Chapter Six
Antigua to Colon, Panama
With the formalisation of the new NAFTA (North Atlantic Free Trade Agreement) Treaty recently agreed upon by Canadians, Mexicans and people from the United States, ie. all North Americans, and other similar economic trade treaties currently being discussed between other nations from both North and South America, as well as the relative peace in El Salvador and Nicaragua, it has become very much easier to travel through Central America. With Soviet support, the rebel guerilla forces who were fighting in Central America not only for democracy and freedom, but also for education and housing for the poor of the Central American countries, stood a fighting chance against the imposing influence of the government of the United States backing puppet Presidents. With the cold war terminated and with the break-up of the Soviet Union, the fighting seems to have stopped. Whether this will be a long term result remains to be seen. Meanwhile the people of those countries continue to strive for a better quality of life.
Having passed through these countries and Honduras without any mishap, I arrived in Costa Rica. This unique Central American country is one of the more pleasant countries to visit in this region, as there is no army, and all is quite peaceful. The mountains are covered with coffee and sugar plantations, in addition to the magnificent natural tropical rainforests which cover the Cordilleras. The splendid beaches are idyllically picturesque. One such beach on the Pacific Ocean side, Playa Manuel Antonio, located at the end of a dirt road, attracts many visitors. Monkeys can be seen jumping from tree to tree close to the shore. Locals come every week-end and during vacations to relax and enjoy their captivating coastline. There are several white sandy beaches with palm trees swaying gently in the ocean breeze to choose from, each separated by small peninsulas covered by lush tropical jungle with paths leading through the forests connecting them. After spending ten glorious days relaxing on these superb beaches, I crossed the cordilleras to the Caribbean side to Cahuita which is situated almost at the border with Panama. Once again, along this coastline one notices mostly black populations living in the towns, remnants from the slaving days. Cahuita is a pleasant town to visit with the beautiful coral reefs of the Caribbean lying close to shore, enabling divers to snorkel or scuba dive directly from the beach. Paths along the palm covered shoreline provide easy access.From Costa Rica, I crossed the border and entered Panama and drove south along the Pan American Highway, finally crossing the Thatcher Ferry Bridge across the Panama Canal, where in the distance I could see ships entering the Miraflores Locks. This artificial waterway enables ships to travel between Atlantic and Pacific ports without sailing around South America, saving a distance of more than 7,800 miles (12,600) kilometres and ranks as one of the greatest engineering achievements in the world. My arrival at Panama City signified the completion of my journey through North America and gave me a tremendous sense of achievement. After visiting Old Panama City (Panama Vieja) the Spanish colonial city made rich from the passing wealth of the silver trade with Bolivia and looted and plundered by Henry Morgan, that dour and fiery pirate later made Sir, I crossed the Cordilleras again, this time to Colon, located on the Caribbean side of the Panama Canal. I had visited Colon eighteen years earlier, while I was taking passage on the "Australis" which was sailing through the canal. The ship stopped briefly at this port before it sailed to Fort Lauderdale, Florida. The town was then considerably busier with most of the passenger ships stopping there. Today cruise ships bypass the town and go directly into the canal locks. The town now shows signs of disrepair and has a seediness that probably does not appeal to many cruise ship passengers.The only means with which I could cross over to South America with the van, was by taking a tramp steamer belonging to Mitchell Lines, to the Colombian island of San Andreas. Much bureaucratic paperwork had to be taken care of before I could transfer the van to a second tramp steamer which would transport it to Cartagena, on mainland Colombia. The companies which own these vessels have a monopoly in this trade. The cost of the two passages, therefore, came to approximately US$1000. Patience was required, as the boats sailed only when there was a full load. There was another alternative to transport the vehicle to South America. It was possible to take a container ship from Panama City to Buenaventura, on the north-west coast of Colombia on the Pacific Ocean side, or from Colon to Barranquilla, on the north-east coast of Colombia on the Caribbean Sea side. Due to international regulations, passengers are not normally permitted to accompany their vehicles on these scheduled Line services and they must, therefore, fly to these ports. These passages can be arranged at Panama City or in Colon and normally do not require a great deal of waiting time.
For one reason or another, probably politics, a road has not been constructed to connect South America to North America. Apparently there is no direct trade agreement between Panama and the Colombian mainland, also probably due to politics. In 1819, after Simon Bolivar (born: Caracas 1783) and his army helped gain independence for the people of the northern part of South America from the Spanish yoke, he federated Venezuela, the Presidency of Quito (Ecuador) and New Granada (Colombia) into one country called Gran Colombia. In 1821 Panama became a province of this federation. After some years this federation crumbled allowing each of these countries to gain their own independence. The United States indicated her interest by writing up the Monroe Doctrine of 1823 that was to maintain a Latin America free from European interference. During the gold rush of California in 1848, people from the Eastern United States sailed to Panama, crossed the isthmus to the Pacific, and then sailed for the goldfields. Businessmen from the United States built a railroad across Panama to speed up passage across the isthmus. Eventually in 1903 when Colombia refused an offer to allow the U.S. to build a canal across Panama, revolts were staged for Panama to gain its independence from Colombia. As a result relations between Panama and Colombia remain strained.