The Terraplén was once one of the busiest places in town. It was the entrance to the public market where you could find almost anything you wanted, specially food from the countryside. If you bought fish, several persons at the Terraplén would shave the scales away and remove the guts. It was a beehive full of noise, merchandise movements, crowded bars, housewives buying food or sailors getting ready to sail away to Darien. In a nutshell, the Terraplén was a place of excitement.
Now the Terraplén is gone. Only the memories remain. The construction of the Cinta Costera got rid of the place. If our grandfathers, who must be playing on a moving white cloud would return to Earth and visit El Terraplén, they would think they landed on another country. The entire area looks totally different. When I went there about a month ago, I couldn’t believe my eyes. The change was incredible.
Below are several pictures of how the area looks now. Compare it to the Terraplén of your memories and you will see the dramatic difference. Yep, Panama is changing very fast as it races to join the countries of the First Word. Here we go.
This building was part of El Terraplén. It now looks a lot different to the old section of the city familiar to our parents, specially our grandfathers. Winds of change are blowing over Panama. Photo ©Omar Upegui R.
Renovated area of el Casco Viejo adjacent to the Cinta Costera. This area was previously known as El Terraplén. Photo ©Omar Upegui R.
A black and white picture of the renovated area of Casco Viejo where the Cinta Costera was recently extended to the borders of Casco Viejo. Photo ©Omar Upegui R.
The same snapshot, but in color. I wanted to compare both versions. I like the black and white better, maybe because it evokes the past better than color. Photo ©Omar Upegui R.
A landscape view of the buildings flanking the expanded Cinta Costera. Photo ©Omar Upegui R.
A neat row of renovated houses which have replaced the old Terraplén. When I was there, for a brief moment, I thought I was in another country. The placed looked so different from the Terraplén of my memories. Photo ©Omar Upegui R.
Snapshot of a renovated section of Panama City where the nostalgic Terraplén was located. Progress removed it from the city map. Photo ©Omar Upegui R.
Snapshot of an apartment building alongside the newly extended Cinta Costera in Panama City, Panama. Take notice of the balconies which are used to enjoy the soft breeze softly wafting from the ocean during the late afternoons and evenings. Photo ©Omar Upegui R.
A different perspective of the modernized area of the old Terraplén which is now a highly visited tourist site in Panama City. Photo ©Omar Upegui R.
If sight-seeing, architecture, and traveling is your cup of tea, please come again tomorrow for more exiting pictures of this amazing place in the middle of the world called Panama. I’ll be waiting for you right here at Lingua Franca. Good Day.
Omar:
El Terraplen viejo no era muy atractivo, ni tamapoco el area alreadedor del (difunto) Mercado Publico. Los olores, los gallotes, las mujeres de la vida alegre, los borrachos, los maleantes. Parece que ahora se ve mejor. Seria bueno si tuviera una foto del Terraplen viejo para comparar.
Jaime^
Hola Jaime:
A pesar de todos los males que Usted describe, el Terraplén era un lugar único en el Panamá de ayer. Aquí creacieron y se criaron nuestros ciudadanos de ayer. De éstos lugares salieron nuestros atletas, nuestros músicos, nuestros boxeadores y nuestros políticos.
Hoy solamente existe el recuerdo. Lingua Franca pretende a través de sus imágenes congelar la Ciudad de Panamá de hoy para que pueda ser apreciada por las generaciones del mañana. Un país sin historia carece de identidad nacional.
Saludos,
Omar.-
Good Morning!
We are loving the photos. Nena laughed out loud at Jaime’s description and recalls her visits to the area,
“When I was 20, living in Calle 11 with my older sister, she made tamales for sale and she would send me to Mercado Publico for charcoal for cooking.
Dodging the swinging doors on the cantinas and the women of “la vida alegre” was terrifying for me, being raised in Boquete, which at that time, was just a sleepy farm town.
I was not prepared for the realities of big city living.
I think the area now looks beautiful.”
nena and jim
fort worth, tx
Hello Jim and Nena:
Yep, that is all true. The section of the city was the Wild Wild West full of movement and action. It was the good, the bad and ugly of the life in the city. Yet, I still feel the nostalgy of its disappearance. It seems like time erases the bad things and treasure the good things.
Thanks for commenting; it’s the fuel that keeps me in motion.
Regards,
Omar.-
Hola,
me recreo viendo estas fotos y pensar que estuve por alli escasando 2 semanas atras…. me quede anonadada cuando vi que todos esos males que menciono Jaime estan desaparecidos! Y pensar que en mi infancia tuve amistades que vivian alli y he visto de cerca como era la vida en esos lares… tenia amigos chinos que tenian sus negocios alli (Casa no se que etc.) ahora no queda nada mas y nada menos que un recuerdo…