This ain’t Vancouver…
This is part one of two of my intro post for trip two weeks ago. For part two, see below or click here. Since this is a two part thread, for consistency purposes, I have disabled comments for this post. Instead, for comments, please, do so in part two! 
In yesterday’s post, I mentioned I was on a trip, in fact, I even included some previews. What? There was something else aside of the airplane food? Yes! Click here to see the post again and, most probably, you might want to scroll down, hehehe. But, again, I did not mention where. So, first, a picture of where…
So where is this place? If you have read this blog for a while, you will noticed I have made reference to Panama. Yes, I was in Panama a couple of weeks ago! Now, I already had plans to go there some time ago; however, there was a special reason this time. More on that in a couple of more days. But, let’s start with the country itself… Actually, there are so many things I am not even sure where to begin. Well, how about with the picture above? That picture was taken on weekday afternoon and shows how busy the city is. In fact, let me show a couple of more pictures of the city.
Of course, it begs the question, with so many cars, how do people deal with it? For one, Panamanian drivers are aggressive, very aggressive. How so? Well, take a look at these pictures:
Four way stop? Good luck!
Yielding to pedestrian?! Fat chance! In fact, in Panama, jaywalking is a necessity, almost a sport!
And how about parking? Or rather… Double parking???
As for public transportation… Well, if you noticed something similar to a school bus but with some really random colours, yes, that is Panama’s public transportation. What? OK, let’s try again:
From an outsider’s perspective (which is an odd way to put it, since I used to live there), one of the main problems of Panama is the infrastructure, or the lack of it. From people living there… Well, there are many, one of the them being unemployment and/or good paying jobs. For example:
See the people in the background? They are street vendors – literally. Even under Panama’s scorching sun, they would be walking around when the traffic light is red to sell their wares.
And what does this trigger? Among other things, crime. How bad? Well, here, if you are shopping and have some bags, you can simply hop from one shop to another. In Panama, you have to leave the bags on a side…
And how about this sign? I am sure most of you understand the one in the bottom but what about the one on the top?
Crime is so rampant in Panama that a lot of stores have private security guards who will swipe customers before you can walk in and, in one store/office, I even saw a metal detector at the entrance similar to the ones found at the airports (sorry, no pictures of that)!
But, enough of that… Let’s change subject. A couple of things that people will notice when visiting Panama City is construction: There is construction everywhere right now, with some highways, buildings almost everywhere and so on. On thing that a lot of people will notice is the material. For the frames, metal is used, unlike here in Vancouver, where buildings of less than three stories are usually wood framed. Also, for walls, they use building blocks rather than drywalls/gypsum boards usually used here. When labour is relatively cheap plus the fact the country is really humid, there is not much of an option…
And, now that we are on the topic of buildings, what about living areas? Check the pictures below!
Some condos in Panama City, these are the “old” ones built over 30 years ago.
Panama is so hot, a lot of people have air conditioning units at home.
Didn’t really want to bring this up again but there are reasons why all the houses look like fortresses…
As for Panamanian themselves… Well, unfortunately, I am not sure if I can provide a good answer without being biased (just in case, I lived in Panama for over 20 years). It is “agreed” that some of them could make the kids from South Park not potty mouthed. Yes, it is almost that bad. However, there are also a lot of nice, friendly people. Also, it is a mix of everything, in the sense you have Asian (oh, if you are Eastern Asian, you will be called “Chino”, i.e., Chinese, regardless if you are Japanese, Korean, Vietnamese, etc.), East Indian, European (specially Spaniards), Caribbean, African and so on.
Streets of Panama City
There is so much more I could write and it will take me days to do so. Rather, I will leave it here and continue only with what this blog is mostly about: Food! So, to continue to part two, please chick here! ^_^
