The tale of the Church of the Golden Altar involves Welsh pirate Henry Morgan. He sacked the original Panama City in the 1670s. To save the altar a priest painted it black to hide its true worth. Today it is located in Iglesia de San Jose in Panama City’s San Felipe District, also know as Casco Viejo, where the city was rebuilt. The church is open to visitors.
The streets they warned me to stay away from were of course always the most photogenic (stay away from the light). Often one of the good Samaritans would wait and watch to make sure I changed direction. When someone old enough to be your aunt or uncle takes the time to warn you of potential danger in a city you are not familiar with, particularly if it has a bad reputation for crime, it’s probably a good idea to heed his or her advice. But I still wonder what was at the end of the street pictured above.
I wonder what the advertisement on the side of this bus in Beijing says.
The public buses in Guatemala are brightly painted former school buses.
So are the buses in Panama City, which have been nicknamed Red Devils.
Now also called the Old Part, Casco Antiguo was built after the original city was destroyed by a pirate. The square, located in its center, is where Panama declared its independence from Colombia in 1903. It is dominated by the Catedral de Nuestra Senora de la Asuncion. Construction on the cathedral started in 1688 and took more than 100 years to finish. It is still active. 
Panama City has reinvented itself more than once. After the original city was destroyed by a Welsh pirate it was rebuilt a few miles away in the San Felipe district also known as Casco Viejo, Casco Antiguo or the Old Part.
UNESCO declared Casco Viejo a World Heritage Site in 1997. Following gentrification trendy restaurants and bars have opened making it a fashionable destination for a night out. It’s a great place to wander and stumble across several squares, including Independence Plaza, the epicenter.
Plaza Bolivar is a good place to sit under the shade of an umbrella and order a cold drink. There are also several museums and a promenade along the ocean that offers beautiful views of the city’s skyscrapers.
Founded in the 1500s by the conquistador Pedro Arias de Avila the city was sacked in the 1670s by Welsh pirate Henry Morgan. The city consisted mainly of wood structures and was burned to the ground. The tower you see pictured is the remains of a cathedral. After the destruction the city was moved a few miles away to what is now Casco Viejo, which I will post on in the coming weeks.
The indigenous people of Ecuador weave them from the leaves of a palm plant, the Toquilla. An isthmus between the Atlantic Ocean and the Caribbean the Republic of Panama has seen a lot of traffic from explorers, traders and plunderers throughout the ages. And savvy Ecuadorian traders have been exporting their goods to Panama for centuries. Business boomed during the gold rush of the 1800s as many passed through Panama to seek their fortunes in the heat of the Californian sun. The U.S. government bought tens of thousands of Panama Hats from dealers in Panama City for the troops during the Spanish American War.
This is where school buses are sent from the U.S.A. after they are given a pink slip. Like the Chicken Buses of Guatemala, which are also converted big yellows, they are decorated in elaborately painted murals. Diablos Rojos are street art on wheels.
Each is staffed by an assistant to the bus driver like the one you see grinning in the photo above. His job is to shout out directions. Passengers are told to hurry up and jump in or off as the bus slows to a crawl but does not necessarily come to a full stop. Buses rule the road recklessly and are the main mode of public transportation for most people in Panama City despite its roads being choked with cars during rush hour.
For many the first thing that comes to mind when Panama is mentioned is the canal. But it seems to be entering the radar screens of travelers more in recent years. As this is a short trip I’ll be spending most of the time in Panama City.
