First Rotary Club meeting

Last Monday, I went to my first Rotary Club meeting in Panama on the 29th floor of the Global Bank building.

What a view! The place was amazing and the spread of food was pretty tasty.

The Rotarians were especially welcoming, and their hospitality was world-class. My host counselor Franz was the first to greet me and introduced me to a number Rotarians, who all seemed to speak better English than me.

I was really surprised with their fluency. Many had studied in the U.S. and had returned to Panama to lead businesses or create their own. One lady started a consultancy business dealing with counterfeiting – big business in Latin America. She told me that many counterfeiters take bills of Venezuelan Bolivares, scrub them clean of any ink and make greenbacks out of them. Supposedly, the Bolivares have the most similar feel and paper weight of any foreign currency. And since a buck will nab you 2,862 Bolivares, scrubbing a few clean won’t set anybody back too much.

I noticed how prevalent counterfeiting is when I tried to use a Fifty in a grocery store (Panama uses U.S. dollars as its national currency). The clerk acted like it was a billion dollar bill and almost didn’t take it.

Most places other than banks won’t take bills in 50 or 100-dollar denomination, and if they do, they’ll make you sign your life away on some register. They take down your passport number and have you sign an agreement promising the bill isn’t a fake.

Anyways, the club was hosting the district governor, whose territory includes Panama, Costa Rica, Guatemala, El Salvador, Nicaragua and Honduras (does anyone still think Tampa and Orlando are big territories?). He delivered a solid, heartfelt speech. But before he did, the club officially welcomed me to Panama. Franz invited me to the podium and sang my praises and then asked me to deliver a few words…in Spanish. It's a good thing I’d been keeping up with my Sabado Gigante. I spoke for a few minutes and presented them with one of my banners from my sponsor club in Clearwater, Club 4262 -Thanks, Sondra!

They were very appreciative and excited to have a Rotary scholar on board for a year. I guess I’m the only scholar that’s been to Panama in a while, and definitely the only one here right now. Rotary- send some more scholars! This place offers a perfect opportunity for any scholar.

The Rotarians have asked me to attend some of their events and partake in the meeting each week. My host counselor and other Rotarians have also promised a home cooked meal soon. I love Latin American hospitality – it's very genuine and sincere.