Posted by Seth on April 2, 2009 under Uncategorized | 
With its prime location sandwiched between the Pacific Ocean and the Caribbean Sea, Panama is full of delicious seafood to be had. I saw whole fish, filleted fish, crustaceans of many varieties and, most commonly, ceviches. Just about every place we ate had a ceviche of some sort available. Shrimp, scallops and sea bass (or some other light whitefish) were the most common options, though octopus and some more exotic choices showed up from time to time. As ridiculously simple as ceviche is – some chopped peppers and onion, lime juice and the fish – it is also ridiculously delicious. I had several servings, and they were all quite good. Another nice thing about the ceviche in Panama is that it is generally pretty cheap. Most places it is $2-3 for a serving; even at the luxury resort in the jungle where we stopped for a beer and appetizers it was only $7, and most everything else on the menu was in the $12-18 range.
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| Ceviche at one of the several places I had it |
There are also many other seafood options to be found if you like your food actually cooked with heat rather than citric acid.
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| Calamares and fried plantains |
And the meat options are pretty good, too. We had breakfast at the Azul Cafe near the Marriott and I had a couple different things, including steak and fried corn meal, as well as an empanada. All very good food and, again, rather cheap (we walked out for $10 following a decently filling breakfast).
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| Breakfast of champions; no, those are not eggs |
Dinner one night was at the Lebanese restaurant Beirut, across the street from the Marriott hotel. They served the best middle-eastern food I’ve had outside of that region. The baba ganouj was delicious, with a slight smoky flavor to it and the pita was cooked fresh and served still hot out of the oven. The meats were well seasoned and actually had good flavors to them, unlike what I have typically had in the USA. They have both indoor and outdoor seating, and for those interested in an after-dinner smoke, hookahs are available tableside for those sitting outside.
The best meal we had was at a restaurant that doesn’t serve up traditional Panamanian cuisine. It was at Bistro Ten, a French/fusion restaurant. The original branch is located off of Calle 50 near the Marriott, but we had trouble finding that one. We were pleasantly surprised to find an outpost in the Pacific Place shopping mall, adjacent to the Courtyard hotel where we were staying. The mall actually has a bunch of dining options, including a whole dining terrace, high above the shopping mayhem and filled with a few high-end dining options such as Bistro Ten, a cevicheria, a Veuve Cliquot bar, an espresso bar and a couple others. It was packed on Saturday night with folks enjoying the evening. It was less crowded on Sunday night, and that was when we settled in to eat there.
The concept of Bistro Ten is pretty interesting – high-end cuisine for $10/plate. Of course, this is somewhat misleading as there are a number of options on the menu that are much more expensive (NY Strip steak for $25 and a rack of lamb for $29), but there are plenty of options in the $10-12 range that were quite good. The shrimp spring rolls with a citrus dipping sauce were quite well done, as was the calamari stuffed with pork and potatoes. The black sesame encrusted scallops were dry – the fault of the sesame, I believe – but the sauce they came with was quite good. For the main courses we had the pasta with veggies and a light alfredo sauce and a steak “indochine.” Both were delicious. The steak was cooked just right and the sauce/glaze was a perfect combination of flavor and spice.
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| More ceviche; never enough! |
Tons of great food to be had in Panama and I know that we barely scratched the surface (even though I ordered double at several meals). If you thought the only reason to go was to see the Canal think again. The food makes it a destination all on its own.
Posted by Seth on March 30, 2009 under Uncategorized |
Casco Viejo, also known as the old city or the ancient city (Casco Ancien) is the bit of Panama City that exists out on a small peninsula at the western edge. It is the remnants of bits built 300-400 years ago, as well as the site of important buildings like the president’s residence and offices. It is also, as was recently relayed to me in a story, home to many of the “glue sniffers and prostitutes” that the city has. Yeah, it isn’t particularly glorious as far as places to visit, but if you’re in Panama City and don’t stop by you’ve done yourself a disservice. It is a combination of old and renewed, destitute and restored, degenerate and upscale. It is everything all at once. And it is a bit scary, but that is a good thing.
As you head into the area there are a few things to consider. One of them is that many of the buildings surrounding you are derelict and appear as though they might collapse at any given moment. Even the restored buildings look a bit suspect in many cases. And then there is the fact that you are out on a peninsula. That makes it easy to defend in the good old days when the attacks would only come from the sea. These days, with the maze of one way streets and dead ends it just increases the risks of getting lost, turned around and otherwise confused in a slightly sketchy part of town.
