Even though I just got back on the bike after my long break in Cartagena I thought I would take a day off in Panama City to check out the surroundings. Yesterday I had been following the Panama Canal in the distance almost the whole day. Today I went down for a closer look.
Unfortunately it would cost a foreigner 15$ to go to the lookout point near the Miraflores locks. A bit too steep for my 20$ a day budget, so I decided to check out another part of the Canal on the way out of Panama City tomorrow.
A place where I didn’t have to pay entrance fee was the old part of Panama City, the Casco Viejo. As I had already noticed yesterday, Panama is truly a place of contrasts. The old part of town is under reconstruction. In one street you would find expensive restaurants and hotels while the very next street would be strictly for the locals. One more street away and you were in the slums where I didn’t want to take out my camera.
A short ride on a perfect bicycle path and I was back in the modern part of Panama City where my hostel is located. It was Friday night and the people were getting ready to go out for the night. I decided skip out though. Tomorrow morning I will be hitting the road again.
Your very nice pictures always make me want to just sell everything that I have, pack my bags and travel.
Panama’s old-world charm reminds me of Cuba.
Wow. It really is a city of contrasts!
Marcos: Go do it! I’ll be doing that, myself, in a few years (ok, five!). 🙂