The Legend of Bala Beach
Nov 10 2008
Posted by admin 
in Life at Bala Beach, Panama Paradise, Panama Real Estate, Portobelo, Colon Province
If you put your finger on the map of Panama, at the Caribbean mouth of the Panama Canal; and then slide your finger about 2 inches to the right (or east), you’ll see the city of Portobelo. In the middle of the seventeenth century, ships full of priceless treasures left those harbors regularly, en route to Spain. It is suspected that the Portobelo Bay in the Caribbean Sea contains one of Christopher Columbus’ ships and at least 20 other shipwrecks. At the ruins of Fort San Lorenzo, you’ll find what remains of the cobblestone route called El Camino Real (the Royal Road). So how is this fort and the royal treasure road important to our story of Bala Beach?
What must first be made clear is that young Henry Morgan was a rogue, not a pirate! With members of his family on both sides of the war in Britain, he was doing the work of a privateer for England. This meant that he held a paper issued by a representative of the English government. The governor of Jamaica empowered him to fight the Spaniards on England’s behalf. His pay was in effect what he managed to steal from Spain.
Although today this might seem a dishonorable way for a government to conduct itself, in the world paradigm of the 17th century these were accepted means of conducting European naval war. Hence Henry Morgan was a sea-raider authorized by an English Letter of Marque, not an outlaw pirate.
Admiral Henry Morgan was a handsome 25 year old Welshman when he attacked Fort San Lorenzo. It’s at the mouth of the Chagres River, in the bay harbor of Puerto Bello (now known as Portobelo) on the shores of the Caribbean Sea. He was an ardent young man, who had set aside some of the traditions of his family to go to sea for England.
As one of the fortunate few, he had found the love of his life at a young age….in Genevieve Graham. She was a courageous young woman who found joy in posing as the captain’s cabin boy, to the undisputed king of the buccaneers. Because of her family’s deaths on shipboard in transit from England to Jamaica; the theft of the family valuables on ship, and her arrival without financial support; it had been necessary for her to learn very quickly to take care of herself, or surrender all.
She had learned aboard ship that her slight figure allowed her to masquerade as a young man, safe from the unwelcome affections of the crew. And with time, her pose became the only safe way for her to go ashore. Outrageously, she was discovered the first time she went to shore in Port Royal, Jamaica. She literally ran into then Captain Henry Morgan and he knew instantly he had not run into the body of a man, so he wanted to know more.
In discovering her secrets from the past, he lost his heart to her, and when the Captain brought her aboard his ship, she was in disguise. From then on, she posed as the Captain’s cabin boy. Only Jonathan, a lifelong Welsh friend and one of his closest companions was trusted with their secret.
Then the Captain received a huge surprise from his family, the Morgan’s were moving to Jamaica en masse and his Uncle Colonel Edward Morgan had made it his deathbed request that Captain Morgan marry his daughter, Mary Elizabeth. With great ceremony, Henry did so, after sharing many tears with his beloved Genevieve. Yet Genevieve was not willing to give up her berth as ‘Captain’s lad’ and beseeched Henry to be allowed to continue sailing with the ship. As usual, he conceded.
When Admiral Henry Morgan went to attack Puerto Bello, he was concerned for Genevieve’s safety. She’d had several close calls aboard ship during their most recent battles, and the challenges expected from the Spanish at Puerto Bello were great. She was very unhappy as she was insistently shoved into a small boat and rowed to shore, a days’ sail away from Puerto Bello and left there with a complaining monk, a small detail of armed men loaded with supplies to camp on the beach and the courageous Jonathan. The rest of the ship’s crew went to attack Fort San Lorenzo with 9 ships in tow.
At the end of June, 1666 Admiral Henry Morgan’s ships were posed at the great harbor of Puerto Bello, on the northern coast of the Isthmus of Panama. In a daring attack he took the town, held its citizens for ransom and beat off 3,000 strong troops coming to the aid of the town from the city of Panama. But it took two weeks to control the surrounding area, and defeat the remaining troops.
It was Admiral Morgan who was horrified though, when after the attack he returned to the beach, halfway between Puerto Bello and Colon to find all of the small party from his ship, lying dead in the sand. With Jonathan’s body closest to Genevieve’s, he could see that his friend had spent his last bullet - a silver one –to save her from an even more horrifying death by their angry native attackers.
Genevieve’s body lay crumpled at the foot of a tree, and as he raised her into his arms to hug her one last time. Admiral Morgan saw the bullet that took her life, a mangled lump of silver wedged into the trunk of the tree, and remembered that he and Jonathan had molded a small number of those bullets from silver reals.