Lest my introduction to the area seem less than ideal, let me be very clear. I wouldn’t at all be intimidated into skipping it. The area itself is completely safe (lots of cops around) and has a certain sense of beauty to it, even amongst the run down buildings that make up large parts of the area.
We arrived in the area somewhere around 10am and still hadn’t had breakfast. As we drove around, hoping to find a building that resembled something historic rather than something derelict, we passed a reasonably nice looking cafe. We found a parking space around the corner, in the shadows of the Cathedral, and wandered back to grab a quick bite to eat. The Gourmet Cafe actually produced pretty good food. The menu was all in English and the contents of the store were all up-scale. Plus, they have free WiFi. It was clear that they were catering to the tourist population, not the locals. And I am only a bit saddened to admit that as we ate our breakfast I looked across the street into a local place with a very different target market, wondering if the food would be better there. That’s not to say that either of our sandwiches (bacon, egg and cheese on an english muffin and a “cajun” shrimp on ciabatta were bad – quite the opposite – but the slightly dirtier places often appeal to me and it is hard to pass them up. I did briefly consider ordering a second breakfast but passed on the opportunity as we had limited time and sights to see.
After breakfast we wandered about the neighborhood a bit. We found the president’s residence and offices (when the guard barks at you just open your bag so they can look inside) and some phenomenal views of the new Panama City off to the east. We also took in the Cathedral (impressive, but not amazing, I’d say) and a few other buildings in the area. There are nice sights to be seen and a visit is imperative on any Panama City visit itinerary lasting more that 36 hours, but do not go in expecting to see a beautifully restored old city like in many European locales else you discover great disappointment.
There is also quite a bit of construction going on these days in Casco Viejo; they are working very hard to clean up the area and rebuild the various buildings into structures that are beautiful (and inhabitable). Given a couple years I think that they can truly accomplish that and greatly regentrify the area. In the interim, I’d be a tiny bit worried about wandering around there at night. Yes, there are several hotels and restaurants and bars and a lot of armed cops in the area, too, but you do need to be VERY careful in the area. Much like the old town of Quito, Ecuador surrounding the Plaza de Independencia, there are many questionable characters that you need to be on alert for, even with the increased patrols by the local police who are trying desperately to secure the area for the tourists.
Oh, and there was that one “bum” on the streets of Casco Viejo that remembered us from two days prior on Calle Central. That was intriguing, surprising, interesting and scary, all at once. Just like the Casco Viejo area of Panama City.
Posted by Seth on March 29, 2009 under Uncategorized |
First a loud bang, followed by a bright flash out of the corner of my eye, over by the window. Then another one. Not really what I was expecting sitting in the hotel room this evening while enjoying a bit of a siesta and getting ready to head out to dinner. So the wise-assed comment slipped out. The good news is that they certainly were not. It was an impromptu fireworks show, right outside our window. So I grabbed my camera and held down the shutter button:
The five minute long flurry was actually pretty impressive. Nothing close to the Hong Kong New Year celebration or a typical NYC show, but considering the fact that they were launched by some guy standing on the median in the middle of the road outside our hotel while traffic was still flowing normally and that they didn’t get up much higher than 100 feet in the air, a pretty good show. Certainly better than anything else I was expecting to see tonight.
Posted by Seth on March 29, 2009 under Uncategorized |
Today we visited the canal and the Miraflores locks and see the actual workings up close. I was expecting it to be pretty impressive and it absolutely exceeded my expectations. It was outright amazing. Considering that it has been in operation for 95 years, more or less in exactly the same way as it operates today that is even more impressive.
The visitor center at the Miraflores locks visitor center is about five miles north of downtown Panama City, about 20 minutes and a $35 cab ride round trip. Given that we wanted to make a couple other stops and that we needed to get back out to the airport in the morning we just rented a car. Other than the fact that there are no street signs anywhere (that’s a whole different story) I think that the rental car option is way better. So a quick drive up the canal and we arrived at the relatively new tourist center, built in 2000. We arrived at the same time as the buses from a cruise ship, so that wasn’t particularly great, and the organization of the security screening at the entrance makes the TSA look organized, but we managed to get inside after about 10 minutes and raced up to the top floor observation deck, about 60 feet above the canal. A cargo ship was transiting right then, along with a couple private yachts and a tugboat, and getting to see the canal in operation was phenomenal.
The larger ship was connected up to a few locomotives. The locomotives handled the job of holding the ship in place as the waters shifted in the locks and then moving the ship forward once the locks were opened.
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| One of the locomotive drivers focuses on moving the ship through the locks. |
For the smaller ships the line work is done by hand. There are several employees assigned to working each ship as it passes through the locks. These smaller boats are generally paired up with the larger ships where there is space available to ensure maximum utilization of each flow from the locks.
