Home from Panama

Panama Travelog #41
Back Home - Wed, 1 Jan 2025. 8am.

I'm posting this Panama blog out of order, (mostly) skipping ahead of the backlog to let people know we've finished our trip. We got home, as in walked through our own front door, last night a few minutes before 10pm.

It had been a long day of travel. We'd been up since 4:30am Panama time, which is 1:30am California time, to catch an early flight. Then our itinerary left us with a long connection in Houston. We could have booked a different flight with a shorter connection time but we concerned that if we cut it too short we could miss our connecting flight if the first flight was delayed or if there was some kind of snafu with immigration & customs checks upon landing at IAH. As it happened, all our flights operated on time and the biggest waits with the immigration-and-customs gantlet were waiting for our checked bags to appear on the conveyor belt and waiting in a slooow, non-PreCheck line to re-clear security. Even so, we would've had plenty of time with a 3 hour connection instead of our almost 7 hours connection.

Earlier this week and up through about noon yesterday we were optimistic that we could join friends for a low-key New Year's Eve celebration after landing. We knew it'd be a long day for us but figured maybe we'd nap enough on our flights to have energy left after arriving home at 10pm. Nope. We realized hours before that, while we were sitting in the United Club lounge at IAH, that we were going to be dragging by the time we got home. "I'm so wiped I'll probably just face-plant on the bed when I get home," I texted our friends.

I didn't literally face-plant in the bed as soon as I got home... though I certainly was tired enough to do so. Instead I stayed up for about 45 minutes to take a shower and unpack about half of our bags. Meanwhile Hawk pulled in a week+ of mail from the mailbox, sorted through it to find the important stuff, then took her own shower. Washing up after flights is important because the bottled air on flights is often lightly perfumed, which bothers us, and because of all the sweat and other crud that accumulates from traveling all day. A quick shower washes that all away and makes it easier to enjoy a good night's sleep.

Touring Panama City's Old Town

Panama Travelog #33
Panama City, Panama - Sun, 29 Dec 2024. 4pm.

Today we visited Casco Viejo, the old town section of Panama City. It dates back to plans laid out in the late 1500s, with the city as an actual thing (i.e., streets and buildings actually constructed, not just planned) appearing in the later 1600s.

We toured on foot, and by ourselves. We could have bought into a bus tour like sites like Tripadvisor and Viator recommend, but that's not our style. We don't want to travel in groups of anywhere from 12 to 35, with the speed of the group being limited by the least healthy, least curious about foreign culture and history, members. And to get the full experience of getting around in Panama City we didn't even hire a car to get there. We took the subway.

Panama City's subway is relatively modern and appallingly cheap. A flat fare of 35¢ gets you anywhere you want to go. There aren't a huge number of choices about where to go, though, as there are only 2 subway lines. We boarded from a station 2 blocks from our hotel and rode to the end of the line, which was about a mile from Casco Viejo. That was fine with us, as we considered the walk through the street markets and old town part of the sightseeing.

I've got to say, touring Casco Viejo was not particularly fun. Panama City is not a beautiful city to look at. Yes, when seen from a distance, such as from the window of an airplane, the city's many bank and residential skyscrapers create an impressive skyline. But down on the ground, the spaces between and beyond those skyscrapers look like shit. Even where our hotel is, in the banking district, the streets are a mess. You can't walk 10' without having to step over or around a massive pothole filled with water or someplace where a tile is missing. In the old town seemingly half the buildings are abandoned, their roofs collapsed and once-stylish balconies supporting by scaffolding so they don't collapse, too, and kill pedestrians on the street. It's a shame because many of these buildings show beautiful architectural details from the late 1800s/early 1900s but look like they've been left to rot for at least 50 years.

For lunch we found a humble-looking taco shop in one of the squares. It was next to a total tourist-trap looking restaurant, which we were not going to eat at. Unfortunately it was owned by the same people who run the tourist-trap-looking place. It was the catch-tourists-who-try-to-be-smarter trap. 😖 A plate of 3 small tacos cost $15, a bottle of domestic beer that I could buy at restaurants in El Valle for $2-3 cost $8, and service sucked. But Tripadvisor is full of superlative reviews raving about "best service" and "delicious food". I guess places like that poll well with White Midwesterners who normally travel with tour groups.

Dinner and Hot Tub in Panama City

Panama Travelog #34
Panama City, Panama - Sun, 29 Dec 2024. 10pm.

After a fizzle of a trip to Panama City's old town today we came back to the hotel in the drizzling rain and took it easy for the rest of the afternoon. At dinner time we debated where to eat. I fretted about so many things this trip going to shit, especially, most recently, getting rooked at a tourist trap lunch spot. I didn't want to spend a lot of money for dinner only to have food that's mediocre at best. Well, when you don't want to pay a lot for dinner there's always... fast food! But not the American chains like the Subway we tried— and enjoyed— last night. There was a local fast food chain we could see from the pool on the roof: El Tarasco.



El Tarasco has a bit of an odd setup for a fast food restaurant. They serve alcholic drinks... but only a few frilly, frozen ones like the piña coladas we're enjoying in the photo above. There's no beer. We ordered drinks, an appetizer of guacamole, and a few tacos each.

I ordered the tacos al pastor shown in the first pic. Hawk got carna asada tacos "keto style".



What's keto style? These tacos have beef and cheese fried on a griddle and then folded over on itself, kind of like enchiladas but without any tortilla. And the taste? A bit overcooked, actually. But, aside from that, tasty.

I mentioned soaking in the hot tub. It occurs to me I haven't shared any pics from or of the hotel this part of the trip. Partly that's because the weather's been shitting almost the whole time we're here, and "Ooh! I will take pictures of the rain and drear!" is not a thing I've ever said. But that said I did snap a few photos in the evening when it stopped raining.



These are from the pool deck on the roof.



We've spent a lot of time up here at the hot tub the past few days. It's vastly better than the dirty duck pond called a "pool" at our hotel in El Valle. I'm glad I made a side-trip the other day to buy a swim suit even with busted navigation since I forgot mine at home this trip.