This morning I took a ‘free’ cycling tour of Panama City. Just like the regular ‘free’ walking tours that we do, this tour was tip based, with an extra charge for the bike hire.
Hiked down to the old town in the early morning sunshine to the starting point which was the historical ‘Coca-Cola Cafe’. The guide claims, and I cannot verify it, that it’s where Coca-Cola was first sold, made from the local cacao plants, was later marketed (very successfully) by the newly formed Coca-Cola Company, and eventually spread around the world.
Only two of us on the tour, though the guide runs three tours a day and the next tour had twenty on it.
Rode through the old town, talking about the Spanish period, then the Greater Colombia period, then eventually independence. As a consequence they celebrate two independence days. The current Panama City is not the original capital, but was moved here as the six hourly tide cycle with its large variation meant that it was very hard to invade. Originally it was a walled city, but they knocked it all down as the city expanded, and only remnants remain. However, it’s pretty easy to work out where the wall was. All the ornate Spanish style houses of the rich were inside the wall, and the shanty houses of the poor were outside, and the contrast is obvious.
We rode past the original city prison cells built in the city walls on the ocean side. The prison was never overcrowded. As the cells were underground, every six hours they flooded and made way for a new batch of prisoners.
Visited the main city cathedral, Catholic of course, and went down to the underground grotto to see a huge model of Jerusalem/Bethlehem showing all of the sites depicted in the gospels. Of course none of it is remotely accurate as the towns are quite separate, and I don’t recall seeing hundreds of palm trees in either, but it would certainly been a good teaching aid for illiterate worshippers.
Walked through the meat market, the fruit and vegetable market, and the fish market. Rode along the sea wall and saw the very picturesque vista of the high-rise commercial centre. Panama has no natural assets, so makes all of it’s money from traffic through the canal, and they have been very canny (but maybe less than scrupulous) in how they have raised the money and invested it. I guess if you have cheap flags of convenience for ships, low tax rates, and ask no questions about moneys flowing through your banks, then some of it will find its way to the pockets and businesses of the locals.
Along the sea wall to the obligatory Panama sign for a photo, and back to the starting point.
Walked back to the Airbnb through the now busy streets, past the queue of people wanting to renew their car registrations. Seems that there is only one office in the whole of the city, and you have to renew it in person by bringing all of the paperwork. The queue snaked all around the building and down the road. Hundreds of people in the queue, and it was so long that they had erected marquees along the path for people to shelter from the sun under.
Packed up, and were picked up by our Uber driver who drove us down to the cruise terminal. Immigration and boarding formalities were pretty quick, and shortly afterwards we were joining the hundreds of passengers wandering up and down the stairs in a vain effort to find their cabin – or maybe lose their husband, it was hard to tell.
Later in the afternoon we had the usual lifeboat drill, and settled in for dinner outside on one of the decks as we left the dock to the sound of “Conquest of Paradise” by Vangelis, their signature music piped through the ship. Good grief! Reminded us of departing Vladivostok, though the staff weren’t saluting.
Meandered slowly out into the bay for the night, in preparation for our transit of the canal tomorrow morning.
Coca Cola Cafe
Free Cycling Tour
Panama
Panama City
Nativity Scene