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| Two “hand-liners” walking the bank of the canal after tying up a yacht. |
After the ships are secured inside the lock the magic happens. In eight minutes millions of gallons of water move from the lake down into the lock, lifting the ships up in the process. The second stage of the Miraflores lock includes a rise of 27 feet in that time. Watching the ships move up like that was pretty incredible. And then the gates are opened and the the ship is maneuvered out to the end of the locks. From there it navigates out through the lake and up to the next lock.
Throughout the process there is a play-by-play announcer giving out information in both Spanish and English. They actually tailor the script to the specific ships passing through which adds to the experience. We learned the costs of the toll – up to $250,000 for the largest container ships that pass through, or about $1000 for a smaller yacht – and also that it was the maiden voyage through the canal for one of the tugs in the grouping. Very cool.
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| The gates are finally opened and the ship can now head on to the next set of locks. |
We actually arrived just in time, as the ships we watched were the last ones to clear the locks for about three or four hours. I’m not exactly sure why there was such a delay – maybe because it is just too damn hot for the crews to be out working in the noontime sun – but the place runs at a 95%+ rate of transit slots being used so I’m sure there is a good reason they don’t add more slots in to the work day. Basically there was nothing going on there from ~10:45am to ~2:30pm, at least not today. And while the locks are rather impressive to see just existing, they are way cooler to watch as the ships pass through.
After watching the ships pass through we headed back inside to the air conditioning to watch the movie on the history of the canal and visit the exhibitions that they had in the museum there. The videos were not particularly well done in my opinion (“they looked like a high school project” was one comment) and the museum had some neat things like tools from the excavations but otherwise was a waste. I’d skip those next time and spend more time watching the ships, plus save $3 on the admission fee.
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| Deck hands, waiting for the next leg of the trip through the canal. |
The Panama Canal truly is one of the wonders of the modern world. The fact that they got it built is amazing and watching it in operation today, 95 years later, doesn’t disappoint.
Posted by Seth on March 28, 2009 under Trip Reports |
Maybe “cruising” is the wrong word since it is a pedestrian-only road now, but Calle Central is definitely the place to be for local shopping in Panama City. There are a variety of options there, from big department stores to little storefronts selling just about anything you could imagine. And on a Saturday afternoon there were lots of people. Not crowded like a Tokyo subway at rush hour, but still bustling with people everywhere.
Looking for street meat? There were many options available, including this woman with some sort of grilled meat that actually looked pretty good. I skipped it the first time past and didn’t get back to her as we were wandering so I have no idea if it was any good, but it looked yummy.
Want your fortune read? Have a seat and let this woman tell your future. If I had to guess, part of the forecast would be “you will stare at my cleavage” but I’m not sure that she actually said that.
And then there were the shaved ice guys. They had a simple cart, stocked with a block of ice, a variety of fruity sugar flavored toppings and a stack of cups. They also had a very cool tool that they use to do the actual shaving work. It looks a lot like a plane that you’d use in woodworking, but this one has a place to hold the cup built in so the “planing” motion fills the cup directly. No waste and less work for everyone.
We were also warned by at least four different people to be very careful with our cameras. I was somewhat impressed that so many people were concerned for our safety, but it was also a bit strange. We survived the visit without losing the cameras, so that worked out OK in the end.
And this parting shot isn’t from the Calle Central, but it is worth sharing anyways. The local buses in Panama City are all old school buses, tricked out by their owners. This one had a particularly nice paint job on it. The only other place I’ve seen such creativity is on the trucks in India, and I think that the Panamanians take it to the next level.
Posted by Seth on March 28, 2009 under Uncategorized |
This morning’s adventure in Panama was a trip to the Amador Causeway to see the Pacific Ocean up close and also view the traffic on the Panama Canal. After a cab ride out to the general area (note: speaking better Spanish really would have helped on this trip, even though the majority of the folks we’ve met speak some English) we wandered around for a bit before happening upon a bicycle rental facility. Since walking was hot and tiring we decided that maybe biking would be better. We were right.
The Amador Causeway runs for five kilometers from the mainland out into the Pacific, connecting a few small islands together. It also offers a flat, easy path for cyclists and pedestrians. There is a Smithsonian museum on one of the islands and marinas, restaurants, hotels and shops all along the way. Between those, however, is a serene, beautiful ride out into the ocean.
