We have spent the past few days in Panama and we feel like we are almost back to the US. (You know you have been gone too long when the sight of a couple of McDonalds and high rise office buildings start to make you homesick.) For the first time in 5 months we are on a road that connects all the way back to California.
Panama is somewhat of an artificial creation of the foreign powers that have dominated the history of the region, Spain and the USA. The area was 'discovered' on one of Columbus' early voyages. Vasco Nunez de Balboa crossed the isthmus in 1513 and, because Panama runs east-west, named the new body of water, the Southern Sea. This was not Balboa's last mistake. About 6 years later he managed to piss off the local governor and was beheaded. Despite these shortcomings, the local currency is called the Balboa and his smiling mug appears on most of the coins. (Panama prints no bills and uses US greenbacks which are equal in value to one Balboa.)
About 25 years later, the Spanish began 'exporting' great quantities of gold and silver from Peru and used Panama as a shortcut to Spain. By the mid 17th century there were few local Indians left to carry the load and the Spaniards decided it might be easier just to sail around the bottom of the continent. Panama was then basically ignored until the mid nineteenth century when California gold needed to be transported.
The French stepped up to fill the void by building the first 'transcontinental' railroad across the isthmus. They imported labor from the Caribbean and China (they were no more eager to do manual labor than the Spanish had been) and sparked the first great immigration wave into Panama. The French subsequently tried their hand at canal building in 1888, but managed to create not much more than a few mud puddles before giving up.
In 1903, Teddy Roosevelt badly wanted to try to finish the job, but Panama, at the time, was still a province of Colombia. When he got word that a few locals were talking about a rebellion, he immediately recognized the new 'government' and had a warship in town before the Colombians knew what happened. (TR makes our current president look cautious.) Construction started in 1904 and was finished by 1914. Another large wave of immigrants did most of the manual labor.
The US maintained a military presence until the canal was handed over at the turn of the millennium. It is easy to identify our influence on the culture. Most of Panama City is covered with gleaming high rises, shopping malls and restaurants ranging from fastfood to haute cuisine. The colonial part of town has fallen into disrepair and is now only begun the process of gentrification. The economy appears to be quite strong due to the canal, international investment and Panama's reputation as an easy place to do business. Panama is also making a push to attract US retirees who are looking to stretch their dollar in a tropical environment. We saw new, detached homes for as low as $22,000. That might not buy a burial plot in San Francisco.
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We have successfully retrieved the Jeep with the help of a smooth talking local customs broker. Wilberto is the classic latin - tall, dark and handsome. (Fortunately for me, kia decided to atay at the hotel.) He leaves three shirt buttons unfastened and pays particularly close attention to all of the female customs officials. Needless to say, he was quite effective and we were able to fight through the red tape in a 'mere' 9 hours.
Our run of good health has unfortunately ended with Kia contracting a nasty bout of food poisoning. She believes it came from one of the nicest restaurants we ate at in weeks. I have told her we need to go back to eating Bolivian chicken-foot soup. Kia has decided to take her chances. She is feeling much better at this point.
Next stop is a beach in Costa Rica.
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