SOME PANAMA FACTS

               A Delightful Week Visit

            Panama is a country, province and capital, is about the size of the state of Maine and has ten provinces. The country is a natural land bridge connecting North and South America. It is bordered on the north by Costa Rica and on the south by Colombia. The S shaped country is 480 miles long and ranges between 51-120 miles wide.

            Panama is a country of contrasts between the simple lifestyle of the Indians and the pleasures and pursuits of a big city. Carbon dating of pottery shards show Panama was home to indigenous people since 2,500 B.C.  The country of Panama has 14 National Parks and almost 30% of the country has been set aside for conservation purposes. The 14 National Parks encompass approximately 3.5 million acres of rainforest, jungle, mountain ranges, marine areas, beaches and desert landscapes. These areas are the habitat of almost 1,000 species of birds, 220 mammals and 354 reptiles and amphibians. Fifty percent of the country’s rainforest remains intact.

            The colorful old bus system consisted of a series of old school buses known affectingly as Red Devils. They were individually owned and painted all over, including most of the windshield. The condition and reliability of them depended on the care and attention given them by the owner. Today new modern buses travel the city on specific routes and a time table.  The city is also full of yellow taxis, most are a new Kai and Hyundai.

Panama means various things depending on the source of information; some say it means fish, others say it means many birds. However, we were told Panama comes from an indigenous word meaning rich land of butterflies, trees and fish. I like that interpretation best!

The climate is hot and humid, so it is really smart to stay well hydrated. Water in restaurants and new hotels is drinkable and bottled water is readily available.

The official language is Spanish, and literature said many also speak English, but we actually found fluent and understanding English quite lacking everywhere we went. Technically the official currency is the Balboa, however, in 1941 Panama stopped printing the Balboa in favor of using the American dollar. Panama does still mint coins in the denominations of 1, 5, 10, 25, 50 and 100 which are the same metal, size and shape of the equivalent American coins. Since the Balboa has had a fixed exchange rate of 1:1 with the US dollar since 1903, these Balboa coins are used interchangeably with the US coins. No problems with money or using credit cards.

Panama does not recycle and dropping trash anywhere is part of the psyche. However we found Panama City generally clean, especially in the tourist areas. The countryside was another story. The old city (the 2^nd city) has been renovated with new brick coble streets and plaza. The extensive ruins of the first city were clean and grounds well groomed.

I saw no billboards in the city and very little graffiti, but did see some of both out of the city. Panama City is well on its way to becoming a to-go-to cosmopolitan city and is well worth a visit.

VANCOUVER, BRITISH COLUMBIA

           A Fun Day With A New Friend

            With a full day planned ahead of us, we were up early and had breakfast before walking down to Canada Place. We were the only people on the link-bus with the driver, Andrew, a friendly informative young man. Our first stop on this fine day was Capilano Suspension Bridge. (see post in March ‘11)

            After enjoying the rain forest park on the other side of the swinging bridge we returned and admired the many story poles on the grounds and talked a bit with one of the carvers. The First Nation’s people are trying to eliminate the term totem pole by calling them story poles. The Spanish thought the natives worshiped the poles and thus called them totems, which in Spanish means idol. That is not the case as the poles tell a story, usually the family history.

            Then we returned to the bus stop and flagged down Andrew, who had instructed us to do so. After only a short wait he returned to pick us up for the ride up Grouse Mountain. On the bus was a lone Aussie, Ann, from Adelaide. Australia.  Having visited her home town, we got to talking and learned she was traveling alone, so we asked her to join us for lunch and the afternoon.

            We rode the large gondola 3700-feet up the mountain. The views from the Altitudes Observation Restaurant were spectacular. We watched clouds drift past completely obscuring our view except that of the falling snow. Then the clouds would drift off and it would be clear and we could see the ocean below. We enjoyed a hot leisurely lunch before watching a movie about the mountain and its activities. There were four grizzly bears in a sanctuary on the property, but to get there we would have had to slosh through wet slushy snow and none of us was wearing appropriate footwear. We spent most of the afternoon on the mountain.

Since it was a beautiful clear evening we elected to eat at the revolving restaurant, which happened to be at the top of our hotel. We had a leisurely dinner enjoying the view as we rotated one and a half times. Since we’d been in Vancouver several days we recognized many of the buildings down below as the restaurant revolved. It was the perfect end to a fun full day.