Ancon Hill and coming home

After our usual breakfast of tea and empanadas, we took an Uber to the Ancon Reserve, a hill that overlooks Panama City and even the canal. We got out and started hiking up to the top. The first part of the walk goes by some homes that look distinctively American, albeit a bit dated and weathered. As it turns out, this is where a large number of the American canal workers lived when the United States owned and operated the canal. This, at one point, used to be the administrative area and was essentially U.S. territory. Not surprisingly, that became a bit of a sore point for Panama. We, as Americans, would probably not be too keen on the Russians owning and operating the Hoover Dam without any say from us. Anyway, as a sort of reclamation of their own sovereignty, there is a massive Panama flag flying over Ancon Hill — the size of a basketball court to be exact. We were hoping to see some wildlife during our hike, but all we saw were vultures and some kind of rodent. Supposedly sloths hang out in these parts, but they couldn’t be bothered to say hello.

Fortunately even without the sloths, we enjoyed some good views of Casco Viejo and Panama City from above. We could even see ships passing through the canal in the distance, including the new canal which can accommodate much larger ships. After taking in the views at the top, we worked our way back down and caught an uber back to Casco Viejo for the outrageous sum of $2.60. We just sort of kicked back for the rest of the day. We had awkward timing with our departure because it was not scheduled to depart until 1am. On top of that, while there were 50 open seats going to Panama City, the flight back to Houston was oversold. We ended up using miles to get confirmed seats. (More specifically, Nicole used miles to get us seats). She would no doubt have made some sort of comment if I didn’t include this fact.

 While our time in Panama was brief, it was enlightening. My prior knowledge about the country included the canal, the U.S. invasion (centering around the canal), and Manuel Noriega (who kind of caused the invasion). To be fair, my knowledge was a bit narrow. For both Nicole and I, we didn’t know exactly what to expect upon leaving the airport because not a lot of people visit Panama. Our hotel was over 20 miles from the airport. The last time we had to go that kind of distance was in Bali, except Bali was actually shorter in distance. Fortunately, in Panama, it did not take over an hour to get to the hotel (which was the case in Bali). Major freeways connect the main points of interest. It is, as Nicole would say, “very with it.” But as we observed from some of our cab rides outside the city center, there are some spots that got left behind. I read somewhere that Panama is the wealthiest country in Central America, and that shouldn’t really come as a huge surprise. The canal is a huge money-maker and employees thousands of people. Unfortunately, Panama also has the greatest wealth disparity in the region, and I can believe that. When people ask me if Panama was affordable, it’s a difficult question to answer. Panama City has prices that one would find in any major city in the United States, but somehow you can take an uber for 5 miles and it only costs $2. We would feel like we were spending too much money one minute and feel like we got the deal of the century the next.    We also had a very limited scope of what we saw in Panama, having never really left Panama City by any great distance. That being said, we quickly picked up on some cultural differences. Under most circumstances in the U.S., honking one’s horn is done out of anger/road rage. In Panama, it appears to be some kind of necessity and a multipurpose tool. Alerting other drivers to your presence? Beep beep! Need to let people know that you intend to go next at a four-way stop? Beep beep! Are you a cab driver and notice people walking and think they would much rather be in your cab? Beep beeeeeeeep beedly beep!!! That last one was especially troublesome to us because I simply could not understand it. If I wanted a cab, I would find a cab. I would not convince myself that I needed a cab, simply because one showed up and beeped at me. It is so widespread, however, it must somehow be effective, though I can’t imagine how.   After our third day in Panama, my voice had mostly returned, but I would have to restrain myself at Tocumen International from getting into a fight with the folks at the security checkpoints who were making up rules as they went along. My new years resolution is to not judge a place by their airport security employees because that profession seems to lend itself to the most miserable human beings on the planet. I was yelled at for failing to remove a single coin from my back pocket. Mind you, this coin did not set off the alarm, and it wasn’t a body scanner so they shouldn’t have even had any idea I had anything there, but they took great offense that the equivalent of 25 cents had made its way past a metal detector. I held my tongue, but my eyes rolled anyway. I had the sense to recognize that outside this airport, people were friendly and warm and helpful, and that’s how I shall think moving forward. Blocking out one’s experience at the airport is a much better way to see the world. That being said, my last memory of Panama was an uber driver explaining to us that the CEO of Copa Airlines bought up the land around a landfill, built a bunch of high-rise condos, and rent there is now higher than Los Angeles. Panama is on its way . . .

To the Canal!

Our hotel has an agreement with the cafe below us to give us free breakfast. I had an empanada and some tea to soothe my throat. We spent the morning walking around Casco Viejo a bit more and did some shopping. There was one shop that had Panamanian futbol jerseys, and I had my eyes on them. They had the home and the away jersey, but they wanted $45 a piece for them. I was able to get both for $65 which I thought was pretty decent. Unlike many of the other jerseys I have from my travels, these may actually be authentic. Nicole and I couldn’t find any differences between the ones we bought and the “official” jerseys available on the internet for a lot more money. Nicole bought a small hand-crafted basket to display on our shelves back home.   