Genevieve, Jonathan and their men had fought bravely for their lives, dug deeply into the sand and their bodies were surrounded by empty weapons and marks in the sand where native bodies had been drug away from the scene. They had fought with great honor. The Admiral Henry Morgan wore that scrap of a silver bullet around his neck for the rest of his life in memory of a woman of strength and courage, whom he had loved without restraint, and a best friend who had given his all trying to protect her.
And as he climbed the ladder to board his ship, he vowed never to return to the beach of the bullet. His crew (who had really known all along about Genevieve’s ‘secret’) passed his words along one to the other…calling that treasured cove of love, Bala Beach. Where the body of love may have died, but the spirit of love will always live on.
Panamanian Economy
The privileged geographical position is mostly what Panama depends on. It’s
economy is primarily based on a well-developed service sector, including
banking, insurance, government, trans-Panamanian oil pipeline, the Colon
free Zone and last and most important the Panama Canal. The use of the US
dollar and the Panama Canal spurred the fast growing development of the
service economy and played a significant role in the creation of the Colon
Free Zone and the International Banking Center.
Despite a worsening financial and economic outlook in the US, Panama’s
economy continues to fire up. Economic activity expanded, driven primarily
by a surge in construction, transport and commerce. Construction of a new
highway between Panama’s two main cities, Panama and Colon, as well as the
high-profile canal expansion project should keep the economy on a decent
growth trajectory in 2008 and beyond.
The economic consulting and financial firms Indesa and Deloitte consider
that the growth of the Panamanian economy will oscillate between 7% and 8%
this year. Which supposes a deceleration with respect to 2007, but a scene
similar to the ones registered between 2004 and 2006.
Some international institutions, like the Economist Intelligence Unit, have
still better prognoses and bet that Panama will return to be the economy of
greater growth in Latin America this year.
“The dynamism that shows the Panamanian economy, through the important
projects of public and deprived nature that is outlined in 2008, will help
to compensate the negative impacts which they are possible to be registered
in the United States and the region”, says the analysts of Deloitte.
Adapted from:
“Recortes de Continental no afectarán a Panamá,” Friday August 1, 2008, Roberto Gonzalez Jimenez, laprensa.com.pa
“Turismo al día, Copa anuncia nuevos destinos y Tocumen licita el muelle norte,” Thursday August 7, 2008, Roberto Gonzalez Jimenez, laprensa.com.pa
More Flights Over Panamanian Skies
With all of the economic hardship making the news these days, airline companies have stood out as some of the hardest hit. Many air carriers are trying to survive any way that they can by laying off workers, adding new fees for passengers and by cutting back on flights.
Continental Airlines announced in June that it would be firing 3,000 employees and eliminating its least profitable flights. They have already begun to reduce their activity in Colombia, Ecuador, Mexico, Chile and the Dominican Republic.
Panama however does not appear on this list. Continental Airlines manager in Panama Ana Lorena Arroyo says that the airline is actually adding the capacity for more passengers to its Panama flights by bringing in an airplane that seats 25 more people. Nor will the US-based company be dropping any of the 90 employees that it currently has working in on the ground in Panama.
While Continental reinforces its commitment to Panama, many other airlines are also strengthening their presence in the isthmus. The Amsterdam based KLM Airlines used to fly once a week directly to San Jose, Costa Rica. Observing changes in market opportunities, the company decided to shift this flight to Panama instead. The KLM non-stop Amsterdam – Panama flight was initially offered only once per week but as occupancy improved, KLM has now decided to operate the route five times per week.
Direct flights between Panama and Toronto are currently operating every Sunday and more flight options between Canada and Panama are expected to come as we approach the tourism high season in the coming months.
Panama-based Copa Airlines is expanding from Panama outward, opening new connections with Valencia, Venezuela; Oranjestad, Aruba; and Santa Cruz, Bolivia starting in December. Copa is also adding six new airplanes to its fleet bringing it up to 43 airplanes in total.
In order to accommodate all of the new activity, Panama’s Tocumen International Airport is proceeding with plans to add a new northern terminal by 2010. This expansion will effectively double the overall passenger capacity at the airport which has seen a 22.1% increase in passenger activity in the first semester of this year versus the same time period in 2007.
Panama continues to be an increasingly popular place to visit and major airline companies worldwide are responding. Even in today’s times of economic hardship, Panama is a location receiving lots of attention from all over the world, primed for consistent development and growth.
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