On The Road – Mark Painter – Panama City – Getting Acquainted

Panama City at dusk, as seen from my hotel room, with the moon in the sky. Panama City reputedly has more skyscrapers than any other Latin American City. Night falls early and fast in the tropics, which kept fooling me. Where I come from, if the temperature is in the 80s, you can expect sunlight until 8:30. Not so in Panama!

My first face-to-face meeting with Laurie was at a sidewalk bar. Now, I can speak decent, but not great, Spanish. Laurie ordered a cocktail and I didn’t understand a word of it, so when the server turned to me, I thought fast and said, “Lo mismo.” (“The same.”) What came were margaritas, but made with starfruit juice instead of lime juice. It was good!

The most distinctive building in Panama City is the F&F Tower, known to the locals as “El Tornillo,” (“The Screw”).

I am told that most Panamanians will grudgingly admit that the US invasion of 1989 ended a military dictatorship and restored a semblance of democracy, but many people are unhappy about it, as this wall art in Panama City demonstrates.

December 8 is Mother’s Day in Panama, and it is a BFD. Schools and offices are closed and everyone gets together for a big family dinner to honor Mom. Think our Mother’s Day and our Thanksgiving combined. Laurie was busy with his own family, and most things in Panama City were closed that day. Fortunately for me, the Panamanian Museum of Contemporary Art was open.

January 9 is Martyrs’ Day in Panama, in remembrance of an incident on January 9, 1964, in which Panamanian students attempted to raise a Panamanian flag in the Canal Zone. They scuffled with Canal Zone police and the flag was torn, which led to violence, which led to three days of rioting, in which 24 Panamanians and 4 Americans were killed. The USA was condemned internationally, and it became clear (if it wasn’t already) that US control over the canal could not continue indefinitely.

This monument commemorates those events. It stands near Panama’s Legislative Assembly building, where the border between Panama City and the Canal Zone used to lie.

I was in Panama in early December, just in time to watch Christmas decorations go up. I experienced some cognitive dissonance at the sight of such decorations as an inflatable polar bear under a palm tree. This private home, just a block from my hotel, went all out with a life-size manger scene on the sidewalk. Impressive, but it did create a pedestrian bottleneck.

You may have noticed that my friend Laurie is Black. Afro-Panamanians make up 9% of the nation’s population; most of them live in Panama City or Colón. Many are descended from Black Antilleans from the British West Indies who came to Panama as laborers on the canal project. Sad to say, it was the heyday of segregation, and Americans brought segregation to the canal project.

After the canal was finished, many Afro-Antilleans chose to remain in Panama. There was a lot of friction. The newcomers were English-speaking Protestants in a Spanish-speaking Catholic country. They were accused of being clannish, of refusing to speak Spanish or embrace Panamanian culture. (Any of this sound familiar?)

The Afro-Antilleans have largely assimilated, although you can still tell them by their English surnames. (Laurie has English surnames.) Today’s Panama has come a long way in race relations, though there is still much work to do.

I visited the Afro-Antillean Museum in Panama City to reflect on this history. It is housed in a small building that used to be a Protestant chapel built by Afro-Antilleans. This exhibit explains the history of the building.

Dawn comes to Panama City as the sun rises over the Pacific Ocean, a rare sight in the Western Hemisphere. (Think about it.)

Laurie and I parting ways as I leave for home.