Panama City

We made it to Panama City! The flight was long and exhausting and getting to our hotel was a little chaotic but after about 12 hours of sleep we were feeling up to some exploration. It turns out that our hotel isn't in the best part of town. After taking this photo a police officer stopped and told us "muy peligroso" and gestured that we shouldn't be taking pictures or someone might grab our camera. Later another person told us to be careful in this part of town. It does seem a bit dodgey, bars on most windows and a lot of crumbling buildings, but it doesn't feel any more dangerous than some areas of Portland, though there was actually a fire burning away in one old building.


We did see some really interesting stuff in the area of Casco Viejo. There was a mix of old colonial buildings, packed markets, and a lot of crumbling buildings. It was amazing!
There was a little park where people put out cat food and there were several cats all lounging around watching the birds and napping. They looked pretty content, although the birds were eating more cat food than the cats were (they probably would have preferred eating the birds).
We are excited to get out of the city and see some wildlife, enjoy a slower pace of life, and some fresh air, the pollution in Panama City is pretty bad!