Our last few days at home were a bit of a blur, Alex finished work on Friday as planned. I had some extra work to finish off on Monday and Tuesday. Preparing to leave home for three months isn’t a typical experience. Last time we were leaving London permanently and it was barely managed chaos, this time has at least been a little less brutal. Even though we thought we were pretty much ready by Thursday morning, I still spent the day running around and predictably a few things didn’t get done. Our friend Terry gave us a lift to the station and we headed to London for a night in an airport hotel, before a 6:30am flight to Madrid and a connection to Panama City.
The flights were uneventful and we arrived early to Panama. As we stepped off the plane as we were hit by a wall of hot air as we arrived in the 35 degree humid heat of Panama. A driver for the Spanish school drove us to the hostel and we made the most of the opportunity to practice our Spanish with him.
The hostel in Panamá City is small and friendly but a level of basic that we’re just not used to anymore, although it’s really clean and has all the essentials. On the recommendation of the owner we went out for dinner to El Trapiche, a Central/South American restaurant nearby, for a delicious meal (only slightly marred by the fact that for us it was nearly 1am and we were flagging, despite the excitement).
The one surprise was the walk to the restaurant which featured a stroll through a mall that was cleaner and featured more luxury brands than anything I’m used to, very similar to ones I visited in Bangalore and Alex saw in Dubai. The Ferrari dealership on the corner reminded us that Panama is a major tax haven.
After nearly 24 hours awake we slept well, the air conditioning in our room is noisy but effective and the bed is comfortable. The next morning we woke early and enjoyed the hostel breakfast which consists of coffee, bananas, and all the ingredients to make your own pancakes, which of course we did!
Eager to explore, we took a walk along the coastal path out of the new city area where we’re staying to Casco Viejo, the old town. On our way we stopped via the seafood market which has lots of restaurants outside selling seafood direct from the market. Since we’d been walking for an hour, we used the excuse that we were basically still on UK time to get a beer. We took a seat amongst a healthy mix of locals and tourists.
After this we headed into the old town, which was full of old Spanish Colonial buildings. It immediately reminded us both of Havana, Cuba or Cartagena in Colombia, and like those places it contained a mix of beautifully restored buildings, next to others that we’re empty and on the verge of collapse. Many in fact had corrugated iron roofs over the pavements to prevent any falling masonry hitting any passers by!
We’re generally pretty good at hunting down good beer and sure enough minutes later we stumbled into La Rana Dorada, a microbrewery in a beautifully restored building. We set to the task of trying the beers, while wolfing down a surprising large lunch. Sated, we walked to the Museo Del Canal, which explains not just the history of the canal but puts it into context of all of Panamá’s history, from before the earliest European settlers all the way through the US invasion of 1989 (worryingly topical after Trump’s inauguration) to today. We found it so fascinating that two hours later we were kicked out at 6pm as the museum was closing.
We decided to grab an Uber back to the hostel, and walked to the edge of the old town, however when trying to turn down a road we noticed the military turning people away from several blocks forcing a slight detour. I later realised that it was the presidential palace we were being kept away from, and today was also the day that the newly appointed US Secretary of State Marco Rubio was visiting Panama. Considering Trump’s recent statements about the Panama canal I can only guess there were concerns of protest.
Our Uber home was uneventful and our Uber driver was more than happy to help us practice our Spanish after we mentioned that it was the purpose of our trip!
Sunday was another day exploring. I’m getting used to pancakes for breakfast every day, and shortly after breakfast we headed out to climb a hill in the city that has been restored as somewhat of a mini nature reserve. We took an Uber to the foot of the hill and climbed up an easy walk made harder by the heat. The summit gave us our first view of the Panamá canal which was pretty impressive. After this we went to the Bio Museo which was interesting but expensive. One thing we’ve noticed about Panamá (which we’ve seen in many other countries) is differentiated pricing for locals and tourists. It’s pretty extreme in Panamá however, with museums ending up more expensive for us that their equivalent in England.
At 5pm we returned to the hostel for a Spanish school orientation and oral assessment, which I’ll cover in the next post.
So, just two days in, what are our overall impressions?
Panamá City itself in an interesting contrast of modernity and luxury in the malls, with the Spanish Colonial charm of the Casco Viejo old town.
We didn’t need to worry too much about being 40 year olds in a hostel. There are people here who are older than us and we feel like we fit in just fine.
Panamanians so far have been kind, generous, and friendly, several taxi drivers have been more than happy helping us to practice our Spanish.
Looks and sounds marvellous, hope you are getting enough vegetarian food!