{"id":425352,"date":"2017-05-01T12:30:05","date_gmt":"2017-05-01T18:30:05","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/14erskiers.com\/blog\/?p=425352"},"modified":"2017-05-01T12:30:57","modified_gmt":"2017-05-01T18:30:57","slug":"panama-city","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/14erskiers.com\/blog\/2017\/05\/panama-city\/","title":{"rendered":"Panama City"},"content":{"rendered":"

Last year, Frank and I decided it was time to head out of the country once again for a ski trip. Iceland was on the top of our list. But, in July, I found out my ACL was again torn and it would take two surgeries roughly 3 months apart to fix with a 9 month recovery time after the 2nd surgery. That meant it would take a full year for me to recover, and no ski season for me.<\/p>\n

But we still had a desire to travel overseas. So rather than letting my injury prevent that, we decided to change locations. After some detailed research, we decided on Colombia. And since flights often stop in Panama City along the way, we decided to spend a week in Panama too.<\/p>\n

Our main purpose in Panama was to go to Bocas del Toro. But, if you’re flying internationally, you basically have to stop in Panama City. Because international flights and domestic flights generally happen at two different airports that are about an hour away from one another, it’s basically impossible to fly from the US directly to Bocas del Toro in one day.<\/p>\n

Alright, guess we’d have to see what Panama City was about. And what we found was pretty cool.
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\"Panama
The lovely streets of Casco Viejo are beautiful at night!<\/figcaption><\/figure><\/p>\n

We stayed in the Casco Viejo neighborhood which is the historic center of the city and is also a UNESCO World Heritage Site (since 2003). The city was actually founded in 1519 a different section called Panama Viejo. But after it fell in 1671 to Captain Henry Morgan, the city was moved 8km southeast to the current Casco Viejo. This peninsula was easier to defend and walls once surrounded the city.<\/p>\n

We arrived at night and wandered aimlessly about Casco Veijo. We asked where to eat Panamanian food, but everyone advised us to eat other food instead – they said it was better and Casco Viejo certainly had a lot of restaurants. So, we ended up eating at Nazca 21, a very good Peruvian Restaurants. Okay, so I know “Peruvian Food”, like Panamanian food, isn’t exactly popular world cuisine, but this restaurant is good. Trust me.
\n\"Panama<\/p>\n

But we weren’t done with the evening. So we wandered more and found ourselves mesmerized by Bolivar Square. Simon Bolivar<\/a> is basically the George Washington of this region.
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\"Panama
Inglesia San Franscisco de Asis near Bolivar Square in Panama City.<\/figcaption><\/figure><\/p>\n

We also enjoyed some drinks at one of the few restaurants there – Note that water is 100% safe to drink in Panama City so there’s no need to be worried about mixed drinks having contaminated ice!
\n\"Panama<\/p>\n

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And some great music from street performers too!<\/p>\n