Panama Update #2
July 13, 2008
Today (Sunday) is my 3rd full day in Panama. Nikki has had time this weekend to go around with me and we have both learned a lot. Today we covered a lot of ground. She had made an arrangement to meet a friend of a friend at a famous local Chinese Restaurant called Lung Fung at 8:00 AM. It is a big tradition here to have Dim Sum on Sunday mornings for some reason. The friend never showed up so we went in and there was no vegetarian option so we didn't have much, but the food looked good.
We then went to another area of town, and we found the street we had read about in the guidebook that had all the vegetarian restaurants (one or two) and the internet cafes. There was also a New York style bagel place which caters to Americans and has a big statue of Einstein out in front. Those restaurants are about a 20 minute taxi ride from us and we will plan to go back sometime to try them out.
We then found another taxi and asked the driver to take us to the Super Kosher Market, which is supposed to be the biggest kosher market outside of Israel. We were looking for a nice grocery store, but also had heard that there was an organic grocery store very close to it and wanted to see that also. We did not know exactly where the kosher grocery was, but we knew it was well known and a local landmark. It turned out that our taxi driver had no idea what we were talking about and we had to stop for directions several times. On the way, while we were lost, we went through the new, wealthy section of Panama with all the new high rise condo. buildings. They are on the edge of the water, but there are no zoning restrictions, and we read in one of the guidebooks that if another building is able to get closer to the water and blocks the view, that is too bad. We also drove by a beautiful new hospital in the area which said on the sign in front that it is associated with the John Hopkins.
We finally found the supermarket, but it was not too exciting, just a pretty typical store like you would find in the US. But we did find 10 pound bags of basmati rice so we stocked up as long as we were there. We also found the organic grocery store after feeding the taxi driver 3 more dollars to stay with us. The store was closed but we looked inside and they have many of the products you would find in a very small version of the Whole Foods Store.
We went back to the apartment for a lunch of pita bread, humus, baba ganoush, and tabouli that we had bought at the store. After a rest, we hiked to the top of Ancon Hill (http://www.cerroancon.com/). Our dormitory is located at the bottom of the hill. It takes about 35 minutes to walk the 2 kilometers on a road through the rainforest. Cars can also drive there but it is a challenging walk that is great exercise. It is steep, but not overwhelming if you take a moderate pace. Along the way there are several great views of Panama City from different sides. At one point at the top you can get a clear view of the canal, the entry locks and dam, and the area where the cargo is loaded and unloaded. To see this helped me get a better idea of the canal and the conditions where Nikki works, but I will be able to describe it better when I can see it closer up. Immediately outside the city you got a good view of the vast rainforests surrounding the area.
