January 4, 2009 in Panama City

We visited here at Plaza Cinco de Mayo one evening, ate junk food like there was no tomorrow, and generally really enjoyed ourselves. There was a lady selling beef shish kabobs at a food stand on the street. $1 for a skewer of steak, onions, green peppers, and secret sauce. Wow! Kathy went shopping for make-up. The department stores look small from the street, but spread out to the rear forever. The other pictures are just some interesting street shots. Lots of ethnic diversity here...East Indians, Chinese, blacks (slave desecndants), ethnic indians ( Kuna, Ngobe Bugle, Embera, Wounaan, others), hispanics, whites, Arabs. There is a large Jewish population here. Apparently Panama was a safe haven during and after the Holocaaust. A truly boiling melting pot.


The omnipresent golden arches in P.C.

Garbage men in the city, but quite honestly most streets look like they miss more trash than they collect.


An observant Moslem family crossing the street.

Cool lighting effects of the tree shadows falling over Panama Viejo ruins. This was the first Pacific settlement of the Spanish, founded in 1519 by Balboa. It was the main Pacific gold shipment port for the Spanish for tons of Inca gold en route back home. It was shipped from Lima, carried by mules across the isthmus to Nombre de Dios, Portobelo, or Fuerte San Lorenzo, and then sent by Spanish galleons across the Atlantic, occasionally entirely absconded by English privateers like Sir Francis Drake, Henry Morgan, Edward Vernon, etc. Drake totally defeated the Spanish soldiers at Panama Viejo and raized the city in 1671. Thereafter the Spanish moved their port city on the Pacific a mile west to a more protected spot at Casco Viejo. Anyway, tho very little remains it was cool to think of the many hundreds of years that have elapsed and what has taken place on this soil. By the way, it took a concerted effort at patience to drive to this place. Roads maps, signage, and directions leave a lot to be desired. I felt like Balboa finding this place. Did Balboa ever snap at his wife when he was lost? Sorry, honey.


Puente del Rey at Panama Viejo, the oldest surviving bridge in the Western Hemisphere purportedly. 1/3 of the world's gold reportedly crossed over this bridge on the fabled Camino Real on its way across the isthmus from Pacific to Carribean coasts. Kathy should have married a conquistador.

Following church we also drove to the top of Ancon Hill (The first ship to transit the Canal in 1914 was the USS Ancon). We had some nice views of the city in all directions from atop. Crowning the hill is the beautiful Panamanian flag. The Temple is also visible in the distance to the north of the hill past old Albrook airfield (now Gelabert domestic airport.)


Following Church we took two hours to drive around the main administrative portion of the old CZ. You see the main Admin building set up on a rise behind this fountain dedicated to the chief engineer of the American portion of the Canal. Surrounding this area are many acres of many uniform, well-constructed additional admin buildings, movie theater, fire department, school, sports field, churches, many beautiful old homes on lovely streets, etc. All of this sits at the western base of Cerro Ancon, the prominent hill rising above the city. Of course all of this is now back in Panamanian hands. I would love to have seen the CZ back in the days of American occupation. It frankly mostly looks worn and shotty now.




Sunday we attended the Balboa Ward ("Barrio") in Panama City, just down the road from where we are presently living as it turns out. Once again we understand almost nothing as we attended Fast and Testimony meeting. Yet the same Spirit attends these services in any language, and the familiarity is comforting. We did discover that Panamanians apparently like to write in their hymn books. Once again we shook many hands and met two missionaries serving from La Ceiba, Honduras, Elder Reyes, and another from El Salvador, Elder Soto. Both very fascile in English thankfully. They tell us that the mission here has missionaries from China, New Zealand, throughout Central America, Australia, USA, Tonga, Hawaii, etc. Riley, we kept saying to ourselves how exciting and rewarding for you to have been here to see and feel and experience all of this for yourself. All of this occuring because of the seeds sown and nurtured many years ago by Americans living in the Canal Zone. We saw no USA'ers here at church.



Keith