Casa del Helado
Calle 50 and Via Brasil
Panama City, Panama
As far as I know, most of my readers are not from tropical regions. Sure, chances are you might have been there for a trip during winter (or flocking to the tropics like migratory birds, as I used to say to, oddly enough, a friend from Panama who lives in Mississauga) or maybe a cruise but… Assuming this is true, most people will not have experienced one of the greatest blessings and curses at the same time of the tropics: the weather. As far as I can remember, in Panama City, temperature have never dropped to single digits (in Celsius, that would be below 50 Fahrenheit), given its location and because it is at sea level. In fact, I don’t remember the temperature drop below 18C/65F! During my trip, the temperature was in the low 30C/high 80F almost all the time. However, that was not the killer: it was humidity. Other than my very last day in Panama, in every single day, the humidity was over 80%! I must mention that Panama, like most tropical countries, have two seasons: dry season, from end of December to mid April, and rainy season during the rest of the year. Guess when I was there! (BTW, as a “funny” Canadian joke, it is said that Ottawa has also two seasons: winter and election season. Har, har, har… NOT… ^_^;;;)
Everytime I went out for a walk, within the city (most of my friends were working so asking them to drive me around would have been really difficult), after an hour or so, I was drenched. It did not matter what I wore, as long as there was sunlight, it was cursed to be like that. And, of course, walking outside during noon hours was not an option. Wearing shorts/lighter clothing? Not necessarily an option either… Now that I bring this, I have sort of a running joke on how to recognize a tourist: If you see somebody wearing shorts on a weekday in a busy Panamanian street, chances are, that is a tourist(*)! See, Panamanians are proud. Even with the heat, they will be dressed accordingly. Sure, people have started to deviate from the norm; however, in some places (specially banks and government offices), you are not allowed in if you are wearing shorts or flip-flops or similar. So, how do people deal with this? Simple: (1) You get used to it – in my case, after living in Canada all these years, I have been “de-programmed” and, as a result, suffered from it… again… (2) Most cars have their air conditioners (AC) on the whole time. Same with buildings, almost all stores have AC units. (3) Drink lots of liquid (water, or the young coconut I showed previously) or, in the case of today’s post, have some treats, like “ice cream” – in this case, La Casa del Helado.
