The Lost Paradise of Panamá

This post contains pictures with close-up views of some of the sights you may see (or may have missed) while visiting Isla Taboga. For more information, please visit the Isla Taboga Gallery in the PAGES section, and also the many articles that are posted under Isla Taboga in the CATEGORIES section of this blog.

This is the Church of San Pedro built around 1524, and reported to be the second oldest church still in use in the western hemisphere. On this day, construction workers were repairing the concrete in front of the church. The plaza area is often used as a playground. Click here to see the church several decades ago.

This is a close-up of the statue of Mother Mary and Baby Jesus over the main entrance. Note the light which is used for night viewing. Click  here to see the statue at night.

This is the clock that’s above the statue. I can’t tell you how many times I’ve walked past this church and never noticed it. The clock hasn’t worked for years, and it will probably remain that way, frozen at 5:35. Besides, who on Taboga needs a clock?

Continue reading…

Along the Interamericana, and Panama’s highways and back roads, are many restaurants and vendor stands. They sell mainly home-made food and hand-made items. There’s fast-food in some of Panama’s cities, but for the most part, you need to order and wait. In some places you can watch the meat being cooked and pick out the piece of chicken or beef you want.

That’s what we did in the below picture. Just around the corner was a video game where you could play the role of a rooster fighting another. On a small, fuzzy screen nearby were the taped fights of real roosters. I’m not advocating this, but be prepared when you go off the beaten path to see things you may not be accustomed to.

October 3 is the 16th anniversary of the battle in Mogadishu, Somalia. Several members of Task Force Ranger were killed and wounded. 

On October 1st of this year, the 2nd Ranger Battalion celebrated its 35th Anniversary. Previously, there had been ranger companies assigned to larger units. In 1974, Gen. Abrams consolidated those companies into battalions, the first one being formed at Hunter Army Airfield in January. Its commander was Ltc. K.C. Leuer, (later a Major General). The last time I saw the good general he was a brigadier. I was on a helicopter that was going to a secure location at Ft. Sherman, and from there to the USS Saipan, and then Nicaragua. It was the fall of the Somoza’s and the rise of the Sandanistas. I was checking the pins on my frags, making sure they were spread out. Only moments before one of our guys had thrown a grenade in the dayroom and we were a little spooked. Thankfully for a safety clip, that grenade didn’t go off. Gen. Leuer is still with the ranger community and serves as Chairman of the National Ranger Memorial Foundation (NRMF).

Randy Shughart (Medal of Honor, Somalia), would have been proud to have been a part of 2nd Battalion’s anniversary. As I raise a toast to his memory, I think about other rangers, like Ltc. Powell. I didn’t know him as a commander. He was killed in a training accident in September, 1981. I knew him as the battalion XO. Shughart used to brag how he could get an officer to make a left-handed salute. That led to a dare, and one day while we were walking through the quadrangle he tried his theory out on the XO. I couldn’t believe it. I thought he’d try it out on a 1st Lt., not a field grade officer. Maj. Powell instinctively raised one arm, stopped, then the other… I was hoping we were out of Harm’s Way. We were about ten feet past the XO when we heard, “RANGERS!” Shuggie dropped and started doing push-ups. I looked at Powell and I dropped too.

I also thought about PSG Jimmie Bynum, also killed in that training accident in September, 1981, and MSG Tim Martin, (Silver Star, Somalia), KIA on the same day as Randy. And there’s one more. Colonel John T. Keneally. The Colonel wasn’t a 2nd Batt Ranger, but he served in 1st Battalion and was later CO of the 3rd Battalion. He was killed during a training exercise in 1992. I first met Keneally in Panama when he was a captain. He was headed to 1st batt and we had some pretty intense discussions about life in the ranger battalion. A few months later I heard someone calling my name, and out in the street wearing a black beret was Cpt. Keneally. I used to call him Cpt. Kirk because he so much looked and acted like Kirk from Star Trek. I dedicated my last book, Danger Elite, to the memories of PSG Bynum, Col. Keneally, and MSG Martin.

The men that trained us were, and are, The Best. We absorbed every word in their classroom. May the tradition continue…always.

October 3 is the 20th anniversary of the attempted coup d’etat against the commander of the Panama Defense Force (PDF), General Manuel Antonio Noriega.

It wasn’t the first time, but it’d be the last. Only a US led invasion would remove the Mouse that Roared. He’d later surrender to Gen. Wayne A. Downing, (affectionately known as WAD by his fellow soldiers) outside of the Papal Nuncio in January, 1990. It was strange watching these events unfold on TV, outside the gates of a place I used to run by when I lived in PC. Little Tony had only recently become Panama’s “Maximum Leader” or Head of State. He mistakenly believed it would insulate him from being forcibly removed.

I reminisced a little. Years before, Panama Defense Force officers used to send their troops to train with us. They’d show up in our AO (area of operation), with a light rucksack, and one canteen of water. There’s no way, not even for an acclimatized Panamanian, that you can survive on one canteen of water a day. They knew it–and we knew it. Behind the backs of their officers, we’d get them the gear and water they needed, jump into the Rio Hato area, and be out in the boonies for the next week or two. Even then, Major Noriega was well-known for his pock-marked face. With his illicit money, he went to Europe to have it fixed, but to no avail. For anyone that has ever cut the rough skin off of a pineapple, you know that pock marks are left. And so it was that Noriega’s hated moniker became, Cara de Piña, or Pineapple Face.

Continue reading…

It’s October, and that means it’s ghost story time. I’ve always enjoyed a good scare. To some that work on the Canal, spirits don’t only exist above ground, but also far below.

Not long ago I was relaxing at a relative’s home as his young granddaughter ran back and forth. The sun was setting and a nice, soft breeze cooled our sweaty skin. My host began to speak about his job at the Canal. He talked in a low voice, as was his style, and I leaned forward to listen.

He said there are many tunnels around the Canal that are used for maintenance crews. Sometimes, based on the work needs, they’ll ask for a second or third shift. During a recent graveyard shift, one of the workers completed his tasks and decided to rest. He put a board between two cinderblocks and laid down. But not for long…

He awoke to the sound of voices. He thought someone was calling him. He was far beneath the Canal with only a flashlight. He strained to hear what the voice was saying as it faintly echoed in the tunnel, but he couldn’t make out the words. The voice stopped, and although the worker was a little unnerved, he laid back down.

Many Voices erupted, closer this time, and in languages he didn’t understand. Languages from all of the different groups of people that had built the Canal. In his mind, they were still there. Screaming in fear, the worker ran out of the tunnel, never to return for another overnight shift.

To punctuate the story even more, my expert Story Telling Friend said that a few days later they were cutting concrete down below, in the same general area. If you’ve ever seen a concrete-cutting saw then you know it only cuts straight. He said they made a cut, and when they were done, what they saw was the shape of the sole of a boot. An old boot. The same type of boot worn by the original canal workers.

I’m not saying the story is true or not, but like any good story… you may never know.