Artisan Market

To end our long day on Friday we went to an artisan market about 15 minutes from the hotel. This is a place where the locals can sell small hand crafted goods, such as bracelets, mugs, and t-shirts.  One unique thing about this market is that the customers have to agree on a price for an item. For example, instead of buying a bracelet for $5 you can tell the person you are doing business with that you want it for $3.  Although you can get a lower price that is originally offered most of the time, that might not be the case for every instance.   It is a good place to buy souvenirs for loved ones or yourself. 

From right: Matt, Elle, and the coolest bus driver ever

Dell Panama

We were first greeted by a kind man named Fernando Lopez. He informed us that the Dell Center in Panama was the largest center in Central America containing two large buildings. The first building consisted of hundreds of cubicles and it was known as the operating building: tech support, phone calls, emails, chats, and IT assist. This support center reaches from the U.S. and Canada, and all the way to some parts in Europe. This tech support group is working 24/7 because of all the time zones they must deal with, including England and the Netherlands.
The second building we toured was only a year and a half old and it was more of the corporate side including finance, accounting, logistics, auditors, marketing, human resources, and labs for engineering. This building is also made up of many cubicles that can hold 3,000 employees. All of the workers speak Spanish and English. In the training labs, they have invested in $40 million worth of equipment mainly used by the engineers who solve computer problems. Lorenzo Batista is the main engineer for the dell Center in Panama and he has been there for 8 years and he is known as THE man around the labs.

Finally, Giancarla gave us a nice presentation about Dell and how the company works. They started in 2003 as a call center and the are transitioning to a services provider and a solutions company. In Panama alone they have 2,300 employees, 275+ management teams, and 35% are female employees. They are #1 in storage and cloud computing and they are moving towards a Cisco and Lenox type company. They have had 1420 employee volunteers for community service projects and they have contributed 13,500 hours during these projects which they are very proud of. Dell in Panama has acquired 16 companies in the past 4 years and they are continuing to strive.

To conclude the presentation, Shane gave Giancarla a gift from all of us and she thanked him by a kiss on the cheek which Shane enjoyed very much and his face was consumed by redness!

Contributed by Elle Madsen

 

Puente Del Mundo, Corazon del Universo (Bridge of the World, Heart of the Universe)

There is nothing more central to Panamanian culture, tourism, and business than the Panama Canal. So it was a reasonable expectation that the canal would be a highlight of the SIE Latin America experience. If I may be so bold as to speak on behalf of my fellow students, we were not disappointed.

We rose with the hot Panamanian sun to board a ship that would take us through the marvel of modern engineering, the Panama Canal. The ship was named Fantasia Del Mar (Fantasy of the Sea) and had some surprising history. El Fantasia Del Mar was built by Eastern Shipbuilding Corporation (based in Connecticut) and was launched from Boothbay Harbor, Maine in 1977. The floor we stood on was not the only comfort of home however; we soon met many American tourists including a couple from the tropical paradise known as Smithfield, Rhode Island.

Our tour guide was able to walk around the ship and speak to many passengers personally, which served to augment his humorous narration on the ship’s PA system. He imparted on us many interesting facts and figures

·         40-50 ships pass through the canal every day and 14,000 do so every year. The new construction should expand this number to 120 ships daily.

 

·         The average cost of passage is $85,000 dollars and the record for highest price to cross the canal is $459,000 paid by Norwegian Cruise Line in 2013. The price breakdown is based on cargo: $150 dollars for a full bed, $100 dollars for an empty one, $84 dollars for a full shipping crate, $74 for an empty one.

·         Transport ships for automobiles can fit 6,000 cars at a time.

·         The Panama Canal is the only place a person can cross the Continental Divide, which separates the watersheds flow of water to the Atlantic and the Pacific, by boat.

·         There are three sets of locks that raise the water level in the canal from sea level to the 85 feet at which sits Lake Gatun. These locks weigh 720 tons each and the lock system is so large that the entire Empire State Building when laid on its side could fit between the set of locks.

