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Published: December 8th 2006
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Welcome to Panama City
This reminds me of New York but this is in fact the view of Panama City. So I finally got to Panama city after a few hours of waiting around. My days here in Panama are numbered for I´m only allowed 2 days as a stop over before getting to Quito, Ecuador.
Now Panama is just as expensive as Costa Rica if your on a budget. In some places if there no kitchen my budget for food is $3 a day which means street vendors is what I´m resorting too, cuz my ass is broke.
Fact: I learned this on my 2nd day you can spend up to 30 days in jail for not wearing a t-shirt and drinking in public.
That sucks cuz Panama is sooo hot, it retarded. My first impression of Panama city was that it looked like new york because of the sky scrapers and vegas because there casinos and hotels everywhere. I´m beginning to hate cities, but I cant make it out to the really cool spots cuz I´m here on borrowed time.
So I did what Simone asked, I went to the Canal for only $3 and watched the ships roll in. It was pretty cool to watch and then find out that thousands of people died
Tourist Canal
Ahh, what a tourist I´ve become. building that shit.
On the only day that I got to spend seeing the city I bumped into a few people from the hostel and off we went to see the old city which is called casco viejo, which translates to Old Helmet.
I´ve been a sucker on this trip for people who cant speak spanish, they stick to me like glue.
So as were walking I´m asking street vendors about restaurants that serve dollar food where locals go, and they pointed us in the direction of a chinese place. Afterwards the 6 of us hoped on a cab that was overheating and headed for Casco Viejo.
When we got to the old town it was a trip, it looks like what New Orleans does now. A city abandoned and falling apart, missing doors and windows, in really bad shape. But the buildings where amazing to look at.
Afterward we walked around trying to find the bus back, and we stumbled into a neighborhood out of ¨City of God¨ we were all looking around making sure we werent being pickpocketed and shit. People coming up to your face asking for shit and your thinking do
Opening doors
It was really cool to watch the funtions of the Canal, however annoying to listen to guy who was giving the play by play. I still have my camera.
Then it was back on sweaty ass bus to the hostel in search of more dollar food. My last night in Panama I hung out with my roommate another German girl who has a very good Mexico city accent from living there a few months with nuns. She was really cool, and we stayed up drinking rum and mango juice, that was good.
The next day I asked the receptionist who wasnt very helpful how to get to the airport on the bus. The only thing he said was go to the Plaza de 5 Mayo and the terminal is there. I had been there the day before to catch the bus to the canal and got lost. So there I go with this fat kid on my back when I get to the terminal.
So I´m asking which bus goes to the airport and they lead me to this bus that was really full. So the driver makes me go to the back of the bus with my shit. Well about 30 minutes later we arrive to a military airport and I´m told to get off. And I´m going this isnt
Miraflores canal
So if you ever get down to Panama City you´ll know the canal is divided into sections. I happened to be at the tourist center in Miraflores. it, and the people on the bus where like, Oh, no you got on the wrong bus! So now everyone is struggling to help me get my bag out the window cuz the bus is really crowded and I get through. Then the people start to take my bag over their heads in order for me to off the bus.
After that ordeal I got on another bus going the opposite direction until he brought me back to the terminal. Then he said they sent you to the wrong terminal. After an hour I managed to get to the airport ok and then its off to Quito, Ecuador.
* The one thing I liked about Panameños is that there very helpful. I was told by several people not to walk around the streets at certain times or to take a cab or they often showed me what bus to get on, sometimes they got on with me just so that I didnt get lost. On the ride to Casco viejo the police rolled up on us to make sure we were ok and knew where we were going.
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Mok
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Juadop?
So my first comment shall be a dorky one. That tree from the chimney was awesome. You could only see that in a place much closer to the equator than we are up here, cuz for the tree to get enough light to grow up the chimney the sun would have to be directly overhead for a large portion of the day for a large portion of the year. Told you it would be dorky.