Panama City, Round Two

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We were a little hesitant to go back to Panama City after the less than good first impression we had gotten of it. But it was either go to Panama City or sleep on the beach in Bocas in the rain, so we went. We stayed at a hotel that was recommended by some people we'd met in Bocas, who were going to be staying there for our second night. It was pretty nice, and when we asked for a room with a view, we got a room on the 17th floor overlooking the entire bay. Awesome.

We got to the city on Good Friday and our cab driver told us about a parade that would be starting at a church near our hotel. We headed over there and were amazed at how many people were there. We stood out on the street and watched as families and people carrying costumes arrived, and bands practiced. They blocked off the streets all over the city and finally, a couple of hours after we got there, the parade started. Good Friday isn't really a festive holiday so it was a pretty somber parade, but it was really fun to see all of the people out and about. We met some nuns and they told us that the parade had 120 different groups and 8 bands participating. We didn't stay for too long but apparently it went on until 1:30am.

The next day we went to the Casco Viejo, or old city. It's beautiful and dilapidated and really interesting, although not the safest neighborhood. There are tourist cops on bikes that will approach you and ask if you need directions or help. When we asked one how to get to a market/dock area that we'd read about, he told us that we couldn't go there and that if we wanted to walk out of the area, we should follow this one street and not go on any side streets. Hmm. Anyway, whether we should have or not, we listened to him, and after exploring for a few hours, we took a cab out to the causeway, a 2-mile long road connecting some islands in the bay. We rented a cheesy bike/cart thing and rode around for awhile before we got tired and took a cab back to the hotel.

We met up with our friends from Bocas for dinner that night at a very upscale restaurant. The food was great and we had a tree tomato dessert that was amazing. I'm still not entirely clear as to what a tree tomato is, but it was good.

The next morning we went for a walk to soak up all of the sunshine and warm air before we got back on the plane to Minneapolis.

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Photos

Colorful Panamanian buses
called diablos rojos

Luxury Obsession
This is how two hours in Panamanian malls left us feeling