Yesterday the Panamanian electorate voted in a referendum on whether or not to expand the Canal. It is currently not wide or deep enough to allow the newest generation of gigantic ships to pass through, and if Panama does not expand the Canal there are other Latin American countries interested in such a project. Since we have arrived here we have seen ubiquitous signs urging "SÍ" or "NO", as well as many television advertisements in favor, but with little informational value- mostly jingoistic things along the lines of "Vota sí por nuestros hijos" (vote yes for our children). Alex´s cousin Emmanuel was one of our few sources of real information on the issue; he told us that of late the government has spent a lot of money on roads and other infrastructure in an effort to demonstrate that they will properly oversee the Canal expansion and that it will benefit Panamanians. Unfortunately government corruption is a problem, especially with all of the money that will be changing hands in this megaproject, so there are many concerns around that. In addition, much of the money spent on the Canal will be public funds which could be well-spent on other projects. In the end though, the Panamanians voted yesterday to expand the Canal. As reported on www.thepanamanews.com:

With more than 98 percent of votes counted, the Electoral Tribunal reports a sweeping "yes" victory in the canal expansion referendum, by some 78 to 22 percent. Those numbers, however, were based on the lowest-ever turnout in a Panamanian national election, a turnout of about 43.5 percent. About 34 percent of the Panamanian electorate voted in favor of the proposal, about 10 percent voted against it, and 56.5 percent stayed home.

Let´s just hope the Canal expansion goes better than the Big Dig...



In more personal news, Alex, Brandy, and I ventured a little ways east of our neighborhood of San Francisco to visit Panama Viejo (Old Panama), the first city built on the Pacific side of the "New World" by the Spaniards. It was once a thriving urban center, but unfortunately was sacked by pirates and then abandoned in favor of a more eastern location. The ruins of the old buildings were well-preserved until around the 1950´s when a squatter population moved into the area and built over many of the old ruins. You can still see many buildings though, and the Smithsonian Tropical Institute has posted informational posterboards explaining the function of the different buildings, as well as posters about the ecology of the Bay of Panama. Panama Viejo sits right on the bahia, and we actually live a few blocks away from it as well, but it is too polluted to swim in or enjoy at all. When you get too close there is a putrid stench- not quite as bad as some of the waterways in India- but a huge shame regardless.