Panama has enjoyed boom times in recent years. The challenge now is to balance the expansion of its world-famous canal with preservation of environmental riches. Richard McColl reports
The Pipeline Road. It is an unimaginative name for a spectacular route – a thoroughfare carved through dense, verdant canopies of lush rainforest that catch the ample precipitation that falls during nine sodden months of the year, maintaining the smooth functioning of the Panama Canal. That is not all, for this is also one of the most awe-inspiring sites from which to view the abundance of bird life that makes its home in this small Central American country.
Birders rave about this famed road, only 40 minutes from downtown Panama City, close to the town of Gamboa, cut through a seemingly impenetrable green tangle. It is not hard to see why. With a knowledgeable local guide, even the untrained visitor or novice twitcher can spot up to 300 species in a day within the Soberania National Park. The record, set back in 1985, is an astonishing 450 species in 24 hours. My expectations are high.
Nearby, along the fringes of the Canal Zone, in particular, those areas undergoing a complete makeover for the expansion project – hopefully to be completed in 2014, showing a pleasant Jungian synchronicity in occurring 100 years after the canal’s inauguration in 1914 – the Panama Canal Authority (ACP) and Pan-American Conservation Association (APPC) have made the rescue and relocation of the fauna affected here a priority. But not everyone is content, in particular my guide.
Carmela Luciano of the Fundacion Avifauna says: ‘The canal is the heart of Panama and there’s nothing we can do to change that. There’s no doubt we are seeing a migration of harassed fauna due to the expansion of the canal.’
We pause for a moment to allow a family of coati (a relative of the raccoon) to pass in front of us on the Pipeline Road. Later, from a 40m viewing tower, we spot a notoriously rare and strikingly resplendent blue catinga and then are lucky enough to see a young harpy eagle, Panama’s national bird. All this within three short hours. The Pipeline Road delivers once again.
The expansion programme, approved by Panamanian voters in a 2006 referendum, will enable the canal to surpass its present capacity, allowing greater maritime juggernauts to use the 80km channel that connects the Pacific to the Atlantic and increase the percentage of world trade that journeys through these waters.
But, it is not the relocation of venomous reptilia irritable at the disappearance of their habitat that has workers from the ACP worried. It is another, altogether unaccounted for, problem that in turn has become something of an incongruous benefit to the canal expansion project. Apparently, when the US authorities handed over control of the canal to the Panamanians on 31 December 1999, they did not fulfil all of their agreed commitments and left the Panamanians with some nasty surprises in the shape of UXOs or unexploded ordnances.
According to Rodolfo Sabonge, vice-president of the Office of Market Research and Analysis for the ACP, there is an unknown quantity of unexploded munitions left by the US military, most likely from training exercises. ‘These UXOs have become an indirect benefit to us and the expansion project since the land affected by these munitions was essentially unusable, even for reforestation.
‘There is a visible push to make Panama a green country; this was evident in the handover of the canal from the US when the country enjoyed something of a philosophical change.
We took over and started to apply an environmental analysis that hadn’t existed during any period of the previous regime.’
Fascinating natural and man-made features aside, there are the perhaps notso-tall tales to pique one’s ‘Unexploded ordnance has become an indirect benefit to the canal project, since the land affected by it was essentially unusable, even for reforestation.’ interest, regarding the disgraced former military dictator Manuel Noriega, currently jailed in the US on drug trafficking charges. If there is a stumbling block to the country’s future progress it is possibly the existence of two Panamas – one shiny and élite, the other poverty stricken.
The political and chattering classes desperately want to transcend Panama’s infamous money laundering and narco-trafficking past. To some extent they are managing this, pointing at the luxury buildings, employment numbers and modern vehicles that clog the city’s main arteries. Sitting here in the leafy confines of Balboa – a residential neighbourhood in western Panama City that resembles something of a Floridian suburb with well-tended lawns, brightly painted picket fences and sparkling new cars – I can understand the confidence that a rising middle class of Panamanians undoubtedly feel.
However, these images are certainly a far cry from the down-at-heel areas of Chorrillo and Curundu and the impoverished Caribbean city of Colon, where the outlook is decidedly less hopeful. Citizens are wary of politicians and empty promises. ‘The canal makes the money and how do the rest of us benefit?’ said one weary taxi driver before warning me against walking even a block in downtown Colon; a piece of advice at which I first scoffed, and then, seeing the city, heeded carefully.
