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Bismark Palm, spectacular fan
I was recently in my birthplace of Panama. Over ten days it was a visit to some of the prettiest landscapes of my dynamic homeland as well as a return to family.
We had culinary experiences too. In Boquete, a coffee-growing mountain town in the distant province of Chiriqui, we shared a couple of meals with Charlie Collins one of Panama's premier chefs and author of T'ACH: Panamanian Native Cuisine,
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Carlos Carrasco, Actor, Director, Producer. Photo courtesy of Rochelle Newman-Carrasco
Carlos Carrasco was born in Panama—as I was—and came to the United States on an acting scholarship. He honed his craft as a classical actor only to discover that in the real world of movies a big and dark Latino would be handed the roles of drug runner and thug.
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On the street we pass an aged pickup truck. The driver holding a loudspeaker to his mouth causes a rhythmic drone: “Scrap metals, chatarras, bronze, cobre, hierro viejo, lavadoras, secadoras, aires acondicionados dañados. Two young men ride in the open back to accommodate the scrap air conditioners, washers, dryers, and miscellany. This is the only music I hear on this visit. These sounds, too, are home.
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As you know, Bananagrams and Boggle are word games with letter tiles that players use to build words faster than their opponents. Once a week, son and daughter-in-law play with me on Zoom, and they crush me. I use words to write, right?
Read moreNovember Third. Today is the day Panama celebrates its independence from Colombia. From province to small republic. It happened 113 years ago in 1903 just before Panama sealed a deal with Teddy Roosevelt to build a canal 50 miles across the narrow waist of the country. Panama has come a long way since then.
Viva Pa-na-má! There's grace in the three simple syllables (with an accent in Spanish).
The word of indigenous origin means abundance of fishes and butterflies.
To the film director Norman Foster Panama is slow moving fans in the ceiling of a murky bar with Sydney Toler in make-up--
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