"A man, a plan, a canal, Panama"
A famous palindrome (the same no matter which direction you read it) which basically
outlines what most people know about Panama: The Panama Canal. And the Panama canal is
one of the wonders of the modern world. It may sound pretentious but there is much
more to Panama than just a canal.
Geography
But Panama is more than just a canal, it is a relatively narrow stretch of land
that rose from the seas 2.4 million years ago to unite the Americas. This was
probably the result of the movement of the Cocos tectonic plates underneath the
Caribbean sea, as a result there are at least three (extinct)
volcanoes in Panama:
Ironically
the work of nature was more or less undone (with a compromise) when Panama was
split in two by the construction of the Panama Canal.
The panamanian isthmus with its capricious "S" form is also blessed by its
connection to two oceans, the Pacific ocean and the Caribbean Sea/Atlantic oceans
which caress its coasts on the south and north respectively. This together with the
fact that it lies in the tropics make it a place where you can find almost everything
your heart might desire.
Panama, at its Darien province has the 2nd largest tropical rainforest in the
Western hemisphere, surpassed only by the Amazon basin. It is there where the
famous Darien Gap is found, the only place where the Panamerican road that goes
from Alaska to Punta del Fuego gets interrupted.
The isthmus offers an astonishing biodiversity that is not limited to a couple of
thousands of plant species and an equally comparable fauna. Thanks to its unique
location which also protects it from the raving hurricanes of the Caribbean, rare
species inhabit here such as the golden tree frog which is actually found nowhere
else in the world. Your best chance to see this frog live is at the El Nispero Zoo
in El Valle de Anton, Cocle. This is however not the
only species that is unique to Panama.
Climate
The climate of Panama is fantastic even for thosed used to the soul-shadowing
northern temperatures. Temperatures range from 26-34 Celsius all year round which
is wonderful (a bit sticky at times) for lovers of the tropics. It is hot, but
not as hot as a Summer day in Rome or Madrid, but it is humid. If on the other
hand you like cooler temperatures you will have to sacrifice city life and visit
the highlands where it can be as cool as 15 Celsius during the day. Quite a
contrast if you travel from Cerro Punta (near Volcan Baru) to David,
Chiriqui.
We only have two seasons. The dry season we call Summer lasting from January until
March and the rainy season (our Winter) the rest of the year. There can be the
ocassional rain or rainshower during the summer. The rainy season is not extreme,
it does not mean it does not stop raining! you simply know that almost every day
there might be rain (but not necessarily), sometimes short, sometimes lasting several
hours and as such there would be the ocassional floods (rivers) in certain parts
of the country.
Currency
Wouldn't it be nice if Latin America united and formed a more economically
integrated region with a single currency which I would have named the "Americo"
and given the symbol shown above.
I would give it that name not only because it is in the Americas (which is not
only the US in case you got your geography right) but also because of Americo
Vespucio, the first cartographer to survey the newly discovered continent during
the Spanish colonization.
Oh well, nice dream but it isn't so. The local currency in Panama is called
the Balboa in honor of Vasco Nuñez de Balboa discoverer of the
Pacific Ocean. You will find he is also featured in most of the Panamanian coins.
Ironically Mr. Pedro Arias de Avila (founder of the first city in Panama) did
not make it to our coin, probably because in his greed he ordered the decapitation
of Balboa.
But I digress, our currency is the Balboa denoted in print by the "B/." symbol
and it has a one-to-one equivalency with the US Dollar ($) and also because of
that the US Dollar is also legal tender in Panama. How is that? Don't ask, it is
so and not likely to change (very convenient, huh?). So you can see both US Dollars
as well as Panamanian currency circulating. Actually Panama does not have
paper money (we use the american ones), only coins (and then again you see both
circulating). As a result you will see coins in the denominations of 50, 25, 10,
5 and 1 cent with exactly the same size and weight of their american counterparts.
A word of caution though, most commercial establishments are very reluctant -and
will even refuse- bills (paper money) of $50 or $100. In the best of cases you will
be asked for identification and fill in your signature and identification number.
Other times they will simply use a machine to check it. For that reason I make it
a habit to carry only $20, $10, $5 and $1 bills.
How to spend your money
Wow, that is very blunt, isn't it? well, every local and tourist spends the
money they way he/she wants and believe me there are plenty of ways to do it in
Panama. Best thing of all is you can always enjoy what you get in return.
In the larger cities, specially in Panama city, there are many malls some
much more modern and others a bit older with stores where the goods are sold
at prices to accomodate everybody's budget. Cheap but durable clothes, expensive
brand name clothes, jewellry and electronics. There is almost everything to be
found in Panama. You can find well stocked (and with variety that rivals
supermarkets in the US and Europe) supermarkets such as El Rey and Riba Smith,
modern malls such as the MultiCentro and MultiPlaza in the Paitilla area, the
Los Pueblos at the Albrook location, El Dorado, etc.
A word of caution for those visiting the capital (and Colon city), while
no city or country is 100% safe you always have to exercise common sense and
caution. In Panama city and Colon city it is advised that you do not carry large
amounts of money at hand and keep and eye (and a hand) on your wallet. At night
it is also advisable (to be sure) to avoid dark desolate places, when in a car
keep the doors locked.
The People
We the peoples of Panama have a tropical soul with a mix of hard working traits
and yet the inclination to enjoy life and the wonders God has given us in the
geography of our little country. So, while the large cities -where most of the
3 million people are gathered- seem to be crawling with people at all times,
those that can take the opportunity to escape to the beach or the highlands.
In Venezuela they say "God made a wonderful country named Venezuela, but since
not everything could be perfect, it gave it the Venezuelan people" which is funny
because Panamanians also have their own defects. Some English couple once wrote
a tremendously successful book named "The Undutchables" (describing the Dutch people),
well in Panama we do not need other people to write about us this way, we do it
ourselves and the best way to get acquainted with it was the former TV program called
La Cáscara with a regular segment called "El Panameño" with
all sorts of hilarious sketches about things a Panamanian does.
And so it comes that thanks to the Spanish colonization, the construction of
the Panama canal and the subsequent Gold Rush of California the isthmus of Panama
has become the crossroads with much immigration from all over the world. Therefore
you cannot say that a panamanian looks like this or that (but may act like this
or that as in La Cascara) because Panama is a melting pot of cultures and races.
Whites (European and north american), Blacks (Afroantillean immigrants) as well
as Asians have converged in Panama. In the museum of
Panama La Vieja
you can see how the Spaniards named the various combinations (mestizos, zambos, etc.)
