Panama City … A mixed bag and up and coming travel destination.

Panama City is an up coming area. We decided to stay in Casco Viejo which is the old quarter. The area is exactly our vibe except that it is under major revitalization. It recently became a UNESCO Heritage Site and all of the buildings are protected. The area several years ago was run down, dirty, overcrowded and basically neglected. The buildings, however, are amazing. The streets reminded us of Rome and just about every single one of them is under restoration right now. It’s great to see the area being turned around but it made for a very quiet stay.[…]

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Panama City Carnaval

So, Carnaval in Panama City was….less exciting than expected. We thought that it would be a good substitute for Rio but not a chance. There were 5 floats driving around in a loop about 3 blocks long. The crowd wasn’t excited and no one was dancing. The line to get in was absolutely crazy. It was probably 4 blocks long with pat down searches for everyone coming in. There was a line for men and women so whoever got through first would wait in the DMZ until the other person came through. It reminded me of images of refugees being[…]

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