Not all blooms in Boquette

BOQUETTE. Saludos from the 51st state.

We may be just 500 or so "Gringo" families living here, but we sure have had a big impact Just look at our houses and our 4-wheel drives, and the English signs everywhere – which calls for a joke?

Did you know that someone who speaks three languages is trilingual, someone who speaks two is bilingual and someone who speaks just one is known as an American?

Which is why many Boqueteños are amazed when some of us actually speak Spanish.

But perhaps our greatest Gringo impact of all has been on the local economy.

We all know how we pushed up the cost of labor and land. We were all too ready to hand over our borrowed dollars to get our own cut of paradise.

And we’re only too well aware how bitter some Boqueteños are that their children will probably never afford to buy back the finca they so willingly sold to us.

But our adopted town can no longer be described as a get-rich-quick scheme and the speculators have long since flown the nest.

Those of us diehards left behind are quite definitely suffering. Our businesses are folding and meals in many Boquete restaurants are now a rare treat. $30 for lunch is perhaps not much by Panama City standards but it is to those of us trying to eke out our dwindling 401ks (not to mention your average Boqueteño).

And how many of us can still afford to grocery shop here instead of making the long hike down to David just to save a few cents?

But maybe we should be grateful for the divine justice that has proscribed that we suffer most from the global recession.

It’s closing the gap between the locals and us.

We’re starting to mingle more in the menu del día restaurants.

We’re starting to cheer (in Spanish) alongside our Panamanian neighbors when Mr Martinelli cuts 10 percent off electricity and promises to reduce the cost of food.

For those of us who came to Panama because we loved it and didn't want to improve what we found, and for those of us who never thought of Boquete as merely a business opportunity begging to be exploited, the deflating of the economic bubble can be only a good thing.

We’ll probably never be accepted because Boquete is like any other small country town a bit off the beaten track.

And we’ll always look different and sound a bit strange (our oh-so-terrible accents.)

We’ll probably never be accepted because Boquete is like any other small country town a bit off the beaten track.

And we’ll always look different and sound a bit strange (our oh-so-terrible accents.)

This weekend let’s raise our glasses in memory of Jose de Obaldia Orejuela, born July 19 1806, who created Chiriquí province in 1849.

A man after our own hearts, he is known for eliminating colonial taxes and monopolies and for pushing for individual and socio-economic freedom.

How little times have changed!