By Monroe Roark
Times Correspondent
Life in 2020 has certainly been different for Georgia residents, although perhaps not as restrictive as in other states under various COVID-19 restrictions.
One longtime Henry County couple, however, has been hunkered down in their home south of the border under a totally different set of rules.
Denese Rodgers and Stuart Bailey relaxing on the mountain known as “La Artilleria” behind their house. Special photo
Denese Rodgers was actually in Henry County when the worldwide shutdowns began. She got on a plane back to her home in Panama only a day or two before that country’s border closed in mid-March.
The border closure began a period of severe restrictions throughout the country for several months. People were only allowed to leave their homes for a few hours a week – women for two hours a day Monday, Wednesday and Friday; men for the same amount of time Tuesday and Thursday. The two-hour window was determined by each person’s passport number. That meant couples, like Rodgers and her husband Stuart Bailey, could not venture out together from their home in the western city of Boquete.
This was the rule for the entire nation at first, then later for the area around Panama City. Only in recent weeks has that been relaxed, although Rodgers said October 12 in a video chat with the Times that a 7 p.m. curfew was still in effect and no activity allowed on weekends in the Chiriqui province where she lives. Tocumen International Airport in Panama City opened to foreign traffic that same day after being closed for months.
As in the United States, certain jobs were deemed essential and various stores remained open, most of them adjusting their hours to accommodate different foot traffic patterns. Some stores established delivery services, as did nearly every local restaurant.
“It’s been amazing to see how people have found work-arounds,” said Rodgers. “Everybody was trying.”
Like with many people in the United States, video conferences became a primary form of communication for those in Rodgers’ neck of the woods, including a large number of residents with family and friends in other countries. Regular local get-togethers were replaced with online exercise classes and music events, including “virtual happy hour” for those accustomed to having an afternoon beverage with friends.
Panama is known as one of the more expat-friendly countries in the Western Hemisphere, and the mountainous region in and around Boquete is especially attractive because of its weather. Its high altitude and close proximity to the Equator combine to produce spring-like temperatures nearly every day of the year. Rodgers estimates that there are approximately 20,000 expats living in the region at least part of the year. This influx has led to the development of plenty of First World amenities in just the past few years.
Rodgers volunteers as a liaison with the U.S. Embassy for the area; anyone who knows her would say that is an ideal job for her. She thrives on being active in her local community, no matter where it is. She has teamed with a number of other residents to lend a hand to the indigenous population in the region during the recent economic changes.
“It hasn’t been without its challenges, but the expat community makes an effort to work with the locals,” she said. “It’s really been a coordinated effort here.”
That effort has included distribution of food and other necessities to native Panamanians who have lost wages due to businesses closing during the pandemic. Most expats have steady income through retirement, investments and online businesses. The same cannot be said for many others living nearby.
“Anyone who was going to be compromised financially seems to have caught one of the humanitarian flights back [to their native countries],” said Rodgers. “The government provided temporary payment to people living here who were in jobs. But so many of the workers here are daily laborers who work in the coffee farms or elsewhere, and if the work isn’t there, they don’t get paid. We’ve been working together to try to identify these families and find things for them.”
Since the restrictions have eased somewhat, travel within the country is mostly wide open. The border with Costa Rica, less than an hour away, is still closed but that is likely due to trade disagreements rather than the coronavirus, according to Rodgers.
But for her and her husband, who spends much of his outdoor time seeing the countryside from his motorcycle, life goes on and everyone makes the best of it.
“I’m the eternal cheerleader,” she said. “Anybody who moves here is not concerned about adversity. They are used to Plan B.”
So while the couple enjoys life south of the border, anyone thinking about paying them a visit should first reach out to Rodgers via the WhatsApp messaging app. She will need to drop a GPS pin so you can find her location – since residents in her community do not have street addresses.
Just one more thing we take for granted in the U.S.
