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Every
year, thousands of cruise passengers transit the Panama Canal.
The eighth manmade wonder of the world holds a magical fascination
for those who traverse the 50-mile waterway of intricate locks
linking two oceans. But because few cruise ships stop in Panama,
most never see the country’s enchanting rainforests, misty
highland volcanoes, and colorful Indian cultures. For nature
lovers, Panama’s untouched wild places, rich in flora and
fauna, flourish just outside Panama City.
 I
began my adventure in Panama in Soberania National Park. Just
a half-hour drive from Panama City, the park is in one of
Panama’s premier birding regions, with more than 225 species.
As I walked down Plantation Road, a troop of friendly tropical
coati, raccoon-like creatures with long noses and tails, brazenly
surrounded me looking for a handout. “The Air Force staff
used to feed them,” explained our guide, a former poacher.
The Semaphore
Hill Radar tower, built in 1965 by the U.S. Air Force to monitor
the skies for drug-smuggling planes, is nestled in the heart
of the national park. Today, this silo-like structure, still
posted “U.S. Military Personnel Only” is now a hilltop rainforest
inn—the Canopy Tower.
The hotel
has five levels, offering multi- layered perspectives of the
rainforest. On the rooftop observatory I watched eagles and
hawks glide on currents. From this vantage point, I had a
clear but distant view of the Pacific entrance to the Panama
Canal, and I spotted big ships on the horizon lining up to
enter the Gaillard Cut. But it’s the birds that most people
come to see, and the Canopy Tower features the best seats
in the house. Lulled to sleep by cicadas, I woke to the chatter
of morning birds and monkeys outside my wall-to-wall window,
eye-level with the treetops. For those who wouldn’t dream
of missing an Audubon moment, the bathrooms sport a handy
binocular hook outside the shower.
The
outdoors streams into common areas of the hotel, as well.
The top of the tower, a 30-foot-high geotangent dome, serves
as the dining room. Guests come to meals armed with field
guides and binoculars, in order to better scan the trees through
panoramic wraparound windows.
For
those visitors who can’t tell a toucan from a motmot, the
Soberania National Park offers more than birdwatching opportunities.
It’s a great place to find a dazzling spectrum of butterflies
and moths, not to mention animals such as the coati, anteaters,
and capuchin and howler monkeys. The park is also a great
base for touring other surrounding attractions.
Like
jewels tossed into the turquoise waters of the Caribbean,
more than 350 tiny islands make up the San Blas archipelago,
home to native Kuna settlements. Although they cling to many
of their traditional ways, the Kuna are quite entrepreneurial
and encourage tourists to explore nearby uninhabited islands
by dugout canoe, visit traditional houses (bohios) with palm-thatched
roof and cane walls, and observe daily life firsthand. Kuna
men net fish on the reefs and tend small coconut and crop
farms on the mainland. Visitors are treated to fresh-cooked
harvests from the sea of lobster, crab, octopus, and fish.
The Kuna
wear traditional colorful clothes and women adorn their ears
and noses with giant gold hoops. It is fascinating to watch
women creating molas, Panama’s trademark native craft. The
process involves stitching together layers of colorful cloth
and cutting and sewing intricate and abstract geometric designs.
Common motifs are fish, animals, and icons of the 20th century,
such as Coca-Cola or product logos. Molas and other handicrafts
such as carved tagua (ivory nut) seeds are great buys here.
The tribe is self-governing and politically independent with
strict laws protecting the reefs, rainforests, and natural
habitat. The Kuna also have good negotiating skills and will
ask for money if you want to take a picture.
Six of
Panama’s indigenous groups still maintain their distinctive
cultures and traditions. The Embera, originally from farther
south in the Darien province, have migrated to the riverbanks
of Chagres National Park near Panama City. Traveling up the
Chagres River by dugout canoe, I tried not to notice that
my Embera guide, dressed in a guayuco (loincloth) and beads,
isn’t covered up on the back end.
The river provides water for the Canal and Panama City, but
I feel I’ve stepped back in time, light-years from civilization.
Several bare-breasted women, who tattoo their bodies in bold
patterns with the juice of a rainforest plant, laughed when
I tried to get out of the unsteady canoe. Kids and dogs ran
ahead and chickens scattered along the well-worn path to a
cluster of stilted thatched huts. The Embera hunt, fish, and
grow crops much as their ancestors did when Christopher Columbus
discovered the region.
In Panama, it is still possible to find nature and cultures
that have changed little since this new world was first discovered.
Panama’s wild places are worth exploring now, before Central
America’s best-kept secret gets out.
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KNOW
BEFORE YOU GO
Best
time to visit.
Unless you really like rain, schedule a trip between
mid-December through April. It’ll still be hot and humid,
though evenings may require a light sweater. Bird-lovers
should come between February and May, when spring migrations
bring varied species of birds.
What
to eat.
The national dish is sancocho, a meat and vegetable
stew with a kick. Yucca is a plant-based staple found
in dishes such as carimanola, yucca and pork, and ropa
vieja, minced beef over yucca. Be sure to sample the
abundant variety of seafood dishes, too.
What
to pack.
Dollar bills. You’ll need them to pay for all
the photos you’ll want to take of San Blas residents.
Insect repellent.
The closer you get to rainy season, the “buggier” it
gets.
Sunscreen and a hat.
The sun is powerful near the Equator.
Binoculars.
Whether you want to watch for birds or get a close-up
of the Canal.
Earplugs. If you plan to sleep late at the Canopy
Tower, that is. The howler monkeys are hard to drown
out.
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ABOUT
THE PANAMA CANAL
The
United States will hand over control of the Panama Canal
to Panamanian government on the last day of December
1999.
The
Panama Canal is 50 miles long and it takes an average
ship seven to nine hours to transit the locks between
the Atlantic and the Pacific Oceans.
Ships
are lifted 85 feet through three sets of locks (each
1,000 feet long and 110 feet wide) to the level of Gatun
Lake, one of the largest manmade lake in the world.
An
average toll for ships using the Canal is $30,000. The
Crown Princess paid the highest Canal toll; her transit
cost $141,344.97.
Richard Halliburton, who swam the Canal in 1926, was
charged 36 cents, the lowest toll, after his displacement
tonnage was calculated.
Slicing through the Continental Divide, the 8-mile Gaillard
Cut, carved through rock and shale, suffered devastating
slides during construction and soon after the Canal
opened. This Canal section resembles an enormous ditch,
therefore the Canal’s nickname, “The Big Ditch.”
Under
the direction of Theodore Roosevelt, the Panama Canal
was completed in 1914.
It
took 10 years, the labor of more than 75,000 men and
women, and almost $400 million to complete this engineering
triumph. Intrigued with Panama? Choose to cruise before,
during, or after the hand-over of the Canal.
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