At the end of the long and boring plane journey, we could come to our hotel among more than 50 multi-storey buildings of different visuality in the city center in Panama, the capital city of Panama, one of the Central American countries.

These lands have an interesting story. In 1412, when Christopher Columbus first came to the lands of America today, he thinks it is India, and the local tribes living here are called “Indian” in the Indian sense, and this expression continues to this day. declares that When the Italian seafarer Amerigo Vespucci came here in 1512, he realized that it was new land, not India, and stated in his reports. In all maps and records made until this date, it was stated that this place is the ocean, not the land. Since this date, the name of this new continent has been accepted as America. Well, why is the man who first discovered this place not America, but Amerigo; In the vast majority of European countries of Latin origin, the names of the countries end feministly as “A”, to be the productive big state.

In countries such as Panama, Bolivia, Peru, Venezuela, Colombia, which are Central American countries, there were great wars due to fertile lands and mines during the times when they were discovered, and then most of the local people were killed by colonial countries. Panama passed to the British since 1600s and brought slaves from Africa to run and fight on their side due to the decline of the indigenous people to work as a result of the slaughter made until that date.

The black race here today is the continuation of the survivors at that time. It is a hybrid breed of Native American and Spanish mixed with 65% of the population known as Mestizo in countries known as Central America today including Panama. 12% Native American, who usually live in the mountains and woodland, the rest are predominantly Spanish, African and others.

Panama, Central America, and the Atlantic Ocean to the Pacific coast area olan74 thousand square kilometers (about one-tenth the size of Turkey), Panama is a small country with a population of 4 million capital’s name. The two major cities are Panama, which is the coast of the Atlantic Ocean, and Colon, which is the coast of the Pacific Ocean. The important income of Panama, which is the commercial center of Central America, is one of the tanker and cargo ships passing through the Panama channel. In the country, where 75% of the rainforests are protected with great care, the average annual temperature is 15-16 ° C. In other words, it is a place with summer and spring.

Panama, which is not very touristy yet and whose mother tongue is Spanish, is Balboa, but everywhere it passes US dollars, the rate is the same, 1 Balboa, 1 dollar. One side of the city is high-rise buildings, good shops, shopping malls, the other half of the city is where poverty and distress are experienced, two different worlds. As such, there may be burglary and security problems.

When you come to Central American countries, you hear the name of the South American revolutionary leader Simon Bolivar, which is the name of a street everywhere in Ankara.

Simon Bolivar was born to a rich family in Venezuela in 1783, after completing his law education in Spain, he returns to Venezuela to fight colonial forces and proclaim his independence. Later, he lost the war he entered with the Spaniards and was exiled to Colombia, as a result of the popular movements he took over, he took over the Colombian army in 1814 and took over a part of Colombia. When he is unable to stay here for a long time, he goes to Jamaica to gather new powers and come back to Venezuela and take over the administration. In 1821, he liberated the region called Venezuela, which includes Venezuela, Ecuador, Colombia, Panama and Peru from the Spanish colony and became the first president. In 1827 personal conflicts between generals turn into civil war. The Great Colombian community begins to split. Simon Bolivar, who married Maria Teresa and fought for the independence of the peoples and her country, has a very important place in the history of Central America and Spain. He died of tuberculosis in 1830.

During his visit to Venezuela, President Erdogan landed at the Simon Bolivar Airport in the capital Caracas, then put a wreath on the Simon Bolivar monument, and the replica of the sword of Simon Bolivar by the President of Venezuela, Maduro, was awarded to the President with honor.

**

Today, we will enter the ship, first to Colombia and then to the Caribbean Islands. It is not so easy to enter the ship, as if traveling to space, big organization. Entry records, forms, passport records, cabin numbers, collecting and coding suitcases, 3000 people are not easy to complete in a few hours. Anyway, we were able to do it successfully.

Soon after entering the ship, the sirens started to ring, no, we just got on board, we heard from the announcement that we were just sinking so we gathered for the drill. Gathering everyone in the place specified by their code number and preliminary information; What to do if the ship sinks, which boat to board, officers, missions or something, everyone has to attend the drill.

