Travel Reference
In-Depth Information
Although there are no professional teams in Panama, the amateur leagues host games
in stadiums throughout the country. Panamanians have their preferred teams but are usu-
ally more interested in their favorite players in the US major leagues.
Mariano Rivera, the record-setting Panamanian pitcher for the New York Yankees, is a
national hero, and New Yorkers and Yankees fans alike can easily strike up a conversa-
tion with most Panamanians. Carlos Lee from Aguadulce is an outfielder for the Miami
Marlins. Carlos Ruiz from Chiriquí is a catcher for the Philadelphia Phillies. Batting
champ Rod Carew, another Panamanian star, was inducted into the Hall of Fame in 1991.
Roberto Kelly, who played for the Yankees for many years, is also fondly remembered.
Boxing is another popular spectator sport and a source of pride for Panamanians (and
Latin Americans) ever since Roberto Durán, a Panama City native and boxing legend,
won the world championship lightweight title in 1972. He went on to become the world
champion in the welterweight (1980), light middleweight (1983) and super middleweight
(1989) categories. There are four Panamanians in the International Boxing Hall of Fame:
Roberto Durán, Eusebio Pedroza, Ismael Laguna and Panama Al Brown. Currently,
Panama also has three reigning world boxing champions.
Panama's first Olympic gold came in 2008 when Irving Saladino won the long jump in
Beijing.
Multiculturalism
Panama has a rich mix of cultures with immigrants from around the globe as well as a di-
verse indigenous population. Shortly after the Spanish arrived, slaves were brought from
Africa to work in Panama's mines and perform grunt labor in the colony. Slaves that es-
caped set up communities in the Darién jungle, where their
cimarrones
(descendents)
still live today. Subsequent waves of immigration coincided with the construction of both
the Panama Railroad in 1850 and the Panama Canal - the French effort in the late 1800s
and the American completion in the early 1900s. During these times, thousands of work-
ers were brought to Panama from the West Indies, particularly Jamaica and Trinidad.
Workers also came from the East Indies and from China to labor - and many to die -
on these massive projects. The majority of the Chinese settled in Panama City, and today
you can see two Chinatowns (one is near Casco Viejo, the other in El Dorado). In fact,
there are two daily Chinese newspapers and even a private school for the Chinese. The
term for Chinese Panamanians is 'Once' (pronounced '
awn
-say').
Mixed-race offspring - and mixed marriages - are increasingly common today.
Among the East Indian community, Hindus complain that their culture is disappearing:
where once it was common for young men to return to India to find a bride, this is no
longer the case. This intermixing of races happens across the nation, although indigenous
