Panama
Country Profile
Population: 3 millionCurrency: Balboa (PAB); US Dollar (USD)
Time Zone: GMT ?5 hours
Language: Spanish
Capital: Panama
Panama is the crossroads of the world. The Panama Canal may not be natural but it is spectacular engineering marvel and pure Panamanian since the country successfully took control of the world?s greatest shortcut at the end of 1999. Beyond modern Panama City, national and international visitors are opening their eyes to new discoveries on the Azuero Peninsula and in the Chiriquí Highlands, while Bocas del Toro on the Atlantic is developing into a hip coastal destination, with beaches, surfing, glassy waters and islands full of tiny multicoloured frogs. The autonomous San Blas Islands provide a precious haven of calm and tranquility and, for the true adventurer, the wilderness of the Darién still offers one of the great challenges this side of space travel.
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