Space contacts in Panamá

In early 2008, my wife and I were evaluating a couple of professional opportunities in Panamá, so we decided to take a week-long trip there. Prior to departing, we conducted as much research as we could on what we might expect as U.S. expats living abroad. However, we knew that the best way to learn about life in Panamá was to speak directly with Americans who underwent similar experiences.

I reached out via the IASE community and was connected with Sandy Sanfort, an American expat living in Panamá who also happened to be a space entrepreneur, supporter, enthusiast, and businessman. He helps run ONDA, a community-based advocacy group that supports the development of a robust commercial space industry in Panamá. He is also the moderator of ONDA's IASE group.

Not only was Sandy able to give me a lot of information about expat life in Panamá, but he was also generous enough to invite me and my wife to a dinner reception of a local expat group while we visited Panama City. On top of everything, we were also able to discuss the state of Panamá's aerospace industry AND his current [non-space] startup venture!

Connecting with Sandy--first via our online community and then in person--was tremendously valuable to my professional development and my personal decision-making process about relocating my family to Panamá. Even though my business opportunities there ultimately fell through, I still gained a lot of critical insights from Sandy and enjoyed getting to know him. I look forward to re-connecting soon!