Habanera

Snapshot of a building with gravitas which houses the Ministry of Public Security in the old section of Panama City, commonly known as “Casco Viejo” which translate to Old Shell in English. Photo by ©Omar Upegui R.

I decided to process this snapshot in black and white since it reminded me of Habana, Cuba; thus the title of the blog post. The city is the center of the Cuban Government, and home to various ministries, headquarters of businesses and over 90 diplomatic offices.

The name Habana could be based upon the name of a local Taíno chief Habaguanex. An alternate theory is that Habana is derived from the Middle Dutch word havene, referring to a harbor.

The hands of the clock stopped on January 1, 1959 when bearded soldiers rolled down into the city from the Sierra Maestra.   On January 8, 1959, Castro’s army entered Habana; proclaiming himself Representative of the Rebel Armed Forces of the Presidency, Castro—along with close aides and family members—set up home and office in the penthouse of the Havana Hilton Hotel, meeting with journalists, foreign visitors and government ministers.  The rest is history.

Since then, nothing has changed. We can still see 1950s Fords, Studebakers, Chevys, or DeSotos cruising through the streets of Havana.  It’s like looking at a MGM movie studio in Hollywood and stumbling into Al Pacino while he was working on the motion picture The Godfather.  Time is frozen in Cuba as well as in the old section of Panama City, Panama as these pictures eloquently express.

An invisible wall was erected by Fidel Castro and his cronies to hold Freedom hostage.  I know someday this wall will crumble down following the path of the Berlin wall in 1989.  You can bet your bird that this day will come and Cuba will again be a free country as it was meant to be.

I can almost see the gleefulness radiating on José Martí and Yoani Sánchez’s face, author of the blog Generación Y, as well as on the faces of millions and millions of free Cubans when this day finally arrives.  Free at Last! Viva Cuba Libre!  Good Day.

Original version of the photograph shown above in black and white. I’m sure you will agree me that the nostalgic spirit of Havana hovers above this scene. Photo by ©Omar Upegui R.

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A City With Clouded Blue Skies

Snapshot of downtown Panama City, Panama where the banking center is located. This area is known as the commercial heart of the metropolis. This is where money flows freely to and from all corners of the world. Photo by ©Omar Upegui R.

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Urban Development

When I moved to my current home in July, 1980 the place was on the outskirts of the city, just over five miles from downtown.  The area was sparsely populated and traffic to our house was almost nonexistent.  The brief drive to work was less than fifteen minutes.  Now it takes more than two hours to reach downtown Panama.

Thirty years later, the landscape has changed considerably.  For the last two decades the city has been expanding rapidly and towers are sprouting like forest mushrooms.

Snapshot of one of four apartment towers being built in front of our neighborhood in El Bosque, even as we speak. Photo by ©Omar Upegui R.

We are currently experiencing every large city’s hallmarks; never-ending traffic, blaring ambulances and police cars sirens, and blaring car horns.  The cacophony of the urban noises is definitely deafening to our ears.  It will get worse as “progress” continues its path where we live.  Gone are the days of quietness and serenity.

In a little more than three decades we have been devoured by the city.  I have mixed feelings about urban development in Panama.  On one hand hand, it’s good to have abundant jobs for construction workers, more taxes are streaming towards the public coffers, and the wheels of abundance are moving forward.  That’s well and good.

On the other hand, you have bumper-to-bumper traffic, deafening noise pollution, and a glass, steel and cement jungle asphyxiating you.  I’m increasingly feeling like the biblical prophet Jonah inside the belly of the whale.

This shot was taken from inside my car. Since there was a bright sun light behind the tower, I used the tainted glass of the vehicle to filter the excess of light. It worked. Photo by ©Omar Upegui R.

“But God is everywhere; Tarshish he never reached.  As we have seen, God came upon him in the whale, and swallowed him down to living gulfs of doom, and with swift slanting tore him along, ‘into the midst of the seas,’ where the eddying depths sucked him ten thousand fathoms down, and ‘the weeds were wrapped about his head,’ and all the watery world of woe bowled over him. 

