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(Opposite) Volcán de Barú is the high- est point in Panama, rising 11,398 feet (3,475 m) above sea level. Because Panama is so narrow, on a clear day a person standing on top of this volcano can see both the Pacific Ocean and the Caribbean Sea. (Right) Hilly fields of onions and potatoes grow near the vil- lage of Cerro Punta. 1

The Isthmus Cut by the “Path Between the Seas”

¡HOLA! ARE YOU discovering Panama? Panama offers some of the finest snorkeling, bird watching, and deep-sea fishing in the world. It’s a prosper- ous nation that honors its Amerindian and Spanish past. And don’t forget, the Panama Canal. “The Path Between the Seas,” as one author titled his history of it, is one of the great engineering marvels of the modern age. An Arc of Land The isthmus of Panama is an arc of land joining South and Central America. It stretches 480 miles (772 kilometers) from the South American mainland nation of Colombia on the east to Costa Rica on the west. At its narrowest point, Panama is only 30 miles (50 km) wide, and rarely wider than 75 miles (120 km) anywhere else. It has a 720-mile-long (1,160 km)

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