Country book · Latin America

Panama

Where two oceans meet an engineering marvel

Panama is defined by its canal — an engineering feat that reshaped global trade — but also by rainforest-covered mountains, Kuna Yala islands and a genuinely bicoastal identity between Caribbean and Pacific.

Myths

What's true, what isn't

Actually true

The canal really does move global trade
About 6% of world trade passes through the Panama Canal, and ships pay up to hundreds of thousands of dollars to transit.
It has a US-dollar-pegged economy
The US dollar circulates alongside the balboa, and Panama uses American currency interchangeably.
The Kuna people govern their own territory
The Guna Yala comarca is self-governed by the Indigenous Guna people, who control tourism to the San Blas Islands.
Panama City has real skyscrapers
Its skyline rivals Miami's, driven by banking, the canal economy and free-trade zones.

Commonly believed, wrong

"It's just the canal, nothing else"
Panama has cloud forests, coffee highlands in Boquete and pristine Caribbean and Pacific islands.
"It's part of South America"
Panama is the southernmost country of Central America, connected to Colombia only by the roadless Darién Gap.
"The canal is just a straight ditch"
It uses a system of locks to lift ships 26 meters above sea level across the isthmus, a major feat of early 20th-century engineering.
"It has no Indigenous culture left"
Seven Indigenous groups, including the Guna, Ngäbe and Emberá, maintain distinct languages and territories today.

Highlights

The best of Panama

The Panama Canal

Watching massive container ships rise through the Miraflores Locks remains genuinely awe-inspiring.

San Blas Islands

Hundreds of palm-fringed Caribbean islands governed by the Guna people, largely undeveloped.

Boquete's highlands

Cool mountain air, coffee farms and cloud forest hiking near the Costa Rican border.

Casco Viejo

Panama City's restored colonial quarter, full of plazas, rooftop bars and Spanish balconies.

Culture

Cultural riches

Mola textile art

The Guna people create vividly layered reverse-appliqué textiles, now recognized worldwide as folk art.

Carnival in Las Tablas

One of Latin America's biggest carnival celebrations, with water trucks and elaborate parade queens.

Salsa and típico music

Panama City is a salsa capital, while accordion-driven música típica rules the interior.

The Pollera dress

An elaborate embroidered dress worn at festivals, considered the national costume.

Food

What to eat

Sancocho

A chicken and root vegetable soup flavored with culantro, considered the national dish.

Ceviche panameño

Corvina fish cured in lime with onion and hot pepper, sold at seaside stalls in Panama City.

Ropa vieja

Shredded beef in tomato sauce, shared with Caribbean and Cuban cuisines but a Panamanian staple.

Patacones

Twice-fried green plantain discs served as a side with nearly every meal.

Raspao

Shaved ice with fruit syrup and condensed milk, sold from carts on hot Panama City streets.

History

Important people in history

Omar Torrijos

1929 — 1981

Military leader who negotiated the treaties returning control of the Panama Canal from the US, effective in 1999.

Mireya Moscoso

b. 1946

First female president of Panama, presided over the final canal handover ceremony in 1999.

Manuel Amador Guerrero

1833 — 1909

First president after Panama's 1903 separation from Colombia, which paved the way for canal construction.

Cities