Lonely Planet says it best: “Panama City’s hippest neighborhood is also its smallest. Just four avenues wide, Casco Viejo (literally meaning ‘old quarter’) is a UNESCO protected district and a barrio on the up. It wasn’t long ago that gangs patrolled these narrow brick streets and visitors kept far away, but these days the grand old colonial […]
Panama
Canal de Panama
We went to the Miraflores Locks of the Panama Canal today. Quick reminder: France tried to build the canal in late 1800’s, and it almost bankrupted them. U.S. took over in 1903, but not before they basically sent gunships down and told Colombia that either they would grant Panama independence and get a bunch of […]
Homage to Dad’s Christmas Village
Today we went on a tour of Panama City. We’ll talk about most of it in other posts. There was one place we visited, however, that would have been a huge hit with my dad. The Church of San Jose in Casco Viejo, or La Inglesia de San Jose, is one of the most prominent […]
Feliz Navidad
Landed in Panama City via Miami. We had a driver waiting for us, as it was 10:30 in the evening on Christmas Eve. Our hotel, the Magnolia Inn, is in the old town, or Casco Viejo, and we drove through miles and miles of high rise buildings to get there. We thought it strange that […]