Doug and Mary live in a leafy suburb of Panama City, called Clayton. It’s located right beside the canal and was formerly know as Fort Clayton, home of the US military Southern Command. The USA had bases in Panama and operated the “Canal Zone” until 1999 when the canal was returned to Panama under an agreement signed by Jimmy Carter.
Clayton is now home to the “ciudad del saber” or city of knowledge, where former military space and infrastructure now houses and supports agencies and companies involved in education, research, technological development and innovation. So there are private companies, NGOs and schools here, and the thinking is that having them all here together will promote cooperation and development. It feels like a very nice place to work and live, away from the crowds and traffic of downtown Panama City. It also feels removed from Latin America.
Doug and Mary live in the second and third floor of a side-by-side. It is shaded and open and they have removed the glass from their windows to let the air flow through.
They have a few chickens in their backyard and there are large rabbit-like animals living wild. Here’s some photos from the the yard.
The other thing about Clayton is that there’s a lot of construction going on. So while it’s a green and leafy jungle, in the afternoon it sounds like this:
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