The road north and east of Colon, along Panama’s Caribbean (Atlantic) Coast, is considerably more ‘tropical’ than on the Panama City side. Its settlements are also considerably older.

The community of Portobelo, now a fishing village, was, in the 1500’s, the principal seaport the Spaniards used to ship gold and silver home from Central and South America. The ruins of the large fort built to guard those treasure shipments are right at the edge of the highway and open to all --- a marvelous ‘photo op’ en route to Isla Grande. Expend a frame or two on the village kids: most are a bit too proud to beg but eager to accept a coin for posing next to their dad’s fishing boat.

Near the fort, there’s the church of the Black Christ. It’s a very humble chapel from the outside --- not remarkable enough to photograph --- but has an elegantly simple interior that I found incredibly relaxing to pause in for several minutes. I’m neither Catholic nor religious, but I enjoyed my visit here, leaving the tropical sunshine for the soft glow of votary candles.

There are at least two public swimming beaches between Colon and Portobelo; the larger, Playa Langosta, was said to be especially popular with young people. Our guide said that one of the beaches was white sand and other other black sand, and that one had public changing facilities and the other one did not. I apologize for sloppy reporting, but I forgot to note which was which.

Since I was lucky enough to meet an American couple on the train from Panama City, to share expenses, my entire day’s excursion from Colon cost just $40 --- including lunch, a tank of gas, and small additional tip for the driver. Considering that this included two hours at the canal, nearly two more on Isla Grande, a stop at Portobelo and half-hour tour of Colon, I thought that a pretty good deal.