Coronado, Panama

A middle class apartment building in Coronado.

Coronado is a coastal city and resort located about an hour from Panama City. It is a vacation town visited yearly by thousands of national and international tourists. Coronado was Panama's first resort development, and for this reason has several years of advantage over other surrounding beach towns. Currently, the town has such amenities as full scale supermarkets, pharmacies, restaurants, ranging from low cost fondas and fast-food restaurants to beachside bistros, medical and veterinary clinics, a hospital, gardening centers, hardware stores, banks, apparel shops, outdoor markets, a shopping plaza and a new shopping mall.

History

Upon reaching Panama, the Spaniards enslaved natives. Then, in the XVIII Century the landowners bought slaves. There was slavery in Anton and in the Region of Llanos del Chirú (modern Coronado), where the first large colonial estates were established. Coronado is part of the first structured agrarian culture that began to stand out in the XVIII Century. It was an area of savannas, vast prairies that descend to the Pacific Ocean and after its exploitation, became the area of the first legal possession of land, since before this time, there were no titled lands. Between 1691 – 1693 three large estates were created to shape the structure of the real estate register.

This route was used by pirates, smugglers, fugitives and road thieves among others that pillaged towns, set up ambushes and favored the opening of the closed Hispanic trade route on the Coasts of the South Pacific, where Coronado had a singular position during colonial times.

Problems with crimes have caused the local ex-pats to storm the police station demanding police protection, unfortunately the police are undermanned and usually are involved in the crimes. Police salaries range from $200 per month for a new recruit to $400 per month for a 20 year veteran, understanding why they are involved in the criminal activities is easy to see with the increased cost of living in the area. Police on the 1st and the 15th of the month will setup road blocks to stop locals and Ex-pats (Gringo's) to demand a bribe or ticket the innocent victims. Panamanians understand this and wait to travel on the off days.

Coronado, Panama crime spree has caused the Ex-pats to sell their homes as quickly as they bought them. However, you can't find this out with the sellers, they have banned together to keep the secrete among themselves, but are selling to anyone that will buy. Deals are abound with nearly every home that is for sale in Coronado.

^[1] The modern city was founded in 1941 by Robert Eisenman and has continued to grow since.^[2]

Culture

Without a doubt, the cultural wealth that Coronado has inherited is unique to the region called Llanos del Chirú, that belonged in ancient times to the area of Nata (The granary of America). It is this relationship which to discover the unique cultural variety that exists in Chame and Coronado, towns which formerly were part of Los Llanos del Chirú, later called Finca La Yeguala.

Activities

• Sunbathing and swimming. Enjoying the beach.
• Taking kitesurfing lessons.
• Staying in one of the many beach resorts.
• Eating in one of the many local restaurants.
• Shopping for handicrafts and souvenirs.
• Surfing.
• Golf.

References

1. ^ http://www.coronadoresort.com/Eng/History.html
2. ^ http://www.coronadoesvida.com/unlimitpages.asp?id=46

External links

• http://www.coronadoesvida.com (Spanish) Official website of Coronado.