At the foot of countless skyscrapers is where the living actually happens. It's gritty and smelly. Soot fills the air and sewage dumps out to sea. It's a developing city in the trappings of first-world metropolis. And it's this dichotomy that marks many larger cities across the globe. While the elite eat ceviche on their 30th-floor balconies, the majority live in the slums that pepper the cityscape.
From David, it seems appropriate that you cross the canal to get to the city as if to explain the wealth you see before you. The funny thing, it turns out, is Panama has about the same GDP as Vermont, which in turn has the lowest GDP in the US. Panama also has only 3.5 million people. What that means is that the skyline at night is surprisingly dark. So why all the construction? Why the impressive skyline?
I can posit a guess. Developing country in Latin America without a lot of regulations. Neighbors Columbia. We built the canal. Now we're building the skyline, one white line at a time.
