Casco Viejo (Old Town)

Thursday, Dec. 27, 2012--Panama City

We met a nice couple at breakfast yesterday morning from San Francisco--Steve and Naomi.  We visited with them at breakfast again this morning.  We were going today where they were yesterday, and they were going today where we were yesterday.  We helped them with what we learned about catching the buses, and they suggested a couple of things for us to do while in the Casco Viejo area.

There were more buses running today than last evening, but supposedly still only 50% of them are on their routes.  My guess is that the government has the right to force them back to work if fewer buses than that run.  The city is building a metro, but until it is finished bus service is critical for the city.

We took a Red Devil bus today to go to Casco Viejo, the old part of Panama City.  Red Devils are not air conditioned, and they are really just old school buses fancied up with paint and flashy features.

Casco Viejo is a small peninsula which was all that existed of the city in the early 1900s when the canal was built.  Over the years, it crumbled as the city expanded.  Today, it is partially restored and going through a major period of restoration.  It has the feel of the French Quarter in New Orleans or the old town in San Juan, Puerto Rico.  When it is totally restored, it will be a fantastic area for tourists.  Now it is interesting to walk the narrow streets seeing restored buildings beside ones with large trees growing out of their roofs and others only with outer walls still standing.  There are small plazas, churches, church ruins, a promenade, museums, the national theater, etc.  We spent about 3 hours exploring the area.  Because of the heat and humidity, we had to stop occasionally to sit in the shade or to stand in front of a fan at a church.  There is little air conditioning in that part of the city.  We saw the golden alter at San Jose Church, the small Panama History Museum, and the National Theater (both in front and behind the stage).  The whole area was a good place to just stroll and visit.

When we left Casco Viejo, we walked Ave. Central to Plaza Cinco de Mayo several blocks north.  The street was lined with old shops, street stalls, small restaurants, etc., serving the rather poor people of the neighborhood.  It reminded me of the shopping districts in Laredo or El Paso near the border to Mexico.

We tried to go the Museo de Arte Contemporaneo.  We found it only to discover that they were closed for the holidays and installing a new special exhibition.  An older man (I'm not sure if he was an employee or the artist of the new exhibition) asked us to come back after Jan. 1.  Then he added, "I like Obama; Obama is my friend."

Heading back to Plaza Cinco de Mayo, we stopped at a small, local restaurant.  We both had a large plate of chicken and rice for a total bill of $3.50.

After that, we decided just to walk all the way back from there to our hotel.  Slowly, but surely, the neighborhoods kept improving as we made our way.  One interesting thing to observe was that stores often had young men hired as security guards who would sit atop unfolded ladders on the sidewalk looking into the stores watching the customers.  Each had a billy club attached to his ladder--some were made of wood such as policemen would use and others were made of metal pipe.  Their job, apparently, was to watch for anyone trying to leave the store without paying for merchandise and to stop them using the clubs.

The walk back to the hotel was interesting, but it was quite difficult in the heat and humidity at 14:30.  We BARELY made it to our nearby Rey Supermercado where we knew we could buy a 2 liter Coke Zero for $2.  It was so refreshing to have that cold drink.  Wes' entire shirt was damp by the time we got back to the room.  We spent about 3 hours just enjoying the air conditioning before going out again briefly in the evening to explore another part of our neighborhood and find a snack for dinner.

This was our last day in Panama City.  It's a very dynamic city filled with many skyscrapers.  From a distance, the view of the city is much like that of Asian cities with all the modern buildings.  And the city overall is clean and nice.  We haven't felt uncomfortable about wandering and exploring anywhere we wanted.