When General Omar Torrijos came to power after a velvet coup d’état in 1968, drastic changes were made to the effective Panama urban transportation system. Torrijos wanted rapid changes. He wanted to flex the military muscle fast and hard and wasted no time. The traditional transportation concessions of the hated rabiblancos were nationalized and replaced [...]
Archive for June, 2010
Bidding Goodbye to the Diablos Rojos of Panama
Posted in Miscellaneous, tagged Buses, Concessions, Diablos Rojos, General Omar Torrijos, International Bids, Panama, Transportation, Urban Development on June 30, 2010 | 17 Comments »
Keeping Vietnam on the Front Burner
Posted in Literature, tagged A Bright Shining Lie, Books, Geopolitics, Indochina, Karl Marlantes, Literature, Matterhorn, Neil Sheehan, Novels, Soldiers, Vietnam, War on June 29, 2010 | 3 Comments »
“We entered their strange land… And they, the Vietcong wanted us gone. The jungle wanted us gone. Our fellow friends and brothers rise and fell in the Jungle. With, or without breath… The VC sent some of us Home. The Promise we made to return home was kept in our hearts. We cried in the [...]
Man In Love With His Truck
Posted in Miscellaneous, tagged Agriculture, Distribution, Farmers Market, Food, Panama, Trucks on June 28, 2010 | 2 Comments »
Yesterday morning I went with my wife to the San Miguelito farmer’s market to buy some yuca for breakfast. I love fried yuca for breakfast or supper. It’s a lot better than common bread. While I was there, I decided to take pictures of the different food displayed in the small outlets of the area. [...]
“Where Have All the Flowers Gone?”
Posted in Literature, tagged Books, Geneneral Stanley A. McChrystal, History, Indochina, John Paul Vann, Literature, Military, Narrative, Vietnam, War on June 27, 2010 | 2 Comments »
The title of this blog post is the name of a popular American song born in the midst of the Vietnam anti-war movement. It was later adopted by American soldiers serving in Vietnam and eventually became a popular song of the era, perhaps the best-known song of Vietnam. These are the lyrics of a song [...]
Mozilla Firefox Has Been Upgraded
Posted in Web Browsers, tagged Applications, Firefox, Internet, Mozilla, Security and Stability Patch, Software, Web Browsers on June 26, 2010 | 4 Comments »
In an effort to lead the pack of stable and secure Web browsers, Mozilla released a new version of its popular browser Firefox yesterday—Version 3.6.4. What’s new in this latest version? Firefox 3.6.4 provides uninterrupted browsing for Windows and Linux users when there is a crash in the Adobe Flash, Apple Quicktime or Microsoft Silverlight plugins. [...]
Telephones in Panama
Posted in Miscellaneous, tagged Apple, Blackberry, Change, Communications, iPhone, Mobil Phones, Progress, Street Vendors, Technology, Telephones on June 25, 2010 | 4 Comments »
During my bloom of youth way back in the fifties, telephones were a lot different from what they are now. Telephone lines were shared with others. If you picked up your phone, and your neighbor was talking, you could hear the whole conversation. The nascent telephone system used no numbers. Audible codes were used instead [...]
A Panamanian Cab
Posted in Miscellaneous, tagged Abuse, Cabs, Handicapped People, Panama, Physical Disabilities, Taxi, Transportation on June 24, 2010 | 4 Comments »
After I shot this picture, I noticed the taxi was parked on a space restricted for handicapped people only. This lazy and irresponsible cabby was taking advantage of this special parking space. In Panama we call this negative kind of behavior “juega vivo”. It’s spreading like a viral disease. I hate it when some people [...]
Inside a Supermarket in Panama
Posted in Miscellaneous, tagged Avocados, Bananas, El Rey, Food, fruits, Mangos, Plantains, Supermarkets, Vegetables on June 23, 2010 | 10 Comments »
El Rey is one of the largest chains of supermarkets in Panama fiercely competing with Super 99 owned by Ricardo Martinelli, now President of Panama. One of the characteristics El Rey is its permanent fresh stock of high quality fruits and vegetables, albeit quite expensive. Although photographs are now allowed inside the building, I was [...]
Saying Hello to Colonel Sanders
Posted in Miscellaneous, tagged Chains, Colonel Sanders, Food, Franchises, Fried Chicken, Kentucky Fried Chicken, KFC, Panama, Restaurants on June 22, 2010 | 3 Comments »
On our way back from El Rey supermarket at El Dorado, we decided to pay a visit to an old man who always sits on the same bench in front of a KFC outlet day in day out. The elder man is none other than Harland “Colonel” Sanders, the founder of Kentucky Fried Chicken. For [...]
Eggs
Posted in Photography, tagged Eggs, Food, Macro Photograph, Photograph, Photography, Texture on June 21, 2010 | Leave a Comment »
