Panama Casco Viejo
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At Panama´s Historic City



This weekend we decided to go surfing to playa Venao at Azuero. It was fantastic. We stayed at Eco Venao, a small lodge nearby the main breaks but a bit on the hill, so you get great weather and views. The place is really beautiful and simple: you rent a fully equiped house and bring your own food. Cero complications! be sure to bring a 4x4 because, although the main road is in general good condition, once you go out of it, is mainly dirt road. If you are going that way and want to stay comfortably and close to the surf, this is the way to go.

The day moved at its own pace, so I grabbed a book from the house library which was old stories of Panama, written by one of the most recognized historians in the country, Dr. Castillero. While the boys surfed and tried to polish their paddle surfing techniques and my dog went crazy running around with other beach dogs, I read about Pirate Morgan and the true stories of the attack to the city of Panama back in 1671.  With the recent stories about Somali pirates attacking boats I thought it would be good reading. Little did I know, those guys have a lot in common, even if almost 300 years apart. For example...

A classic...

Apparently (I didn´t know this), part of the agreement that you "signed off" when going on a pirate expedition was that the bounty would not only be divided according to rank, but also if you lost something in battle, let´s say, an eye or a leg. You would get paid $200 extra or with 5 slaves. For two legs, it was 16 slaves and almost $1500 extra. There was a system of bonuses, and of course the chief in command would get far more than the rest. In the specific case of the Panama attack he was supposed to get what 8 men would get plus bonuses. Very organized.

So Morgan came and took the city. An impressive achievement, as he only had 200 men (who got to the city by land, so by the time they got there they where hungry, tired and in bad shape) but managed to take over 600 Spaniards, and a bunch of cowboys that where riding wild bulls. Morgan, being a strategic guy, ordered to shoot the cowboys, so the wild bulls rode like crazy over the Spaniards.  It sounds funny, I´m sure it was funny if you where looking from outside...  

At the end, it is said that Morgan marched out of the city with at least 174 mules full of gold + valuable stuff. He also captured important citizens and asked for ransoms.  Once he reached Portobello, somehow, in a display of good pirate quality, he managed to give an "upfront" payment of only $200 to each pirate in the crew... and run away with the rest almost that same night. He ran to Jamaica, leaving the rest of the group on the shores of Portobello. Probably by then not with $200 each one but with less, if you think they might be celebrating their good fortune.

Did pirate Morgan ever got caught? well, history says that he did get a reprimend (sort of, not really) from the British crown. But also got Jamaica to govern! 

Here are some photos of Venao and the lodge...

Views from Eco Venao



The casita...