Richard Holledge begins a tour of the central American country with time in Panama City.
Surprising place, Panama. Imagine a strip of land about ten miles wide owned by another country stretching through the middle of Britain. An independent state with its own army, tanks, police force, schools and shops.
That was Panama until only ten years ago when the last US soldier left the Zone which America had laid claim to on either side of the Canal in 1914.
The Canal defines Panama for outsiders – everyone knows about it even if they know nothing about the country - and defines it geographically – slicing 50 miles through land which is almost equidistant from the borders with the much-hyped Costa Rica and Colombia with its reputation for drugs and danger.
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