Panama City
Panama City is certainly the most cosmopolitan place we've been in Central America, possibly in all of Latin America so far. Of course we've skipped a couple of the capital cities, like Guatemala City. But parts of the city are just full of skyscrapers and cranes, and there are gringos all over the place, and slick brochures about all the fancy condos you can buy in those high-rises. It really looks like Miami, and when you think about it, Panama City is probably giving Miami a run for its money. Miami used to be the big central point for rich Latin Americans to visit, with good shopping and comfort and luxury. But Panama City is so much more central, and has everything including the shopping, and is probably safer.... I'd say you should probably invest in Panama if you're the investing type.
Panama in general and Panama City specifically are also far more diverse than any place we've yet been in Latin America - approaching Panama City we saw several mosques. In my hotel there have been a number of traditional rabbis. And there is a vast array of skin colors, from Caribbean blacks to blonde gringos. And the Chinese seem to have the mini-super business sewed up throughout the country, and the cheap restaurant business in part of it.
But of course the rich fancy condos and diversity aren't the only story. This is a big city. There are beggars and some very poor people. You'll see the young men coming through on their rapid check of the street garbage containers checking for aluminum cans. But the sad thing is that there will be one guy coming right after another one... So there aren't enough cans to go around.
I don't find Panama City very interesting - it's quite sterile, culturally empty. But you can drink the water right out of the tap with no questions asked. What a nice thing! We haven't had that luxury since we crossed into Mexico. But it gets better. Here the restaurants ALL provide you cold water for free. And of course good quality tap water means that you don't have to worry much about salad and other things that are typically contaminated by bad tap water.
But those restaurants... Everywhere we've been so far in Mexico and Central America we've eaten fresh food, prepared for us, in little hole-in-the-wall places or on the street. Here all the food in the cheap places (and they are cheap - $1.75 for a good meal) is pre-prepared and set up like a luncheonette. Sometimes it's OK and sometimes it's horrible, but it's sitting out, not prepared for you. And I don't much care for Panamanian food. It's the first place on this trip that I had any complaints about the food.
My favorite thing about Panama City is the city buses, called diablos rojos or "Red Devils". The owners seem to airbrush designs on them to show off their wealth or something, but they're one of the most colorful things about the city. Beautiful designs. They're the same old converted schoolbuses that we've seen all over Central America (will we still see them in South America?) but here they're (mostly) painted. Beautifully. (They're all over the news right now too because there have been a number of accidents and there are concerns about poor service. It's a big media campaign.)
And there are at least a million bored security guards here. The one in front of the hotel has a submachine gun or something.
Lots and lots of people speak English, some very well. There are English phrases and English words used int eh newspaper and on the nightly TV news. It's a little disorienting because you end up not knowing what language somebody's going to respond in when you speak Spanish, and of course they expect you to speak poor Spanish, so there's all kinds of compensation going on.
The Chinese "mini-supers" were one of the most amazing standard things that we found in Panama, and they're everywhere. A food store with hardware. But not just hardware - they have all kinds of bike parts and it seems like everything you could want. And they're in every little town.
