Exploring the Neighborhood

Yesterday I did a ton of walking, perhaps in part to make up for sitting around so much over the weekend. At around noon (a terrible time to choose to leave the house), Nicole, Sam, and I headed out for Casco Viejo, an old part of town that juts out into a tidal flat on the west side of Panama City. We had gone through briefly once before with Pedro, but wanted to spend more time there checking out the old churches and architecture. The path from Ancon to Casco includes this wonderful street called Cinco de Mayo, which is lined with knock-off clothing stores, cellphone shops, and food counters, and filled with mobile food carts selling coconut water and shaved ice to all the poor saps caught out in the heat. I will definitely be spending more time there in the months to come looking for fake soccer jerseys.

One of many buildings in progress

Casco Viejo itself ended up being a bit of a disappointment, though. It was promising at first, as we were able to walk through La Iglesia de la Merced and a map Nicole had showed a number of plazas and parks. Unfortunately, we soon found out that there were active construction projects in virtually every part of the neighborhood, leaving only a narrow corridor through which anything could really be seen. There were a few opportune places for taking pictures without scaffolding obscuring everything, but most were skeletal buildings in wait for the next phase of construction. Which in and of itself actually turned out to be pretty cool to see. There was also a nice path around the shoreline that was still open, and from this path we saw an ambitious project underway by the Panamanian government. A huge section of tidal flats around the perimeter of Casco Viejo are being enclosed and converted into new land for condominiums and hotels. I guess when you have a near-endless supply of dirt and sand from canal expansion you find uses for it. The fact that Panama City is at risk for tidal waves doesn't seem to deter the expansion of at-or-below-sea-level land area.

The afternoon did have an incredible high point, despite the extent to which our wandering had been limited -- we went to an ice cream shop that is recognized by many (including Forbes, apparently) to be Panama's best and one of the top 50 in the world. Let me tell you, after eating there I have no doubts about the title. Their coconut flavor was one of the most incredible things I've ever eaten.

View from the hill

With hardly a minute's hesitation after returning from Casco (a 3 or 4 hour excursion), we met up with Pedro and Aaron to go for a walk up to the top of Ancon Hill, one of the highest points in the city at a whopping six-or-seven hundred-something feet. It's also a nature preserve and gives an incredible view of the city below. There's probably more to see if you head up early in the morning, but all that crossed our path were a few geckos, some agoutis, and a toucan from REALLY far away. Oh, and the vultures. So so many vultures! As we were climbing up, I could see them circling ominously overhead in huge groups. There were easily a hundred of them! And on the way back down they had settled down into the trees and stared at us equally ominously as we passed by. Fortunately, all of us made it back home by sundown without being torn apart by scavengers.