Panama City: A Collage of Contrasts
The City is Celebrating the Canal’s Centennial Birthday
A visit to the Panama City 15 years ago left me underwhelmed. Like other Spanish cities, the area was filled with churches and impressive historical sites. The canal was its main attraction. But Panama officials have been hard at work sprucing it up for the famous passageway’s 100th anniversary.
Just visit the Plaza de Francia to see what the city has become. Do a slow 360-degree turn. An amazing panorama will unfurl – Casco Viejo (Old City), the 5,425-foot wide Bridge of the Americas, the Panama Canal and a very modern skyline in the city’s financial district. Check out the Pacific Ocean waters near the bridge. That’s where ships wait their turn to journey through the canal and into the Caribbean Sea.
The New Part of Town
Panama City pulsates with a vibe of the past, future and the tumultuous present. Construction is everywhere as is the cacophony of traffic jams, blaring horns and busy people. With new highways, subway system, hotels, green spaces and the Frank Gehry-designed Biomuseo (Museum of Biodiversity opening at the end of January), Panama City is the most cosmopolitan metropolitan area in Central America.
Already an important financial center, this city in transition is sure to become a popular tourist destination.
Chicagoan, Mira Tempkin, says, (Panama City’s financial district) “seems somewhat familiar. With waves to the left and skyscrapers in front of you, you’ll think you’re cruising down Lake Shore Drive in Chicago.”
Well, almost. Chicago doesn’t have a sailboat- like building like the one in Dubai or a green building that resembles a giant screw that Panama City has.
The Canal
Panama may be slightly smaller than South Carolina but the canal gives it big stature. The 43-mile journey through the Miraflores, Pedro Miguel and Gatún locks takes eight to ten hours. But this journey between the Pacific and Caribbean doesn’t come cheap. Shipping companies shell out mega bucks – $100,000-$425,000 per vessel – prepaid and cash only.
The Panama Canal Visitor’s Center or the Miraflores Restaurant, just above the locks, are good places to see how the locks work. Ships are tethered to little train engines. They enter the lock. The gates close. Depending on the boat’s direction, the water level either rises or falls. (The Pacific Ocean is about 12 feet higher than the Caribbean Sea.) Chugging away like “The Little Train That Could,” the engines pull the huge vessels through the lock.
A new set of locks, scheduled to be completed in 2015, will create a passage that will be able to accommodate even bigger ships. And, for the centennial celebration, an exhibition, “The Panama Canal and its Architectural Legacy (1905-1920)” will be featured at the City of Knowledge.
The most exciting centennial year event will be February’’s opening of the colorful Biomuseo on Calzada de Amador – located near the entrance of the canal. Some might think the Frank Gehry-designed structure a bit bizarre, but its uniqueness is eye-catching.
Biomuseo collaborated with the Smithsonian Tropical Research Institute to create exhibits focusing on isthmus history and its diverse species. “Oceans Divided” features two-story, semi-cylindrical aquariums . One aquarium represents life in the Pacific and the other, the Caribbean. Though only a narrow piece of land separates them, life in the two bodies of water are totally diverse.
The Old Hood
A striking contrast from the new part of town is Casco Viejo, North America’s oldest colonial city (1519). The pirate, Henry Morgan, plundered it in 1671. Walk down its narrow streets. Built right after Morgan’s sacking, the Metropolitan Cathedral, bordered by two mother-of-pearl towers, is its foremost icon. Flowers and smiling people hang over old wrought iron balconies. It resembles a rundown New Orleans French Quarter but now is in restoration mode. This area is priming itself to be Panama City’s new “in” place. Restaurants, shops, trendy hotels and nightclubs are springing up. So are pickpockets. Beware.
The small, nondescript Church of San Jose (1671) is easy to miss. Not a good idea. Inside is the famous gold altar. It really isn’t solid gold but rather carved mahogany covered with gold leaf. The church and Panama’s first university (1675),starkly differ from places like the more modern Presidential Palace or the Teatro Nacional. Patterned after Milan’s La Scala, the opera house has vivid ceiling frescos.
Native peoples add color and diversity
Kuna Indian ladies – indigenous Panamanians – are even more vibrant. They often wear solid gold earrings and nose rings, red headscarves plus brightly colored blouses with molas – large, colorful patches of appliquéd designs such as birds and animals.
Molas are for sale at the Kuna market along with pottery, dolls, purses and other chotchkes. Lightweight and easy to tuck into a suitcase, molas make great gifts or nice wall art when framed. A dragon-like mask tops a red costume at one Kuna market. Such masks were once used by the Spanish to scare the natives into becoming Catholic. The masks are still worn at special Kuna Christmas ceremonies. Panama’s best known indigenous tribe, Kuna mostly inhabit the San Blas Islands.
Similar to Kuna, the Embera Panama Puru Tribe is also native to Panama. They make their home in Chagres National Park, less than an hour’s drive from Panama City.
“Discovering the Embera Village was like taking a step back in time,” says Tempkin.
Dressed in a multi-colored beaded skirt and “X-shaped” beads on his chest, an Embera man takes us on a Chagres River cruise in his motorized dugout canoe. Our destination: La Bonita Cascada (beautiful waterfall). But the falls are not near the river.
The guide says it is a short 10-minute walk to the cascade. Don’t be fooled. On the muddy path that weaves up and down over rocks, across and along the river, it takes three times that long. At the falls, water thunders down the side of a 40-foot hill. Caked with mud and sweat, visitors wade in the water to cool off. Others sit on the rocks, dangle their feet or just gawk at the waterfall.
Afterward, the group visits the Embera Puru village. Women are dressed in Polynesian-styled flowered headdresses, bright skirts and bra tops with jingling ornaments. They serve a lunch of fried plantains, tilapia and fruit on palm leafs. Then, the men and women dance to pipes, drums and the ladies’ jingling ornaments. They invite visitors to join them.
What a pleasant reprieve the village is from nearby Panama City.It adds to the area’s charm. Whether you’ve been to Panama City before or not, the hoopla surrounding the canal’s 100th birthday provides a good excuse to experience its bustle, culture and nearby natural beauty. It is sure to become a popular destination.
Planning Your Trip
Panama Tourist Authority: visitpanama.com
Getting there: Copa Airlinesflies direct to Panama City from many major American cities, website: www.copaair.com. American, Delta and Spirit do it with one stop.
Currency: US$
Things to Know:
Brush up on your Spanish. Not a lot of people speak English.
BYOW (bring your own washcloth). Most accommodations do not supply them.
Do not rent a car. Traffic is brutal.
The best place to get answers to your Panama questions is Disfruta Panamá, the Facebook page of Visitpanama.com
REFERENCES
Biomuseo: Karen, email: consultas@biomuseopanama.org
The only contact I have for Panama Tourism Authority is Ernesto Orllac, Viceminister. Tel: 507-526-7122. His email is www.atp.gob.pa but he has never answered any of my emails.
The trip was put together by Sonia Villar at Marketvision: svillar@mvculture.com, tel: 210-277-2916. She reps Copa Airlines but she is not good at getting back to you either.