Take me down to Panama City

The following day I reached Panama City where I would be meeting Beth in the afternoon. I spent the morning exploring the city, which was a culture shock after the past month. Panama City is frequently called the Dubai of the Americas and I could see why. The city was full of skyscrapers in various stages of development and businesspeople in suits closing investment deals. After putting my bag in our hotel at the Grace Panama, I went out to the airport and picked up Beth. It was great to see Beth after being away for a while. We tried to find some local cuisine that night but we found that Panamanian food is fairly undefined. Panama apparently means “abundance of fish” so we focused most of our eating around fish. The first night we got some great sushi from Sake, a restaurant overlooking the mobs of Black Friday shoppers in the city. Afterwards we ventured into a casino and tried our hands at the penny slots, I managed to get up thirteen dollars but that quickly disappeared. Beth brought home the loot with a ten-cent payout. Afterwards we went to grab a drink at what seemed like a normal bar but Ora-Le was anything but normal. I can’t exactly describe it but for example, once they sat us down they used a staple gun to attach our brown paper tablecloth to a table.

Fish Market

The following day we headed out onto the Cinta Costera, which is a boulevard that laces along the coast of the city, tying together the skyscrapers with the old panama located on the point of the city. The Cinta Costera was very lively with bikers, soccer games and families. We walked down to the old part of the town, Casco Viejo where we explored the buildings that were built by the Spanish Colonists four hundred years ago. Eventually we stopped at the fish market where we got the closest thing to Panamanian food, ceviche. It was an amazing sight, about forty vendors all selling Styrofoam cups packed with ceviche for a dollar each. I ate mine and half of Beth’s. We had a great dinner where we started our addiction for

Before

After

caprese salads as we could get fresh tomatoes down in Panama.

The next day we splurged on brunch and went to the Waldorf Astoria for brunch. After my diet of rice, beans and a meat variant over the past part of my trip, this brunch was amazing. We dined on foods from every corner of the earth until our stomachs hurt. We decided the best remedy to a stomachache was swimming in the pool. After a tough afternoon at the pool we headed back to Casco Viejo because we felt like we had not explored the aged part of the city. We walked around and found all of the layers of the city such as a very old church sandwiched between churches that were two hundred years old. We found a beautiful square in Casco Viejo with musicians patrolling and tables scattered throughout for hungry patrons. We did not think that we would get a table until they unfolded on, plucked it down amongst the others and spread a tablecloth over it. We had a delicious dinner before watching the twinkling lights of the city from a rooftop bar.

On Monday, we found the city to be closed down. Apparently, they moved their Independence Day (from Spain) to Monday, as they did not want it to interfere with Black Friday. Therefore most of the city was shutdown but we managed to find some great food throughout the day. Additionally we went and visited the Panama Canal. After a harrowing thirty-minute drive where our cab driver appeared to be falling asleep we reached the canal. After a brief movie at the museum we headed out to watch a ship enter the canal. It was amazing to see an enormous freight ship lowered almost thirty feet in ten minutes and navigate through the canal. If you ever visit Panama be sure to get to the canal, considered one of the seven wonders of the modern world.

On Tuesday, our final full day in Panama City we tried to get up the coast to the beaches but the torrential downpours hampered our effort. We ended up poolside until the rain cleared when we went out and wandered around the sprawling city. We found a great place to eat where we dined on pistachio crusted sea bass and smoked salmon. Afterwards we went and checked out the nightlife at one of the local clubs where we were greeted with loud salsa music but a lack of people dancing. After sometime dancing, we headed back to hotel. On our final day, we packed things up and I sadly sent Beth off to the airport.

After gathering my bearings, I headed back across the country to Portobelo where I am waiting to board my sailboat that will take me to Colombia after five days sailing through the San Blas islands. I will be reaching Cartagena, Colombia later this week and will be updating upon arrival.