Panama: the capital & the canal

(All of my pics are in my "Panama" set on flickr here)

My Central America journey began in Panama. The people here have been not quite as warm & embracing as the people I've meet from the Caribbean, but nonetheless are still friendly once you establish yourself. I had no idea how much of a blend of ethnicity I would find in Panama, as I see many who have predominately African, European, or Chinese heritage, along with the majority being part indigenous/European (Mestizos). My hostel, Luna's Castle, is the castle bunk up n get drunk type of place... it's located in the old part of the capital, Casco Viejo, which was sacked, burned & broken continuously by French, English & other pirates throughout the centuries. It's so cool because they are constantly remodeling the buildings right next to other buildings that are still crumbling. Old, new, and change is everywhere.








It's about two miles from the new downtown, where the buildings are comparable to those of New York or Chicago and one can't turn a corner without some American food chain in view.







The graffiti, especially in Casco Viejo, has been radical. The messages aren't as political as I saw in Perú, but more meaningless and really just fun-to-look-at art. Mike told me he couldn't keep up with how fast I was uploading pics (mostly graffiti), then I tweeted back

"dude i'm the japanese girl with the hello kitty purse, taking 15 pics a block... i can't keep up with myself!"

Seriously, there was so much stuff on the walls I couldn't take enough pictures, then went to the same place and can't believe I missed even MORE stuff!








I have been running and working out everyday, which is super hard bc I've become a complete fatass computer hookah social network dude. One day I was doing situps and pushups in the park and 7 little girls came up on me. They surrounded me and I was like "Umm, hola". They asked why I was working out, I said because I was fat and wanted to get in shape. It didn't really seem like they understood, as they were all under 10 years old. One of them came up to me with some of of tube in her hands, holding it like it was her dick (mind you, I am laying down in situp position). She starts to hit me in the face with it and says "Metame la pene", a way of saying "Suck my dick" I've never heard in Spanish... they all laughed foreeeeever and I was just sitting there, totally speechless but laughing, as well.

Also, I was in the creole food place (spaghetti, rice, beans, fried bananas, roasted chicken breast, coca-cola = $3.25) and this 8 year old kid would NOT leave me alone. His dad owned the restaurant, so he just runs around everyday and bothers whoever he wants. He asked me how to say at least 50 things in English (of which I felt stupid with 10 of them, e.g. maracuyá = passion fruit). Basically he was looking around the restaurant and would just tap me on the shoulder for the translation. He then asked me if I knew Justin Bieber (Yu-steen Bee-bear), and I was like "Nah, he's always with new chicks so I don't like to bother him". He then asked if China owned the US, and seeing all of the Chinese calendars and different signs around the store (his dad was speaking Chinese and, of course, he was of Chinese descent), I said "Totally, everything I'm wearing is from China. I need to learn Chinese!". He was a cute kid, but because I wanted to just read while eat, I thought of him as a little shit at the moment.

My $20/day budget is goin great. Haven't spent more than $5 on a meal, almost always consisting of that Caribbean style rice, beans, bananas and meat that I have come to love :-)




The Panama Canal is one of those things you gotta see, but it felt like the Grand Canyon to me: once you see it; it's just like "Wwwwelp, guess that's it! Let's go home." The information & history surrounding is much more interesting than actually being there, but When in Rome..... I watched a couple ships pass thru, one of random cargo and the other full of cars. I paid $5 instead of $8, missing out on the movie that explains the canal process, but (again) Mike gave me a link to this video about the canal which I'm sure is way better. During the video at 25:25, there is a sweet paper animation that shows how it works. Nonetheless, I went!

My next destination is Boquete, the coffee capital on Panama, population 5000, up in the mountains... the Central America I've been waiting for! The capital has been cool, but I'm ready for the raw stuff!!! Until then...

*On a linguistc note, the Spanish here has been fairly "regular". Most all Panamanians aspirate the syllable-final /s/, but everything else is pretty standard.