Panamá is a strange city, somewhat a bit schizophrenic. Half of it is old, half of it is new. Anything in between is either demolished or in construction.
Casco Viejo, the infamous old district is almost safe now. It has some new upscale restaurants and cafés, but it is still heavily patrolled by the policia. On the other hand, Via España (the banking district) is nice, although chaotic and busy. There are a lot of travellers from Venezuela and Colombia but not many gringos… at least we haven’t seen any. We are still adjusting to the heat and to the culture, but my Spanish isn’t too bad.
I am doing my best with the pictures here, I know a couple look a bit distorted… but hey, when was the last time you worked with a Window 95 computer which looks like it is high on Valium?? Thank you so mucb for your comments and your wishes, I did read them all. I will reply and beg for your patience… I need time to master Spanish keyboards (love these ñ, dont you?) and to master anything in Central Anerica for that matters.
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Wow……Just by looking at photos I felt warm. Thanks!
I even felt good to see Sun………..Its F Cold and raining here 🙁 Im Sorry dear but I am so Jealous of you 😉
So Soak up the Sun! Cheers!
Yeah I was the 1st to comment today!
I am totally with you that you will not be getting time to reply but we all understand your problem so Just enjoy! 😀
I think any windows change sucks………I struggled for Vista sometimes back……….So I can imagine the reverse effect of it 😀 Take care!
What a beautiful city – a little Miami, a little Havana. I love your descriptions and thank you for the photos. Photographs say so much.
Schizophrenic! I think I’m going to like it there
LOL Windows 95 on valium 😀 I really love reading about your trip Zhu. I love everything travel related so keep those updates coming 🙂 My husband and I are getting ready to go back to India, only for a couple of weeks though. So exciting 🙂
How do you find time to blog? Can you take pictures of food please? 😀
Hey Zhu,
I was seeing these wonderful pics and asking myself how you could do it all – resizing and formatting and all the stuff sitting there in Panama. Do you have things automated? I am still rigorously manually doing it.
Have you got yourself a panama hat (that’s not from panama) already?
@Annie – Hey Annie, I hope I can send you a bit of warmth! I thought of you when we were stuck in Newark, you are right, we should have met in NY. Next time!
@Agnes – India must be such a cool place to travel, I´d love to go. I´ll be looking for your pictures, and you are a great photohrapher so my expectations are high! ´:-)
@Tulsa Gentleman – It is a nice place. Just very different from Canada or France, and we are still adapting. It´s cool though.
@Baoru – Well, it´s warm and quite nice, what´s not to like!
@Bluefish – I try to… we upload the pics once in a while but I truly can´t keep up with all the blogs I read. I try to but I can´t spend too much time on the internet…
Holà !!
Wow; lots of color and sunshine there, Zhu.
I’ll be stopping by often . You will be giving me my dose of virtual sunshine 😉
I think that your trip is so cool; I did a write up Saturday about your trip too.
Take it easy and have fun !
Bises xx
I’ll have to travel vicariously through you for a while until I can make the arrangements to take off again. I’m flying back to chilly Toronto tomorrow, but the weather in Vancouver has taken a turn for the worse (It’s SNOWING! we don’t get snow!) so I suppose it’s a good time to leave.
Here’s a tip for when your meter at the internet cafe is running out: change your keyboard language to French or English (whatever you find you type the fastest on) and you can get a lot more typing done before the meter runs out. Then change it back once you’re finished. I do this all the time because I’m too slow otherwise and I want to pay as little as possible for internet time.
the place looks interesting. Panama will be definitely on my “places to visit” list
I love typing with accents and la “ñ” and I love this post with all the funky photos. La Exposición looks like a fun place and I wouldn’t mind riding in one of the city buses.
That’s a nice pic of you by the water in Casco Viejo. ¡Qué vista mas bella!
Enjoy your palm trees in December…and I will, too! 😉
Ah. I had those computer experiences when I was in Urubamba, Peru. Some of the computers were so slow, I could read a full chapter of a novel before my page loaded. Enjoy the trip!
oh i’m glad you are having fun! i’m so jealous. but not too jealous because i’m going to costa rica in a few weeks. so your pics are like water to me, i’m thirsty to see what you are seeing.
and your pics are great. don’t worry about an old version of windows.
Yeah, I love those ‘ñ’. So far I have to copy-and-paste.
And the ‘é’…
@Final_Transit – No, I do it manually. But I’m used to it, so it doesn’t take that long… I guess I love blogging, so it worth the trouble for me!
@barbara – Thanks, it encourages me to post more and to keep on sharing with you guys!
@Gail at Large – Thanks for the tip, this is definitely smart. Internet is very cheap here though, lucky us, about 60 cts an hour.
@the writer – It’s fun, but there is more to come about Central America!
@Scarlet – You would love Panama, I’m sure. It’s very vibrant and has lot of restaurants and bars… maybe a bit like I imagine Miami is!
@Linguist-in-Waiting – Yeah, the internet is actually fast but the problem is the computers. Way too old and not enough memory…
@Seraphine – Where will you be? Let’s keep in touch, will you, cause we are heading there as well. Maybe we could meet! Send me an email if you want.
@Khengsiong – Love anything exotic actually!
Oh, how different is their keyboard? And I just love that ñ! El niño, La niña… 😛
Hi Zhu,
LOL windows 95? Oh boy…
About the Spanish keyboard, I know how it’s like: my previous computer was bought in the United States, so when I bought my present one, here in Portugal, I had troubles using the keyboard (the Portuguese & Spanish are the same).
Loved the photos! And you look great, girl! Summer becomes you ;D!
It’s amazing but I love both the old and new parts of the city!
Have fun and keep us posted :D!
Cheers