It is rare for a major capital city to have a protected tropical forest inside its urban limits—yet Panama City has exactly that. Just minutes away from El Cangrejo and Via Argentina, Metropolitan Natural Park (Parque Natural Metropolitano) offers visitors and Spanish students a chance to step directly into a living Central American rainforest without…
Molas are one of Panama’s most widely recognized cultural symbols and an artistic expression deeply connected to the identity of the Guna people. For international students at Spanish Panama Language School, learning Spanish in Panama also means exploring its history, its Indigenous peoples, and its living traditions. For this reason, the study of the mola…
by J. Robertson Miller The year was 1930. Albert Einstein and his wife were on their way to California on the Belgenland, a transatlantic ocean liner and cruise ship, via the Panamá Canal. Their ship stopped briefly in the city. He was taken around by members of the local community. After Einstein left, a triangular…
text by J Robertson Miller 2023 In Spanish, its name is Real Academia Española, abbreviated as RAE, thus their website is www.rae.es. This arbiter of the Spanish language was founded in 1713 by the Duke of Escalona. Its mission is to stabilize the Spanish language so Spanish speakers and readers throughout the world can communicate…
2023 December 15 Professor Danae made arrangements for us to visit the Spanish Academy which is located in Panama City. The is the arbiter of the Spanish language in Panama. The black gate rolled back enough for us to enter the courtyard, then rumbled closed behind us. We walked through a large empty room to…
by J Roberston Miller, 2024 January Good news: Calle Eric de Valle has new sidewalks the length of our building on both sides of the street! The entrance to our school and to the accommodations face this street from opposite sides and close to via Argentina. To our great delight, the city has installed a…
by J Robertson Miller, 2023 We use: The US dollar. This one is easy, no exchange needed, no conversion tables. Panama has its own coins, the Balboa, which can be used interchangeably with the US dollar in Panama but not in the US. The photo of coins shows US coins paired with their Panamanian…
by J. Robertson Miller Few people know about this or have seen it. The geographical center of Panamá is located at a small triangular park in Penonomé, located 143 km west of Panamá City. Called Parque 8 de diecembre, its name almost bigger than the site it sits on. It is on Calle Manuel…
by J Robertson Miller, 3 Feb 2023 Professor Danae led us on a visit to this small museum honoring the history of the Afroantillian community. It is located on Calle 24 Este and Avenida Justo Arosemana across from the Metro station 5 de Mayo. This wooden structure began life as the Christian Mission Chapel in…
Photos from La Noche de Los Cocuyos by Danae Brugaiati Boussounis, 2019, used with permission Copies of this and her other books available from her at Spanish Panama Language School. By J Robertson Miller, 2023 December The inverted question mark and the inverted exclamation mark are unique to the Spanish language. A few non-Spanish languages,…