Yet even then beyond the reach of any plummet—’out of the belly of hell’—when the whale grounded upon the ocean’s utmost bones, even then, God heard the engulphed, repenting prophet when he cried.  Then God spake unto the fish; and from the shuddering cold and blackness of the sea, the whale came breeching up towards the warm and pleasant sun, and all the delights of air and earth; and ‘vomited out Jonah upon the dry land;’ when the word of the Lord came a second time; and Jonah, bruised and beaten—his ears, like two sea-shells, still multitudinously murmuring of the ocean—Jonah did the Almighty’s bidding.  And what was that, shipmates?  To preach the Truth to the face of Falsehood!  That was it!” (Moby Dick: or, The White Whale—Herman Melville)

As the saying goes, “There is no such thing as a free lunch.”  True, modernization is taking place in Panama City, but we are paying the high price of losing our innocence of peacefulness and quietness.  The city is relentless in its indomitable growth.  Good Day.

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Ten Best Cities to Live

There are zillion of studies about the quality of cities around the world which are perfect to build your nest and live happily ever after.  The credibility of those studies are dubious in most cases; however, I like to take a look at them to see if I can find a speck of truth in them.  Anyway, they’re entertaining if you’re a zealot of the Internet like I surely am.

Having said that, a consulting firm dubbed Mercer, analyzed local living conditions in 460 cities based on 39 factors including political stability, crime, access to medical supplies and services, air pollution, schools and recreation.  According to Mercer, below are the ten best cities to live arranged in order of preference.  Here we go.

1. Vienna, Austria
2. Zurich, Switzerland
3. Auckland, New Zealand
4. Munich, Germany
5. Vancouver, Canada
6. Düsseldorf, Germany
7. Frankfurt, Germany
8. Geneva, Switzerland
9. Copenhagen, Denmark
10. Bern, Switzerland and Sydney Australia were tied up in tenth place

It’s interesting to see that Europe is still the best geographical region to plant your roots.  Eighty percent of the best cities of the world are located in the Old Continent.  There must be something in their water.  Canada was the only representative of the American continent.  Sadly, not a single city from the United States was included; that was a big surprise.

Another surprise was the absence of any Italian or Greek cities; probably due to their economic problems after the 2008 global financial meltdown.   If I had the money, my choice would be Vienna in Austria.  That would be my indisputable destination—if I were a rich man, like the song, “Fiddler on the Roof”.  Good Day and Bon Voyage!

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The City

“And the Lord came down to see the city and the tower, which the children of men built.”  Genesis 11:5

Panama City on the narrow Isthmus of Panama, is transforming itself into a new metropolis.  Even as we speak, most of the highways are being modernized, a metro is being built, several new traffic overhead pathways are on the design board, more than 1,500 new modern buses will replace the depleted Diablos Rojos, the Coastal Strip Three is underway, and hundreds of high-rise buildings are under construction.  By the year 2014 Panama City will compete with Rio de Janeiro, São Paulo, Miami and other gorgeous cities of the region.

The modern skyline, the Coastal Strip, the new Metro and the Old Shell will compete with the Panama Canal as the main attraction for international tourists looking for the latest lost paradise.

Below are a couple of pictures of the modern face of Panama City.  Here we go.

Snapshot of the picturesque skyline of Panama City, Panama as it morphs into one of the most beautiful cities of the region. Photo by ©Omar Upegui R.

Photo by ©Omar Upegui R.

A stunning view of the modern side of Panama City in black and white. The waterway is the Panama Bay which borders the metropolis. Photo by ©Omar Upegui R.

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The Modern Architecture of Panama

Panama City is the capital and largest city of the Republic of Panama. It has a population of 880,691, with a total metro population of 1,272,672.  It is located at the Pacific entrance of the Panama Canal. The city is the political and administrative center of the country as well as a hub for international banking and commerce.  It is considered a Beta World City.

Panama City has a dense skyline of mostly highrise buildings surrounded by a large belt of tropical rainforest which serves as a natural water factory for the international waterway. Panama’s Tocumen International Airport, the largest and busiest airport in Central America, offers daily flights to major international destinations.  Copa Airlines the flagship of Panama’s aviation industry is one of the most advanced airlines in Latin America.  Its on-time-flights are legendary.

