Colón Province - Panama - page 403

Centro El Tucán OUTDOORS
( 226-6602, 6628-9000; 8am-4pm Mon-Fri) The protected area at San Lorenzo is best
explored with a guide, easily arranged at the Centro El Tucán, a community learning and
visitors center that lies on the edge of the reserve. Guides generally charge US$60 per
group for a two-hour hike , though longer and more difficult treks can also be arranged.
El Tucán also has an excellent documentation center on the flora and fauna, human eco-
logy and history.
The visitors center is located in the village of Achiote, 13km north of Escobal, on the
edge of the reserve. Since there is no public transportation to the town and there are few
taxis in the area, Achiote is best accessed by private vehicle.
Sleeping
The helpful staff at the Centro El Tucán can arrange homestays in Achiote. There are
also opportunities for unofficial camping in the reserve, though you will need to be self-
sufficient.
You can also bed down for a night or two in the former den of dictators, namely Build-
ing 400 of the notorious School of the Americas.
SWEET DREAMS IN THE DEN OF DICTATORS
The borders of the San Lorenzo protected area are home to Fuerte Espinar, which
was known as Fuerte Gullick prior to the US handover. Within this compound is the
infamous Building 400, which was the former home of the School of the Americas.
Established in 1949, the School of the Americas trained more than 34,000 Latin
American soldiers before moving to Fuerte Benning, Georgia, in 1984. The school
was created to keep communism out of Latin America, which quickly translated in-
to teaching Latin American soldiers how to thwart armed communist insurgencies.
The school graduated some of the worst human-rights violators of our time, in-
cluding former Argentine dictator Leopoldo Galtieri, who 'disappeared' thousands
during Argentina's Dirty War of the 1970s, and El Salvador's Roberto D'Aubuisson,
who led death squads that killed Archbishop Oscar Romero and thousands of oth-
er Salvadorans during the 1980s.
In a bizarre twist, Building 400 is now a giant resort, Meliá Panamá Canal (
470-1100; www.solmelia.com ; s/d US$115/125; ) . Not too surprisingly, all evid-
ence that the hotel has ever been anything but an upscale fun center is missing.
The US$30-million hotel features guest rooms that are comfortable but some-
what dated, a cluster of outdoor and indoor pools complete with swim-up bars,