Panama: a hidden gem
Wednesday, 10th June 2009
"Just a canal" was my gut reaction when Lucho - my surf buddy from Colombia who, through love, ended up in Brighton - first extolled the virtues of Panama.
I’d never been there and it was largely down to this reaction that I’d chosen the Andes over the stragetically placed Isthmus back in my carefree South American backpacking days. But in 2008, tagged on to a work “Fam Trip” to Costa Rica I was to discover the country and its canal.
Panama City
Panama City is actually three cities - there is the Old City, brutally destroyed by the pirate Henry Morgan in the 16th century, which lies in ruins, the “Casco Viejo” which is the rebuilt old centre following Morgan’s attack and dates back to the 16th century, and then there is the modern business hub of the region which actually resembles more closely Miami or even New York than a Central American capital. The Casco Viejo is well-preseved colonial style houses and pretty narrow streets, while the skyscrapers of the new city also house air condiitoned shopping malls and international cuisine. It’s also possible to explore the Amador Causeway and its boutiques, restaurants and bars which is an artificial piece of land jutting out into the Pacific built using the rubble dug out the ground when the canal was built.
Nightlife
I got my first chance to check out the Panamanian nightlife sooner than I had imagined. Tired and hot after arriving at the airport, I checked into my hostel - basic but clean - and decided what I really needed was a cold beer. I headed down to Calle Uruguay - the main bar area of Panama City, to get just that. The beer was not the best, but it was certainly cold - which was what I needed - and I sat back and relaxed in an open air bar watching saturday night in Panama City come alive around me. Girls in vest tops met and kissed tanned youths on motorbikes as groups of people went in and out of the bars around me.
After a few beers I thought it time to head home but somehow I got talking to someone - it was a guy of about my age from Uruguay who found it hilarious that he was from Uruguay and we were drinking on Calle Uruguay. My quiet night was already over! We hit a different bar, played pool against all kinds of people we’d never met before and I ended up going to bed at 5am! So, Panama City gets a tick for nightlife!
History and culture
What surprised me, is that it also gets a big tick for culture and general interest. Panama City has the largest ethnic Chinese population in Latin America - a relic of canal building days when the chinese were brught over as “indentured labout” (slaves). While the background may be morally dubious, they’ve certainly contributed to makng Panama City a cultural melting pot including Black Caribbean people, Americans, those of Spanish descent, recent immigrants from Colombia and Venezuela, indiginous tribes and even a few Arab businessmen. This mix makes the city vibrant and colourful.
Visiting Cactus’s partner school in Panama City was fascinating. Thorwald, the director, knows his history and I was able to discover all about Balboa’s more enlightened conquest of Panama than that of his contemporaries Cotez and Pizarro in Mexico and Peru respectively. Balboa formed alliances with indiginous people and co-operated with rather than exterminated the local people. One wonders how the history of the continent might have turned out different had the Spanish government backed him to continue this style of conquest into South America. Instead they sent an envoy to execute Balboa and Pizarro did all he possibly could to wipe the Quechua civilisation from the face of the earth. He also told me of the failed Scottish co-operative colony in Darien and of the mixed legacy of the canal - hundreds died building it and it remained in US cntrol for years, but it is now the country’s economic lifeline.
Boquete
Following Panama City, my next stop was Boquete. I flew over the canal itself - an unbelievable feat of engineering - and on to the cloud forest. at 2000m above sea level Boquete was cool and pleasant. I was taken out on a more sedate evening than I had in Panama City by Julio and Carlos at our partner school and relaxed in completely different surroundings.
Boquete is an outdoor lover’s paradise surrounded by lush green cloud forest. I was taken on a zip-line canopy tour where you get a completely different perspective on the forest but Boquete also offers rock climbing, rafting, trekking up the volcano and along the Quetzls trail in the National park and natural hot springs. You really couldn’t get bored! Carlos and Julio pointed out that although it is Costa rica which is known for the incredible bioiversity, Panama can in fact rival it, but has not been so good at marketing itself. The result now is that Costa Rica receives far more visitors but those who go to Panama are actually more likely to see wildlife in the national parks because there are fewer people to inadvertently scare them off. Even on my short visit to the cloud forest I saw monkeys, a snake and a “coati” - I still don’t know the word for it in English!
Other features
As well as all this Panama offers Caribbean beaches and surfing at Bocas el Toro (just 3 hours from Boquete) even better surfing on the Pacific Coast, virgin rainforest in the South and daily flights to Newark.
I went there expecting to see a canal and then head off to hit the surf in Costa Rica - I left craving more! Panama is a real hidden gem of a country - safe, modern, diverse, interesting and extremely beautiful. It’s small and easy to get round and there’s just so much to do - for the traveller, now is the time to go, because it’s only a matter of time before the crowds begin to arrive.
Tags: spanish, culture, panama, cactus, language course, surfing, boquete, panama city
Posted by Alex under Experience Cultures,
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