Photo of the Week

I have been looking for a decent image of the old Hotel Washington Swimming Pool and finally found one (above). This was a salt water pool fed by water from Limon Bay off of Colon. This was a rather large pool enjoyed by the hotel's guests. In it's golden days, this was a magnificent pool as you can see. During my 1993 trip to Panama I had the opportunity take photos of the remnants of this old pool. There wasn't much left that would even indicate that there was a pool there at one time. In fact, if you didn't know there was one, you wouldn't think twice about it. Below are two photos that I took during my visit. The pool is now full of dirt and rubble. You can see evidence of the past pool if you looked hard. Note the ornamental wall portion by the white bucket and then the old pump is still in place (photo at the bottom). This pump would pump water from the bay into the pool. The mound on the other side of the pool in the middle photo is part of the remains of Fort DeLesseps. This whole area must have been a grand place back in the old days.

Long live the memories and history of the Canal Zone's golden days.