Old Panama White House and Buzzards

Yesterday, we were awakened by our driver, Kevin, to tell us he would be 2 hours late. We decided to get a new driver, which I think was a very good choice. Nancy and I had a really nice cup of coffee at the coffee bar here, and then took off on our own for Casco Viejo (the old city). This place turned out to be a truly interesting experience.

To begin with, Casco Viejo, is actually the second Panama City. The first "Panama City" was destroyed by the Pirate "Captain Henry Morgan" as he was ransacking the carribean in the 1660 - 1670's. The cathedral tower on the left, is about all Captain Morgan left of Panama's first city. According to local legend, the citizens of Panama City knew that Morgan and his Pirates were coming, and removed the valuables from the church including a huge gold altar (which is now in a cathedral in the new city). What they were unable to move, they painted with a black substance making the remaining pieces look broken and ugly. When Morgan saw what was left, he made a donation to the church and asked that they improve the altar, as it was the worst he had ever seen. As usual, I am not sure that I am buying this part of the story, but it is cute.

Back to the facts, when Morgan looted Panama, England had a peace treaty with Spain; ad as a result Morgan was sent back to England and tried for breaking the treaty. Morgan argued successfully, that he was unaware of the treaty (wink, wink). And after further consideration, (and in view of all the gold Morgan had looted for the King) the British Crown felt that Morgan had earned knighthood, and thus one of the most savage of all pirates became a knight of the British Empire.

The second city has 11 major cathedrals and the architecture of these places is absolutely incredible. To me, they looked like New Orleans and Bourbon Street on steroids. My guess is that New Orleans and much of Casco Viejo, may have been created about the same time. All the streets are brick. Tell me if you don't think the place on the right doesn't look a lot like the Royal Sonesta Hotel on Bourbon Street.

Here's a couple of the cathedrals we saw, I kept the pictures small but I think you can click on them and they will enlarge.

The cathedral on the left has a large statue of Simon Bolivar in the plaza in front. I really don't know all that much about Simon Bolivar other than to say he is widely credited with liberating much of Central America from Spanish Rule. On top of the statue of Simon Bolivar is a large bird which looks a whole lot like a buzzard to me. My first guess is that it would be an Eagle, but it doesn't look much like an Eagle....in any case this brings us to the next part of this story.

The city of Colon, Panama was initially the headquarters of the French efforts to build the Panama Canal. Colon has always been a sketchy place, and it remains that way to his day. However, back then this was mostly an island (Isla Manzanillo) with little water an no sewage system. So a lot of stuff wound up in the streets or in the sea. A disgusted historian once wrote, "Searching for the specialty in hich the town excelled, we found that the answer in her carrion birds, which cannot be surpassed in soze or smell. Manzanillo Island may boast of the finest vultures on the planet." And while this may seem strange, it brings us to the next part of the story...the Presidential Palace.

We went on down to the Presidential Palace, which is called the "White House" and every Panamanian we spoke to introduced this place to us as "the White House, just like in the United States". On the right is a picture of the Panamanian White House. The "White House" looks right out on the sea and you can see ships cueing up to go through the Panama Canal from here.

On the other hand, here is one of many of the carrion birds we saw while we were at the Presidential Palace. I thought this one who was roosting / restig on the Palace itself was a particularly ugly one. Click on this picture to see a real ugly bird!

Finally, I should mention that much of the area in Casco Viejo is under "restoration". And the parts that have been finished are beautiful - on the other hand, the reconstruction is not expected to be completed until 2020. The pace in Panama can be a little slow, as you may notice in the sign below. The sign says the building is 80% sold out, will be completed in August of 2006. I'll bet you a few of the "buyers" may be getting a little tense. As one buzzard once said to the other buzzard "Patience Hell, I'm going to kill something. Manana.

All the best,

Mike

$2 Worth of Fun

OK......so how much fun can you buy for two bucks? Probably more than you think.....but you gotta do a little looking around.