In a trip from my hotel, a former headquarters of the military School of the Americas – which, before moving to Georgia, was responsible for producing some nefarious characters trained by and for the US to combat Cold War opponents – to the Free Trade Zone in Colon, we passed decayed buildings and abandoned dwellings… not areas for the casual visitor.
Despite the disparities seen throughout the country, from the ancient yet brightly painted Diablo Rojo (former US school buses) that transport the public, to the differences between the gated expatriate communities in Boquete in the west near Costa Rica and the surfer haunts on the Caribbean islands of the Bocas del Toro, one cannot deny that change is occurring in Panama.
There is a belief that the country’s struggles are finally paying off, leading one economist boldly to declare that if Panama’s growth were to continue at 7-7.5 per cent over the next 10 years, the country would cease to be a developing one and evolve into a fully fledged developed country.
This conviction and hope has to extend from the income that is brought to the country by its pulse, the canal, a business that despite being Panamanian in name can really not be touched by any ruling political party. The untouchables of the ACP are seen as profiting from the changes made to the 1994 amendment to the constitution that resulted in the canal being vaccinated against any political malaise.
Blink and you might miss it in the foreign pages of the international media, but the small, environmentally diverse and economically booming Panama is awash with election frenzy. First there are the party primaries for the ruling Democratic Revolutionary Party (PRD) and the fractured opposition in early September to be followed in May 2009 by the presidential election.
Billboards with images of airbrushed political figures tower overhead in the capital’s congested centre, moustachioed delegates smile and hold their vote-winning poses from placards festooning traffic lights and in poorer sections of the city, slogans are painted elegantly onto apartment buildings and ramshackle houses alike.
This sliver on the map in the centre of the Americas merits far more than a few lines in a column. Certainly, any election results will have global implications given the importance of the canal and of course the nature of the country as a retirement destination and eco-tourism centre.
So, when the opportunity presents itself for me to meet one of the billboard figures in the flesh I am delighted. Imagine my surprise to find that Roberto ‘Bobby’ Velasquez Abood, the 42-year-old doctor and mayoral candidate for Panama City for the PRD looks just like his cardboard image – earnest, honest and interested.
Abood is an engaging and tireless individual clearly at one with the world of politics. He speaks of his desire to make Panama City a ‘friendly, comfortable and environmental place, not only for visitors but for Panamanians as well’.
I mention Panama’s skyline, which in the eight years since my last visit has metamorphosed into something vaguely similar to Manhattan. Towering skyscrapers and condominium blocks aimed at foreign investors and North American retirees interrupt formerly unspoilt views of the Pacific.
Abood is in no doubt that unheralded growth seen in past years in Panama is on the wane. ‘The boom is going to finish, but we have to be honest. This growth has provided 185,000 new formal jobs, and in a country of just over 3 million, that is pretty astonishing. I realise that if I am elected into office I am going to have to deal with the economic slowdown.’
His emphasis on an environmentally friendly city is impressive. If he can lead the way in the capital then surely the nation can follow and places like Soberania with its exquisite flora and fauna will remain safe.
There is a long way to go; Panama has fought against the tide of rampant corruption and money laundering and is working towards a more transparent goal. Can this new generation of politicians, canal expansion programmes, eco tourists and baby boomer retirees bridge the gap between old and new, wealthy and poor, to create a united Panama?
PANAMA FACTS
Population of Panama City:
1.1 million Getting around – The famed Diablo Rojo buses cost 25¢ for a single journey, but far more secure and reliable are the abundant taxis. Daytime journeys cost in the region of $1.50 and at night this increases somewhat. Be warned, often taxis can be shared with other fares. www.panamainfo.com www.panama-guide.com
HOW TO GET THERE
From the US, Copa and Continental Airlines have direct flights from a variety of locations. American and Delta fly to Panama from their respective hubs of Miami and Atlanta. From Europe, KLM flies direct from Holland, British Airways, Continental and Air France connect with flights in the US.
WHERE TO STAY
La Estancia, an immaculately run B&B on the side of the Cerro Ancon hill overlooking the canal. www.bedandbreakfastpanama.com
The new Balboa Inn, found at the heart of the former US-run Canal Zone, is a clean, efficient and well-run B&B in a secure and pleasant leafy neighbourhood. http://www.ilisa.com/panama/balboa/index.htm
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