Panama
By: Chezney Priem
Environments
Environments
- Thousands of trees, plants, animals
- Poor management of natural resources results in deforestation, pollution, desertification, loss of natural habits
- Panama is generally hot and humid.
- Temperatures fall below 79 degrees in the coolest months
- It has two seasons dry and rainy.
- Weather conditions of these seasons vary region to region.
- Temperatures on the Caribbean coast are slightly warmer than Pacific
- In the high mountainous regions, the climate is cooler.
- Darien region the temperature is often high and even hotter than the costal regions.
- If we remove the rain forests there will be less rain.
- That means there will not be enough water to go through canals.
- 52,000,000 gallons of water fall each year in the rain forest
Landforms
Plains-
Mountains-
- Majority of population lives in the lowlands.
- Easy to grow food in the lowlands
- More plants grow here
Mountains-
- Serrania de Tabasara mountains begin near the Costa Rican border
- Which ends in the region of low hills in the middle of the country, near Panama Canal
- Cordillera de San Blas and the Serrania del Darien lie east of the canal
- Toward the Colombian border, these two ranges become part of the Andes
- Andes are the great chain of mountains in South America
Society
Holidays-
- Labor day is May 1.
- Independence from Columbia is November 3.
- Independence from Spain is November 28.
- Mother's day is December 8.
- Most businesses shut down for holidays.
- Family gather to drink and socialize.
Festivals-
- They call festivals, fiestas.
- Celebrate 4 days before Ash Wednesday.
- They celebrate many thing like births, first communion, marriage, and even death.
Religions-
- 84 percent of the people in Panama are Roman Catholic.
- 15 percent are Protestant and 1 percent are Jews.
- Many make jewelry from things they find lying around.
- Many things are made from bones, glass, shells.
- Spain exported 4,000 slaves to Panama.
- This marked the beginning of the slave trade.
Daily Life
Language-
- Spanish is the official language of Panama.
- 28 letter in Spanish alphabet
Communications-
- Only 43 per one hundred only use the internet.
- 163 per one hundred people use cell phones.
- Divided into four equal squares.
- Top left box is white with a blue five point star
- The top right is red and the bottom left is blue.
- Bottom right is white with a red star.
- They have three branches which are executive, legislative, and judicial.
- They travel on the highway.
- Highway runs by Costa Rico border, through Panama, and ends at Darien Gap.
- They also travel by airplane and waterways.
- In the city taxi's, buses, horses, and walking is other ways to get around.
- Panama is the smallest populated in Central America.
- Their population is 3, 608, 431.
- Their population growth is 1.35%
- 14% are black, 10% white, and the rest are indigenous people.
- Primary schooling is for kids 6-15 years old.
- Upper is 7-9th grade.
- 10-12th is college.
- Anything higher than 12th grade is private schools.
Recreation
Sports-
- Panama's national favorite sports are baseball and soccer.
- At school the kids play basket, volleyball, and baseball.
- When they don't have a baseball they use a orange or a grapefruit.
- They enjoy attending horse races, boxing matches, cockfights, fairs, movies.
- Some people like to play the lottery twice a week.
- They often like to play music, cards, and dominos.
- Marbles is favorited mostly by young boys.
- Middle and upper class mostly take trips along the coast.
- Or they travel to the United States, Spain, Germany, Italy.
- If they don't travel to any of those they choose to travel to Panama City to shop.
Health and Food
Health-
- Doctors around Panama give out free examinations.
- They give out free health education and sanitation programs out for free.
- Health centers are understaffed or poorly equipped.
- Yellow fever and malaria are very common in Panama.
- Panama's citizens usually eats 3 big meals a day.
- Breakfast, lunch, and supper.
- Families like to eat supper together every day.
- When they have guests over they are served first and there is very little conversation.
Life Cycle
Births-
- When a baby is born they have a baby shower.
- When the women is pregnant she doesn't tell anyone how far along she is.
- Most women give birth in hospitals but others hire a nurse to help at home.
- If they don't have a nurse the mother or sister helps.
- When they take a baby outside, they out a red ribbon on their foot and that means to keep the bad spirits away from the new born child.
- When a daughter turns fifteen she has a big going out party called a Quinceanera.
- When a child turns 18 they are legally an adult.
- Indigenous girls have a coming of age party when they hit puberty
- Have a funeral and wear black.
- They gather for prayers every month after someone dies.
Marriage and Dating
Dating-
- They can start dating at age 14.
- Couples exchange rings as a symbol of commitment.
- Couples try to be together at all times.
- When a man purposes he announces it to a large group of people.
- In urban areas they have a church wedding.
- The bride wears white and the men wear dark suits.
- The priest blesses 13 coins, then gives it to the couple during ceremony.
- Traditional dishes at the wedding reception, they serve guandu and rice.
Citations
Augustin, Byron. Panama. New York: Children's, 2005. Print.
Central Intelligence Agency. Central Intelligence Agency, n.d. Web. 07 Apr. 2015.
"Environments+in+Panama - Google Search." Environments+in+Panama - Google Search.
N.p., n.d. Web. 15 Apr. 2015.
Hassig, Susan, and Lynette Quek. Cultures of the World: Panama. New York: Marshall Cavendish Benchmark, 2007. Print.
"Mountains+of+Panama - Google Search." Mountains+of+Panama - Google Search. N.p., n.d. Web. 15 Apr. 2015.