There's a place up here called Awrey's Bakery in Detroit. Let me give you a little background, Around 1910, Mrs. Fletcher Awrey became famous locally for the wonderful breads and pastries that came from her wood fired stove. Over the years she grew her business to the point where the wood fired stove could not keep up, neither could the horse drawn deliver vehicle. Finally, they purchased a Model T Ford and began to expand the business throughout Detroit. Her boys joined the business, and they have been cooking every since. Today, they are one of the largest privately owned bakeries in the world. See picture on the right of the Awrey brother's first delivery vehicle.





So what does all of this have to with the most fun you can have for two bucks? Well, every week, Awrey's takes some of the extra biscuits that didn't sell, and they make them available to the public for $2.00 per box. Yep, that's right two bux a box. OK, so what can you do with two bucks worth of old bread....... Well, you need to use your imagination a little bit...and you may need a home on the lake..... The Awrey's people call this "Bird Bread"........and Man OH Man! do the birds love it? You bet ur bippy!!!!!





Here is a video of my good neighbor, Jerry's, beautiful daughter Madison, having fun with less than $1 dollar worth of "bird bread". You'll also notice some older guys having a little fun with the bird bread too. (One of them is yours truly, the other one is by good neighbor, Jerry Woods. Click on the picture to the right to watch us having at least $100 worth of fun for 2 bucks. As you can see, Madison and I fed the birds for quite a while, as did her Dad, Jerry. Nancy, did a great job of shooting the digital video.


So, God Bless the Birds, God Bless Nancy, God Bless My Friends, And God Bless Awrey's.

Amen, and All the best,

Mike

Its Past Time to Rethink Afghanistan.....

If you really want to get a taste of how the war in Afghanistan is going you need to read the same two articles that I read today. The first one deals with a 21 year old Marine, Joshua Bernard - who made the ultimate sacrafice in this god-forsaken land called Afghanistan. The second article has to do with the lack of certainty of his leadership. In my view, General McChrystal may well be on his way to the Hall of Military Shame with General William Westmoreland, who lead our troops to disaster in Vietnam.

Joshua Bernard's father had become a vocal critic of the "rules of engagement" for US Forces in Afghanistan. Those rules severely restrict our troops ability to react to hostile fire anytime there may be civilians around. This is precisely what we should not be doing. This feable attempt at "nation building" in a nation dominated by tribal warloads is futile, and can only cost American lives and cash. You can read more about this issue here. http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/33296515/ns/us_news-military In my view, war is an all out effort. While we can try and be humane - we cannot sacrifice our soldier's lives to enemies who want to hide behind civilians. My Dad, a former Marine from both Korea and Vietnam wars taught me, "Dog's fight, Men kill one another." While not as experienced as my old man, my view is the same; War is not a game of tag or hide-and-go seek. War is played for blood; theirs and/or ours. Further, collateral damage, in terms of civilian life, is just one more butt-ugly part of war.


At a time when you may find yourself disturbed by the death of yet another brave Marine, it is still more disturbing that the US Commander on the Ground in Afghanistan, General Stanley McChrystal, admits he has grave concerns about the corruption in Afghan Government - while at the same time requesting more U.S. troops (as many as 80,000) to continue this futile effort. You can read more about the Commander's concerns here....
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/33300148/ns/world_news-south_and_central_asia
Clearly our leadership is uncertain that a positive outcome can be achieved, further it would take decades to accomplish. Finally, what would the cost be (even if we were successful) of this ridiculous effort.

For those of you who suffer decade long bouts of Attention Deficit Disorder - the previous war in Afghanistan vitually bankrupted the Soviet Union. Admittedly, the U.S. helped the Afghans stave off the Russians, but once again - the Afghan people are fighting for their "God" and their "Way of Life". Their quality of life is poor and they have little to lose; hence the suicide bombers. This was a lost cause when we started it, and we lose more every day that we risk / waste American lives and treasure in this god-forsaken primitive land.

Currently, there are estimates that it will take a number of decades to resolve the issues in Afghanistan. Hopefully, our leadership will recognize that our troops are too precious to waste on a fool's errand, like Afghanistan.

If you agree with me, tell your Senators, Congressmen, and President. If you don't agree with me, that's fine, explain yourself or go to hell! I'll see ya there.

god Bless our Troops and god help our Leaders,

All the best,

Mike