My Panama journey...
Colonial and futuristic architecture side-by-side, jungles, mountains and desert islands, Panama is diversity gone wild, says Laura Gelder
P Kuna molas A watchful pelican
anama is one of those countries that attracts characters. I know this because during an eight-hour fl ight delay I got chatting to the CIA agent who in 1989 captured Panamani,an despot Manuel Noriega.
Now retired and on his way to holiday in the Caribbean isles of Bocas del Toro, the ex-CIA man was wearing a Hawaiian shirt and a novelty baseball cap and demonstrated just how much Panama has changed since Noriega’s reign.
I was there to see how and learn about its
growing tourism industry. But that required going even further back in history, because we started in Panama City, which has been around since 1519.
It was the fi rst settlement that the Spanish founded on the Pacifi c side of the Americas and it was this decision (along with its naturally narrow geography) which sealed its fate as a strategically important city. The ruins of Panama Viejo are the best place to start since they are all that’s left of the city’s fi rst site, where tonnes of Incan gold passed through in the 1500s on its way to Spain. After a ransacking by Sir Frances Drake, it was privateer Henry Morgan who fi nally pillaged the city and razed it to the ground. Panama City was reborn in what is now
known as Casco Viejo or Old Quarter. This is Panama City’s jewel, a compact maze of narrow streets and quiet plazas with pavement cafes begging to be frequented. Around each corner are grand churches, market stalls selling Panama hats and streets of distressed buildings, with pink, ochre and green paint peeling behind sprays of bougainvillea. The tide of gentrifi cation is obvious in boutique hotels like Casa del Horno, but from the balcony of its penthouse suite, with exposed brick
walls, hip sepia photography and an iPod docking station,
“Even inside the resort’s grounds capybara roamed
and we caught a glimpse of a blinkng sloth”
Crossroads of the Americas Much of the city’s multiculturalism comes from the building
of the Panama Canal. Truly one of the world’s man-made wonders, it’s hard to explain how absorbing it is to watch monster container ships pass through Mira Flores Lock. Nearly 14,000 ships cross the 80km stretch every year, taking four hours, displacing 220 million litres of water per ship and generating millions of dollars. It’s worth visiting the lock’s museum to understand the human cost of building the canal through a yellow-fever infested swampland, and the extraordinary efforts that go to thwarting nature’s attempts to take it back. The canal was partly created by nature, since the Chagres
River already existed. But the building of the canal also created Gatun Lake, now the site of eco-resort Gamboa where we spent a day spotting wildlife. It’s just an hour from the city but on a quick boat trip we saw capuchin and tamarin monkeys hanging from the trees, iguanas scampering the banks and crocodiles lurking. Even inside the resort grounds capybara roamed and we caught a glimpse of a blinking sloth dangling from a tree. In nearby
I could see straight into the disintegrating slum opposite and watch little children playing in their communal room. The most appealing thing about Casco Viejo for me was its juxtaposition with new Panama City. From the cool rooftop bar of hotel and restaurant Tantalo, you can sip a mojito and gaze upon the fl ickering skyline of the modern city across the bay. It’s crowned by Donald Trump’s characteristically fl ash Ocean Club hotel, which claims to be the tallest building in Latin America. Panama is a mish-mash of cultures. Most of the population is a mix of Spanish and indigenous descent but many can claim African heritage and there’s a sizeable Chinese community, all against a backdrop of pervasive American and European culure. If you wish, you can have waffl es for breakfast, Lebanese for lunch and Greek for dinner.
32 November 2013
www.sellinglonghaul.com
My Magical Moments
SAN BLAS Swimming to an island with no name, sitting in the shallows and watching the mist over Darien province
BOQUETE Sipping a cup of Geisha, the world’s most expensive coffee, for a mere $10. It costs $40 in Japan!
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