Exploring Panama as a Black Person of Caribbean Descent

   As a Black Woman of African-American and Caribbean Descent, exploring Panama was an amazing experience. Panama City is a melting pot of Afro-Caribbean, Spanish, & Indigenous influences making is the true crossroads of trade.

   My first experience meeting a Panamanian of Jamaican descent was at the Mercado de Mariscos (fish market). As a seafood lover, the Mercado de Mariscos was all I could imagine and more. Each restaurant had an extensive menu of ceviche, steamed, and fried fish. Waiters from the restaurants show you enticing pictures of each item on the menu. While enjoying our ceviche and various fish dishes, a man approached us, selling us perfumes. He asked what our backgrounds are, and we said Jamaican. He said that he is from Bocas Del Toro, a Panamanian beach town, but both of his parents are Jamaican. 

   Panama has a large Jamaican population as many Jamaicans came to Panama to build the Panama Canal. In all of the clubs we partied at, there were Black people everywhere. I felt right at home and recommend Panama to any Black people looking for their next travel destination!