Panama Day 1: a day in Panama City

It has long been a dream of mine to scuba with the sharks in the Coiba Island area of Panama. I finally scheduled the trip over my Christmas holiday at work this year!

The trip started out, unfortunately, with a two-leg flight & layover to Panama City via Miami on Christmas day - not my ideal way to relax on Christmas! Our hotel, Magnolia Inn (totally cute, highly recommend), arranged a ride from the airport and we arrived and slept well.

I should add at this point that from Christmas Eve to December 26, I had a cold and I was freaking out that I wouldn't get over it in time to scuba dive, which would interfere with my ability to breathe through hoses underwater. So I caught up on sleep on the flights and overnight, feeling much better by the time we got to the islands.

We tried to fit in as much of Panama City as we could, given our energy levels and the humidity, which was very draining. We hit breakfast at tasty Super Gourmet, which offered hot breakfast sandwiches, smoothies, and a nice pastry case. We walked around the Casco Viejo area, the old Spanish-looking area of the city that reminded us a lot of Panama. 

We stumbled upon the Panama Museum of History in a gorgeous building on one of the cute squares, and we stopped in in exchange for a small donation. The relationship between Panama and the United States is clearly complicated - can America please have non-fraught relations with another nation sometime? (Not that I blame the Panamanians - they clearly had something we wanted and we went for it.)

After an energizing nap, we went to lunch at Fonda Lo Que Hay ("We are what we are"), a lively and tasty experimental spot established by a famous Panamanian chef. 

Street art near Lo Que Hay

It was truly one of the most outstanding meals I've ever had, so if you are put off by a wait, trust that it's worth it. We waited for about 30 minutes at an off time (around 1:30-2 p.m.). I had the flamed and fried sea bass with fried plantains and sauces. Dave had the shrimp. We sat right by the kitchen, so we could see them frying plantains and firing fish all afternoon.

Putting the final flame on the sea bass at Lo Que Hay

Next, we visited a couple of local breweries, La Rana Dorada and Casa Bruja and leveled up our central American badges on Untappd. The guava gose at Casa Bruja was truly outstanding. I also really liked the porter at Rana Dorada. All of the beers were at least decent, no off flavors or styles. Casa Bruja is even available in the United States.

We tried to visit Panama Viejo, the original settlement that was destroyed by Captain Morgan in his quest to plunder the Caribbean. All that's left is a few ruined buildings; we arrived too late for entry into the site, but there was one building outside the fort complex that we were able to check out free of charge.

Panama Viejo ruins

Honestly, we could later see the ruins from the road, and I am kind of glad we didn't pay for admission, especially in the heat of day. There are walk paths to the ruins, but I'm not sure one ruin looks much different from another, and there is no shade.

In the Casa Bruja beer garden

We got an Uber back to Casco Viejo - Uber is the chosen mode of transport in Panama City, where neighborhoods change from bad to good quickly and there is not much public transport - and walked around to take in the Christmas lights. (That helps if you stop at tasty ice cream shop Granclement, where I picked up a two-scoop cup of almond-chocolate and banana ice creams).

Christmas lights on the square

The Panamanians decorate the trunks of the palm trees and string icicle lights from the fronds. Very different style of Christmas decoration than I'm used to in the Midwest!

I had failed twice to visit Old Saint Pat's in Chicago on and before Christmas Eve, so Dave and I were pleased to visit the Panama Metropolitan Cathedral on one of the big squares. Kind of sparse, but beautiful and welcoming. Lots of children playing out front.

Panama Metropolitan Cathedral

We took a walk on the riverfront to get a photo of the downtown from the causeway around Casco Viejo. Even though the walk path was mostly people working out (too hot to run or bike during the day) and families, we were approached by some security guards to warn us to watch out for thieves in the area just after we took the below photo. The security guard didn't speak English, so a Panamanian nearby translated (he just retired after living 30 years in California). Too funny.

Central / downtown Panama City viewed from Casco Viejo area

Panama City was fun to explore and we probably could have done a few more days; we didn't get to visit Buenas Pintas, a craft brew shop with a few locations in the area, and there are a lot of other neighborhoods we could have seen. Oh well - next time!

  

Panamanian flag