The two faces of Panama City
(die deutsche Version findest du hier.)
After our stay in the Gamboa Rainforest Resort at the Panama Canal we go back to the city of Panama.
Our domicile here is the RIU Plaza Panama Hotel.
It is situated near the financial district, in walking distance to the Multiplaza Pacific Mall. In Panama you can pay with the Panamanian Balboa or the US dollar, so we take a look at the mall. It is worth the little walk. You´ll find a lot of brands, the prizes are fair. We even try out the hairdresser, as we haven´t had not the time at home.
After shopping we bring bag all the bags, now is the proper time for a visit to the old Panama, also known as Casco Vieljo.
A limo service, the ones with the expensive fixed fares brings us to the entrance to the old city. It is very humid, the sky is grey and looks like it would like to fall on our heads. How hot it could be when the sun would come out!
So this seems to be much better.
Although it is afternoon, not too many people are in the streets. Some sit in the few cafés or restaurants. We are thirsty, so we have a little break in one of the air conditioned cafés. That feels good!
We go further into the old city, which lies on a small peninsula in front of the city. We find wonderfully restored buildings, but the contrary, too. Some of them are so decayed that people had to support the walls. I´m sure that many landlords cannot afford to renovate their old houses. But they, who did so, have got little “jewels” now.
Sometimes we see expensive boutiques, then little shops with souvenirs, again and again shops with the real Panamanian Hats or the shops with the fake hats.
We try them on, but I stay with my hat that accompanied me on many trips and suits me well.
With a taxi that we stop on the street we go back to the hotel. This time we bargain about the fare. The limo service we won´t use again. This is roughly half the prize.
The next day starts sportive. We go by taxi to the Amador Causeway Cycling, because we want to go by bike to the Isla Naos. A long dam links the city to the little island and it is nicely lined with palm trees.
It is hot again, we are in Central America. The sky is gray again, but today there blows a strong wind. Nevertheless it doesn´t cool the heat down.
Our bikes work so far, even if they have seen better times. You pay when you come back.
So we start. We pass a building with interesting architecture. It is the Frank Gehry´s Museum of Biodiversity (BioMuseo). The wind gets stronger, my gear shift doesn´t work properly so I have to pedal very hard. I am happy about the palm trees that give a bit of shadow and about my trekking hat that nearly flies away in spite of the tie. My face starts to get a very unnatural red color which is less sunburn but more because of the heat. I ask myself not for the first time why I do cycle at more than 35 Centigrade in the shadow.
It might be because of the amazing view over the skyline with all the skyscrapers that are blurred visible through the mist, but still awesome. We take a short break at the small marina and then go back.
Did the wind turn round or why does it come from the front again? I don´t get spared from the heavy wind!
With a really red face I bring back the bike and my husband just grins…. We have to walk a while in the direction of the city before we find an empty taxi that is willing to bring us back to our hotel.
I´m so happy to find this really nice swimming pool here and an even nicer bar!
News to my upcoming or current travels you may find here as well: Facebook.com/gabriela.aufreisen. See you th
[…] (For the English version klick here.) […]