Panama City or Bust!

 


Kirby does an excellent job of Uber-ing us around Panama but there is one place he won’t drive - Old Panama City (Costco Vieja) and for good reason: single-lane, cobblestone roads with traffic going both ways, parallel parked cars and cement sidewalks raised a foot in places, full of wandering people. Plus, we are a group of six in a vehicle built for five - someone has to ride in the trunk. I’m not kidding! :-)


Luckily, Ivan knows people and hooked us up with a kind man named Armando who drove us around the city in his “air condo” van.  He walked us around, touring numerous churches. Maybe he thought we needed it??? Meredith decided we had our church going covered for quite some time. 





Costco Vieja is a crazy mix of old ruins right next to updated high end hotels and apartment living.









Then there’s the Panama City Sky Line where the skyscrapers stretch across the horizon. Until the 1970’s, the tallest building was the Howard Johnson’s Hotel or the Holiday Inn, depending who you talk to. :-) According to Armando, that’s when the city grew up and grew UP ⬆️. Below is a shot of the modern Downtown from the Old City. Kind-a Cool! 



We had lunch with Armando, enjoying delicious fresh fish, tuna, lobster, shrimp and salmon (the salmon wasn’t fresh but I understand was tasty). We learned that he is 77 years old, has 8 children (the youngest being 9) and once met John Wayne! What a day!



The day ended with an evening stroll around Gamboa (Ed hadn’t walked enough this day! :-) and a gorgeous sunset over lake Gatun. Thanks for snapping such a beautiful photo, Meredith!




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