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Panama City. Old meets new and even older. Three cities in one. The original Panama was ransacked by infamous pirate Henry Morgan who frequented this part of the world in 1600s. The city was abandoned and the new one was built later at a different site, now known as Casco viejo. This area is characterised by mainly spanish colonial and (I think) some french architecture and is absolutely beautiful! There are churches and squares, narrow streets, museums, a few markets and shops selling the souvenirs.
It was very interesting to see how the whole area is going through a rejuvenation process, bringing the buildings their original appearance back to life. There seem to be a lot of activity at the moment, with old dilapidated houses sitting amongst the refurbished ones, waiting for their turn to look good again.
There was a whole stretch near the shoreline with the stalls where indigenous Kuna women sell their colourful jewellery and 'molas', a woven fabrics made in layers. The more layered and detailed the item, the higher the price.
Then there is a different part of town, very modern, with many skyscrapers, some of them hotels, some business buildings and some luxury residential properties. There are also places in-between; where there is no small town charm or a nod to the modern symbols of power and development. These are the streets with a little bit more kitsch and chaos, with some grim images of dark, small living spaces, with the laundry drying on the line filling up the whole flat and a balcony. There was even one building with flats on one side and completely deserved on the other, with the water constantly leaking in the road. All in all, like any other big city, it's a place of contrasts.
We loved the clean and modern metro. The main bus station was less inviting, because it was so big and busy; the shopping centre next door trumps the London Westfield in size.
But the most impressive feature of modern world and an amazing example of engineering was definitely seeing the Panama Canal. They've build an extension with the more advanced technological solutions and the respect for the environment. We live near a canal, so the overall system is familiar, but this was on a grand scale. We saw some big ships being guided through the Miraflores lock and then we watched a short 3D movie about the history and the development of the canal. I can't member many of the details we heard or read at the exhibition, but the most surprising one was that some bigger ships (depending on their size and load etc) can pay between 300.000 to 400.000 USD to cross the canal!
The visit to the canal was interesting, but in some ways as expected. What we didn't expect to see as we walked back to the bus stop were the crocodiles, in the river!! There were also signs of warnings on both sides of the bridge, which we didn't see on the way to the lock, as we were too much in rush not to miss the boats, having read they only pass at certain times of the day. Not always true,btw, as there were ships coming for as long as we were there. Back to the crocodiles. We stopped on the bridge with the hope of seeing one and we saw quite a few. There was one really big crocodile that came up the surface a few times and we saw a baby one really well. The others just peeped a little and then disappeared.
There are many places we didn't visit, but there was not enough time. Visiting Panama City was also a good opportunity to acclimatise again to the urban jungle and to treat ourselves to a bit of luxury after slumming it for over 2 months. We stayed at a really nice hotel with a swimming pool on the top, so I got to have my poolside glamour moment. Semir bought the obligatory Panama Hat - it actually originates from Ecuador, but it was given to the canal workers to protect them from the sun, hence the name.
All boxes ticked and we were off to start our long journey back, now waiting for the connecting flight in Dominican Republic and soaking up the last drops of warm sunny weather. We had a great, if not always the most comfortable, time and experiences on our travels.
We hope we managed to bring you a flavour of Central America and we hope you enjoyed the photos and the blog. Hasta luego!
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