Nombre de Dios was the Caribbean terminus of the original Camino Real, the royal road that connected Panama City on the Pacific to the Atlantic coast. From 1510 until the late 16th century, this was where the wealth of the Spanish Empire funnelled before crossing the ocean. Mule trains arrived laden with silver from Potosi and gold from Peru, unloaded onto galleons waiting in the protected bay.
Almost nothing physical remains of the colonial port — the jungle and the years have taken care of that — but standing on the beach with this history in mind transforms the place. The bay itself is unchanged: a wide, calm sweep of turquoise water backed by green hills, exactly as Francis Drake would have found it. Local guides can point out where the old warehouses stood.