Panama (NP) - The ruins of Panama la Vieja (Old Panama) frame the luxurious buildings of Punta Paitilla, where the merchants and bankers that control Panama live, surrounded by the pollution of the Panama Bay. An ongoing project attempts to clean the bay, or rather stop polluting it. Panamanians hope that their grandchildren will be able to swim in these waters again, the same waters where Vasco Nuņez de Balboa, discoverer of the South Sea, set foot once.