A shoe string treasure hunt

PANAMA. Canada’s 21 strong, team of entrepreneurial young ambassadors, carrying the flag of Global Vision, hit the ground running when they landed in Panama on Friday. But that’t why they are here.

After rising at 4 a.m. to catch a plane from Quito Peru, where they had spent the previouseight days, they landed in Panama before 9 a.m. and were whisked to a meeting with Canadian embassy staff, a run down on Panama’s history since the founding of the Panama Star in 1849, and then to presentations with another team of bright young minds from Panama, The Young American Business Trust, under the umbrella of the OAS (Organization of American States).

Early on Saturday, the visitors split up into four teams, each one accompanied by two OAS volunteers, and set off on a Panamanian version of a treasure hunt.

Each team had to follow a pre-designed hunt of notable sites, and photograph them,

Starting from the Continental hotel, there first stop was Casco Viejo with its host of historical and architectural treasures.

The catch was that each team, had a minimal amount of money available to get them around the course, which was to end at the Balboa statue on the Cinta Costera.

The team that completed the marathon and spent the least money was declared the winner.

An early taste of life in the “real world.”

This led to some energetic bargaining with local drivers, and for some, long hikes, on a day when the early sunshine turned to a heavy downpour.

But there were no drop outs, and some drenched adventurers were smiling as they compared the warm rain of Panama to the winter chills of Peru.

These youngsters will go far.