Fuerte Amador lies about 20 miles southwest of Panama City. It is made up of a one mile causeway extending out into the Pacific Ocean connecting four small islands in the area, similar to the Florida Keys. In Fuerto Amador one can find the Fuerte Amador Mall, which is a large duty free shopping plaza. Vendors here sell a variety of quality items at rock bottom prices.
In Panama City, the best market are found at the market in Balboa, with the Panama Viejo market coming in a close second. Best known crafts in Panama is the mola, an intricate reverse appliqué handwork made by the Kuna Indians. Molas can be bought at either of these craft markets or from the vendors on the seawall in Casco Viejo.
Panama City is situated on the narrowest point in the Americas, it is the main passageway between the Pacific and Atlantic Oceans since it was founded in the 16th century. The population of Panama is in around the 1.8 million mark as building and development here has really taken off in the past decade. Designated as a world heritage site in 2003 the historic old town of Casco Viejo is where we spent to majority of our time during our visit here. The Casco Viejo was built and settled in 1671, after the destruction of Panama Viejo by the privateer Henry Morgan. This district was conceived and created as a walled city to protect its settlers against any future pirate attacks.
We, we being, Marianne, Marcel, Jan and myself headed onto a 10 o’clock tender as we had no specific plan today, we just wanted to head out and see where the day would take us, all of our first timers here. We saw the HOHO (Hop on, Hop off) and began talking to the operator when we were approached by a private guide, Daniel Castaneda. He was offering something much better than the HOHO experience and although he stuck to his price, he did have an a/c van that could seat 10 but agreed to leave right then and there with only the four of us, he said the price of $30 pp would go down if we could get more to join us but as that could get complicated we agreed to the 3 hour tour if we could just leave now - okay was the response. Now, I am sure the HOHO would have been fine but there were a few catches, first, the $20 USD fee was for you to stay on for the entire 2 hour loop and not get off, you had to pay an additional $5 USD to hop off but the HOHO only goes by and drops you at the old town without going in as the bus is just simply too big to navigate the narrow streets.
Our Guide, Dan not only took us to all the highlight spots but guided us with walking with us and discussed the history, so for us, a much better offer. I get ahead of myself, we hopped into the spacious van and exited the causeway heading into the old town but first he asks if we would like a surprise, ah, okay, sure we our response - not really knowing what we are getting into. Well he takes a couple of turns and then wow, we are now heading over the Bridge of the Americas, the bridge built over the Panama Canal, the one connecting the two Continents - now that was pretty cool. Dan does a great tour as he is presentable, speaks good english, has a clean a/c van, and not only guides you but suggests spots for pictures as well as takes pictures for you. I only do this when warranted where I have included the front and back of his card so if any of you readers are in this neck of the planet and are looking for a good guide you now have his contact information.
From the Bridge of the Americas we did head to the old town for a walk about tour which included a beer tasting (Marcel asked about the local beer). The craft beer establishment had a 6 or 7 beer samples presented to us to help us make our selection, nice, even better, it happened to be half price happy hour. Again I digress. Our pics show the few churches and squares Dan took us to as well as the promenade, this is a very nice old town. Dan also took us to good market area for some retail therapy. At the end of the day the tour took 4 hours (Dan was fine with adding time for the market and the beer tasting - he was actually concerned that we would miss our lunch on the ship, we said that that was not a problem, lol). Dan did take us to the central business district of Panama City - what an amazing big city. Huge buildings and roadways with the traffic a bit crazy, nice to be guided. We stopped for a photo stop of an incredible building (same architect as a similar building in Dubai).
We were back to the pier at 2:30, so plenty of time to do some wifi. The only problem is that with all the users, we could not get on. Dan to the rescue once again, as he gave us the log in passwords for one of the local connections, awesome, thanks Dan. Marianne was able to Skype while I was able to get caught up with some blog postings. Now I am not sure why the first few posts show the pictures a bit blurry? I am working in that. For now, hope you enjoy our great day here in Panama, a few pics including our Panama Hat party tonight - yes they gave out these cool Panama Hats at dinner. Having a great time…
Quote of the day: Travel is the most rewarding when it ceases to be about reaching a Destination but becomes indistinguishable from living your life - Paul Theroux
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