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Meeting Place of the Americas
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23466 |
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Section : |
LIFE
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| Issue
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11 / 2003 |
2,692 Words |
| Author
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Masha Nordbye
Masha Nordbye is a writer and TV documentary producer who has
traveled through more than one hundred countries. Her latest
book is Moscow, St. Petersburg and the Golden Ring (Odyssey). |
Acting as a multicultural bridge to the Americas, Panama is made up of a rich tapestry of civilizations. Zealous explorers, hearty settlers, and infamous pirates vied to wrest territories from native inhabitants in the brash and bountiful New World. Today, indigenous and European traditions blend with modern American culture in a land with contrasting natural landscapes and contemporary, man-made marvels. This year, as Panama celebrates its hundredth anniversary of independence, I journeyed from its Pacific to Caribbean shores and discovered a hidden paradise that, like a rose's slow bloom, gradually revealed its exotic beauty, layered heritage, and many unparalleled destinations.
I was in Panama City, its capital, to help direct a segment for the Miss Universe Pageant. Panama was quite proud to host the 2003 contest, owing to the fact that last year's winner, Justine Pasek, is the former Miss Panama. In its fifty-second year, the competition took the contestants, from seventy-two countries, on a whirlwind of activities that culminated in the live broadcast of the pageant to over one hundred nations. (Proving that beauty and glamour still attract ratings, the show is one of world's most highly viewed programs.)
In the footsteps of conquistadors
After a rigorous day of rehearsals, the bevy of global beauties took a ride on the Panama Canal Railway across the narrow isthmus to the historical Caribbean towns of Col—n and Portobelo. Wearing woven-straw Panama hats, they strolled down the same dusty paths as Spanish explorers had five centuries before. On October 10, 1502, as Christopher Columbus sailed along the land's Caribbean coastline on his
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