Here I am having a small cup of ceviche for $1.75!


From the mercado de mariscos we walked by the water towards Casco Viejo, the old part of Panama city.





Casco Viejo, the historic part of Panama City is filled with old buildings and churches.






Here we are at plaza de la independencia with the Metropolitan Cathedral in the back, too bad it was under construction!

Catedral Metropolitana

We then walked all around the casco viejo enjoying the historic feeling of the place.





We stopped for a "Raspao" (shaved ice) to better deal with the heat of Panama City!

Kuna Lady selling souvenirs

One more selfie with my favourite 💜

After Casco Viejo we walked to la "Cinta Costera", a walkway by the water next to Panama City's skyscrapers!


The whole pedestrian path was full of locals with the families riding their bikes, walking, enjoying the nice day and of course buying some of the many foods sold at the many carts along the way.


Here's the mango cart... yumm

The last stop for the day was at the Panama sign... hard to get it all to yourself and manage to look decent... here's my best attempt!



I somehow thought that Panama would be very similar to El Salvador and south american countries  but was a little shocked to see that there weren't many local markets around or people selling you bags of fruits and vegetables on the streets. I went to the supermarket with my cousin and was shocked to see the prices of groceries so I looked for a local market but wasn't able to find anything nearby.
In Panama city there is a big market called "Mercado Abastos" that is a little tricky to get to but I was lucky enough for my cousin's landlord to take me there!


The market was huge and people paid a fee to enter with the car and shop as if it was a drive through! kind of cool!
We like to touch and pick our produce so we decided to get out and buy the fruit and vegetables ourselves!

Looks like somebody is happy she found lettuce... and another one think she is totally silly!

I was able to find all kinds of fruits and vegetables for very affordable prices!!!

Got bananas?

While my cousin was at work I decided to go check out Panama Viejo, the ruins inside the city of Panama. Panama viejo was where the city began but in the 1600s Pirates attacked and destroyed the city.

"Old Panama, city destroyed by cruel pirates that one day dreamed of your treasures"

I got to Panama viejo at their opening time, around 8:30am, to be able to see the sight and not completely melt in the heat!


It was very cool to be able to see the tall buildings behind the archeological site.

Looking at the cathedral tower and where the cathedral used to be.

After walking the grounds I decided to go up the tower for a nice view:






Once back down I kept walking and got to a really nice and preserved church displaying a virgin on the wall.






I quickly visited the museum which was the best part because it had AC! Literally the heat in Panama almost killed me!

Thankfully they have little cars that take you up and down!



My cousin's landlord also took me for an outing to a nearby beach and passed el "Puente de las Americas" (the Americas bridge) that joins south and central America!

Here we are crossing the bridge!

Are we there yet?

After what seemed hours and hours in the car we finally arrived at the beach, nothing very impressive but very relaxing! I grabbed my book and laid there while the others walked around and swam!

Fishing nets

My favorite thing to do in Panama was visiting the Miraflores Dock of the Panama Canal!
I think we all have heard about the Panama Canal but it wasn't until I was there that it hit me how big this project was!


The entrance ticket allows you to visit the docks and the viewing platform, watch a movie, and enter the museum.


What the captain of a boat sees while driving through the canal.



The museum is full of facts  about the canal but the most impressive one is the price that people pay to cross it! An average small boat is not much, probably $800 for a sailboat to a couple of thousands but the huge cargo ones pay up to $800,000!!!!! to cross the canal!
And guess what? there is a new canal that charges even more!



For me going to the "old" canal (or the original one) was more special than the new one. Back in the day they didn't have machines to dig and build like we do nowadays, instead they had to do everything by hand, and with the resources they had! Quite impressive!

Waiting....

 While I was at the museum the first couple of boats started arriving. On the left passenger ferries giving people the Canal of Panama experience for a couple of hundred dollars per person. On the right 3 small sailboats... no big deal, nothing impressive!


Then came the HUGE boats with cargo and even a car carrier.
I didn't know this but only Panama Canal pilots can captain a boat through the canal, this is because the canal is not very wide so the one in charge of the boat must know exactly how to pass through.


The timing of arrival at the docks is very important as boats only pass twice a day, once in the early morning and once in the late afternoon. If people arrive at 10am they won't be able to see anything as the early morning ones have already gone by and in the afternoon the transit starts between 4:30 and 5pm. Thankfully we had read about it and got there at about 3:30pm which gave us enough time for the movie, museum, and get a nice spot in the viewing platform.


In order for the boats to pass the level of the water has to go down and with it the boats lower themselves down.


Water had reached the level necessary so the gates were open and the boats started to go through.



Those boats were literally huge!

Super impressive!!!!

Here we are super excited about the canal!!!