Panama City: The Old, the New, and the Canal

Dan Segal

After waiting 20 minutes outside the Panama airport, our guide, Mario, finally arrived to take us to our hotel. He happily explained in his broken English that the van had broken down, but we shouldn’t worry because his coworker (and father) was going to pick us up soon and get us to where we needed to be. 

I was surprised by the waterfront, which was reminiscent of South Beach, brimming with skyscrapers and palm trees. I was also confounded by Mario, who looked 20 years younger than he actually was.  He simply attributed his looks to “living the good life,” advice clearly handed down from generation to generation. His father looked 50 despite approaching 75.

Panama is a city in transition. As we admired the myriad of lights at sea created by ships waiting to enter the canal, Mario’s father informed us that Panama had only gained control of the canal from the United States 15 years ago. Since then, the city has rapidly developed. The new high-rise buildings stand next to old brick apartments.  The new facades are in stark contrast to the structures around them, which resemble the old-world image of Panama that typically comes to mind.

Perhaps nowhere is this juxtaposition more obvious than in the Old Quarter. In 1671, a pirate named Henry Morgan drove the Spanish from their initial settlement to what is now the Old Quarter, or Casco Viejo. Years later, the French also settled in the area as the construction of the canal began. The mixing of these two cultures created a beautiful new form of architecture.  Picturesque homes with classic Spanish colonial features boast French accents, most notably iron balconies similar to the famous porticoes of New Orleans. Currently, the neighborhood is experiencing a wave of restoration, which has adjoined renewed buildings and popular nightclubs with shuttered doors and boarded windows.

As for the Panama Canal itself, the site is an engineer’s paradise. The process of getting a boat from the Atlantic to the Pacific is truly one of the peaks of structural engineering.  To the layman, boats simply wade through one water chamber to the next and small train cars pull cargo ships through the different sections of the canal, but the sheer amount of labor and engineering brilliance that went into this canal deserves its due. A museum documents the construction and use of the canal. Historically, the most important point to remember is that the French died in large quantities and gave up before the construction was complete, and the United States later took control and completed the process.  It is truly a modern wonder.

Dan is a junior Business major from Livingston, New Jersey. A self-proclaimed history geek, cinephile, and avid traveler; he aims to walk away from every new destination with a good sense of the cuisine and a great story. He once jumped off of a moving train at the wrong station.