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Contact Panama Expat Explorer
You can contact Panama Expat Explorer about anything on this site. A question I have not answered, a listing that is wrong, or a business that belongs in the directory. There are two forms below, and the second one exists for places that Google has never heard of.
Start here
Which Form You Want
There are two, and picking the right one gets you a faster answer. Here is what each of them covers.
A Question or a Correction
Use the message form for anything about the site itself. Wrong hours on a listing, a business that has closed, a question about a district, or an advertising inquiry. Corrections go to the front of the line.
A Business Worth Listing
Use the suggestion form if you know a place that should be in the directory. It asks for more detail, because the businesses I most want are the ones with no website to check.
I am not a relocation agent. I cannot advise on your visa, your taxes, or your residency application. I do not sell real estate, and I do not refer clients to anyone who does. Questions about the site, the guides, and the directory are what this page is for.
Say hello
Send Me a Message
Tell me what you need and I will get back to you. Reader questions are how I decide what to write next. A question you think is too basic is usually the most useful kind.
To be listed, a business needs a Google rating of 4.0 or better. Local parks are the one exception. A park’s rating usually says more about the weather that week than the park.
The missing places
Suggest a Business for the Directory
The directory is built from public Google business data, which works well until it does not. A fonda that has fed the same block for thirty years may have no listing at all. Neither does the woman selling molas out of her front room, or the mechanic everyone in the neighborhood uses.
Those are the places I most want, and they are the ones I cannot find from Texas. So this form is the workaround. If you know a business like that, tell me where it is and I will do the rest.
It asks for more than a name because these places are genuinely hard to pin down. Half of them have no address, no website, and no hours posted anywhere. What they have is a corner, a reputation, and a line out the door at lunch.
- Where it is, in words a taxi driver would understand
- A landmark, a cross street, or what it sits next to
- What they actually sell or do
- A phone or WhatsApp number if you have one
- Whether you have been there yourself
No black hole
What Happens After You Send It
Every suggestion is read by one person, and that person is me. Here is the actual sequence, start to finish.
I read it
Usually within a few days. Nothing here is automatic, and nothing goes live because a form was filled in correctly.
I check what I can
Google, Facebook, Waze, and whatever else exists. For a place with no online footprint, I am mostly confirming it exists and is still open.
I write the listing
In the same format as every other listing, from what you sent plus whatever I could confirm. I have not visited the business, and the listing will not suggest otherwise.
It goes live, or it does not
Some suggestions do not make it. Either I could not confirm the place exists, or it sits outside the categories I cover. You will hear either way.
The 4.0 Google rating rule applies to businesses I pull from Google data in bulk. A place with no ratings at all is judged on the recommendation instead. That is why the form asks whether you have been there.
Before you write
Questions About Getting in Touch
How long until I hear back?
I read everything, usually within a few days. Answers take longer when the question needs research, and I would rather send you something correct than something fast. Corrections to a listing get handled first.
Can I add my own business to the directory?
Yes, use the suggestion form and tick the box saying you own it. Owning the business does not change whether it gets listed, and it does not cost anything. It does mean I will check the details with you before it goes live.
Does it cost anything to be listed?
No. Every listing in the directory today is free, and I added all of them myself. Paid placement may exist later, because the site has to support itself eventually. If that happens, it will be labeled clearly on the listing.
A listing has the wrong hours, or the business has closed. What do I do?
Send it through the message form and pick Correction. Include the business name and what is wrong. Corrections go to the front of the line, because a wrong listing is worse than no listing.
Do you accept guest posts or press releases?
Not right now. Everything on the site is written by me for now. Down the road, I’d like to open things up to blog posts from other expats who want to share their own experience of living in Panama. I’m still working out how that would look, so keep an eye out.
If you’re pitching a product or service, there isn’t a spot for that on the site yet. It’s something I may add later, but it’s a ways off.
What happens to my email address?
I use it to answer you. It sits in the system I run the site from. Nothing else happens with it unless you tick the box asking for updates. I do not sell it or share it.
Elsewhere
Other Ways to Reach Me
The forms above are the fastest route, because they land somewhere I check daily. If you would rather watch than write, the channel covers the same research out loud. Comments there get read too, though a form gets an answer sooner.