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Published: October 20th 2011
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Panama City
Bridge over the interstate night landscape. Panama City, for me, was a huge surprise - it was far better than I expected. The city is rather large, but we stayed central and were able to walk everywhere from Casco Viejo (old town) to Bella Vista (newer part of town) and beyond. In addition, the canal is a quick cab ride from town and there was an excellent boardwalk where the exercisers in the city really came alive at night. However, possibly the best part of the city was the grocery store...however weird it sounds.
Those that have traveled some in Central America can probably relate to the constant din just about wherever you are. Whether, it is an old U.S. diesel engine school bus without a muffler screaming by the streets, someone yelling TAXI to you, or someone trying to sell you something there is always some sort of noise - but not in the grocery store in Panama City. As soon as we walked into the store (called Rey), it was like angels started to sing and all of a sudden I wondered what that "noise" was - but it was actually silence - and probably my ears ringing from the silence. The grocery store
Panama City 2
Night time view of downtown. was probably staffed with twice as many people as other grocery stores we have been to and the selection of food was amazing - so we stocked up on supplies/snacks for a few days. Ever since our miserable bus ride I have been a little under the weather, which is actually the first time I remember being sick in the past several years - thanks urine/feces bus ride! Anyways, the grocery store was a place to find some nutrition that I desperately needed to boost my immune system and get back to normal. Funny how we find joy in simple things such as grocery stores while traveling.
A trip to Panama City is not complete without a stop at the Panama Canal - which at the time it was constructed was by far the largest engineering feat of its time. Clearly the decision to put the Canal in Panama has made Panama City the place it is today - it is nothing like any other capital city in Central America. The money that has resulted from this investment is visible everywhere from cars, to buildings, to infrastructure. After living in La Crosse for a few years and seeing the
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Nightime view of downtown. boats pass through the locks on the Mississippi watching the locks at the Canal was not as eventful as I expected. Nonetheless, it was still amazing to be at the canal with all of its history. We arrived just in time to see a boat pull up to the MIraflores locks and then watch the water level in the locks sink down and accept the boat and then the gates open and let the boat pass - the whole process taking about 40 minutes. If we would have arrived later we would have had to wait another hour or so for the next ship. From the locks we were dropped off at a local artisan market and walked around for awhile then headed back into the center of town.
Panama City has an old town portion known as Casco Viejo that is undergoing a huge renovation push to rebuild and revitalize the area and so far it seems to be successful. At this point in the revitalization about half of the buildings are old and rundown, 30 percent are already finished, and 20 percent are being worked on. There is some great shopping, eating, people watching, and just plain
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Amy with the panama city skyline at night. old architecture viewing that makes the area a great place to visit for a day. We had originally intended to stay in this area, but upon checking out the two hostels changed our minds as they were run down and the service at the reception was horrible. It would be neat to see Casco Viejo in another 2-5 years as I imagine the revitalization would be nearly complete and it would be really interesting to see the change from what it is today.
Bella Vista is the newer part of town that includes most of the highrises and is on the opposite side of the Panama bay from Casco Viejo. Bella Vista has some great "upscale" restaurants and we enjoyed some Lebanese food there three days. The food was well priced, but probably expensive for most backpackers budget - we paid about $20 total for the two of us each time we ate - but it was well worth it!
Casco Viejo and Bella Vista are connected by a walking/bike path about two miles long that runs along the Panaminian Bay. During the day the path is rather busy, but at night is when it really shines. It
Panama City Skyline
Still having gray skies - 9 days in a row without seeing the sun! is probably the most active trail I have ever seen in my life. I bet if I sat there for 5 minutes I would see between 100 and 200 people walking/running/biking by. It was a great place for us to go for a stroll at night and take some shots of the night skyline - which was fantastic.
Overall, we spent 6 days in Panama City - our longest of any city. Partially because we were sick and taking an eight hour bus ride to Northern Panama sounded similar to a bullet to the foot, but also because the city was so enjoyable and there was so much to see and do. Off we go to Northern Panama to enjoy some Panama mountains and I think the Bocas Del Toro area...we'll see what the travels bring.
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your dad
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hope your fealing better.
I always wanted to see the canal. Love ya both Dave.