The Hub of the Americas operated by Copa Airlines, offers convenient flight schedules designed for very quick connections and seamless end-to-end service. Bags are checked directly to the passenger’s final destination and there is no need to clear customs or immigration when connecting. The airport also has a wide number and variety of duty-free shops.

The Hub of the Americas also has recently renovated and expanded the Copa Club which is jointly operated by Copa Airlines and United Airlines. Business Class passengers and those with Copa Club memberships can enjoy the facilities.

Kindly click images to expand; the difference in detail and clarity is stunning.

Snapshot of Panama City, Panama depicting one of the most modern skylines in Latin America. This characteristic has become a tourist attraction bringing in more than two million tourist per year. Photo by ©Omar Upegui R.

Photo by ©Omar Upegui R.

Photo by ©Omar Upegui R.

Photo by ©Omar Upegui R.

If you are literally melting like hot butter in your neck of the woods, please come to Panama, the country with a 24/7 spring weather.  Come on down!  Good Day.

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Blue Skies Above Panama City

Last week I went to take pictures of a building with a very unusual shape which is the buzz in the local architectural community.  The building is still under construction, but the overall shape won’t change that much.  Some of the pictures of this one-of-a-kind structure were taken from a six-story building about a mile away.  I wanted to show how much this building changed the landscape around it.

Then I walked around the building taking shots from different angles.  I wanted to capture the personality of the structure if I could.  You’ll be the judge if I succeeded in my picture-taking endeavor or not.

Anyway, while strolling through Calle Cincuenta, I was amazed at the construction boom going on.  The city changes almost overnight.  Direct foreign investment in Panama is high compared with other countries of the region.  As Europe struggles to pay its bills, Panama’s economy is expected to grow 9 percent in 2011 and 7 percent in 2012.

Below are several pictures of Panama City under clear blue skies.  Enjoy.

Snapshot of Panama City under clear blue skies in the neighborhood of Calle Cincuenta. Photo ©Omar Upegui R.

Snapshot of Calle Cincuenta in Panama City, Panama; one of the most exclusive business area of the urban center. Photo ©Omar Upegui R.

Snapshot of Panama City under clear blue skies, even though we are entering the rainy season. This happened to be a beautiful summer day. Photo ©Omar Upegui R.

Snapshot of the modern skyline of Panama City which is becoming one of the most rapidly growing cities of the region. The city's skyline is spectacular, as well as the blue dome above. Photo ©Omar Upegui R.

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Skyline in Bronze

Photograph of the skyline of Punta Paitilla tainted in bronze with FotoFlexer image edition software. Photo ©Omar Upegui R.

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Skyline at Dawn

Photograph of Panama City's skyline at daybreak. The depicted area with tall buildings is known as Punta Paitilla. Photo ©Omar Upegui R.

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Urban Development

Photograph of a recently restored building at the Terraplen Area which is part of the old shell of the city. Urban renovation is taking place in this depleted area of Panama City, Panama. Photo by ©Omar Upegui R.

In an effort to alleviate the congested traffic of Panama City, Martín Torrijos, then president of Panama, decided to build a coastal strip along the Bay of Panama.  The strip was so successful, current president Ricardo Martinelli decided to extend the strip all the way to the old shell of the city.  The goal is to create a fast track from Tocumen International Airport, to the Bridge of the Americas, side tracking the heavy traffic in the middle of the city.  It will be the second stage of the project.  The completion date is sometime in February 2011.

The third and last stage of the Coastal Strip (Cinta Costera), is to build a tunnel below the Casco Viejo and the Panama Canal, to extend the strip to the other side of the waterway.  This will considerably speed up a trip from the international airport to the countryside.  The challenge of this public works is enormous.  It’s part of several mega projects planned by Mr. Martinelli and his staff to propel Panama into one of the most modern cities in Latin America.

Most of the buildings along the coastal strip are being restored, as you con see in the picture above.  It’s gratifying to see urban development in motion.  It is not a fuzzy dream in somebody’s head.  Today this dream is being transformed into reality as Panama moves forward on its path of becoming a First World Country.  Good Day.

Suggested Reading:  Panama Coastal Strip

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