We made it out to the end of the causeway and stopped for some lunch and then made our way back in, enjoying the views of the fishermen at work:
The causeway also marks the Pacific Ocean entrance to the canal, so there were many, many ships about, waiting their turn to enter the canal. For a facility that is so busy I was surprised at how slowly it seemed the ships passed through. We only saw one actually moving through the canal in the couple hours we were out there.
Also visible from the Causeway is the Bridge of the Americas, built in the 60s to connect North and South America across the canal. It is ridiculously high to accommodate the ships that pass under it, and if this afternoon is any indication, it is always jam packed with traffic.
In a strange and outright baffling display of geography, the bridge is actually backwards, sortof. A person driving from North America to South America would actually be headed vaguely North when they pass over it. So the crossing from North to South actually requires going north. Don’t believe me? Check out the map (North America is on the left and South America is on the right). It really is baffling and completely worth seeing in person.
Posted by Seth on March 27, 2009 under Trip Reports |
Well, I have three out of four, so I don’t feel too worried about this weekend’s trip. The one that is missing, of course, is the plan part of trip, but I’m on my way to Panama to see the canal and otherwise relax for a few days, so things look pretty good overall.
The extent of my planning was to book the tickets a few months ago and to send a couple emails to people about potential sights worth seeing. The canal is obviously the main draw, but I’m also hoping to get out of the city a bit and see some of the jungle, too. It is close enough to town that I expect to be able to do both. I’ve got a hotel, which is better than I was doing when I arrived in Tokyo earlier this month, but that was arranged by someone else so I cannot really take much credit for it. Oh, and I checked the weather forecast – 98, sunny and humid. Yikes! At least it made packing my bags easy as I didn’t need to worry about long pants or sweaters.
And I’ve got my music player loaded up with plenty of Van Halen. I’ve been singing the song for the past couple of days and hope that listening to it a few dozen times during the flight will be enough to get it out of my head at some point. Or I’ll go crazy listening to it. Either one seems reasonably agreeable to me right now.
Posted by Seth on February 5, 2009 under Uncategorized |
For those of you who read the WSJ, there’s an article in the Weekend Journal section of tomorrow’s print edition that talks about the changing dynamic of vacations. Specifically, it seems that vacations are becoming shorter for many, and travel companies are altering their offerings to accommodate that pattern. This means hotels are waiving minimum stay requirements and tour operators are doing more in less time, all in hopes of wooing the ever thinning ranks of leisure travelers.
A three-night China tour will kick off in July with a 5 a.m. wake-up call. Travelers will take in a solar eclipse (astronomer provided) on Mount Emei, followed by visits to a Giant Buddha statue, an embroidery workshop, an opera (performer interviews included) and meetings with families, students and baby pandas. Seventy-two hours later, it will be time to head home.
Tour operator Remote Lands, whose shortest China tours used to be five or six days, is one of many vacation companies putting its trips on fast-forward. This year, travelers can book a one-night Caribbean spring break trip, or a two-day African safari. Hotels and resorts are throwing out the minimum-stay requirements that used to widen their profit margins, and admitting guests who only want to stay a night or two
And I managed to be one of the examples cited in the article. I’m actually the very last example, but still, I’m there. Apparently my 36 hour trip to Trinidad and Tobago was just crazy enough to get me a column inch at the very end of an article in the WSJ.
Seth Miller started taking short trips a year or two ago, to save money and fit his travel within limited vacation time restraints. Last week, the 31-year-old IT consultant from New York went to Trinidad and Tobago, leaving on Saturday and returning Monday morning. "It basically left me on the ground for about 36 hours, then you figure, scratch 12 hours for sleeping," he says.
Mr. Miller spent Sunday morning on Tobago, snorkeling and wandering around the island, and then flew to Trinidad. He hoped to catch some pre-Carnival parties, but his timing didn’t coincide with any, so he ended up watching the Super Bowl at a local bar. "You roll with what happens and take it in stride," he says. Next morning, he returned to New York.
There is also discussion of a three day trip to Costa Rica or a seven day Ecuador trip, including some time in the Galapagos (we could fit them in on our five day trip two years ago). Those trips don’t really seem that short to me, but I know I’m not the norm in that sense.
Looking forward, I’ve got a few more similar trips planned already for this year, including Rome for four days, Belize for six days, Panama for three days and an overnight to Florida. There’s also a yet to be scheduled weekend in Germany in November that may include a hop-scotch tour of Scandinavian airports, too. Of course, I’ve also got a normal two week vacation planned for the summer, so all the trips aren’t this way. It is good to have balance in that sense.
I’ve now been covered by the NY Times and the WSJ. I wonder if I can get myself into the Post or Daily News somehow other than the police blotter…
