Middle-aged flash packers

Today we decided to explore the old town in Panama City, known here as Casco Viejo. It’s important not to confuse it with Panama Viejo which are the ruins of the original Panama city that was destroyed by the Welsh pirate, Henry Morgan. Casco Viejo is the not quite so old new town built to replace said old old town. Are you following? You can visit both, but one is just ruins and the other is a beautiful enclave of restored elegant buildings. Make sure you know what you’re choosing.

I chose elegant buildings so off we went, our second attempt at public transport – this time we used the metro which was very easy to use with our travel card, especially now Steve knows the difference between it and the room key.

We had a choice of stops and after some research, decided to get off at Lotería as we could wander along a boardwalk and then through the fish market to reach Casco Viejo. Sounded better than picking our way through a less salubrious area which was our other option.

I did have a wobble as the road we walked down to get to the boardwalk was very unpleasant. (Smashed glass everywhere and some nasty looking men lurking around) but once we got to the sea and walked along the pathway, it was lovely. Beautiful shrubs and trees everywhere and not a piece of litter anywhere. The views are great, skyscrapers one side and the old town the other.

Casco Viejo has been reinvented. The old buildings that were once slums and part of a very dangerous neighbourhood are now painted and preserved with beautiful balconies. There are still renovations being carried out and the facades of the old buildings with nothing behind them are fascinating.

Prices reflect the fact that you have now entered a very smart area as our two cokes in a cafe came to $8.

I’m not keen on the silly prices in Casco Viejo, but I’m even less keen on the traffic that constantly rumbled through the area. It’s relentless and you can see it is damaging the cobbled streets. It needs to be pedestrianised if it’s going to remain pristine.

Our next stop was Ancón Hill. Half an hour’s walk from Casco Viejo, we read that it had great views and also an abundance of wildlife.

We decided not to walk and opted for an Uber instead as the area seemed to be a public transport desert. I’m extremely glad we didn’t walk. Apart from having to cross a main highway, the neighbourhood we would have walked through made the one with the nasty men look like Beverley Hills. There’s some serious dens of iniquity in the city that are best avoided.

Ancon Hill itself was a joy. We saw toucans, a sloth and tamarind monkeys. I cannot believe you can see all this so close to such a populated area. It costs $3 to enter and worth every penny if it keeps the wildlife protected.

We meandered our way up to the top of the hill where there is a great view of the city and also of the canal and its surroundings.

Once we returned to the bottom of the hill, we were hot and sweaty so it was Uber to the rescue again, this time to our hotel.

I have warmed to the Tryp Wyndham. It’s not fancy and best to give the gym a miss unless you enjoy being in what is basically a large cupboard with extremely sweaty people in it, but it’s quiet, the staff are nice, breakfast is good and there’s always a cooler on the go with fresh fruit in it that makes the water tastes sooo good. It’s the little things in life…