Weekend in Panama City

Old & New
Originally uploaded by adaminlatinamerica

I had an enjoyable weekend in Panama City, though I didn’t do anything too terribly exciting. I got into the city around 7:15 on Saturday morning, so I could drop my stuff off at the hostel, use the internet there (since I am able to use chat programs and skype there, unlike here in Gamboa), and get set to meet Toby, another Fulbright fellow here in Panama (a faculty Fulbrighter – she works with the ESL department at NCSU), so that we could go explore Panama Viejo together. Panama Viejo was the original settlement for what is now Panama City, though it was destroyed by pirates in the 1600s. Now there are just some scattered ruins there, which were relatively interesting, though didn’t take much time to see. In the picture, you can see the contrast of the old ruins in the foreground with today’s city in the background.

Afterwards, we went back into the city and decided to grab a quick lunch at the food court of a mall. The mall was nice, and the food court was pretty great. I got a chicken kebab and patacones (delicious plantains that are fried and I guess could be called something similar to a french fry, though they’re round instead of long and skinny. We then parted ways, I relaxed for the afternoon using the hostel’s wifi, and decided to check out another mall at night. I went to the Albrook Mall, which is relatively close to the grocery store I go to (and where I like to get the bus into Gamboa). The mall was absolutely enormous, with the biggest food court I’ve ever seen. I had steak for dinner there for a total of $6 with drink and everything, and it was pretty great. Not Argentina, but still great – way better than you’d expect in a mall. The mall had an insane number of US chain food places – McDonalds, Burger King, Wendy’s, KFC, Pizza Hut, Dairy Queen, Sbarro, Popeyes, Dunkin’ Donuts, Baskin Robbins, Cinnabon, and I’m sure I’m missing some… but it was incredibly surprising. They had relatively few US stores, but the food clearly wasn’t the same. I am really confused by the amount of American chains down here, as it is more than any other part of Latin America that I’ve seen – I even spotted a Bennigan’s yesterday, and I’m sure there are plenty of places I haven’t seen yet but will come across. The US influence because of the canal is still very evident, even though we gave up ownership a while ago. It’s nice to know I can get some comfort food anytime I’m feeling homesick, though for now I think I’ll be avoiding those places as much as possible. Today I just did some grocery shopping and caught the bus back into Gamboa, and I assume this afternoon/evening I’ll be going into the lab to feed all the ants. Additionally, this week I am going to start seeking out the local wildlife in my spare time, so hopefully I’ll have some good pictures to add! Again, a few more pictures are on flickr, just click the photo to see more.