Visiting Panama as a Masonic Traveler
Panama City is the center of Panamanian Masonic activity, with the Grand Lodge offices and several active lodges in the Santa Ana neighborhood and surrounding areas. The historic Canal Zone communities (now reintegrated into Panama City's metropolitan area) preserve connections to the American Masonic lodges of the Canal construction era, and some of that history is accessible through the grand lodge. Colón, on the Caribbean side of the Canal, has historically active lodges with deep roots in the West Indian communities that helped build the Canal in advance to arrange lodge visits. Panama City's cosmopolitan character means that visiting Masons from many jurisdictions are regularly welcomed.
The Panama Canal itself — whether viewed from the Miraflores Locks visitor center or from the newer Agua Clara Locks — is the essential experience for any visitor, providing direct contact with the engineering achievement that defined the era in which Panamanian Masonry was organized. The Panama Canal Museum in Panama City's Casco Viejo neighborhood documents the full history of the Canal, including the American construction era from which the grand lodge emerged.
Casco Viejo (the historic colonial quarter of Panama City, a UNESCO World Heritage Site) is among the most atmospheric historic districts in Latin America, with streets of beautifully restored and still-crumbling colonial buildings that document four centuries of transit trade. The contrast with the modern financial district of Punta Paitilla and the gleaming towers of Panama City's waterfront reflects the city's extraordinary economic transformation to arrange lodge visits.
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