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