My Life in Panama
My Life in Panama
By Len Brockman, Founder of TraderBrock
My story in Panama began in 1949, when I was just six years old. Our family boarded the USS Cristobal one of three ships owned by the Panama Canal Company as my father started a new chapter working in the Canal Zone. My mother, brother, sister, and I stepped off the ship into a world that would shape my life forever.
Panama was a paradise for young adventurers. The jungle was our backyard playground, filled with mountain streams, square trees, and golden frogs. We spent our days exploring, riding horses, swimming at the beach, and watching local fishermen pull in their nets. It was a childhood rich with discovery.
School was lively and full of activities, and Little League taught us the meaning of teamwork. Friendships came easy in that environment no one was ever alone.
But one day, my father came home with news that would shift our course: we were moving to Huntsville, Alabama. The space program was calling. I still remember the day the USS Ancon sailed us away from Panama. Our next destination was New York, but part of my heart stayed behind.
Years later, in January 1971, Panama called me back. I was now a young Second Lieutenant in the U.S. Army, with the Vietnam War raging. As luck would have it, I was assigned to manage the Officers’ Club at Fort Amador an assignment I could hardly believe. It felt like a full-circle moment.
In 1982 and 1983, I returned again, this time with Merrill Lynch as a securities broker. I traveled across Latin America, from Mexico to Peru, serving clients. Yet, every time my flight landed back in Panama, I’d smile to myself this was still home.
But even with all life had given me, I felt something was missing. In 1988, I joined the Peace Corps and was sent to Honduras, right in the middle of the Sandinista-Contra conflict. That experience changed me. When I completed my service in 1990 just as Noriega was deposed in Panama I came back once more, searching for purpose.
That’s when a fellow Peace Corps volunteer from Honduras reached out. She had a vision to help Panama’s indigenous tribes, and together, that seed of an idea became TraderBrock.
Today, TraderBrock stands as a tribute to all those years of adventure, of service, and of love for Panama and its people. It’s more than a store. It’s a life’s work born in the rainforest and carried forward with every piece we share.