After getting all of our souvenirs, we went back to our hotel for lunch. From there, we made our way to the Panama Canal. We sent for an Uber, which took us through some more impoverished areas of Panama City. At one point, there was actually a sign at the side of the road that read, “Bienvenidos a la peor calle de la ciudad de Panamà,” or “Welcome to the worst street in Panama City.” Below it was a sarcastic thank you to what appeared to be the department of public works for working hard to repair it. It was certainly a different area of the city. Homes were missing walls and held together with cheap corrugated metal. Open-air barber shops seemed to be all the rage. It is a stark contrast to the massive high-rises we can see across the water from Casco Viejo.   It took longer than anticipated to reach the Canal’s closest set of locks at Miraflores because there didn’t appear to be a direct road. I suppose when people think of Panama, they think of the canal, so it should have been no surprise to me that there were more tourists here than anywhere else.

There was a special viewing area with viewpoints at different levels, but there was no place along the edge to get a good view. It was packed. A large “Panamax” cargo vessel was in the middle of transitioning through the locks. “Panamax” refers to a ship that was designed to the maximum size that was allowed in through the Panama Canal. I don’t know how they squeeze through without banging into the side. The ship is somehow guided by multiple tiny trains that parallel the canal on tracks. It was interesting to watch this, but I was also angered by the hordes of people everywhere.   We went inside for a bit to get air conditioning and a break from the people. After a bit we went to a different viewing deck, which was technically a cafe, but nobody hassled us . . .yet. I got my best pictures from this spot. I would have ordered a drink or a snack, but service was a bit lacking, so I just took pictures. I was hoping to get some kind of timelapse footage of the ships going through the locks, but the process is a bit slower than I anticipated, and I didn’t feel like awkwardly waiting for 30 minutes just for another ship to show up.   We walked around the area a bit more, but the people were driving me crazy. When we returned to the cafe, the staff basically threw us out, but not anyone else (none of whom had at any point ordered any food or drink). I’m ok with being kicked out of the cafe, but I’d be happier about it if the rules were enforced equally. That was kind of the last straw, and Nicole and I decided to leave. The canal was cool thing to see, but the facility built for tourists is poorly designed. Considering the canal goes through the entire country, the viewing areas are extremely limited. Furthermore, a newer, bigger canal was completed a couple years prior, but there appears to be no effort to have some sort of shuttle bus that takes visitors to see that. A bit disgruntled, we headed back to Casco Viejo. Our Uber driver appeared to get lost a couple times, and then turned away from our hotel, so we just told him to stop. It took us 45 mins to get back from the canal, which is only 5 miles away.  

After the stress of the canal, Nicole and I went to a rooftop bar. I drank a beer while watching the sunset over the old rooftops of Casco Viejo. It was much more relaxing than the chaos at the canals. After that, we had dinner at an Italian place and then Nicole got me ice cream because I was a good boy. Despite being a Friday night, it didn’t seem much worse than the previous night as far as crowds and noise go. It seems that Casco Viejo is hopping every night. We slept well once again.    

Panama City (Panama not Florida)

Shortly after visiting New Jersey for Christmas, I developed some sort of bizarre sort throat ailment. I called in sick to work for a day and went to a clinic in Marina del Rey where they determined I had some sort of virus. In spite of this, I continued my journey to Houston to visit with my own family. After ringing in the new year, I discovered I no longer had a voice. I found myself communicating via hand gestures and a bit of acting. This isn’t too different from how people in New Jersey communicate. After doing research on my condition, the internet doctors recommended adding moist air to my sinuses. It was a bit cool and dry in Houston, and not much better in Los Angeles, so I persuaded Nicole (through the use of several gestures, pie charts, and a powerpoint presentation) that we should go to Panama. Why Panama? The winter holidays are typically peak time for northern visitors to the Caribbean and other destinations in places like Mexico or Costa Rica. Panama, on the other hand, has remained relatively off the radar, and as a result had plenty of seats on the plane.

After leaving Tocumen International, we caught an Uber into Panama City. We decided to stay in an area of the city called Casco Viejo, or the old quarter. It used to be very run down, but it has recently transformed into the “it” place full of restaurants, cafes, clubs, bars, and hotels. We checked into our b&b, where we got a room on the second floor with a balcony overlooking the narrow streets below. We went out to explore the rest of Casco Viejo. The sun was working its way down on the horizon and the humid air felt good on my throat. We made a loop around the entire neighborhood. It did not take too long, but we were on foot. As we soon learned, driving a car through this area is a bit masochistic. The narrow streets and lack of traffic lights make progress quite slow. We did some research on where to get dinner and ended up at a microbrewery called La Rana Dorada. While the doctors suggested not drinking alcohol, this was difficult to do at a microbrew and I enjoyed my pizza and IPA.

Afterward, we made another lap around Casco Viejo at night, taking in the views of downtown Panama City and all of its high rise buildings.   We made a quick stop at the market across the street from our hotel to get some beverages and then settled in for the night. Our host had warned us that it can get quite loud at night and our room even came with earplugs. As we sat out on our balcony, we observed dozens and dozens of youths descend upon the club that was just below us. In spite of this, we went to bed early and had no difficulty falling asleep.