Old meets new in Panama City

Panama City's historic old quarter

I have a theory as to why Panama City looks the way it does. Back in the day, some Spanish architects built a colonial city centre, with quaint colonnaded buildings arranged around a central plaza, with avenues running north south and streets running east-west. Exactly the same as every single other colonial town in Latin America, and based precisely on ancient towns in Spain.

But the Spaniards only built on half of the available land around the bay, leaving the other part a stinky, muddy wasteland, until gringos arrived and built the Panama Canal. Awash with cash, somebody decided to let Donald Trump along with a clutch of other mental real estate developers in to pimp out the other side of the bay.

The result of this developmental dichotomy is bizarre. Face to the south, and you are greeted by an imposing wall of shiny glass 50 story-plus apartment blocks (or condos as they are known around these parts). Take a 180 degree turn, and you are transported back 300 years in time as you stare at a motley mix of colonial buildings, some beautifully restored and painted and others crumbling and derelict.

Someone let Donald Trump loose here

The sight of Panama's waterfront pretty much sums up the cultural vibe of the city. Expensive four wheel drives thunder through the 8 lane-roads in the centre of town, as designer-clad residents with oversized sunglasses make their way from their air-conditioned apartments to shopping malls and offices. A few blocks back, the glass-plated skyline gives way to drab concrete high-rise slums with tiny windows, no balconies, and I'm fairly certain, no air-con.

Rich and poor live side by side in the old quarter - the Presidential palace adjoins a crumbling decaying mass of slums, street stalls and a large number of homeless people camping out under shop awnings. Nonetheless, it was a fascinating place to base ourselves, and we were in luck with the hostel we chose, Luna's Castle. Set in a huge, rambling colonial mansion, there was always plenty happening yet we never felt that it was too cramped or overcrowded. It was a great place to hang out and meet people, helped by the generous happy hour at the bar below the hostel, with 50 cent beers.

Old meets new in Panama City

We quickly discovered that Panama City is a bit of a shopping mecca, and devoted a bit of our time to sussing out the various shopping malls and comparing prices of clothes, shoes and other bits and bobs to back home. We stocked up on a few items that were roughly half the price of what we would pay in Australia - a handy time to do so given that we have been travelling for over five months, wearing the same clothes day in day out and some of our things were in serious need of replacement.

We didn't sample too much of the local Panamanian food - for the most part I have been fairly non-plussed with the food on offer in Central America - which is heavy on the fried bananas, beans, eggs, rice and pork chops. Panamanian food featured all of these staples plus these gigantically thick corn tortillas, which are deep fried and turn out like a super-heavy hash brown. Not exactly what you feel like quaffing in 35 degree heat!

The further south we have ventured, the higher the humidity has crept up. It is pretty oppressing here - to the point where you are praying for it to rain just so you can get some semblance of a cool breeze across your sticky skin. I have developed heat-induced cankles - I kid you not there is absolutely no definition between my calves and my swollen feet, despite indulging in three or more cold showers a day.

It's now our fifth day in Panama City - we're enjoying every minute of it but at the same time we're hanging out to start the first leg of our passage to South America - five days cruising on a 43 foot yacht from the Panamanian port of Carti on the Caribbean side over to Cartagena in Colombia! It involves three days chilling in the San Blas islands off the coast of Panama, then two days sailing on the open seas to Cartagena. The trip has been put back a day because the weather has been bad, but with any luck we should be setting sail aboard the yacht tomorrow morning!

Pimped out Panama City buses