Getting to know the ship, a 14-storey big ship in total, multiple activities are carried out on each floor, which was what, when, which suits us, these are not things to be understood in a day. We try to experience the pleasure that we left the job. Short shorts for evening meals are not worn with flip-flops, fabric pants, shirts, ladies should be stylish clothes accordingly.

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In the morning we approach the port of Cartagena, one of the important cities of Colombia. It is divided like a modern city with multi-storey buildings from afar. Cartagena is divided into two as new and old. On the one hand, it is a new city with big skyscrapers, shopping centers, and on the other, the old city with its colorful historical houses and historical structure. It has been included in the Unesco World Heritage list as it preserves and maintains its historical and cultural values. The journey begins in the old city as soon as you pass under the clock tower in Plaza de Los Coches. Typical examples of Spanish colonial architecture.

Mobile sellers everywhere are looking for you for a long time, like looking at your side and looking for a price, you are burned.

Two things that come to my mind in Colombia are; Pablo Escobar, one of the biggest drug dealers in the world, shot down at the end, where even America could not catch it for a long time. I would love to have a nice salsa dance night and watch it, not what I know. There is a widespread belief that this place is unsafe, I think this is ancient, I do not think it is different from other places.

Colombia Gabriel García Márquez, one of the most important writers of the 20th century, who is the most important representative of the current called “magical realism” in Latin American literature, who wrote the facts with his own expression, won the Neustadt International Literature in 1972 and the Nobel Prize in Literature in 1982, hangs around here. We are in Plaza de Bolivar square where Márquez wrote the facts of the country, wrote his books to fight corruption and exploitation and where there is a statue of Simon Bolivar.

 

We pass through the beautiful restaurants and head to Santo Domingo Square, where the famous Colombian artist Fernando Botero has a naked, fat woman statue. According to the legend, if you hand the ass and breasts of the woman statue, your fortune would be opened. Let’s see what kind of fortune will come! Those who dance right next to you while you are accompanied by music, dance and make rap music for you .. actually it is a purseful place. Time passes here.

The coastal cities and islands in this region have been frequented by pirates and looters in the past, so high protection walls were built on the coastal lengths, and the windows of the houses were sheltered with iron bars. Here, too, high walls along the coast still exist, and the tradition of the same visual wood fence continues to maintain the same style instead of iron bars.

Colombia is a country with a per capita income of $ 6,300, a population of 50 million, an area of ​​1,142,000 km² and an official language in Spanish. Cartegena is one of the important ports and historical cities with a population of 1 million.

**

Today we are on the ship all day long. When everything is open buffet, plenty of food and drink. .. there is always activity suitable for you in every corner. Tonight, we are eating a white night dressed as whites as everyone else. There is no hitch in the service, the food is great, first-class restaurant service.

Afterwards, the modern dance show prepared very well using technology.

**

We approach the port of Bonaire Island Kralendijk from the Caribbean Islands in the early morning. An autonomous 288 km² land in the Netherlands, a small island with a population of 12 thousand. Roads, streets are clean, all houses, stores, all are smooth, well-maintained, like a colorful painting painted in different colors. All houses and shops on the island can not be more than twice, the rule; no building can be higher than the church. Great, no different height building. The Caribbean islands were formed by the rise of the ocean floor in the past, and since it is not volcanic, everything is green and tropical. Aruba, Bonaire and Curacao Islands, known as ABC islands, are connected to the Netherlands. One of the places where slave trade was done in the past.

During the slavery period, we go to the places where slaves live, the concrete huts of 5-10 people, whose width does not exceed several meters in height.

Concrete huts become worse than a bakery in a place where even the rain rains hard and there are serious temperatures day and night. So many people live and sleep in the same hut and continue to do all kinds of hard work during the day.

Feed the fish when they get sick, get older or become unbearable.

There are coral riffs around the island, corals have the properties to filter the sea water, so it is a sparkling sea. We walk around on a beautifully maintained island, and the short-term tropical rains that suppress suddenly get wet. Since the sea is beautiful, we said let’s see it from inside, we came to Coco beach. Warm clean and beautiful. Still, I would argue that no sea in the world can be like the seas in our country, even ten.

Another feature of Bonaire island is that flamingo birds can live in the wilderness freely, as if the island is a flamingo temple. For this reason, flamingos have become the symbol of the island.