 

·         The Canal construction was started by the French, at the time at the forefront of the engineering world, due in part to their success with the Suez Canal. For 13 years the French struggled with the project, as 22,000 died, largely in part to malaria. The French had such trouble with the Continental Divide that they spread rumors in all the newspapers of the world that there was gold in the mountains as a desperate bid to procure more laborers. After the French gave up their attempt, the US supported Panamanian independence against the greater Columbia and continued construction. The advances of Cuban doctor Carlos Finlay in the field of malaria treatment made it possible for the United States to complete the canal.

 On our voyage we passed through miles of rainforest with few man-made distractions. There was the white-collar prison that houses the infamous Manuel Noriega. We also passed one of the world’s largest floating cranes. The so called “Herman the German” was one of four massive floating cranes used by Nazi Germany to repair U-boats in World War II . The three cranes that survived the war were split amongst the Allied Powers. Panama bought their gigantic crane from the United States in the 1990s to simplify canal repairs and construction; it took 9 million dollars to transport this crane.

Aside from the extensive history lesson, Bryant’s jaunt on the Panama Canal was one of the most relaxing parts of our trip so far. We enjoyed Panamanian fare for both breakfast and lunch and relished in the company of our peers as well as the other visitors to this wonder of the industrial age. The importance of the canal in transit as well as in the culture of Central America was palpable and our expedition was well summed up by our friendly captain: “Attention all ditch-diggers. Mosquito swatters, and adventure seekers, let it be known that these people have crossed through the Panama Canal. BEEN THERE, DONE THAT”

 

Saludos,

             Casey

Good morning Panama

We visited Panama Canal today and at 6:45 this morning on the way to the Canal we encountered the most amazing sunrise.

Vamos a la playa

 

It is amazing how lucky the 20 of us are, it’s January, which means winter for us Bryant students, but not here in Panama! With temperatures in the high 80s it’s hard not to say “Vamos a la playa” (Let’s go to the beach). Like any other day, we woke up early and readied ourselves to board the bus, but this time we traded in the business casual attire for swimsuits, towels, and lots of sunblock. It was a low key day all throughout the country of Panama (national holiday), which gave us the perfect opportunity have a little fun in the sun.
 

Today, January 9, 2014 Panama celebrated Dia De Los Martires (Martyr’s Day). This national holiday commemorates the 1964 students from Balboa High School who raised the Panamanian flag in protest in what was then known as the Panama Canal Zone, where the American flag would normally fly. This was done in protest to demonstrate how Panamanians wanted the sovereignty, as well as their contributions to the canal. During this conflict the Panama’s flag was torn during riot with Canal Zone Police. Sadly this event became violent and U.S. Army units were called in for backup. Unfortunately some Panamanians were killed, but they died martyrs because their strong convictions which ultimately led the U.S. to transfer control over the canal entirely to Panama. This event was a stepping stone to this country’s success in running the Panama Canal.

With such a day in history like this one many of the stores and business were closed for the day, because it is known as a national day of mourning.  We took this chance to make a 2 hour journey for a dip in the Pacific Ocean.

 

The drive was worth every minute once we stepped out onto the beautiful beach called Veranera. The sun was beaming down and sunblock was a must, especially for those of us who are as white as the snow back home. We got some nice color and made a splash into water warm Pacific water.

We even got to ride banana boats and went tubing!

What better way to cool down than tubing!

All and all it was a perfect beach day, plus who can say they went to the beach in January!














Sun struck and sandy it’s an early night for us SIEers because it’s off to a boat ride on the Panama Canal very early in morning!   

Maybe we should play lottery - we are good with rare chance events...

Dear readers,

You can see from the previous post that our trip to Portobelo was an exciting one.

