2020, A Year in Review . . . RESILIENCE

Last Updated on August 17, 2025 by Retire in Panama

2020 is almost over, YEA!!! It was a crazy one, and we wanted to let you know a bit about ours.

Well the year started out just like any other, and I started filling in my recently purchased 2020 Planner, who knew that would become a wasted purchase. Our year was packed with group tours, private tours, some additional travel planned, life was good, and business was good. In January we had a great group of 10 people join us for a cross country trip of Panama, learning everything they needed to know about moving here, then again in February, another group took the journey with us. We also had 2 very nice couples, in each of these months, join us on one of our exclusive private tours.

March started out with another private tour, then Oscar and Megan took a planned trip to Medellin Colombia, while I stayed home and watched the dogs :) In March we started hearing about this virus thing, named after a beer of all things, but really we did not give it much thought, as we had a huge year planned out, everything was written down in the planner I bought, nothing was going to change. . . or was it?

Well it’s March 22nd, this Corona thing is all over the news, and the President of Panama appears on the news stating the country was closing in 24 hours. That can’t be good, Oscar and Megan are in Colombia. . .

. . . and we have a tour starting in 10 days. This was NOT in the PLANNER!

Oscar and Megan took the next flight home, and we sat down the next day and made a plan. Businesses always have contingency plans, someone on the team gets sick, one of the vehicles breaks down, a guest has an accident, sure, those things happen, but a Global Pandemic, we had our work cut out for us.

Our April tour, in just 10 days, had to be canceled, the airport was closed, and all the expenses of the tour had already been paid, which is how a business like ours works. Negotiate the best rates with hotels, airlines, restaurants, and offer early payment to get even a better rate, so we can offer the best product in our industry at the best price. We spoke individually to each of our April guests, who still wanted to see Panama, and moved them to a future tour of their choice. This would only last a month or two, so this would not be that bad. Right!

Quarantine in Panama

The next four months were really tough in Panama, with the country instilling a national lock down, one of the strictest in the world, with people only allowed to leave their homes for 2 hours at a time, 3 times a week, for essential shopping. Well we had to make due, so Oscar and Megan decided to entertain us with their Quarantine YouTube videos.

The Day Oscar Discovered TikTok . . . What Could Go Wrong?

Quarantining with Oscar, poor Megan

This was tougher on Oscar than me, as Oscar is a total extrovert, and thrives on being with people, and me, a total introvert, it wasn’t that bad for me. It was a bit quiet in the house as I live alone, I did find myself having full conversations with Alexa. But what we really wanted to do was show people Panama, so that was the hardest.

Most of us have been under some of the worst storm clouds in our lives, some more than others. There are some of us that know someone who COVID-19 has taken, there are some of us who lost jobs, or income from their businesses, or this has happened to family members, and we can relate. And, the majority of us were confined to our houses in a way that is just not good for anyone’s mental health. So we literally learned to Dance in the Rain.

Life is not about waiting for the storm clouds to pass , it’s about learning to dance in the rain.

 

Was Panama’s total lock down the right thing to do, probably not, but countries had no idea what to do, they also did not have good contingency plans to fight a Pandemic. So, August comes around, 4 long months later, and the economy is sinking, the pandemic is still here, so they roll out a plan to re-open the economy, putting in measures to safeguard people from the virus, and the countdown to October 12th full reopening was on.

We put together a plan to re-start our tours, in smaller groups with safety measures in place to protect our guests. During our entire lock down our emails and phones never stopped, in fact, demand for coming to Panama doubled, and we had a total of 7 tours that we had to cancel, and get people rebooked, so we needed a plan to get everyone here.

Our October, November and December tours were a total success, we kept it to maximum, 7 people per 15 passenger van, everyone wore masks, we social distanced, took everyone’s temperature each morning, and hand sanitized all day long.

If there is one word I can use to describe 2020, from our point of view, that word will be Oscar’s favorite word, RESILIENCE. He likes the word so much, as he lives by that word, he had it tattooed on himself in the middle of the entire crisis.

 

 

Our company’s ability to accept the situation and spring back from this difficult time, shows our resilience, and Oscar’s leadership in the company made that happen.

2021 is Coming – Is This Thing Over Yet?

Not over, but we do see the light. With vaccinations on the horizon, and science and healthcare learning better ways to deal with the virus, we now have hope, and those of you wanting to come to Panama to see if it is the home you are looking for, 2021 could be your year.

Although this article touches on a lot of humor, Oscar, Megan and myself want to express our sincere seriousness and respect for this virus. Our thoughts and prayers are with those of you that have had it tough in 2020. Some of you may have been sick with the virus, or a loved one sick, or even lost someone to it. Many of you may have suffered financially, and will take some time to get back on your feet.

We want to also praise the health care workers all over the world, and in Panama both the health care workers and the people of MINSA who have worked so tirelessly hard to help keep us safe, our gratitude goes out to you.

Do we agree with everything that the government has done here, certainly not, but at least in Panama we felt that the government cares about its citizens, and is trying to do its best with the information it has and understands.

To each of our guests that came with us in 2020, and all the new people from this year and previous years that moved here recently, we want to thank you for trusting us, and letting us be part of that decision to move to Panama.

As 2020 draws to a close tonight, this will be the first New Years in a while that I will actually stay up till midnight, and this year I want to see 2020 leave, even more than bringing in 2021.

So tomorrow morning, I will once again, optimistically, pull out the new 2021 Planner, and start filling in the year. And a good year it will be.

From Oscar, Megan and Rod, we wish you a Happy, Healthy, Joyful, and Prosperous New Year