 

If you think that a small island in the middle of the ocean here is suitable for land real estate or cheap, you are wrong, it is not at all, it houses 4 million dollars. There are a lot of Europeans living on an ongoing basis, probably the trade control of the trade island.

They keep the ocean water in very large pools and obtain and export 40 thousand tons of ocean salt per year. Another important income of the island is tourism.

We came to the end of the day, returning to the ship, a light break, restarting ship life. After the meal with plenty of poems, the music and shows you like, wherever you want.

**

The largest area among the ABC Islands is Willemstad, the capital city of Curacao Island, with a population of 160 thousand square meters and a population of 160 thousand. This place is appointed by the Netherlands, the highest authority, the Governor Netherlands, and the mayor and other administrative units are elected by the public. Management and judicial decisions or important issues need to be approved by the Netherlands. The Netherlands always collects taxes under these different names. In short, it is called the autonomous region, not colonially but more politely. There are 6 islands belonging to the Netherlands along with ABC Islands in the Caribbean region. The oldest Jewish population in the world. Emanuel Jewish Synagogue dating back to the century is here and still working. All houses are colorful, people decide which color to paint their houses, provided that they are not the same as the ones next door. Color story; In the 19th century, the governor of the region suffered intolerable migraine pain. He believed that the reason for these pains was from the rays of the sun reflected from the white buildings. By making a law, it has decided to paint all houses in vibrant colors other than white. The city owes its lively colors to those days. The city of Willenstad and its natural harbor are on the UNESCO World Heritage List.

Willemstad consists of two parts, the old and new city or Punda and Otrabanda. They are separated by a channel passing through each other. You can sniff the old days, the Dutch and colonial buildings in Punda. On the other hand, modern buildings dominate. These two cities are connected to each other by the Queen Emma bridge, built on pontoons. The bridge opens at the end of the channel at certain times of the day to allow the ships and boats in the big port to enter and exit. Its opening is the same as it used to be. The interesting bridge is hinged on one side and the motor boat connected to the bridge at the other end turns the bridge 90 degrees and leans on the shore, then ships, boats come in or out.

In Curacua, which is no different from European cities, people from all nationalities of all kinds live.

Curacau Island is more developed and commercial center than other islands. They process and sell the oil they buy from Venezuela, there are serious oil refinery facilities. The minimum wage is $ 1000, and the annual income per capita is around $ 13,000. Turkey’s exactly as if this is unknown, although higher! We are talking about a small island in the middle of the ocean.

It was discovered by Christopher Columbus in the 1400s. It was the center of the slave trade for many years, first in the Spanish and then in the Dutch colony. One of its important revenues today is tourism, which is visited by 180 thousand people a year.

The island we are traveling is a well-maintained place, houses with colorful traffic, all vehicles lead to unconditional pedestrians, an extremely civilized place. Old Town, Old Town, is the center of administrative buildings and shopping centers. It is not such a cheap place, it is happy in people. When the first natives of this place were called Indians, then Spaniards and Dutch people, a mixed race emerged. A mix of Spanish, Dutch and native languages, as well as a local language, the majority speaks Spanish, Dutch and English.

**

The island of Aruba is the most developed island of the Caribbean, with a surface area of ​​180 km² and a population of 180 thousand. One of the most important revenues is tourism and “off shore” financing, namely money laundering.

When Christopher Columbus came here in 1499, the Indians of the island, the Indians, who have long hair and beard in front of them, think that they are god and surrender before them. Columbus, who had easily surrendered the island, used them as slaves, and most of the riots were later killed when the Indians realized that they were not gods. The island, which belongs to the Spaniards for a long time, came under the control of the Netherlands in 1636 and continues to this day. After the island passed to the Dutch, they bought Venezuela oil, which was close to 20 miles here, processed it in their refineries and sold it back and made good income from it.

The island of Aruba is independent in its internal affairs, with the governor’s supervision and guidance, which is the top management appointed by the Netherlands! is managed.

The island, which has a desert climate because of not getting much rain, is not at the forefront of agriculture. They planted aloe vera, the type of cactus that they made and sold to the world market by making different cosmetic products, and they seized 35% of the world market. When it comes to cosmetics, creams and youth, beauty, wrinkles or something in the sentence, it was an attack and a loot.

