HEATHER  RATH
  • Home
    • Admin Stuff
  • Who Is She ?
  • Writings
    • Books
    • Children's Stories
    • Lifestyle Columns
    • Short Stories
    • Travel Articles
    • Projects
  • Reviews/Links
  • Blog
  • Comments
  • Contact
  • Poetry
  • Untitled

Where Can You Hide in Panama?

4/16/2015

0 Comments

 
Picture
    When writing a novel, there is always conflict.  Which means there are good guys and bad guys.
       In the Young Adult novel I am writing, some of the action takes place in Panama. I need a good hiding place....and I found one!
        A few miles from the Costa Rican border is a sleepy, dusty little town called Puerto Armuelles with a population of 20,000.  It is Panama’s only true mainland beach town.  Few foreigners live here as it is off the beaten track, at least for now.
         Puerto, as locals call their town, is hot.  When I was there, the temperature remained steady at 36 C (96 F) during the day. So hot the dogs lie in the centre of the road in a patch of shade and refuse to move.  Car drivers, blasting air conditioning if they are lucky to have it, merely direct their autos around them.

Picture
Because of the heat, Puerto is laid-back.  It’s hard to be motivated to move. 
            The town, founded by the United Fruit Company---later known as the Chiquita Banana Company---developed large banana plantations in the area in 1927.  The company built homes for their workers and executives as well as schools, clinics and recreational facilities.  Not only did employees have access to these amenities, they were among the highest paid workers in Panama.

Picture
Enter labour unions.  As they grew strong so did their demands, until Chiquita closed its operations, selling the business in 2003 to an employee cooperative.  The agreement required the cooperative to sell its banana crop to Chiquita at less than market price.  The cooperative ran up a massive debt even with the help of a government subsidy.  A few years ago, the government wrote off the debt, took ownership of the plantations and is now selling off the land.  So, yes, there are no bananas!
            With money tight amidst a failing economy, homes deteriorated.  Many of these abandoned and decaying houses provide perfect hiding opportunities for the characters in my novel. 
You can get a feel for Puerto from the photos on this page.  Perfect setting for an adventure novel!


Map of Panama  (click on map to view a particular map)
Bad Behaviour       New Short Story
Kill Bill                  New Short Story
0 Comments

    Author

    A day without writing is a day without sunshine.

    Archives

    March 2023
    February 2023
    January 2023
    September 2022
    July 2022
    May 2022
    March 2022
    February 2022
    January 2022
    December 2021
    November 2021
    October 2021
    September 2021
    July 2021
    June 2021
    May 2021
    April 2021
    March 2021
    February 2021
    January 2021
    December 2020
    November 2020
    October 2020
    September 2020
    August 2020
    July 2020
    June 2020
    May 2020
    April 2020
    March 2020
    February 2020
    January 2020
    December 2019
    November 2019
    October 2019
    September 2019
    August 2019
    July 2019
    June 2019
    May 2019
    April 2019
    March 2019
    February 2019
    January 2019
    December 2018
    November 2018
    October 2018
    September 2018
    August 2018
    July 2018
    June 2018
    May 2018
    April 2018
    March 2018
    February 2018
    January 2018
    December 2017
    November 2017
    October 2017
    September 2017
    August 2017
    July 2017
    June 2017
    May 2017
    April 2017
    March 2017
    February 2017
    January 2017
    December 2016
    November 2016
    October 2016
    September 2016
    August 2016
    July 2016
    June 2016
    May 2016
    April 2016
    March 2016
    January 2016
    November 2015
    October 2015
    August 2015
    July 2015
    May 2015
    April 2015
    March 2015
    February 2015
    January 2015
    December 2014
    November 2014
    September 2014
    August 2014
    July 2014
    June 2014
    May 2014

    Categories

    All

    RSS Feed

All authored material and photographs contained on this site are copyrighted © and the property of Heather Rath and cannot be reproduced without her written permission.
Photos used under Creative Commons from Bazar del Bizzarro, roland, Mike Kniec