Travel Reference
In-Depth Information
convey the enormous scale and complexity of the labour. A series of evocative lithographs
adorn the outer walls of the rotunda.
Balboa
West of Cerro Ancón lies the district of
BALBOA
, whose centre,
El Prado
, is a palm-lined
grassy rectangle measured to match the length and width of a lock chamber that cuts through
the district, extending from the Goethals Monument at the foot of the administration steps
to Stevens Circle at the far end. When George Goethals took over as chief engineer of the
canal in 1907, he surveyed all that his predecessor, John Stevens, had achieved and prophet-
ically wrote to his son, “Mr Stevens has done an amount of work for which he will never get
any credit, or if he gets any, will not get enough”. Nowhere is this more evident than in the
monuments to their labours: while
Stevens Circle
consists of a small and rather neglected
memorial down the far end of the Prado, the cream marble
Goethals Monument
monolith
stands tall at the foot of the canal authority's seat of power, with water cascading over three
stepped marble platforms - symbolizing the three sets of locks - into a pool below.
Centro de Capacitación Ascanio Arosemena
Edif 704 • Mon-Fri 7.15am-4.15pm • Free • 272 1111
Diagonally across from the Goethals Monument stands the former Balboa High School, site
of the dramatic
“
flag riots
” of 1964 that culminated in the deaths of 21 Panamanians, whose
names are honoured in a memorial near the back of the building. Today, the old school
is home to the
Centro de Capacitación Ascanio Arosemena
, which trains canal employ-
ees and contains an excellent collection of
photographs
of the canal construction and other
memorabilia
, including rusting tools, porcelain from the
Tivoli Hotel
- the grandest hotel of
the Canal Zone era - and Goethals' hat rack. If your Spanish is not up to the canal museum
in Casco Viejo then this exhibition, with bilingual labelling, will give you a good enough fla-
vour. To reach the displays, enter the former school gates, taking the first right turn through a
building, across a courtyard and into a second building.
Teatro Balboa and beyond
A stroll down the Prado takes you to Avenida Arnulfo Arias Madrid, across which stands the
faded Art Deco
Teatro Balboa
, worth peeking inside for its splendid mosaic floors. Turning
left along the main road, you hit the main intersection with Calle la Boca, where you cannot
fail to notice the vainglorious bronze
monument
to former president Arnulfo Arias Madrid
(see
The rise of nationalism
)
, standing on the end of what looks like a giant seesaw with cit-
izens imploring his help crawling towards him.
Parque Natural Metropolitano
Main entrance and park office are 200m along Av Juan Pablo II after the junction with Av Ascanio Villalaz •
Daily 6am-5pm; office hours Mon-Fri 8am-5pm, Sat 8am-1pm • $4; 2hr guided tours $50/group of 1-5 people
•
232 5552,
