We then took a taxi to Casco Viejo, the older part of town across a small harbor from Downtown. Traffic in Panama City is horrible, very stop and go and congested. Tons of cars, tons of taxis, and some buses. We have been taking taxi's arround town as we have heard that the buses are complicated, coupled with the fact that the taxi's are dirt cheap. We can get almost anywhere we want for $2. But, the trouble is getting them to stop. They are very very particular about who they pick up and where they are heading. If they want to drive north and you are heading south, they just point in a general direction and drive off. It takes talking to 10-20 taxis before you can find one heading where you want it to head. And this isnt only for us foreigners, I see the same process happen to the locals as well. Its very confusing. Mari made a comment to one driver that they operate like collectivos, he replied that they are more like selectivos. I liked that response.
Anyway, we arrived to Casco Viejo only to be confronted by the Panamanian sun and heat. The clouds parted and the sun popped out to say hello. And it got hot. Mari (and her cyst) are now very sensitive to heat, so we snapped ate a quick lunch, snapped some quick photos, and retreated back to the hostel to relax.
A small group of kids were walking by as I was taking a picture of the boy in red sitting on the counter, but the boy in black wanted one of his own as well - to the hilarity of his friends.
The view of downtown across the harbor from Casco Viejo. If possible, look at the amount of buildings under construction.
Casco Viejo street corner.
As it was burning up outside under the sun, we indoors into one of the four churches in Casco Viejo. Enormous vaulted ceilings, immense doors, beautifully created stain glass windows of the classic saints. This was a beautiful structure.
Travis staring off into the Gulf of Panama.
