Iglesia La Merced

I spent my last days here in Central America just enjoying Panama City and its surroundings. After returning to the Magnolia Inn hostel again from my San Blas tour, I have met an Irish couple ☘️ in my room. They had done the free walking tour in Casco Viejo that day and recommended it. So, I decided to give it a go as well on the next morning where I met Katharina (from Switzerland) and Jeff (from Canada). The tour was indeed good. We visited all 4 squares that are located in Casco Viejo. While walking 🚶 through its streets, we saw many nicely restored colonial buildings.
The Casco Viejo (Spanish for Old Quarter) is the historic district of Panama City. It was rebuilt following its near-total destruction in 1671, when it was attacked by pirates. It was designated a UNESCO World Heritage Site in 1997 and through that receives funding from the UN 🇺🇳 Only a few buildings still have to be restored but the funding lasts only for 3 more years. It is doubtful that everything will be finished by that time.
In the afternoon Katharina, Jeff, Anya (from the UK) - another girl from our hostel - and I visited the Panama Canal. First we saw a brief documentary 🎥 in 3D about the canal in the IMAX cinema that belongs to the visitor centre. The Panama Canal was created in 1903 and established in a zone in Panama that was occupied and controlled by the U.S. The U.S. had purchased the land from its private and public owners, built the canal and financed its construction. Jimmy Carter eventually paved the way for control of the canal by Panama again when he negotiated the Torrijos-Carter Treaties 🧾 that were ratified by the U.S in 1978. It still would take another 21 years (until 1999) before the canal and its surroundings have been fully turned over to Panama. Today, the Canal operates 24 hours a day, 7 days a week, with a maximum of 32 vessels passing through every day. Each transit takes about 8-10 hours. ⏳
Ships have to pay a toll based on their length and other factors. The highest toll ever paid for passing through the Panama Canal was just over 225.000 USD by the cruise ship “Coral Princess” in 2003 💰 The ship was 294 meters (965 ft) long and could accommodate almost 2000 passengers. The lowest toll was 36 cents and paid by Richard Halliburton for swimming through the Canal in 1928. It earned him an entry in the Guinness book of records 📚 When I heard that, I was thinking: “Why does the Panama Canal cost so much money and why can't it just be an open waterway between the two oceans?“ long story short - it cannot be an open waterway because the water levels of the Pacific and Atlantic Oceans 🌊 are significantly different. The Pacific Ocean is higher than the Atlantic Ocean (about 0.2 meters) and at low as well as high tide - which occurs at different times in both oceans - there would be a constant flow in either one or the other direction. 🔄 That is why the Panama Canal relies on a system of gates and basins to raise or lower ships to the varying water levels. We waited for one of the cargo ships to come trough the canal. The sun was burning 🔥, we had no shelter to protect us from it in the shade and it took forever until we could actually see something happening. Luckily, Jeff had some sun screen with him that we gladly put on our skin. It was still hot though 🥵 Thank god, there was a vending machine with water, Coca Cola, etc. close by. The cargo ship that was scheduled for 3:15 pm came through on time - slowly but surely. In the late afternoon, we went back to the Casco Viejo. We had spent almost 3 hours at the canal and I still needed to check in in my new place. 🏨
The cost of living in the Casco Viejo are relatively high since it’s a touristy place. Going into a restaurant usually set me back around 20 USD, a cocktail 🍸 in a rooftop bar was also between 10 and 20 USD - the dorm in a hostel was only between 15 and 20 USD. But if you try to stay at one of the luxurious hotels like the American Trade Hotel you can expect to pay 280 USD per night 😱 The rest of Panama City is cheaper - mostly not on a European level (yet). That’s why I had booked a studio appartment in the new city. That way, I had a break from the hostel live and my peace and quiet for the last few days in Central America. 😌
I was still frequently in the Casco Viejo to meet Jeff and the others though. During the day I often took the Metro 🚇 to the station „5 de Mayo“ and walked the remaining bit. At night it was safer to take an Uber. Both options were remarkably cheap. While the metro had cost only 0.35 USD, rides with Uber 🚕 were always between 4 and 6 USD.
On one of the evenings, Anya, Jeff and I met at the LATOTEA rooftop bar for some drinks -
Robiin (from Sweden) joined a little later. The view was really great from there since you could see the colonial buildings of the old town as well as the skyscrapers 🏙️ of the modern new city. Jeff, Robiin and I continued to the BLUE MOON tap house afterwards.
We had trouble ordering a beer there since the menu was only digital - like in many other restaurants and bars in the Casco Viejo. We scanned the QR code but it only referred to the main webpage of the restaurant. He had to click us through the website to finally find the beer menu. The craft beer 🍺 was good though. I had the normal version and mango flavored one. Both were quite tasty.😋
Jeff and I wanted to spend a day away from the city and hike 🥾 in the Valle de Antón (Anton Valley). More than 200,000 years ago, a volcano that was originally there underwent a huge eruption which caused the top of it to collapse and formed a 6-km-wide caldera. The town “El Valle” is located in the flat wide caldera at an elevation of 600 metres above sea level. Today, the volcano 🌋 is inactive but there is evidence that it erupted as recently as 300,000 years ago.
So, we took the first bus to Valle de Antón on the next day. We were lucky to have a seat on the 2-3 hour bus ride. Other passengers that entered the bus after us at one of the bus stops had to stand because the bus was so packed. Suddenly I realized why it’s called the chicken bus 😅
At 10 am we were in „El Valle“. We had a morning coffee at the very cozy looking Bodhi Hostel and discussed which hikes we would like to do that day. We picked „Cerro La Silla“ and „Cerro La Gaita“ from the many options we had. Our first hike to „Cerro La Silla“ was relatively easy - a little bit more than an hour and we were at the top of the mountain ⛰️ and enjoyed the view. The sun was again shining quite strong which made the hike a bit more demanding. Then we were off to our second destination. We briefly stopped at a bar along our way for a quick and refreshing beer 🍻 That turned out to be a very good decision because „Cerro La Gaita“ is described according to some blog posts as the hardest hike you can do in „Valle de Antón“ - at that time we did not know yet how hard that second hike would become. But I can assure you, not only the distance but in particular the meters in elevation that we had to overcome posed a real challenge to me: the last 3-4 km are characterised by very steep slopes and muddy terrain culminating with 550 meters of stone and wooden stairs. 😮‍💨
At the top we were rewarded with some spectacular views of the valley as well as beyond: we were able to see all the way to the south coast of Panama 🇵🇦 with some skyscrapers peaking out of the cities there.
After enjoying the view for a while, we started our descent. We had miscalculated how much time we would need to get to the top of „Cerro La Gaita“. So, it was already getting dark when we walked back to „El Valle“. On top of that it started raining - mildly at first but then heavier 🌧️ Luckily, there was somebody with his pickup driving to the town and we could hop in - otherwise we would have had to walk 🚶‍♀️ the whole way back since the local bus was not running anymore.
Initially, we intended to take the bus back to Panama City on the same day but when we arrived in „El Valle“, we realized that we also had missed the last one there. So we had to spend a night in „El Valle“. Unfortunately, the Bodhi Hostel was already booked out but the close by Windmill Hostel was supposed to have free capacity. We had some pizza 🍕 and beer 🍻 for dinner and then walked over to the other hostel. Luckily, they had still a few free beds in their 12 bed dorm.
After a much needed shower, we chatted with our 3 room mates (the remaining beds were free) for a little bit and called it an early night. We were up since 6 am in the morning and had hiked 25 km that day. Although the rooms had no AC and therefore were quite warm, I had a really good night sleep 😴

