By Sara Humphreys - The Independent

Panama's history is inextricably linked to the world's most spectacular short cut, joining the Pacific and Atlantic Oceans. Yet this slender serpentine isthmus, squeezed between Costa Rica and Colombia in the tropics, has a whole lot more to offer visitors.

Diverse natural landscapes, from cloud-forested highlands to palm-fringed islands and steaming jungle, as well as Central America's most dynamic and cosmopolitan capital city, provide ideal settings for a host of activities, including hiking, white-water rafting, scuba diving and surfing. You can also experience unique indigenous cultures, party all night, or unwind and escape the crowds.

Panama is the same size as Scotland. Its small area, combined with an efficient, inexpensive transport system (at least in the west and centre) means that you can enjoy the epicurean delights of sophisticated city living in the capital, and a couple of hours later find yourself lounging on the powdery sands of a tropical beach or tramping through rainforest along the Camino Real – the conquistadors' original booty trail. Spanish heritage is just one of numerous cultural influences in Panama, which also derive from the vast migrant workforces who built the railroad and canal between the oceans, fused with traditions of the eight indigenous peoples that survived the Conquest.

The well-preserved colonial forts and imposing customs house at Portobelo make a worthwhile day-trip from the capital. You may find it hard to imagine how this now-deprived town was one of the richest ports in the "New World" during the 17th century. Its rich spoils, bound for the coffers of the Spanish Crown, attracted the interest of pirates and buccaneers such as Henry Morgan (he of rum fame) and Sir Francis Drake – whose submerged coffin supposedly lies offshore.

Across the isthmus on the Azuero Peninsula, in the quaint towns of Guararé, Parita, Las Tablas and La Villa, Spanish colonial heritage is at its most visible and vibrant. There are terracotta-tiled houses and whitewashed churches, plus cattle-ranching and colourful folk festivals, accompanied by foot-tapping melodies, flamboyant traditional costumes and lashings of seco, the country's national tipple (distilled from sugar).

Colonialism did not end when the Spanish left. Everything in Panama is defined in terms of its relation to the canal that connects the world's greatest oceans. Until a decade ago the canal plus a strip of territory on either side was administered as an outpost of the US, and tension with America has been a feature of Panama since the country was born in 1903 (before that, it was a region of Colombia).

Today, you spend US dollars with locally minted coins to maintain the fiction that the Panamanian Balboa is a distinct currency.

In 1989, Operation Just Cause saw 27,000 heavily armed US troops land in Panama City to topple the dictator, Manuel Noriega, whose connections with Colombian cocaine cartels and involvement with the CIA had become an embarrassment to the US government. Though most Panamanians were glad to be rid of Noriega, the huge civilian casualties and destruction of vast chunks of the city did little to improve Panamanian-US relations.

One effect of the conflict is that American tourists have been slow to take advantage of Panama's many alluring dimensions, making the country much less developed than neighbouring Costa Rica. Outside the capital and the tourist hotspots of Bocas del Toro and Boquete, English is rarely spoken.

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A plan to extend the Cinta Costera all the way to the Bio-Diversity Museum in Amador goes hand in hand with a new land fill in the bay just off El Chorillo. There, a brand new world-class convention center with hotels, green areas, a shopping village and theater will round off this site as an international convention and business destination. The ambitious project, with 15,000 m2 of exhibition space will be comparable to other major convention centers like the ones in San Juan, Puerto Rico and Chicago.

Skidmore Owings and Merrill has designed the world-class convention center, the same company who designed the Government Financial Tower to be built on the site of the former U.S. Embassy on Balboa Avenue.

One of the ATP’s central goals is to bring convention, business and meeting tourism to Panama. And given the country’s strategic location, airport connectivity, lack of need for a visa such as is required for traditional convention destinations like Miami and the US dollar, the country stands to make a great deal of money in this niche. But the ATLAPA Convention Center located in San Francisco cannot handle the demand that will be put on the country for this kind of business.

The new $200 million dollar convention center is in line with the government’s plan to extend the Cinta Costera to Amador, giving easy acces to the convention center. Construction should begin next year and be finished in 2013. Part of the financing will come from the sale of part of the 62 hectare fill.

By Tyler Ramos - Panama in Sight

Like many vacationers, humpback whales travel from the icy north to the warmth of the tropics each year. Their 4,000 mile migration, the longest made by any animal, takes the humpbacks from their arctic feeding grounds to their tropical mating grounds for much of the year. October and November are the height of the whale watching season in Panama.

Humpback males truly enjoy their vacations and can be heard singing elaborate songs and seen putting on a spectacular show of jumps and twists – all to attract the best mate. The following year, females return to give birth and fatten up their newborn calves. Baby humpbacks already weigh 2,000 lbs at birth, but they are born with very little body fat and spend the temperate months drinking over one hundred gallons of milk a day and growing strong enough to make the long return journey.

Once nearly extinct, there are now almost 20,000 Pacific humpback whales – just one of 20 whale species that can be found in the Gulf of Chiriquí. The increase of whale watching tours not only means great things for Panama tourism, but also for the whales. Despite the international moratorium on whaling, endangered species are still hunted by the thousands each year, but new studies show that they are worth more alive than dead. Discovery News reported that 13 million eco-tourists paid to see the animals in their natural element, fueling a $2-billion industry in 2009.

John Haines has been drawing and painting since early childhood. During the last half century, he has exhibited in the United States and Panama and has won prizes for his works in both countries. Two Panamanian newspapers have published feature articles on his paintings.

Haines paints primarily in oils and his works usually focus on the men, women and children of Panama as they go about their daily lives. Many include detailed studies of the faces of his subjects. "Faces are what really fascinate me," says Haines. "If you look closely, you can see the country's culture and history reflected there." Recently, he has also produced a collection of landscapes depicting a sampling of the diverse scenery found in Panama.

Although he receives many offers for his work, Haines continues to consider his painting a hobby--"I am, after all, retired," he notes--and thus rarely accepts commissions. "Mostly, I like to paint what catches my eye, and that might be a little different from what others consider to be the perfect subject for a painting."

Visit John Haines website for more information.