Panama City Day 1

Trip Start Mar 14, 2008
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Trip End Mar 24, 2008


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Flag of Panama  ,
Friday, March 14, 2008

Well, our first day in Panama is complete!  Our flight got in on time with no issues at all.  We got a cab from the airport to our hotel and the cabbie knew exactly where  it was.  We shared the cab with a nice young couple from LA who were also sitting right in front of us on the plane!  It was fun chatting with them about their trips last summer, to Brazil, Peru, and South Africa.  Brazil sounded awesome!  South Africa sounded interesting and beautiful, but also quite dangerous due to rampant crime.
 
We basically walked around downtown Panama City today, first in a fairly poor shopping area with makeshift stalls selling everything from washcloths (25 cents each) to newspapers (35 cents) to fruit ($7 for 3 large bags!)  Dave also bought a pair of cheap sandals for only $2 in a department store, along with some kitchen utensils for all the fruit!  By the way, the currency here is just the US dollar, same money we use back home.  Very easy!
 
Next, we walked around two nicer areas of town before finally ending up at a great little restaurant called "Crepes y Waffles"  Delicious!  The nice area of town was a bit of a relief after the poorer area near our hotel.
 
We both find the area near our hotel to be a bit depressing.  Just very run-down, old buildings that need some work.  Not terrible!  But not really the scene to fill our hearts with joy either.  It's very interesting to see it and it's definitely part of the whole experience, but it's not really pleasant and fun.  Getting back to the whole issue of travel, what do we do about that?  Should we spend more and stay in nicer places?  Hang out in the better parts of town more?  Should we spend LOTS more and just go for the all-inclusive fancy resorts?  That's the type of question we are asking ourselves now.  We hope to figure out on this trip more about what we like and need in that area!. Dave relaxing at hotel
Dave relaxing at hotel
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