Never been to Latin America, so best to not comment at all,
but the way I see it, Panama was never really a colony (though it was for hundreds of years) but a cross-road, north-south the land connection between the two America's and east-west the connection to the two greatest pools in the world..
So it was always about business, attracting all sorts of aliens for trade..
The US saw this long ago, and with the Panama canal and the Pan-American highway they effectively made Panama into a US colony...
Look for the colonial feel in high-rises, art-deco and such and I bet you will see plenty..