Aruba, where Europeans and mostly Dutch people live, is no different from the big cities of Europe, there are shops with all known brands, big hotels, all of them are not cheap, but everyone is full of shopping packages. A place that has lost its characteristic cultural values.

Fine sandy beaches, the island’s annual average of 25-35 degrees Celsius, the island is a popular destination for European tourists.

Caribbean islands, where Latin music is dominant, the nights are awesome, frequent festivals make them very colorful. You must stay here for at least a few days and live at night.

When it comes to the ship, these are not quite, nights are on the ship.

**

We return to Panama from here, we have a two-day cruise. Plenty of food and drink, different shows anytime, anywhere.

**

Panama, the Pacific and the Atlantic Ocean to the coast of Central America olan75 hundred thousand square measurement (about one-tenth the size of Turkey), the population of 4 million, the capital of a small country, Panama City. The most important cities are Panama City, which has a coast to the Atlantic Ocean, and Colon, which has a coast to the Pacific Ocean. Panama, which is the important trade center of Central America, is the strategic channel that combines the two oceans with a per capita national income of around 10 thousand USD, 30% of the country’s income. In Panama, which is 75% rainforest, the penalty for cutting trees and harming nature is huge.

In 1881, the Colombian union was established with the participation of Colombia, Panama and Venezuela to balance the power in the region, but the union broke up in 1830.

“Old town”, the old neighborhood Casco Viejo, which is the first residential area in Panama City, carries the traces of the past. What are we going to do? The extremely well maintained and clean places have preserved many structures that have come since the colonial period.

Founded in 1673 after the old capital, Viejo, was burned and looted during pirate attacks, Casco Viejo was the place where pirates and gang wars took place again when it was the center of Panama culture and civilization, and therefore people were abandoned. Later on, when security was provided, it became the place where the culture was kept alive. For this reason, it was included in the World Heritage list in 1997. Today it has become the place for stylish cafes, gourmet restaurants, bars, boutique hotels, churches, palaces and Panama’s popular clubs. We sat down to the first bar next to what was said. We asked for a menu, the waitress is extending the wine bottle, we are tearing that the menu is tearing it as a list, it turns out that the menu is on the bottles, ignorance is such a thing. There are many different decors, different objects, a very unique place, and what we ate was great.

Panama Canal started to be built by the French in 1880, but the production stopped due to the bankruptcy of the producer company. America supported Panama in the war of independence, and in return, it had all the rights of the channel and its surroundings for a cost of $ 10 million. As a result of this agreement, the construction of the channel started again in 1903 by the Americans 82 km. 40 thousand people worked in the channel with a length of which was completed in 1914 and put into operation. It has been gradually transferred to the government of Panama since 1977. Tankers passing here make an appointment 3 months ago and deposit their money in advance. The tolls range between $ 100,000 and $ 1.5 million. Considering that 14-15 thousand tankers pass annually, good money. They have looked at things well, they have commissioned another new channel soon, and both channels are working at full capacity. If you get the idea that I do not give such big money, you know, yahu, you have to walk around the Strait of Magellan from the nose of Patagonia, one of the most difficult and wavy seas in the world, the tip of the South American continent. In other words, at least 7,500 miles (14 thousand km) extra road and one month risky sea route. If you have a big ship, go here, it is very advantageous.

Due to the low tax on port and ship registration, too many commercial ships roam the seas under the flag of Panama, which has an important place in the country’s budget.

Panama was one of the leading countries in drug trafficking due to the government gap in this process, one of the countries that had the most coups and power conflicts in the past.

As a result of the work carried out in 2015, it was among the happiest countries in the world… like a joke. It means that men can be happy in any condition.

Sometimes we use it as a “banana republic”, here is Honduras, one of the countries of Central American. When Honduras, one of the countries that grow the most bananas in the region, passed the control of America in the past, the American banana trader gathers all the banana gardens at very reasonable prices and monopolizes all the banana trade. Later, the book writer, who describes his economic and political power here, is named “banana republic”. An expression that does not have democracy and is used to mean the form of government that is pursued in the interests of one man. Where did it come to my mind, no …

 

yours affectionately

 

Hayrettin KAĞNICI

December 2019