THE GUIDE - The Rough Guide to Panama - page 96

Museo de Arte Contemporáneo
Between Av de los Mártires and C San Blas • Tues-Sun 9am-5pm; Thurs late opening until 8pm • $5 •

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8012, macpanama.org
The privately owned Museo de Arte Contemporáneo houses a permanent collection by
Panamanian artists in a range of media and periodically hosts interesting exhibitions. Photos
of all the works can be seen on the website.
Smithsonian Tropical Research Institute (STRI)
Av Roosevelt • Mon-Fri 9am-5pm • Free • 212 8000, stri.si.edu
The Smithsonian Tropical Research Institute's Earl S. Tupper Research and Conference
Centre is set in leafy grounds and hosts an impressive bookshop , a research library and a
very pleasant, modestly priced cafeteria. Visits to Isla Barro Colorado can be arranged at the
bookshop.
Calidonia and La Exposición
Beyond Plaza Cinco de Mayo, Avenida Central continues north, the city's main thoroughfare
and still a busy shopping street as it runs through CALIDONIA and LA EXPOSICIÓN .
These twin barrios are sandwiched between Avenida Central, which soon metamorphoses in-
to Vía España, and Avenida Balboa, which runs along the bay. Consisting of a dense grid
of streets, where the sound of construction work is never far away, they are crammed with
cheap hotels, though a sprinkling of parks and museums provide welcome relief. This older
section of the modern city dates back to the boom construction eras of the Panama Railroad
and Canal in the mid- and late nineteenth century, when predominantly West Indian immig-
rants poured into the city, with a further influx forced out of the canal areas once the Zone
was created.
Museo Afro-Antillano
Av Justo Arosemena (also known as Av 3 Sur), on the corner with C 24 • Tues-Sun 9am-4pm • $1 •
samaap.org
Housed in an unmarked wooden former church, the Museo Afro-Antillano is dedicated to
preserving the history and culture of Panama's large West Indian population. The Church
of the Christian Mission, as it was then, constituted the social centre of the barrio of El
Marañon, a thriving Afro-Antillean community dating back to the construction of the railroad
(see Independence from Spain ). As property prices escalated in the 1970s and developers
moved in with bulldozers, residents were forced out to the city suburbs. The community has
maintained a precarious toehold in the centre of the city through this small but worthwhile
museum, which highlights the pivotal role that Afro-Antilleans played in the construction of
the railroad and the canal. The exhibits, featuring photographs, tools and period furniture,
with texts in English, provide a sharp reminder of the harsh working and living conditions
of black, “silver roll” canal workers, which contrasted acutely with the privileges of white
American “gold roll” employees, in the days of the Canal Zone. The museum is also involved