The Colours of Panama

There is exactly one place on the planet where you can watch the sun rise over the Pacific and set over the Atlantic. It's Panama, and no, that's not backwards: the isthmus twists so that the canal runs north-south, and the geography does the impossible daily. A country fifty miles wide at its narrowest, holding the hemispheres together like a clasp.

Where it all began

For millennia this land bridge was the meeting point of the Americas, animals, plants and peoples crossed here; the Guna, Emberá and Ngäbe lived and live along its coasts and rivers. In 1513, Balboa crossed on foot and became the first European to see the Pacific from American shores; the Spanish then hauled Peru's silver across this strip for centuries on the Camino Real. Independence came twice, from Spain in 1821, then from Colombia in 1903, and then the century's engineering epic: the Panama Canal, opened 15 August 1914, cut through mountain and swamp at enormous human cost, with workers from the Caribbean, Europe and Asia whose descendants are Panama today. On 31 December 1999, the canal passed fully into Panamanian hands. Ships pay their tolls to Panama City now. As they should.

The minds

Panama's gift is rhythm and reach. Rubén Blades, salsa's poet laureate, wrote Pedro Navaja, the genre's most famous song, won a shelf of Grammys, ran for president, and served as tourism minister; only in Panama. Roberto Durán, Manos de Piedra, is on every list of the greatest boxers ever, four divisions, a legend from the El Chorrillo streets. Mariano Rivera entered baseball's Hall of Fame unanimously, the first ever. And the pollera, Panama's hand-embroidered national dress, takes up to a year to sew and is worn like the national treasure it is at every festival.

Made in Panama

The canal moves roughly five percent of world trade and earns billions in tolls; around it grew the Colón Free Zone, one of the largest free ports on Earth, a dollarised economy, Panama has used the US dollar since 1904, and Latin America's banking hub with its skyline to match. Copper mining, ship registry (more ships fly Panama's flag than any other), and coffee: the geisha beans of Boquete break world auction records year after year, the most expensive coffee on the planet grows on Panamanian volcano slopes.

Where to go

Panama City is three cities in one: the ruins of Panamá Viejo, sacked by the pirate Morgan in 1671; the colonial balconies and plazas of Casco Viejo, now full of rooftop bars; and a Miami-like skyline behind them. Watch ships thread the Miraflores locks, then walk or cycle the Amador causeway at sunset.

Then the wild parts. The San Blas islands, Guna Yala, 365 islands ruled autonomously by the Guna people, palm, sand, reef, no hotels chains allowed, just cabins and lobster. Bocas del Toro's Caribbean surf and starfish beach. Boquete's cloud-forest coffee farms under Volán Barú, climb it at night to watch dawn touch both oceans at once. Santa Catalina and Coiba, a UNESCO marine park with hammerheads and whale sharks, the Galapagos' quieter cousin. And the Darien, one of the last true wildernesses in the hemisphere, for the truly prepared.

Culture, on a plate and in the ear

Breakfast on hojaldres with eggs, lunch on sancocho, the chicken-culantro stew that cures everything including Mondays, dinner on fresh corvina ceviche at the fish market for a few dollars. Patacones with everything. Then the sound: típico accordions in the countryside, salsa and reggaetón in the capital, Panama was an early cradle of reggae en español, and the drums of congo culture on the Caribbean coast, UNESCO-listed. In November, the whole country parades, twice, two independence celebrations in one month, because why choose.

Every colour is someone's home. I print it the way memory keeps it: vintage-washed, distressed, made to order.

Shop the Panama tee · the hoodie · Travelers · Sleeve Badge

P.S. Four quarters, two stars: blue for one party, red for the other, white for the peace between them, drawn at independence so both sides fit on one flag. Smart from day one. Find your flag.