am not wanted there. I speak Spanish and I'm very polite but this makes no difference.
Living in La Chorrera is my worst nightmare. I can't go anywhere on my own without being attacked by the locals. It's not a group of the same people, it's different people.
The day after Trump was elected, I went to town. Big mistake!! I was thrown into traffic and had a whole lunch thrown over me much to the entire delight of the whole cafe. Not one person helped me get up from the road. Not one.
Tormenting me has become a sport for these people. It makes me very sad to think that people of that kind exist in this world. The kind that take pleasure in attacking a young woman on her own.
All these blogs about how much Panamanians like the foreigners is not true. They have shown nothing but hatred towards me.
I knew other foreigners who lived in a different area. They have now left Panama and they will never return. They were also abused on a daily basis but not as bad as me but maybe that's because they are older? I don't know why.
Please stop writing about how amazing it is here and how wonderful the locals are. Your making people believe that there is not a problem.
Look at the news about foreigners. Read about the poor foreigners in Boquete. Read what the woman write about sexual harassment here. Just research about the others and you see a very different picture.
There is a rise in attacks on foreign nationals and the police are doing nada about it. They don't care.
The attacks on me were witnessed by police and others and no-one ever did a thing about it. The police actually laughed when I was thrown into traffic.
I am forced to live here because of marriage. There are days when I can face getting out go bed because of the horrors that lie ahead.
In four years, the only friends I have made are Mexican, Costa Rican, American, Canadian. I tried so hard to make friends with the Panamanians but they rejected me,
I made them cakes, invited them to BBQs, gave them lifts home, made them bracelets, offered to teach them English etc but nothing.
They hate me. They say that foreigners are arrogant and want to take over Panama. They say we take their jobs and are violent towards them etc.
How can I, one English woman in La Chorrera live with this for the rest of my life? I can't. So now I have to leave my marriage and move back home.
I will never look back at my time here as fond memories. They have been the worst years of my life.
I've lived in 7 countries and experienced some wonderful cultures. What I've experienced here, will haunt me the rest of my life.
Perhaps a lot of this depends on your appearance, locations etc. There's a lot of people who write about being treated with respect etc by the locals. I'm not one of those lucky people.
I'm young, white, blued eyed and English. When my husband is at work, I walk to town to buy food and take the bus. This is where my nightmare begins.
In my 4 shorts years I've had 4 occasions of men trying to force me into their vehicle. I've had to jump out of the way of a speeding vehicle twice, I've been robbed, I regularly receive physical violence in the form of hair pulling, arm punching, being pushed into traffic, being spat at and even being sexually assaulted and verbally assaulted.
I'm verbally assaulted every time I leave my house. I'm told to get the **** out of Panama, I'm told I'm a bitch, puta, zorra etc and the list goes on.. They have made it perfectly clear that I am not wanted there. I speak Spanish and I'm very polite but this makes no difference.
Living in La Chorrera is my worst nightmare. I can't go anywhere on my own without being attacked by the locals. It's not a group of the same people, it's different people.
The day after Trump was elected, I went to town. Big mistake!! I was thrown into traffic and had a whole lunch thrown over me much to the entire delight of the whole cafe. Not one person helped me get up from the road. Not one.
Tormenting me has become a sport for these people. It makes me very sad to think that people of that kind exist in this world. The kind that take pleasure in attacking a young woman on her own.
All these blogs about how much Panamanians like the foreigners is not true. They have shown nothing but hatred towards me.
I knew other foreigners who lived in a different area. They have now left Panama and they will never return. They were also abused on a daily basis but not as bad as me but maybe that's because they are older? I don't know why.
Please stop writing about how amazing it is here and how wonderful the locals are. Your making people believe that there is not a problem.
Look at the news about foreigners. Read about the poor foreigners in Boquete. Read what the woman write about sexual harassment here. Just research about the others and you see a very different picture.
There is a rise in attacks on foreign nationals and the police are doing nada about it. They don't care.
The attacks on me were witnessed by police and others and no-one ever did a thing about it. The police actually laughed when I was thrown into traffic.
I am forced to live here because of marriage. There are days when I can face getting out go bed because of the horrors that lie ahead.
In four years, the only friends I have made are Mexican, Costa Rican, American, Canadian. I tried so hard to make friends with the Panamanians but they rejected me,
I made them cakes, invited them to BBQs, gave them lifts home, made them bracelets, offered to teach them English etc but nothing.
They hate me. They say that foreigners are arrogant and want to take over Panama. They say we take their jobs and are violent towards them etc.
How can I, one English woman in La Chorrera live with this for the rest of my life? I can't. So now I have to leave my marriage and move back home.
I will never look back at my time here as fond memories. They have been the worst years of my life.
I've lived in 7 countries and experienced some wonderful cultures. What I've experienced here, will haunt me the rest of my life.
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