Panama City











 My 8-hr layover in Panama City helped to stratch my legs and to add one county count. After checking my bag with a storage service ($5), I didn’t do much homework for Panama City, so i checked with the tourist desk to get a METRO map and some basic info.  I ventured into old town Panama City by METRO. It was hot and steamy, but kind of fun. Beside a wedding, I witnessed one guy collapsed in the METRO and two gunshots on the street. 


My offline map tried to get me via a shorter route to old town but i walked back to the 5 de Mayo stop after two blocks as i sensed it was taking me via a poor neighborhood. I spotted a bigger and brighter road one block away which appears to be much safer and I made the right choice to stay safe. 


It was overcasted so I skipped the further away Canel, and just walked around old town. I bought a fried fish ($2) from a street vendor and ate it back in the airport. This airport does supply nice and cold drinking water. BTW, Panama uses US dollars, so no need to exchange money. Their METRO actually takes credit card directly which is convenient.

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Brazil, Uruguay, Paraguay, and Bolivia (layover Panama and El Salvador) for 2 months

Image
The route for Brazil:  Lencois Maranhenses  –  São Luís -   Brasilia -  Rio de Janeiro -  Ilha Grande -  Paraty -  Sao Paulo - Bonito.  The route for Uruguay:   Montevideo –  Colonia del Sacramento  The route for Paraguay:    Asunción     The route for Bolivia:  Santa Cruz -  Cochabamba -  Torotoro  -  Sucre -  Potosí -  Uyuni -  La Paz. I traveled 101 countries, after two-month trip during fall 2025 to Brazil, Uruguay, Paraguay, and Bolivia (layover Panama and El Salvador) .   My trip highlights include (1) swimming with color fishes in fresh river natural aquarium in wet suit in Bonito, Brazil, (2) soaking in Lake Azul and Lake Bonita among sand dunes in Lencois Maranhenses National Park, Brazil ; (3) beaches/islands hopping in Ilha Grande, Brazil ; (4) hiking Sugarloaf Mountain in Rio for the overlooks of the harbor and the Christ of Redeehmder; (5) strollin...
Read more

Day 2 in Asunción, Paraguay

Image
 After finishing the sights in downtown Asunción on the first day, I started outreaching other sites using the city bus system by buying at a supermarket a bus pass (25000 PYG, $3.5) charged with values (2300 PYG for non-AC bus, 3400 PYG for AC bus, regardless the f distance).  USD : PYG is roughly 1:7000. It is very easy to take buses here: entering the destination in Google map, following the navigation instructions, and turning off the cellular data once the booking s is moving to conserve data (Google already loaded enough data to the destination).  Embassy of the Republic of China (Taiwan) Corporate office in Asunción is popular among Tauwanese backpackers, so I texted a few contacts in the morning before heading out, in the hope to get into the Embassy to get at least a cup and f coffee. My social cycle turned back zealously such that I met the ambassador, swung by a Taiwanese EV delegation meeting, and had lunch with the Commerical Director at Restaurante Su (most ...
Read more

Flying out of Washington DC

Image
Ready for my 2.5 month trip to Brazil, Uruguay, Paraguay, Bolivia, Panama and El Salvador. I got my bags down to 8.5 kg (including hiking boots and a sleeping bag), by having a hair cut, etc.  The cloest United Clubs are in terminal C at IAD, so it took me 45 min out and back from terminal A to use my one -time pass.
Read more