Casco Viejo (old quarter): downtown Panama

We relaxed this morning. Kathryn was up late as she tried to catch up on sleep while Sophie slept so we just hung about reading, doing washing etc.

Early afternoon My Friend and I took a taxi back to the Casco Viejo where we had been for dinner last night. The light was quite burnt off being the hottest part of the day but we kept to the shady side of the street or ducked indoors when possible. We spent about 3 hours wandering around and made sure we didn't go west of Herrera Park beyond which there is little police presence to protect tourists.

No! surprise, surprise - this is NOT My Friend!

This area is also known as the San Felipe district and features either paint-peeling façades, empty shells of buildings undergoing renovation or rows of already-renovated upmarket, ornate Spanish and French colonial houses and art deco and neoclassical buildings.

We started in Plaza Bolívar and did a circuit. In this plaza is the massive Palacio Bolívar built on the site of a Franciscan convent. It dates from the 1920s and now houses the Foreign Ministry. We then walked along the old seawall shaded in parts by a bougainvillea-covered trellis and lined with stalls selling multi-coloured tourist nick-nacks; the walkway offers views across the Bay of Panama to the skyline of the modern city and we were cooled by a vigorous breeze.

This walk continues to the Plaza de Francia with views across the giant Bridge of the Americas and a monument to the failed French effort to build a canal. Inside the French Embassy is an interesting mural depicting the history of Panama City.

We had a drink in a bar near here - very relaxing out of the sun.

Further on we came to the Iglesia de Santo Domingo built in the 17th Century and featuring a nearly flat arch (Arco Chato) which has confounded engineers by remaining surprisingly intact even whilst everything around it has crumbled into disrepair. It has an interesting little museum adjoining it with religious artefacts. Iglesia de San José was next with its massive golden altar said to have been painted black by its priest to save it from the Welsh pirate Henry Morgan during the sacking of the original Panama City.

Parque Herrera has a monument to General Tomás Herrera, an early hero of Panama's independence movement. Nearby is Iglesia de la Merced built in the 17th Century from rubble salvaged from the old Panama City.

More wandering through narrow streets brought us to Plaza de la Independencia with the (closed at the time we were there) Catedral de Nuestra Señora de la Asunción on which construction began in 1688 and took 100 years to complete.

Back to Plaza Bolívar and the last church for the day - Iglesia San Felipe de Neri - which dates from 1688 and is the oldest structure still standing from the Spanish colonial days.

Evelio was at the appointed place to pick us up to take us home - via the supermarket to get food for tomorrow night's dinner. Tonight Regis is cooking seafood risotto!

We took Boba the giant dog for a walk around the neighbourhood.

Then we took turns to nurse the fidgety Sophie who - bless her - finally fell asleep half-way through dinner, long enough (for us) to savour the food and also the black forest cake Regis brought home from the office along with a big box of presents from the staff for the newborn.

Mozzie bite count now over 30.


A bit of history: Panama was under Spanish rule for over 300 years and was placed by Spain under the vice-royalty of the New Granada in 1817 to further protect it from other Caribbean interests. However, in 1819 New Granada finally achieved independence from Spain and, now free, Panama considered various unions with other territories. Finally it was won over in 1821 by Venezuela's Simon Bolívar, whose ambitious project of a Gran Colombia (1819–1830) was taking shape and Panama declared its independence.

Thus Panama joined Colombia, Venezuela and Echador under Bolívar's grand plan and 70 years of a precarious alliance followed. In 1831, Panama declared its independence again and then shortly after, under Herreras, it re-established ties with New Granada only for him to re-establish independence again after a civil war in 1840. Then reunification occurred in 1841. (Talk about "on again, off again"!!).

However, the situation continued to be unstable and the US got involved in 1846 by way of a treaty but the unrest continued with riots needing to be put down by US marines, etc etc. then the canal came into play - to be continued as we hope tomorrow to visit the canal to find out more.