I got another impression of the country and as we entered into Panama City we crossed a huge bridge over the Panama canal with a prime view of the big ships. Nice!
Panama City is a weird combination of ultra modern high rises, two historic centers with very old buildings and some very run down areas, which have a shanty town feeling. Safety seems to be a constant concern. When checking in at the hotel, I received a small brochure called Security Guide for Guests. As I am quite experienced traveling in Latin America, this is nothing new to me and not a special concern. As always you just need to know how to behave, what to do and what not and especially where you can go and where you better keep off.
My stay here had two highlights. The first was the visit of the Panama canal. About 20km from the city center you can visit the Miraflores locks, one of three locks in the canal. It’s very, very impressive to see these big ships manouvering through the locks from that close. There is a lot of technology involved in the process.
The locks here have a visitor center with a small museum, which exhibits the story of the canal and it’s significance for Panama and the world logistics in modern times. The numbers are impressive, sometimes very sad (thousands of workers died during the construction) and thought provoking.
The second highlight was El Casco Viejo. This old part of Panama City is a UNESCO World Heritage site. There are lots of very nice colonial buildings, some small but good museums and few nice restaurants here as well.
More and more of the older buildings get renovated and thus the area has a lot of charm and atmosphere. I strolled through the small roads for hours, loved it.
To get around in Panama, there are basically three options: you can fly, rent a car or use the local buses. The level of comfort decreases in the same order, but the insight and experience into local culture increases the other way round. Thus I had decided to take a bus from David to Panama City.
The whole trip took about seven hours, with a stop for bathrooms and a quick bite after three hours on the road.The bus is ok, but moving slowly. People around me were sleeping, eating, listening to their music and reading. And then there was a kid right in the seat behind me, who tried to make my journey memorable by crying, shouting at his mother and kicking the back of my seat like Wayne Rooney during training… Nevertheless it has been a good journey.
Organikos 