A Safe Passage Across the Freeway

Panama City is being transformed completely from the bottom up.  There is not an inch within the perimeter of the city where construction workers are not tearing up a building and erecting a new one.  Never before in the history of the country has there been such a construction fever, with the exception of the construction of the Panama Railroad and the Panama Canal  We are living a historic period and I’m part of it.  Thanks to Lingua Franca, I’m able to capture for posterity this exciting construction boom underway in our beloved city.

Every month I have to go to the Social Security clinic in Bethania to replenish my stock of high blood pressure medicines.  In order to reach the building, I had to walk across a dangerous speedway known as Corredor Norte.  People are not the best drivers in Panama, so if you’re not careful, you will be flattened out by irresponsible and reckless drivers.  Specially in the early morning when they are heading for work.

There were no traffic cops of traffic lights to help us out.  We were on our own, like toreros (bull fighters), on the pike.  About a month ago, a beautiful pedestrian bridge was built to help our cause.  Now we know we can make it to the clinic alive, albeit a little tired after walking up and down the pedestrian bridge; but that’s okay.  Exercise is always good for your health.  My wife and I are very happy and grateful for the construction of this safe passage across the freeway.

Below are several pictures of the pedestrian bridge taken on an early Tuesday morning last week.  The sun was beautiful and the air was nice and cool.  Take a look at this aesthetic bridge above Corredor Norte (Northern Freeway).

Snapshot of an elegant pedestrian bridge above the Northern Corridor (Corredor Norte) which leads to the Behania Clinic operated by the Panama Social Security system. Corredor Norte is one of two freeways in Panama City. The other one is known as Corredor Sur. Photo by ©Omar Upegui R.

Photo by ©Omar Upegui R.

Photo by ©Omar Upegui R.

Photo by ©Omar Upegui R.

Photo by ©Omar Upegui R.

Notice the heavy traffic under the pedestrian bridge. Photo by ©Omar Upegui R.

The black and white colors adds a charm to the structure as well as the long diagonal line of the bridge. Photo by ©Omar Upegui R.

Photo by ©Omar Upegui R.

The converging lines enhances the image of the pedestrian bridge adjacent to the Social Security Behania Clinic. Photo by ©Omar Upegui R.

Photo by ©Omar Upegui R.

The converging lines are always pleasing in a photograph. They add a multidimensional perspective to an image. Photo by ©Omar Upegui R.

You can see my wife Aura, at the other end of the bridge. Photo by ©Omar Upegui R.

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Elegant Lamp Posts at Via Argentina

I don’t like dark parks.  I think they’re dangerous and some evil persons will take advantage of the darkness to do harm.  Well illuminated parks convey the feeling of protection and safety.

When I visited the Andrés Bello Park at Via Argentina a few weeks ago, that was one of the positive attributes I noticed of the park.  It has beautiful lamp posts very well distributed within the area of the park.  At night, when I drive through, it’s full of children and adults enjoying the soft evening breeze.

Also light reminds me of the last words of the famous the German writer, Johann Wolfgang von Goethe. As he sat in his Weimar house holding the hand of his daughter-in-law, Ottilie, Goethe spoke of the walks he would take in the warmer months ahead, made some reference to a girl of his youth, and breathed the name of his equally famous, long-dead friend, Friedrich von Schiller. But wanting another shutter opened to the morning sun, the author of Faust called to a servant for “Light, More Light!” (“Licht, Mehr Licht”).  Then his finger traced a word on the air, he shifted in his chair, and he fell asleep, dying at some moment well before anyone realized.

Whether he was only calling for more light to be able to see as his visual powers were in decline or foreseeing a heavenly radiance is unclear.  What is clear, though, is that the idea of providing more light on any given subject is important in every field of endeavor.

Sorry of the digression.  It’s just that I associated the lamp posts of the park with Goethe’s last words, requesting more light.  It’s funny the way our brain works.

I liked the lamp posts so much, I decided it would be a good idea to share them with you today.  You’ll have a better idea of how Panamanian parks look like.  Here we go.

Photographs of an attractive lamp post illuminating the Andrés Bello Park in Panama City, Panama. (Credit: Omar Upegui R.)

Another view of a nice-looking lamp post that provides lighting to the Andrés Bello Park in Panama City, Panama. (Credit: Omar Upegui R.)

It’s interesting that Goethe wanted more light while his own inner light was fading.  Good Day.

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Cartoon: Texting and Driving

Texting while driving...a lose-lose situation. (Credit: Bits & Pieces)

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