Panama City

Monday, February 1, 2010
We decided to delay our departure from Isla Flamenco for a day and will sail on Tuesday, February 2 for the Las Perlas islands off the south western coast of Panama where other WARC yachts are headed. More palm islands but this time real Pacific islands or a taste of what’s to come. After that we head to La Libertad near Guayaquil in Ecuador to clear for the Galapagos.
Meanwhile, we have explored Panama city a bit. The taxi drivers here are an interesting lot. There are no meters and one has to negotiate a fare before getting into one. For instance, a ride to the city from the marina has varied between US$15 to as low as US$5. Some of the shorter routes to the old town took us through some rough areas known as “Zona Rosa” – red zones, notorious for crime and violence. One cab driver had us lock the car doors as we drove through one.

We spent a few interesting hours at the Canal museum in the old part of town. Many old buildings are being restored – mainly preserving only their facades. Not good examples of adaptive re-use of heritage buildings. At the end of the process, there is little resemblance to the original interior perspectives and structures. While recognizing that economics dictate, I couldn’t help making comparisons of heritage buildings in other major cities such as New York, London and Paris where preservation has been more comprehensive – not merely of the exterior facades but the interiors as well. Ah well, Panama doesn’t quite have the financial muscle of those other cities and there have been examples of misguided conservation elsewhere -- Singapore’s China town theme park-like restorations come to mind.  In any case, here are some pictures of parts of the old town around the Canal Museum:

The Canal Museum - Museo Del Canal Interoceanico De Panama

Old town, Panama City - restoration project in progress

The area around the Canal Museum

More from La Libertad if we can find an internet connection (don’t hold your breath though).