Panama City itself is a place of huge contrast depending on which way you are facing; it's like Dubai, it's like a beautiful old colonial city like Granada, with very interesting buildings of character. It's like a badly designed British council estate and it's like a slum. I wish I would have had more time to experience a bit of the life here, just a collection of jumbled impressions. There are very many wealthy people who live in the high tech buildings, and they seem to mainly go to the American/ Sandton type shopping malls, with all the big name designer shops and food courts. The old city had a number of fruit and veg market vendors and some good restaurants. The more soulless part of the city where I stayed one night with 60s architecture,had very little in the way of supermarkets, no market stalls and the most dire eateries catering to the local workers and a MacDonalds.
No visit to Panama City could be complete without a visit to the canal, which I managed in spite of the rain and the time pressure. At Miraflores locks, there is a viewing area where you can watch the boats being raised and lowered as well as a very well presented museum, about the construction, environment and the systems. It's an amazing tale of French hubris, defeated after 22000 deaths mainly due to yellow fever, of ingenuity and lateral thinking by the Cuban doctor figured out that the Aegyptis mosquito was the vector and therefore had the swamps drained which minimised the threat and finally of can do machismo by the Americans who finally took over the project, with their massive steam shovels and 60 000 000 pounds of dynamite. Gatun Lake was the largest artificial lake in the world for a time. Panama is a huge watershed along its spine and this abundance of water is necessary for the locks to function, as well as provide for the city and agricultural needs and of course sustain the rain forest that still exists there. For me, the best bit of the excellent museum was at the end, where there is a simulator, giving a pilot's eye view of a complete transit. Apparently, training is rigorous, as the clearances are so tight and this is the only canal in the world where the ship's captain has to give over the helm to the pilot for the duration, from coastal water to coastal water.
The toilet paper dispenser on the journey to Panama City
Urban decay in Panama City
Bobbie and Ollie, with the Dubai-like skyline in the background
Tarted up buildings around the Presidential palace in Casco Viejo, Panama City
Restaurant Coca Cola, a really good value diner, with simple good food in Casco Viejo, where I ate often
The ruins of Panama Viejo, with the modern high rise developments in the backgound. Panama Viejo was razed to the ground by a British buccaneer centuries ago, just a few walls and towers remain.
A boat heading inland from the Pacific from Miraflores locks
Miraflores locks at low level
A boat entering the lock to be raised. On either side are little railway engines or donkeys (2 at the front, 2 at the back) with taut lines to keep the bat aligned with the canal. They travel with the boat until it ready to leave the lock under its own power.
Looking down the Avenida Centrale in Casco Viejo, the old tramlines are still evident.
The regentrification of Casco Viejo. Apparently these buildings can be purchased for as little as $60 000. I'm sure as security improves, they will become bijou apartment houses. It's mostly dangerous to wander outside prescribed areas in Panama City, especially at night.
Council house architecture and old slum side by side in Casco Viejo
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