Panama and Pictures

Panama City... to my surprise, was incredibly developed. They lay claim for Latin America's largest banking institution; best night clubs in Central America-I personally never investigated this claim, and am therefore unable to back the statement; is known as a great place to purchase designer goods- again, never took advantage of this; and probably the safest capitol in Central America.

Although, the above may sound appealing, after several days of being within the environment, it begins to get a little tiresome, at least for the backpacker. One reason for this was that whenever I found myself in a city, I started to feel the squeeze of money. This wasn't necessarily a squeeze as in "everything is incredibly expensive", but more so a squeeze as in "if I want to experience or do anything, money seems to be more a necessity". Something I found quite enjoyable, while in the less developed regions of Central America, was the spirit of the people. It didn't cost money to walk around and explore small towns, or attempt to have a conversation with someone who didn't speak English. Some of my most enjoyable days in Central America were those when I would find a Cafe or bar and just sit, watching and talking with people.

I do not discredit the fact that many in these countries, who are without money, suffer from higher complications of birthing; they themselves are more likely to have medical problems; there is a higher tendency to abuse the consumption of alcohol; there are probably higher rates of domestic abuse (this is a difficult statement to prove or disprove, as I didn't really do much research into the issue while traveling); normally work absurd hours, for a day's pay that's comparable to a price of one beer in the states; invariably have more children then they can properly support; and seem to have limited to no chance for excelling in their careers because their exposure to education was limited to 3rd grade. But, it does seem, without the stress or worry of money, there was an innocence and happiness that was ever present throughout the trip... Obviously, we could have a long discussion on how genuine this preceived innocene may acutally be; will last; and, is it something that is only emoted to the tourist or guest. There is also the other dreadful issue that I omitted, and that is the Machismo effect and the sexism towards the latin woman.