Having an apartment or house in Panama during the dry season would be great fun. Vista Mar is near the beach and the small towns of the interior of Panama that are famous for their summer fairs and Carnival festivities.

The "interior of Panama" (the interior is everything that is not within the immediate vicinty of the Panama Canal) has historically been a backwater: Panama as a country has always been a kind of city-state, all administrative  strings lead to Panama City. The "interior" was only there to feed the city labor and food; it was not really an area that many people traveled to or explored - many Panamaians know more about Miami than, say, some small town in the deep interior. And that is why the interior is such an interesting place to travel through now and see. 
More and more people are moving to Panama to enjoy the freedom the country has been experiencing over the last fifteen years - Panama for too long was considered off limits as a place to visit. Panamanians are open to foreigners; they are not ethnocentric people at all. The country is really a crossroads for people on the move. All you need to do is look at the diversity of faces in Panama and you will get an idea of the great mix of people who have settled in the country. Many of the new expatriates in Panama have joined together to create expat groups; the groups are helping new arrivals adapt and they are also a way for new arrivals to create social and business contacts. So when you move to Panama there are expat groups you can join, if you wish to, that will help you make the transition from your old home to your new home in Panama. To see more on Vista Mar Click Here to visit their web site.

Trip To Aquadulce: Sugarcane And Shrimp

On my second visit to Vista Mar I drove beyond the entrance of Vista Mar to the small town of Aguadulce. The American architect Frank Gehry is supposed to have a house here: his wife is from Panama. Aguadulce is also famous for the sugarcane fields that surround it. Sugarcane of course was brought to Aguadulce by the Spanish. Aguadulce and the nearby town of Nata are some of the oldest Spanish settlements in Latin America. In fact the church in Nata is the oldest surviving church in Latin America on the Pacific littoral – it was completed in 1522, seven years after the Spanish under Perez and Badajoz forced the then Indian leader, Nata, to give them his gold: a constant Spanish demand during the colonial period. Aguadulce became part of the Spanish conquest as well; it was known as a white Spanish town and Penonomé, another important town to the east of Nata was the Indian capital of Panama.

The Spanish turned the flatlands around Aguadulce and Nata into sugarcane plantations. Sugar was a major crop on many Latin American haciendas during the Spanish colonial period. Of course there was intense competition in sugar production and trade during the Spanish colonial period, especially from the British, French and Dutch Caribbean island colonies as well as northeastern Brazil. Slave labor was used to harvest sugarcane and when that failed in British controlled territories indentured servants from India harvested sugarcane. Sugarcane originally comes from New Guinea. From New Guinea it migrated west: to India, the Middle East and North Africa. In North Africa sugar was discovered in the area of Tripoli by Christian crusaders. In the 13th century sugar eventually replaced honey as the major sweetener in the European diet. Sugarcane is not a crop normally associated with Europe, but sugarcane was introduced in Crete, Sicily, Andalusia and Madeira. And of course from Spain sugar cane made its way to Spanish America, the Caribbean and beyond – most importantly to Fiji, Mauritius, and South Africa. Sugarcane is the world’s largest harvested crop. 

I mention sugarcane because the harvesting of sugarcane is an important part of rural life in Panama. During the dry months which run from December to April the countryside of Panama is without a male population. Most men and young boys go to the sugar mills - called Ingenio, which in English means Engine – to harvest sugarcane. Only the very young and the very old stay behind in the small hamlets that dot the dry and mountainous countryside. The young women move to the city to work as domestic servants so most of the energy of the countryside is absent during the very hot and very beautiful Panamanian summer. The men and young boys work two week shifts at the mills and then return Friday night to their families – they are driven to and from the mills, which can be located very far away from a sugarcane cutters home, in old American-style school buses. They arrive late Friday and return to the mill on Sunday and work for another two weeks. The cane is cut at night because it’s cooler. The cane is burnt before being cut: this cleans the cane and kills all the snakes and wild animals that live in the cane fields. Many cutters tie a flashlight to their head and cut from sundown to sun up. After being cut the cane has to be transported very quickly to the mill so as not to spoil. Jamaican engineers often work in the Ingenios in Panama. Sugarcane has to be the world’s worst crop to harvest and one of the most dangerous: the burning of cane fields can be very dangerous especially if someone is accidentally caught within the circle of flames. This can and has happened. Also, most cane-cutters drink heavily as a way of keeping their energy levels high. Some cutters will stay after the season and plant sugar cane - another difficult and arduous job: a piece of sugarcane is laid flat in the ground and the two ends produce the shoots from which the new cane grows.

Shrimp farming is a newer industry in Panama and one of its main exports. Beyond Aguadulce and towards the sea is an area known as Gallo (pronounced guy-yo). Gallo is made up of mostly salt flats: in the salt flats shrimp larvae is grown for export. Shrimp farming is a very complex process. I am told there are many steps in the process of feeding shrimp larvae: cow dung is fed to pigs; pig dung is then fed to Tilapia fish; Tilapia dung is then fed to shrimp larvae. The ride out to the salt flats is worth a look as the sky here is very open and the sea is nearby. There are some man-made pools that have been built into surf and during low tide you can swim in the pools.

Studying In Panama

FSU-Panama is the second oldest University in Panama. It has been operating in Panama since 1957 and offers majors in Computer Science, Environmental Studies, Information Studies, International Affairs, Interdisciplinary Program In Social Science and Latin American and Caribbean Studies. The University is located in the old U.S. Canal Zone and lies directly under the Bridge Of The Americas, the bridge that connects North America and South America. The University provides housing at a very reasonable price and tuition to the school is much less expensive than most universities in the States. Classes are in English and most students that spend their four years at the University learn Spanish. So you get Spanish as well as English as well as a U.S. recognized degree and you also stay out of the cold and get the chance to visit other countries in the region without having to travel so far. Click Here to see more about FSU-Panama

Resources:

To see more on Vista Mar visit their web site by Clicking Here

Other articles by the author:

• Lost Valley Of Panama ~ Agua de Salud
• Santa Catalina And Coiba Prison Island ~ Little Known Frontiers
• John Wayne Island ~ In An Imaginary Tropical Western
• Hiding Out In Panama - The Hotel Ideal
• Travel To Nombre de Dios ~ A Very Famous Unknown Place
• Living And Investing In Panama ~ What To Look Out For
• Looking At Property On Contadora Island ~ Exploring The History And Landscape Of An Island
• Isla Grande ~ The Lost Sides Of Isla Grande.
• An Interview With John Carlson ~ Talking With An Old Hand About Investing In Panama
• Altos del Maria - Another Look
• Carnaval 2003 - Hanging In
• Cerro Jefe ~  In An Old Cloud Forest
• Daytrips In Panama ~Looking At Real Estate And Passing Through Colon
• Deep In Veraguas - Traveling Down Backroads In Panama
• El Cope, Cocle ~ And Some Other Ideas
• On The Pacific Coast Of Panama - Traveling Through The Mountains And Beaches Of Panama
• Up On The Contential Divide And Down In The Desert ~ Hiking And Discovering Panama's Beauty
• Playa Grande - The Beauty Of A Remote Panamanian Beach
• Italy In Winter - From Rome To Venice
• Panama And Costa Rica - Thoughts On Both
• The Panama Railroad ~ Panama City To Colon
• The Chiriqui Highlands - R&R