Panama: The path less traveled (1).

   The following video takes place in Bocas del Toro’s Islands, one of the Panama’s nine provinces.
   Bocas del Toro differs from other provinces because most of the population lives on islands. The houses or residences, with Afro-Caribbean influenced architecture, are built over the Caribbean turquoise waters that bathe the coasts. Transport is by boat going from one dock to another, as shown in the video. The food of the place...Mmm! Yummi. Watch the video!

XIII Collectionists Fair

   It's amazing what people collect as hobby: some collect coins, others stamps, fans collect items of their idols, and the most eccentric people collect antiques or rare things.
   On August 27, 28, 29 and 30, The XIII Collectionists Fair took place in the Bellamar Hall at El Panama Hotel, organized by Banco Nacional de Panamá, Asociación Numismática de Panamá and Dirección General de Correos y Telégrafos. Among the exhibition were coins, paper money, Panamanian stamps and books, medals, memorabilia from all the world, as well as Panama Canal stuff.
   Entering the exhibition, you could see the collection of stamps. There were stamps commemorating the fourth centenary of Don Quijote and literary criticism, stamps dedicated to art, the first printed stamps of different countries, stamps dedicated to history personalities, stamps and sealed envelopes of the Third Reich or Nazi empire and Panama's first stamps. It was a journey through the history of Panamenian mail.
   Further back in the room was the Panamanian and world coins display, as well as the paper money exhibition, which protruded Disney dollars and dollars with printing errors. I could also see collections of thimbles, snowmen manufactured statues, Matchbox (miniature cars), patches and buttons of the Fuerzas Armadas de Panamá (Panama Armed Forces) from military dictatorship times, Coca-Cola promotional items, baseball cards, among many more. Ahh! And there is always some collection to Star Trek fans.

Irving Saladino

   He was born on January 23th, 1983 in the province of Colon, Panama. Despite the fact that he grew up in a province known for its danger and poverty, Irving Saladino began his passion in sports participating in 1,500 meters races, instilled by his brother David. After a short time, he decided to leave the competition because the track was far away from his home and because other personal factors.

   When he turned 13, a professor convinced him to return to training. So Irving Saladino started his career taking Ivan Pedroso as a role model. At this time, Ivan Pedroso was a Cuban athlete who began achieving world success in long jump.
   He participated in the Athens Olympic Games in 2004, where he failed to qualify for the finals, primarily due to an injury suffered during training.
   His leap to fame was in 2006 when he won the silver medal at the IAAF World Indoor Championships in Moscow with a jump of 8.29 meters, only 1 cm of distance away from the winner, Ignisious Gaisah from Ghana.
   In the European Athletics Circuit, he has won five of the six tests that make up the Golden League. He won in Oslo, Rome, Zurich, Brussels and Berlin, as he was 2nd in Paris, just after Ignisious Gaisah, who had already defeated in the indoor world championship.
   In the 2007 World Athletics Championships in Osaka, Japan, Saladino makes history by achieving the gold medal with a jump of 8.57 meters.
   On May 24th, 2008, during the meeting in Hengelo (Netherlands) Irving jumped up to 8.73 meters breaking his own record and getting the seventh best long jump in history.
   On August 18th, 2008 in 2008 Olympics Games in Beijing, Irving Saladino won the gold medal in long jump. He made a jump of 8.34 meters, surpassing South African Khotso Mokoena (8.24 meters) and Cuban Ibrahim Camejo (8.20 meters).
   It´s the first Panamanian athlete who has won an Olimpic gold medal, and the second Olympic medalist from Panama. He’s also the first Central American male athlete who has won a gold medal in the Olimpic Games.

Welcome to the Blog "Passport to Panama with Jack"

   I give you all a warm welcome to the blog "Passport to Panama with Jack".  This blog will run through Isthmus of Panama, a country full of riches and exhuberant culture, appearing in all its glory through photography and video.  Comments are meant to make you imagine you are with me through all possible places of the country, enjoying all the moment of the Panamanians' human warmth.

   "Passport to Panama with Jack" can be a guide for tourists who are visiting the country, inspiration for photography lovers, a world of dreams to hikers with challenges, a gateway to the country for foreing companies with the desire to settle here, and the eyes of those who want to see beyond the distance in search of new experiences and adventures.

   Give me your passport...grab your mouse...and prepare to discover a world you could never imagine, Panama.