Panama Casco Viejo
Casco Antiguo Panama
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At Panama City`s Historic District


Driving through Santa Ana, Casco Viejo, yesterday I found this big sign that said "Congratulations Santa Ana on its 216th Anniversary".

Not sure what they meant by this (whether it was the actual creation of Santa Ana or its political designation as a Corregimiento) I looked into UNESCO`s history book on Casco Viejo and - of course- into Wikipedia.

According to Wikipedia, Panama is divided in 23 "Corregimientos". Santa Ana was created as one on April 1915 under President Belisario Porras. Santa Ana takes its name from the saint to whom a place of worship was built in the area back in 1678.  It seems that the Santa Ana church that you see at the main Santa Ana plaza was built in 1764. But UNESCO`s book mentions that even back in 1673 when "The New Panama" was built, the city within the walls didn`t have enough space to host the almost 8000 people that back then was considered to be the city`s population. So an important group that included mainly workers at the time and artisans lived in what was called the "arrabal" which today reads as Central Avenue, near Calle B, where the traffic light is.

The arrabal was considered to include as far as Calle 12.  The book also mentions that they don`t know for sure when was the official "beginning" of this area, as they know it existed from the very first day of the New City, but maps really started showing it in 1716.

It is said that with the first big fires within San Felipe, many families ended up relocating in Santa Ana out of fear.

Today, Santa Ana is a vibrant mix of commercial and local residents. One of its most famous streets is Avenida Central and Salsipuedes, which is basically a narrow street full of vendors featuring everything from school books, to polleras (Panama`s traditional dresses) to vudu dolls... seriously.

Go check it out! and if you happen to find the Corregidor, please ask him about the anniversary, because I`m still in the dark here about the "216"...