Casco Viejo, Panama City

Oooooh, I am in love...the old town of Panama City is wonderful! After an exhausting 10 hour overnight bus ride in which I did not sleep a wink, we arrived in Panama City this morning at 5:30 am. Exhausted, we threw our bags down at the hostel, and headed out for the day. I was a little bummed out to miss most of the middle terrain of this beautiful and very diverse country by travelling at night, but was glad to be back in a city! As much as I love the Caribbean, some of these backpacker types are driving me nuts. They call themselves "nomads", hang out only with other gringo tourists, drink a lot of beer, spending the following days hungover in their hostels, and never actually "experience any of the culture" that they claim to be here looking for...and they think the unbathed look is uber-cool...Jerome and I decided we are not very good backpackers! But we are okay with that :)

So other than the annoying tourists, its beautiful here; there has been a significant investment in restoring the historic core, and we've been walking the old cobble streets, photographing the beautiful architecture, and hanging out with Simon Bolivar in the colonial plazas...He who thinks Panama should be voted the world capital! This original town center reminds me a lot of the North End in Boston, but just beyond the shiny new paint, there is poverty, projects and dilapidated buildings, and then when you divert your eyes across the bay it is an image of what I imagine a young Shanghai looked like 5 years ago...office and condominium towers going up faster than they can be rented...its quite a stark comparison to the old village.

This morning we visited the Panama Canal History Museum to prep ourselves for the tour of the locks tomorrow, and the Emerald Museum which had a dangerously expensive "Museum Shop." I keep thinking how much my mom and dad would love it here...its certainly tourist friendly but with a ton of interesting world history! During our afternoon break we found the best ice cream shop in town to relax, but most of the day we wandered, talked with some locals in the park, learned about the womens traditional clothing, and tried to stay clear of the "chatcke" shops...Jerome is embaressed by my delight with gift shops!!! Our best deal has been in the supermarkets here - Asians have monopolized the market and managed to maintain the best prices, so we have frequented the Asian markets for water and snacks...the irony!

Looking forward to a good night's rest and the Panama Canal tomorrow! Adios amigos...