Panama Vacation - Panama City

With two days left of my two week vacation, I came full circle and touched down in Panama City.  After the remote, untouched waves of Morro Negrito, the crisp air of Boquete and the humid island vibe of Bocas del Toro, I was thrust into the middle of the biggest city in Central America outside of Mexico.  The contrast couldn't have been greater.  Maybe that's one of the unique things about Panama... with a few hours of travel you can see the country from a totally different perspective.

I caught a taxi to Luna's Castle in the Casco Viejo (Old Town) district of the city.  WARNING - history lesson: Panama City was founded in the 1500s as the Spanish shipped gold and silver from Peru, up the Pacific coast, through the port of Panama City and across the isthmus to the ships waiting on the Caribbean side.  Obviously, this made the city both highly valuable for the crown and highly sought after by pirates.  Over the years the port was subject to attacks but none were successful until Captain Morgan burned the entire city in 1671.  Yes, that Captain Morgan.  The ruins of the original city are known as Panama Viejo (Old Panama) - see my visit there below for more - and Casco Viejo was built a few miles away as a new start.

Reviews were mixed about the area.  The architecture was obviously hundreds of years old and many of the buildings were just shells with collapsed roofs and hollow interiors.  Luna's seemed to be THE place to be for travelers but I heard that parts could get dicey at night.  The well reviewed Relic Bar was located in the basement of the hostel and Lonely Planet advised that I would have to look no further for nightlife.  That was enough for me.

After paying the whopping $13 per night fee for a dorm bed, I asked about scheduled trips from the hostel.  It just so happened that they had an open spot for a trip planned to the Panama Canal's Miraflores Locks in an hour.  I went with a group of five (two of whom were from Atlanta) and we were each charged $6 for the round trip taxi ride.  I found out later that an independent taxi would have only charged us $12 total, so the hostel must have gotten a kickback.  I wasn't stressing since it's just a few extra dollars, but the budget backpackers with me weren't too happy.

It's not the size of the boat...

We got to the locks just in time to see the tail end of a massive ship exiting.  From then on not much happened... an announcer would come on and broadcast little facts about the locks every few minutes.  A few small sailboats passed through and we got to see the water level rise and fall.  For the most part I wasn't impressed.  This was just one of multiple locks and a lake between the Pacific and Caribbean, so I probably would've gotten a better impression had I seen the whole thing.

A few things did interest me.  From what I can remember, the lowest fee paid to cross the canal was $0.36 when a swimmer did it back in the 1920s.  Cargo ships are built to exact specifications so that they can pass through the canal, with just inches to spare on either side.  About 40 ships pass through the canal every day at an average cost of $50,000.  This will increase when the canal finishes an expansion project in 2014 that will increase the traffic capacity by 60%.  That's about all I retained... the canal museum was pretty interesting and it is a thing you HAVE to see while you're in Panama, so go for it.

There was still time in the afternoon so I explored the Causeway that offered a good view of the skyline.  Note that most attractions in the city will say "... and you get GREAT views of the skyline!"  I didn't spend a lot of time there.  Next I wandered around Casco Viejo with a map from the hostel.  The desk clerk had Xed out a third of it, saying "Don't go in this area.  It's not safe."

I wandered through the old buildings and a few churches.  Here are a few shots.

City buses are all personalized and tricked out with neon lights

Barely standing build

Golden altar of Iglesia de San Jose

Later that evening the Peace Corps girls finally made it to Luna's after the 6 hour bus ride turned into 12. There had been a strike that blocked the highway, so note to you - cheaper is not always better. We got a few drinks in Relic Bar which smelled like, well, an old dusty relic, but the patio was nice. I sweated the night away in the dorm room filled with probably 20 bunk beds, ready to absorb as much as possible on my last day in the city.

In the morning the first thing I did was to buy a few souvenirs from a shop a few blocks away from the hostel. Then I started walking around the bay toward the modern part of Panama City. I stopped in the fish market and had the best ceviche I've ever tasted.

If you didn't know, ceviche is made from raw fish that is 'cooked' by soaking it in citrus.  The acid breaks down the proteins... or something.  I got the combination option which mixed white sea bass, octopus, shrimp and conch.  It was served in a simple Styrofoam cup but I was blown away.  You must, must, must go here if you like seafood.

I ended up walking about 3 or 4 miles into the heart of the city before I took a taxi for the remaining few to Panama Viejo (see above for the history).  The taxi driver noticed my new camera and warned me in Spanish, "The ruins are on this side of the street.  Do not go on the left side.  You will lose your camera."  I heeded his advice and got some great shots of the crumbling stone houses and churches.  Luckily the plaques dotted along the route had pictures and were translated into English, so I could understand the significance of what I was seeing.

First cathedral in the city

Muchachos

Old and new

From Panama Viejo I took another taxi to the biggest park in the city - Parque Natural Metropolitano.  I was hoping for sloths, monkey and other cool animals to photograph.  I caught a glimpse of some kind of large rodent the size of a cat running through the bushes but I didn't get a photo.  I also saw a Jesus Lizard run across water but I wasn't fast enough to get it on film.  I hardly passed anyone on the trails for the two hours I was there.  It was so quiet that I think I warned all of the animals away despite my attempt to tiptoe through the dead leaves.  The park offered a good break from the craziness of the city and it had, you guessed it, great views of the skyline.  It took me a while to find an available taxi since I was on the city outskirts, so be prepared for that.

Relic Bar with the Peace Corps crew

That evening I met back up with the Peace Corps crew and went out to dinner on Calle Uruguay.  This was supposedly the center nightlife for foreigners (we were told that although they were fluent speakers we probably wouldn't want to mingle with the local crowds because things could get rough).  We tried out an English style pub and then bypassed the clubby bars with a cover before leaving unimpressed.  We finished the night at Relic Bar again.  Most of the girls were heading down south to Columbia the next day while a few of us had flights back to the States.

I got up at 5 am for my early morning flight pretty happy with the way my vacation turned out.  I saw some amazing places, got to practice surfing, met some cool people and didn't have to spend a lot of money along the way.  For being someone that tries to plan everything, I think I did a pretty good job of going with the flow and figuring things out as I went.  It would've been nice to have a travel companion, but it gave me a lot of time for self reflection and a pause from life - it was a true vacation.  I'm not going to lie though, air conditioning feels soooooo good right now.

All of this is just a 3 hour flight from Atlanta. Yup, that's all. I'm not sure where my next trip will be, but I am certain that I will hit the rest of Central America in the next 10 years and hopefully South America as well. Feel free to contact me if you're interested in visiting Panama, and like the rest of my trips, I'll compile a 'Best Of' post to give you the highlights you should see if you go.