 As Katie nicely summarized:

1. Don't pet the stray dogs - they have flees.
2. The locals are better than you at soccer (See Mark's post) - better known as fútbol - but they are happy to include you in the game anyway.
3. It is truly a small world, you never know when walking down the street you will see someone that you know - or for that matter a Bryant alumni.
4. Pee before you leave - or don't drink too much water. The result: a car accident that blocks the road causing a 30 minute delay followed by walking up and down the road until being forced to ask a couple to pee in their house because that's better than going in the tropical rain forest... Not that I would know from experience.

Number 4 from Katie's list talks about a car accident and causes number 3 on her list.

 

 

As any tourist in a foreign country would do - when you see flashing police lights you go toward them to see what's happening and how long you might be stuck in traffic. So Alejandro P., Esteban (our awesome local guide) and I decided to check things out. We walked out of the bus and started toward flashing lights. On our way we passed by number of cars and from the bed of one pickup truck jumped a massive mastiff and started barking at us. I was afraid they did not feed him that day so we moved quickly from the truck.

The accident involved a bus, a delivery truck, and a suv. Police was taking notes and gathering intel. As we turned around to get back to the bus another person was coming forward to take a look at things. When he was few feet in front of us, both him and I looked in disbelief and yelled "no way, what are you doing here." What is the chance that another Bryant student would be there at that time? Slim - but it happened. I was face to face with Ali Abbas, former student at Bryant who currently works for The Abraaj Group in United Arab Emirates. He has family in Panama and was on vacation with his brother and some friends.

I did not think students would believe the story so I showed him off on the bus. Ali greeted the rest of the group and we chatted for a few minutes until the road was cleared again. 

When Ali left Esteban suggested we start playing lottery!

And the mastiff - you know the big barky one - he was on his way too and he belongs to Ali!

Portobelo

From staggering mountains bursting with vegetation to coconut and palm trees along sandy beaches, our drive to Portobelo - not to be confused with the mushroom - was one with breathtaking views. We arrived in a culture immersed in traditions and history and saw the first fort built in the Americas still standing several hundred years later... Or what's left of it.

El Castillo de San Jerónimo was built by the Spanish explorer Francisco Velarde y Mercado in 1597 (don't worry, if you can't pronounce his name, we can't either). This fort along with the town of Portobelo became important parts of the transportation of silver and gold from Peru to Spain. 

Mules would make the trip from Peru to Panama bringing with them gold and silver for the Spanish government. It was then accounted for at the embassy in Portobelo and boarded onto ships headed for Spain through the Caribbean Sea.

With the heavy traffic of silver and gold through San Jerónimo, pirate attacks became common. Pirate ships - maybe even the Black Pearl - would wait in the Caribbean until the Spanish vessels were away from the harbor and plunder their silver and gold. 

One famous island, Bocas del Toro, was known for harboring pirates and was a place of conflict for a number of years. For all of you movie fans, Bocas del Toro was the inspiration for the island of Tortuga in the movie, "The Pirates of the Caribbean." 

More than El Castillo de San Jerónimo, Portobelo also marks the place of the Miracle of the Black Christ. This important symbol to the indigenous population of Panama, commemorates the "colonization of the soul" as it is called by some. 

 

As the story goes, the statue of Jesus in the local church was white in skin color when Spanish settlers arrived in Panama; however, one day the statue had miraculously changed and was black - as it is today. Thus, the natives saw this as a sign of Christ and began to accept Catholicism as their religion. Today, Catholicism remains the most heavily practiced and most prominent religion in Central America.

Essentially we met very interesting people and learned valuable things from our trip to Portobelo:

1. Don't pet the stray dogs - they have flees.

2. The locals are better than you at soccer - better known as fútbol - but they are happy to include you in the game anyway
3. It is truly a small world, you never know when walking down the street you will see someone that you know - or for that matter a Bryant alumni. 
4. Pee before you leave - or don't drink too much water. The result: a car accident that blocks the road causing a 30 minute delay followed by walking up and down the road until being forced to ask a couple to pee in their house because that's better than going in the tropical rain forest... Not that I would know from experience. 

  Contributed by Kaitlyn Koumarianos