For over five hundred years Panama has been fought over, its culture destroyed, only to be rebuilt, forged and hardened, like the best steel, by the fires of greed and cruelty. This was true with early conquistadors like Captain Pedro Arias de Avila, who was largely responsible for stopping the worship of Paquo Meecho, a jungle god. The bush people believed he gave his children gifts of sunshine and flowers, and the soft pattering music of raindrops on the water lilies. He filled the streams with fish and loaded every tree with fruit like mangos and avocadoes. In the forest roamed wild game, and through the trees you could hear the echo of his voice like a song and the palm trees swayed to his every command.
Arias destroyed the village and alter used to worship Paquo Meecho, and he killed the High Priest. Legends say that from that point on, nothing could ever be built on that piece of real estate and last. But Arias tried. He built another village, this one made of stone and Panama City was born. Decades later, this “jewel of Spain” was destroyed by the Buccaneer Henry Morgan, and the village was moved several miles down the coast.
For centuries the remnants of what then became known as Panama Viejo has withstood Pacific rain and tropical sun. It was still there in 1989 when a modern day pirate by the name of General Antonio Noriega built an army outpost that was destroyed during the US invasion in December of that year. You can walk among these very ruins and see the old cathedral, the Bishop’s House, plazas, and storage areas for food and gold.
When you do come here to this exact spot, it’s hard not to feel something.
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