Today was a jam packed pay going from coast to coast - Literally. Our day started off bright and early witha logn bus ride up to the Atlantic coast to the city of Colon. The city of Colon looked much different than Panama City (where we are staying) and was apparently more dangerous, even for Panamanians. In Colon, our first stop was the Free Trade Zone. We got to go in the VIP entrance! Or maybe we just got lost. Not quite sure. At the Colon Free Trade Zone, we first met with the President of the Users Association of the Colon Free Trade Zone. This was a great opportunity to hear how the Free Trade Zone works, and learn how companies utilize this area to distribute not only in Panama but throughout Latin America. After our meeting, we had the chance to explore the Free Trade Zone. Since, this area is mainly for wholesale we weren`'t able to go shopping as one might think one would do in a duty free area. We did get the chance to explore some fabric stores which as textile kids we were all super excited about! Unfortunately, I don´t think any of us could fit a bolt (the minimum purchase) in our luggage.
Lunch was at the Country Club in Colon. All the tables were decorated in ornate white fabric. We wondered who was getting married.
After the wedding, we had a chance to tour a distributor for Catterpillar (CAT). I´m sure my father would have been quite jealous of the massive cranes, tractors, etc. that I was getting to see. After the brief CAT tour, our next stop was Motta International! This was a really interesting stop, that I was not expecting. Motta serves a middleman for many international brands such as Sony, Nintendo, Ray Bans, Longchamp, Swaroski, and high end wine and liquor. Motta sets up showroom for the Latin American retailers, and then also has their own retail stores in Latin American airports. This was really cool to see set up - and we got a discont card!
Probably the best part of the day was our dinner activities. Dinner was an authentic, traditional Panamian cuisine with live entertainment! To me, there is nothing better than a show while I´m eating my food. The dancers all wore traditional Panamian garb. The entire ensemble called the Pollera apparently costs around $4,000, and is entirely handmade and extremely detailed craftsmanship. The entire show was so much fun - and Will even got called up to dance on stage!
Tomorrow brings lots of company visits - should be exciting!
Emily-Rose
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