On the next morning we took the 8 am bus 🚌 to Panama City so that I was back at my studio at 11 am - early enough to prepare a few things (like packing my bags) for my journey to Africa on the following day.
In the afternoon & evening, I went to visit some of my favorite places in Panama City for a last time: I went to the bakery „Charlie’s Cream“ 🧁 in the city centre, had two glasses of wine 🍷 and a cheese platter 🧀 at the wine bar „Corcho“ and met Jeff again for dinner at the „Fonda LO QUE HAY“ - both are in Casco Viejo. We didn’t have a reservation for dinner though and the place is quite popular. So, we had to wait for an hour until we could get a table. It sounds worse than it was, since we waited in their bar and already had a few beers. 🍻 The dinner was again very good - I had the „Sexy Clams“. 😂
After dinner we had one more beer at the tiny brewery „Vive Casco Viejo“ - it was already quite late and the brewery was about to close.
At 10 pm it was time to say good bye to Jeff ✌️and to call an Uber to drive me back to my studio apartment.

This concludes another stage in my 6-month long sabbatical. When I arrived in Central America almost 2 months ago I came from a very stringent and organised country (Japan 🇯🇵). Everything felt very chaotic and a bit more adventurous in Mexico 🇲🇽 It took me a while to get used to it and to realize that due to the lack of so many rules (compared to Japan) there is also more room for creativity in Central America. This is for example very clearly demonstrated by the countless beautiful graffitis and further street art that I found in Oaxaca and many other places. I came here to Central America because of the Yucatán peninsula and the Maya Ruins 👹 in Mexico but I have found so much more. My personal Top 5 of the past months were Oaxaca (Mexico), Valladolid (Mexico), Cozumel (Mexico), Antigua (Guatemala) and San Blas (Panama). Central America has a reputation for being dangerous ⚠️ but I felt really save most of the time - as long as you apply some common sense and take the necessary precautions you will be fine.
The locals here are definitely more open (compared to Japan) and you can easily greet anyone on the streets with a friendly „Olà, buenas!“ 😊 It was also very easy to meet fellow travelers - mostly Dutch 🇳🇱 and German 🇩🇪 - but also people from „more exotic“ countries like South Korea 🇰🇷 or Belgium 🇧🇪 Some were teachers, architects, pharmacists and physicians - others were doctors, accountants, engineers and social workers … almost anyone I had met was a decent and interesting person. 👍
And obviously the cultural aspects like the local art, food and history as well as the stunning landscapes contributed a lot to my overall very positive impression of this region of world 🌍 I am sure that I will come back here in the near future.

Thanks to anyone who has been part of my journey and made it such a memorable experience! 🤙Read more