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Founded in 1581 as a reduccion de Indios - a place where conquered indigenous groups were forcibly resettled so as to be available for labour service - and briefly the capital of the isthmus after the destruction of Panama Viejo, the lively market town of PENONOME was named after Nome, a local chieftain cruelly betrayed and executed here by the Spaniards after years of successful resistance. Now the capital of the province of Cocle, apart from its small museum Penonome doesn't have much to see, though it makes a good enough base for exploring the surrounding area. From the bus terminal on the Interamericana Penonome's busy commercial main street, called both Via Central or Avenida J. D. Arosemena, runs a few hundred metres down to the Plaza 8 de Diciembre , which features a statue of Simon Bolivar and the inevitable bandstand. It's flanked by several government buildings and the unspectacular cathedral . From the square, a short walk down C Damian Carles and a right turn opposite the covered market brings you to the run-down Museo de Historia y Tradicion Penonomena (Tues-Sat 9am-12.30pm & 1.30-4pm, Sun 9am-1pm; US$1), which has some good pre-Columbian ceramics decorated with abstract designs and colonial religious art. The streets around the market bustle with campesinos from local villages selling agricultural produce (and spending much of the proceeds in the town's many bars).
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