Casco Viejo

Hola a todos,
Today I visited Casco Viejo, an old neighborhood in Panama City. If you remember from the last entry, Panama City was the first European-built city in the Americas. It was begun around 1513 by Spanish conquistadores. The conquistadores built the city facing the Pacific Ocean, which made it very accessible by sea--too accessible, in fact, because the city was attacked and destroyed by pirates in 1519. The city center was moved to a more easily defensible spot, in what is now the present-day barrio of Casco Viejo.

Casco Viejo is an important government and cultural center for Panama. It houses the Institute of Culture, the National Theater, various government institutions such as the ministry of foreign affairs, and the president's house. There's also some really great colonial architecture in the neighborhood, as well as a fantastic view of the commercial center of Panama across a small bay.

The president of Panama's house:


A pretty sweet view of the city:


Some of the colonial architecture I was talking about:



And some artwork in Casco Viejo:


And finally, the food picture of the day--patacones. Patacones are plantains that are fried, mashed, and fried again. They are, I assure you, quite tasty.



I'm going on a sort of random road trip to the province of Chiriquí tonight, so I may not get a chance to post again for a while. ¡Hasta pronto!

A man, a plan, a canal, Panama!

That title is a palindrome (it reads the same backwards as it does forwards), and it usually refers to president Theodore Roosevelt's push to create the Panama canal. It's a bit more complicated than that, though, as I learned today.

Saul and I went to the Miraflores Locks, just outside of the city. Our area used to have a complex system of locks when the rivers were used more for shipping, particularly in the 1800s. If you're not familiar with locks, they raise and lower water levels to help boats move from different elevations. The Panama Canal has three sets of locks. It takes most cargo ships about 8-10 hours to travel the whole length of the canal.

The canal was started in the 1800s by the French, and the project was never finished. At the time, they didn't have the tools they needed to complete the canal, and the project was abandoned. Panama declared its independence from Spain in 1821, and found that it was struggling in its independence, so it joined forces with Colombia. Unfortunately, Colombia took advantage of Panama, taking its natural resources and forcing its citizens to work for Colombia's interests. The United States took an interest in Panama, realized its potential for creating a canal, and decided to help Panama gain its independence from Colombia.

The canal was completed in 1913, after lots of difficulties (hacking through the jungle, exploding mountains, and Dengue fever, for example). It was opened for travel in 1914. The United States controlled all traffic through the canal, and there was a designated "canal zone" that Panamanians were not allowed to enter--it was only for American citizens. In the middle of the country of Panama. In 1964, a group of students launched a protest against US control of the canal. They argued that a canal through Panama should be controlled by Panama. They entered the Canal Zone, ripped up a US flag, and flew the Panamanian flag from a light post. In 1977, the Carter-Torrijo Treaty was signed, promising that the US would cede control of the canal to Panama in 1999. Finally, in 1999, that's what happened--86 years after the canal was completed.

You might think that, with a history like the one I just described, Panamanians wouldn't have a very good opinion of the United States. That's not true. On the whole, Panamanians have very positive views of the US and its citizens. I was in a grocery store today, and I was surprised by the vast number of American brands I saw--not just the ones you might expect, like Coca Cola, but lots of different products like Snyder's chips, Philadelphia cream cheese, Pantene shampoo, and lots of other things that I know I'm forgetting right now. That was refreshing for me, because I'm accustomed to visiting countries that have a less favorable impression of the US.

I also visited Panamá Vieja today. It's the original Panama City, built by the Spaniards around 1513 when Balboa reached the Pacific coast. Panamá Vieja was very accessible by sea, which was unfortunate when pirates attacked and destroyed it in 1519. The city center was moved to a more protected location.

Modern-day Panama City:


The cemetery for workers who died while building the Panama Canal




A cargo ship entering the Miraflores locks on the Panama Canal



And you all know how much I love ruins/history/nerdy things--this is the bell tower of Panama Vieja, most of which was destroyed by pirates in 1519