Panama: City, Canal, and Casco Viejo

I am almost embarased to tell you that I actualy edited the pics and there were more!!

So get your scrolling fingers ready for this tour of Panama city, old & new..



I loved the pic of the guy above. He was sleeping, I think & just woke and sat up..

On the way to Casco Viejo (or Casco Antiguo) - Old (Antique) City


Entering Casco Viejo - I loved this area! There is a lot of reconnstruction going on here - Often you can see where they are leaving the facades of buildings and rebuilding new structures behind them.In this area there are a lot of government and mistererio (ministry) buildings, the National institute of art and other offial buildings are stuated here.. there are also a lot of interesting apartments where local people live and as usual a real mix of incomes put together..


I hear this area is being developed into an a very creative and artistic area - I think if I was going to live here, this would be the area I would live in.

The Church : Iglesia de San José (also called the Church of the Golden Altar)

The Karavan Gallery

I loved this lamp - it is made out out of 1000's of shells!!

Near the center of this picture, wayy back in the fog, you can see the Bridge of the Americas, which joins North & South America. Cool!!

This is Julio - he was our tour guide (& Spanish teacher) for the afternoon. He laughed at me because intead of taking pictures of really important things, I was off taking pictures of pajarros, gattos, perros y monos! (birds, cats, dogs and monkeys!) ((the monkey was his friend! ))

Art treasures!! The Ejyptian relief to the left was from Noreaga's place when they took him to jail. (not sure if he gets it back when he gets out)

The doorway was built to fit the queen wearing her crown.

I didn't take a pic of the gruesome inside where they had different ways of killing people ..but this is the disposal window..

Panamanian General & military dictator, Noreaga's backyard (before he went to jail!)

Romance Park - when the queen lived there it was continually covered with roses.

If I could pick a place to live here I think it would be the top floor here!

Palacio de las Grazias - Palace of the Herons

Raw snacks are easy to find in the tiendas. (y muy barrato) & very cheaply!

Now, on our way to see the Canal (more Diabos Rojos!)

The Canal - 7th wonder of the world. We watched this ship come through. It was huge, there was only a clearance of 24" on each side. It cost the ship 103,000$ to go throgh the canal - which had to be paid 48 hours before the boat was allwed to go through - and no checks or credit cards, cash only - the things you remember - Lol!! If we wanted to take a small personal boat or yaught through it would cost us probably between 500 & 1500$.

& a ew pics from the drive home - mostly along Balboa.