The 2 Cs

A cemetery and a causeway.

There is a big cemetery down the road from where Kathryn and Regis live that we pass everyday as we go in and out of their community - and I was curious about it.

It is the Corozal American Cemetery. Buried here are more than 5,000 American veterans plus others who died during the construction and operation of the Panama Canal. Some died from Yellow Fever.

In 1914, the Canal Commission designated land for use as a cemetery for U.S. remains. The graves contain veterans from the American Civil War, the Spanish-American War, World Wars I and II and most conflicts that followed. A small visitor centre displays the history of the cemetery and American involvement in Panama. In addition to honouring members of the U.S. armed forces, the cemetery commemorates the deeds and sacrifices of U.S. civilians who contributed to the security and operations of the Panama Canal. Corozal became a permanent American military cemetery in 1979 when ownership of the canal was transferred to Panama.

We walked down there this morning with Boba the dog being pretty sure we wouldn't be let in with the dog - which was correct. But the guard went and got the superintendent to check on the rules and Mr Gutierrez walked down from his office in the visitor centre to greet us. A very personable man with impeccable English. He offered to take us on a tour when we returned (minus the dog) so we made plans to come back later today with Kathryn.

So Boba got a walk and we returned home to continue with our plan for the day which was to visit the BioMuseo with Kathryn who had Regis' car for the day for this purpose. As things turned out, there was not enough time when we got there - but it was closed anyway. So we will return tomorrow.

Part of the day's plan was to continue past the museum along the causeway with its nice views across to the city. Many expensive sailing boats are berthed here and it all looks pretty swish with lots of cafes and restaurants along the foreshore obviously catering for the well-heeled yachties. It was very picturesque.

The Amador Causeway is a road that connects the mainland of Panama City with a small archipelago of four islands in the Pacific Ocean. It was built in 1913 with rocks excavated from Snake Cut during construction of the Panama Canal. The site was originally part of a U.S. military complex known as Fort Amador, established to protect the entrance to the canal.

We then braved the traffic and headed into the depths of the city and its skyscrapers. Here we were headed for one of Kathryn's old haunts when she and Regis lived in an apartment when they first came to Panama: a nice cafe with lovely pastries and coffee.

Returning home in the traffic was real heart-in-your-mouth stuff. We got to the cemetery as planned and met up with Juan Gutierrez. He is a civil servant employee of the American Battle Monuments Commission which maintains American military cemeteries in foreign countries. He has been managing this cemetery in Panama for 2 years and is missing his wife and daughter who are in Sweden, unable to relocate because of some issue with his wife's Swedish pension.

The cemetery is very pleasant and nicely maintained. He has more plans for it including some bench seats for visitors to use to rest and reflect although he is somewhat ambivalent about this idea because he said they are most likely to be used by his Panamanian employees who he thinks may find the benches too tempting.

We had a lovely time with him wandering around and asking questions.