December 22, 2012
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| The gold altar |
Our last day in Panama City was sunny and hot. Although it would
have been nice to hang out at the Trump infinity pool we had booked a full day
city and canal tour. We were glad that we went back to Casco Viejo, because as
Elliott said, “it tied together some of the missing details.” We got to enter the San Jose Church, which has a gold altar. It is famous because the priests covered it with mud to avoid looting by the pirate Henry Morgan.
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| The main cathedral of Panama City |
We then went to the Plaza Catedral, the spiritual and political center of the country.
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| Ruben Blades's renovated home |
Our guide,
Gustavo, told us that all renovated buildings in the Casco Viejo have to
maintain the historic exterior and for this, the building owners get tremendous
tax credits. The Panamanian government got gang members off the streets by
giving them jobs in construction. The beautiful peach-colored home in the photo is
owned by the famous salsa artist Ruben Blades.
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| The horizontal arch |
The horizontal arch in the photo
is important because, by remaining stable over years it proved that Panama was
not subject to volcanoes. This was a key factor in the decision to
build the canal in Panama and not Nicaragua.
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