There have been several discussions about "race" in the Caribbean and Latin America on this board. Many have often said "There is no such thing as race" in these areas. Well the persons who said this DEFINITELY have not been to Panama.

First we need to breakdown the types of people in Panama. Panama has alot of different people from alot of different places in it. Asians such as Chinese and Indians, represent well here as do Europeans. But as far as the dominant groups (the ones who have been here longer), they are the

"Latins" or "cholos"
Blacks (Antillean) or "chombos"
(indigenous peoples) Indians (I haven´t heard them called by a Spanish name yet)
Whites or "gringos" y "rabiblancos"

By far the nation is run by "Latins" or cholos. Qualification to this group is based on appearance (as are all of the previously stated). In general this group is primarily a "mestizo" group as they are mixtures of the above groups. Generally they look like a typical Mexican would look like in the states. The thing is that their hues vary depending on how much or less of black or white they have in them. Many blacks intermarry with LAtins to erase the blackness out or blacks that could probably pass take extra measures to ensure so such as varying hair straightening techniques.

My uncle jokingly said that I could have all the black women in Panama because are of the brothers here go after the Latin or any white women they can find, thus leaving all the sisters with no men. Back in the days the American soldiers would get all the women, black or latin, and take them home as wives as the women always wanted a way out of Panama but since the Americans aren´t here anymore, that has changed.

The whites generally are Europeans or Americans that have stayed and made Panama their home. The indigenous Indians generally seem to keep to themselves and change little of their culture, but of course their are a few who may delve further into mainstream Panamanian culture and they would more or less be accepted by and placed in the "Latin" category.

Blacks in general are the first to be harassed by police and thrown in jail for no reason. They are also the ones looked at when going into any store or the first to be suspected of being a theif. I saw a local comedy show the other day where a skit was done by two cholos dressing like some hip hop cats with brown paint on their faces doing a local dance called "la pica" which looks like rappers facing off against each other. They also had powder all over their necks and chest which is something that I noticed amongst the blacks here. My family does it all the time. Basically the baby powder is put on for hygenic purposes, I guess to keep you cool and smelling decent despite all the sweating that one will do. Blacks may not be the only ones that do it but it is more noticeable amongst the darkskin blacks moreso that anyone because of the contrast of the powder to the skin. So the guys on that comedy (minstrel) show put on ALOT. My family loves the show and were laughing there asses off...

Oh yeah let me not forget about hair. Wearing locks down here is pretty much like how it is in the South of the US. PEople look at you funny, are afraid, think you are a criminal and/or think you are on drugs. It is probably different in Colon because there are alot more blacks and alot of Rastas. I also found this to be slightly not a problem in black areas of Panama Province but my mother´s cousin lives in an area with mostly Latins so this is not the case.

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"the real pyramids were built with such precision that you can't slide a piece of paper between two 4,000 lb stones, and have shafts perfectly aligned so that you can see a tiny aperture through dozens of these mammoth blocks