Lonely Planet is not really up on Colon at all; it warns of almost guaranteed mugging for people who visit. Upon arriving on a local bus (I couldn't find the express bus stop), it was obvious that there were many masses of people sitting around in very dingy old caribbean colonial style buildings, with little to do except perhaps swarm and rob a foreigner. It is easy to pick them out of the crowd.

There is something noticeable here - two hours away, maybe seventy-five kilometres from the Pacific Ocean, and the atmosphere is different. I am now close to the Caribbean sea. Colon reminds me of the worst parts of Port-Au-Prince; except there is nothing worth seeing in Colon, aside from Destitution.



Around Colon, though, are some interesting things. The canal's largest locks, the Gatun locks, are a five dollar taxi ride away. The security guards spoke to my taxi driver in spanish - then a guard turned to me and said "he'll pick you up in one hour," in an American accent. They search bags before you're allowed to go to the viewing platform. "Is that a camera?" another American accent asked me. Security of the locks, courtesy of Uncle Sam - always.





The locks are, well, maybe are sort of, well actually - not quite. Interesting to look at, that is. It's kind of..... 'neat' to see them in action, watching the water in two chambers level out with a gigantic ship in it, but... I kept on thinking of the Simpsons episode where Bart's class is taken to the box factory. Perhaps there's one in a crowd who would really be into it, but for most people it would be a rather boring thing to visit.
For me, though, staring at the scenery was a good opportunity to ponder the political implications of this structure: The United States, having created the canal and the sole power behind protecting it, controls a vital route which can be denied to anyone uncooperative - although they have ratified treaties against closing the canal to any nation, the U.S. has shown the world that it will ignore its treaties if necessary to protect its national interests.
And Panama needs to be grateful to the U.S. for the canal - without it the country would just be a winding strip of perilous jungle.
With the creation of the canal, and the lagoon which was flooded and the tracts of land cleared away for the waterway to exist, the geographic divide between the land masses of the two Americas became complete. A body of water now splits the country in two, and also unifies it as the central reason for Panama's moderate success as a nation - albeit a nation under the all too close control of the U.S. Despite the lack of a national paper money, there is a nationalism here - people love their little Panamanian flags. But people also adore their Americanized world.
So as a symbol, the canal is worth seeing - but in practice, it's not much to look at, although the views are nice from the viewing platform.

Back to Colon by taxi, and then to Portobelo by bus. This town is tiny - but the road snakes along the Caribbean seaside for part of the way, which is nice. It's interesting to note that the Caribbean sea, well, just feels different than the Pacific Ocean. The smaller waves, lighter water... is it sunnier on this coast? The foliage seems more lush. Maybe it's just me.




There are a few very nice sights in the town - the church, with the black Christ figure; the ruined church behind it; and most impressive of all, the Fort of San Jerome, overlooking the sea.




Well preserved and beautiful against the caribbean inlet, the fort is small and quiet. Watch the locals cross a small bay by boat. Look out over the sea at the fishing boats, and look at the mound of dirt on top of a hilltop that LP calls a 'very well-preserved fort'. I didn't know old Spanish forts looked like mounds of dirt. But the little enclave with the church and the fort is relaxing; there are also diving companies who operate up here, and they have the only hotels in town. I headed back to Colon.





After marvelling at the raw power of being in a town like Colon, and doing it from a bus window, I headed back to Panama City. I saw a man snatch a purse from a woman at night - luckily, some guys chased him. This shows that the Panamanians don't think crime has a place in their society, which is good.

To David

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