Panama City

View of downtown Panama City from Casco Viejo (old city)

In total, we spent over two weeks in Panama City both before and after transiting the Panama Canal.  It was a busy time filled with boat work, boat school, provisioning, hair cuts and dentist appointments, and spending time with friends.  We thoroughly enjoyed seeing the city and exploring both the old and new.  For most of this post, we'll let the photos speak for themselves...

the kids take in the view

Looking toward the Bridge of the Americas (and Counting Stars in the mooring field) from the Amador Causeway

The Frank Gehry-designed Biomuseo is difficult to describe.  It consists of 8 galleries showing the origins, history, and biological significance of the isthmus of Panama.  We spent a morning there enjoying both the visual - there was a 3-story room with video projected onto 10 screens, including the floor - and educational experiences.  Another gallery presented the human history of the Panamanian isthmus from the time it rose from the sea until the present.  Yet another presented the great exchange of species that occurred when the two continents were joined together by the formation of the isthmus.

The Frank Gehry-designed Biomuseo

Biomuseo Selfie Spot

view of the city from the Biomuseo

Casco Viejo (the old city) is filled with old buildings in various states of disrepair and renovation

One night, we heard the sounds of a big party near our Air BnB apartment in Casco Viejo so we went to investigate.  Although our Spanish is basically nonexistent, we were able to determine that it was a fundraiser of some sort that included a wine tasting in the beautiful ruins of a large building.  Eager to experience Panama City like a local (except for the speaking Spanish part), we bought tickets and went in to watch the young and beautiful of Panama City get very inebriated.  (A couple of weeks later, Kendall was at one of the large grocery stores and saw a young woman who looked very familiar.  After searching her memory for a few hours, she realized it was one particularly hard-partying person from the wine tasting night.) 

As we sampled the wines, we were finding the whites to be a bit sweet for our tastes.  We opened our trusty Google Translate to find the words to ask for drier wines.  Fortunately, we had learned from an embarrassing Google Translate experience in Colombia involving the word huevos (you can imagine) that it is a good idea to translate back into English before attempting the Spanish.  We included the screenshots below.  Later that night we met up with the Element crew for a fun night club hopping that somehow ended with balloon hats for the female crew members.

wine tasting party in an unrestored building near our apartment

at the summit of Cerro Ancon

the view of Panama Canal traffic from our mooring at Balboa Yacht Club

A wild sloth at the Smithsonian Tropical Research Institute (STRI isn't a zoo)!