Avenida Balboa in Colon was in its commercial heyday known as Bottle Alley, but these days Barberia Frank is the only business left there. Olivia Fallas, who has been cutting hair in Colon for about 60 years and has no plans to retire, serves a loyal clientele and hosts an interesting collection of visitors every day.

On this particular morning one of the main topics of conversation was about Colombia, particularly the kidnapping of a Catholic bishop FARC guerrillas and his subsequent liberation by the Colombian Army. Colon's deterioration, kids these days and the latest insults by the politicians are also frequent subjects of the often bilingual discussions.

Though she has been running Barberia Frank since the 1950s, Olivia began her career as a barber cutting soldiers' hair at Fort Sherman in World War II, and she's one of the US Army's many fans in Panama. "The world needs a policeman, and the US is the only one who can do it," she says. "Without the Americans, there is no free world."