Name: Manuel Noriega's Beach House Location: El Farallon del Chiru, Panama Status: Abandoned Accessibility: Easy Rating: ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ Cue the Van Halen In May of 2008 I was lucky enough to attend a wedding at the splendid Royal Decameron resort in Panama. A solid two weeks of all-you-can-eat buffets, relaxing by the pool, and stumbling up to my hotel room piss drunk on a daily basis. Besides taking the occasional trip off resort to Penonome, Panama City, and the Panama Canal, I was still able to fit in a bit of urban exploration on my trip. Just a short walk from the resort was an abandoned beach house once owned by General Manuel Noriega, former military dictator of Panama. Since the Invasion of Panama in the late 1980’s (when the United States removed Noriega from power) Noriega’s beach home has sat derelict, a haven for insects, lizards, bats, fungus, plant life, and the occasional party. My dad and I went looking for the building one afternoon and set out a few kilometers down the beach in the wrong direction until being approached by a pack of feral dogs. Deciding it’d be a good idea not to mess with wild dogs in Panama we headed back to the resort and started walking in the opposite direction. Low and behold a few minutes later we were being greeted by razor wire fences and a large derelict beach house. The property had been completely overgrown with bushes, palms, trees (including cashews) and contained a set of dilapidated outdoor showers and two houses. One of which I would assume was the servants quarters or guest house. Upon entering the bigger of the two homes we were greeted with a large open concept room with large spiral staircase, skylight and a large bar, I imagine it was quite the place to entertain guests in its time, but today it is an empty room littered with trash, plant matter and graffiti. On the second storey is a second spiral staircase which leads toward a rooftop patio also equipped with a bar, and boosts a great view of the Pacific Ocean and nearby Farallon Island. The house also has dozens of other smaller living rooms, bedrooms and bathrooms while the building next door is only a mere couple of small rooms. Now that my exploring itch was dealt with, we returned to the resort to continue drinking heavily and working on our sun burns. If I ever go back I’ll be sure to bring better sunscreen and a hat. May 21st, 2008 BACK