PORTOBELO – At dawn, pilgrims like Ernesto Troya undertook the hardest stretch of their journey to reach the statue of the Black Christ of Portobelo in Panama. Moved by faith, they crawled for ...

According to some historians, legend has it that a fisherman found the statue of the Black Christ wrapped in a “cayuco,” or wooden boat, off the coast of Portobelo on Oct. 21, 1658.