So this is the first stop we've made that enables us to check email, read stuff online and post on this lovely site from the comfort of our respective upper and lower bunks. Most places have had wi-fi access, but usually within a limited range that didn't include bed. This is a pretty sweet development, truth be told, and I'm trying to take advantage of it as best I can by reading up on the news for the first time in a while, checking the weather to make sure it's still cold in Chicago, and even finding time to download a few television shows and movies to stow away on the hard drive for a rainy day or long bus ride. We also have Skype (the internet phone service) working now - calls to the US are a mere $0.02/minute and free to anybody that has Skype installed on their PC. Apparently the terminology is a "Skype date," so if anyone wants to set up a time for a chat, send an email to Elizabeth or myself to work it out. We technically have a webcam on our PC, so you can even track the progress of my beard in live video.
Saturday we slept in, had some banana pancakes and headed out the door to take a long walk to downtown Panama City (the "new city," with skyscrapers and such) despite it being a little drizzle-y outside. As soon as we had gotten a suitable distance away from the hostel, the skies opened up, forcing us to take shelter under one of the fifty shoe stores' awnings on Avenida Central. There might actually be fifty, literally. There are also perfume shops, as in an entire store dedicated to fragrances, something that I had never seen before. Not only one, but many, many perfumeries - not as many as there are shoe stores, though. I'm not sure why that struck me as odd, but perfume must be huge here. Another interesting side note, the McDonald's here serve "Pollo McCrispies," the Royale with Cheese version of the McNugget. Apparently, Corporate thought that "nugget" doesn't translate.
So there we are, standing under the awning of shoe store #42, when it was finally decided to splurge and take a taxi. There are taxis everywhere, and they are a relative bargain if you're willing to haggle a little bit. The taxis don't run based on a meter, apparently there are "zones" in the city, and crossing each zone increases the fare, as does number of people, amount of luggage, etc. One can theoretically get anywhere in the city for three dollars, which is not too shabby. This system of zones is mandated by the government here, but because of our "gringo-ness," we generally get quoted twice the normal rate when we first ask. We have gotten better at demanding to pay somewhat closer to the legally mandated fare.
On account of the rain, we decided to take refuge in the Multiplaza, the upscale shopping mall in the new downtown, for a couple hours. It is exactly like every major American mall, but in Spanish, more shoe and perfume stores, and silly-sounding names. This particular mall is the newest in the country, and at four stories is large by any standard. As we are on a budget and our purchasing power greatly diminished, we settled on seeing a movie, or "a show," as Elizabeth likes to call them, for a bank-friendly $3 each.
After the movie and our fill of popcorn the skies had cleared, just in time to take the walk back to our end of town. We walked along the Avenida Balboa, with great views of the water, the city, and the presidential palace across the bay. We dined at the probably-not-legally-named Coca-Cola Cafe, a small hole-in-the-wall diner serving local food for a good price. I'm not sure if it was on purpose of because of a lettuce shortage, but the salad that came with my chicken and Elizabeth's sandwich was cabbage. We have encountered a few places that have coleslaw as a side, or use cabbage instead of lettuce in tacos (quite good, actually) but a giant plate of raw cabbage was a first. Not ones to waste, we doused it in some oil, vinegar, salt and pepper and ate away.
Yesterday morning we slept in again (because we can) and headed to the flea market. It was a little uninspiring, but we managed to pick up our first souvenir, a hand-quilted pot holder. I also tried some sort of shaved ice treat from a guy pushing a cart. It is unrelentingly hot here when the sun is out, and I thought some shaved iced would hit the spot. It looks a bit like a snow cone, the ice for which is shaved off of a giant block that the guy pushes around on a metal cart. He squirts some fruit syrup on it, but since none of the three syrups were labeled, out of yellow, pink and red, I chose red assuming it to be some sort of berry. The guy in front of me got two of the red ones as well, so how bad could it be? Well, bad. The flavor of the syrup is hard to describe - a mixture of bubble gum, cough medicine, lab-approximated banana and plastic. Not only is it squirted with syrup, but he also sprinkles on a tan-colored powder (which I think was malt powder), topping it off with a drizzle of some sort of off-white cream out of a ketchup bottle, the taste of which I lost in the veritable symphony of flavors already vying for my taste buds' attention. When it comes down to it, I guess I paid $.75 to feel sick to my stomach at 11am at a flea market in Panama City.
Another major attraction in the city is actually the old, old city. If you recall, we're staying in Casco Viejo, the old city. Across the bay is the new city. North of the new city is Panama Vieja (or Viejo depending on who you ask) which is now only comprised of the ruins of the first Panama City dating back to the 16th century. The old old city was sacked repeatedly by pirates, burned down a few times, so they built and moved everything to the old city. We walked around the grounds for a bit, climbed the cathedral tower (the image of which is apparently a Panamanian icon) and enjoyed the beautiful day. Check out the pictures to be posted soon.
Having our fill of ruins, we hopped back on the local bus to head back to the old city. The main bus terminal, called Albrook, also has a shopping center attached that we had heard was a fun place to check out. Not having any plans for the rest of the afternoon, we decided to give it a whirl. In addition to being the main bus terminal and shopping area, it also serves as a municipal airport and used to be the US-run military installation and hub of all canal operations before the turnover of the Panama Canal Zone in 1999 to the government here. Now, it turns out its another gigantic mall, larger and only slightly older than the last, so we took a walk around in the air conditioned interior for a break from the heat. We ended up taking in another movie (for only $2.50 this time) and getting an ice cream to boot. The bus ride back home was a bit intimidating as it was now dark out, but the bus driver knew where we were going and yelled at us to get off when we were supposed to. Back to Luna's Castle safe and sound, we took in a downloaded episode of Top Chef and headed to bed.
This post has gone on long enough, and despite not having talked about what we did today (it involved a man, his plan and a canal) I'll sign off. More pictures will be uploaded this evening, and maybe a quick post to wrap up Panama City before we head out tomorrow morning for Colombia.
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