About Us

Evan grew up in the stereotypical American suburb outside of Seattle.  Mid-way through his sophomore year in university, Jesse Choquette encouraged Evan to join him in South East Asia.  3 continents and 5 oceans later, including Thailand, India, and Greece, he was bit by the travel bug.   Immediately after returning to university, Evan switched his major from Political Science to International Relations and Business and began planning his next adventure.

In February 2007, Evan arrived on the Isthmus with barely a dollar to his name.  On the tail-end of a year, post graduate backpacking trip that encompassed every country in Latin America, Evan  fell in love with The Americas.  He had to stay.  Cash poor and energy rich, he began looking for opportunity to roll up his white collar sleeves.  Panama seemed primed and ready for young, budding entrepreneurs to establish themselves in the developing world.

Thus far Evan’s Panama resume includes; a stint as a sales and marketing executive with a beachfront residential development firm, time as a real estate broker in Panama City focusing on resales and rentals, as well as an internet marketing and SEO consultant specializing in small business development.  For EyeOnPanama.com, Evan holds the Operations Manager position as well as a contributing columnist.

Most importantly, Panama to Evan represents a critical first step in achieving his life goal;  see the world during his 20′s while gaining international business experience.  The prevailing mind set among many of his peer group is to work the best years of your life away.  That way,  you’ll have enough money saved up to travel your worst.  Working while traveling is no longer mutually exclusive, and Evan is living proof.

Evan’s favorite things about Panama:

Casco Viejo, Eating local street food, Yucca and Panama’s ethnic diversity

Most read articles:

Who Pulled Up the Social Ladder?

Do Yourself a Favor, Lose the Shorts

Latin Greetings – Kiss, Hug or Handshake?

How The Great Recession Changed Panama Real Estate

Jesse Choquette

Born in Alaska and schooled in Seattle, Jesse spent much of his first two months here in Panama in a semi-catatonic state, dehydrated and delusional. It was only at night that he was able to escape from the confines of his (then) tiny apartment and venture out into the Panama City nightlife, which he lovingly dubbed “the wilderness.” While the allure of living in a Latin American, Spanish-speaking city is what initially drew him here, it was the booze that made him stay. I mean, where else can you get $.43 beers and bottle-service for $35?

In all seriousness, Jesse came here to chase his dream of living and working internationally.Since taking a year sabbatical from university after a disastrous freshman year, a year which he took advantage of and traveled to 4 continents and over 20 countries, he has been infected with the insatiable desire to accumulate new and exotic experiences.

Until recently, Jesse worked in the Panamanian real estate market as a Sales and Marketing Executive for a large beach project here in Panama, as well as an agent selling and renting apartments in the city. He is now a recovering real estate agent, and is spending most of his free time working on EyeOnPanama.com.

You can usually find Jesse working on his laptop at New York Bagel, throwing pre-funks on his awesome balcony, drinking with friends at various Panama City hotspots, acting his heart out at the Theatre Guild of Ancon, and dancing his ass-off most Saturday nights.

Most read articles:

An Open Letter to Panama’s Real Estate Market

El Cabanga- aka- Adam Kutrumbos

El Cabanga is Adam Kutrumbos, originally from the state of Connecticut in the USA. However, after over four years of living and working in Panama, he has come to understand and appreciate many of the quirks and subtle nuances that make Panama such a unique and wonderful place. Adam first came to Panama as a Peace Corps volunteer, working on sustainable agriculture projects in eastern Chiriqui and the Comarca Ngobe-Bugle. After completing his service he spent time travelling in the US, Mexico and Central America, but then returned to Panama City and began to work in the local real estate industry. Through it all, Adam had the opportunity to visit all nine provinces and three of the indigenous comarcas that compose Panama.

By living, working and travelling for so much time throughout many different locations within Panama, Adam gained insight and perspective that few others get to experience in this small yet widely diverse country. Adam learned to love tipico music, wet carnavales, holidays in November, carne del monte, chicha, corn, yucca and rice, lots of rice with spaghetti or anything else on top. He appreciates all of these finer things, and so much more, on so many different levels. Having recently moved back to the United States he still finds himself saying “vaina” and “pues” less frequently but more inappropriately; and he gets no love when breaking glass, hysterically laughing, or blowing an air horn while people are listening to the radio. But we are all works in progress that are constantly evolving, and even if you take Adam out of the Panama, he’s happy to know that some of Panama will stay with him forever no matter where he goes or how much he changes.

Most read articles:

Paradise Found in Panama,

The Cheapest Meal in the City: Casa Vegetariana,

Luna’s Castle, the Place to Meet People, Stay the Night and Be Merry