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Panama City – "Mercado de Mariscos “ – The Fish Market

Lobo's Real Time:
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February 11, 2010I am back in the big city of David after the visit to Bouquete. The old hotel - the Residencial Avenida - feels comfortable at $16 even though it does not have hot water. At highs around 35 degrees centigrade, who cares? Beers are cheap at 60 cents at the ramshackle saloon across the street. Everything is ok except I can’t make up my mind as to my next destination.I was originally planning to go to Boca del Toro located on Colon Island situated on the Caribbean side of Panama near Costa Rica. This is carnival weekend and there is a carnival in Boca del Toro that would surely make it impossible to find reasonable accommodations. For whatever reason I have always had an aversion towards making hotel reservations. So after breakfast it was no easy step for me to give it a shot and enquire about accommodations in Boca de Toro . To my surprise I found a room at the Hotel Casa Max for $35 per day for the four-day carnival. Boca del Toro is not David where I could live for $30 a day, all inclusive. I had originally planned to leave half my oversized luggage at the Residencial Avenida but at the last instant decided, what the heck, let’s take it all. It will have to go on top of the bus.Sometimes things work out. I arrived at the bus station located within walking distance of the Residencial Avenida and within five minutes my heavy duffle bag on wheels was on top of the bus and I was on my way.Wow, amazing, I was on my way to the carnival in Boca del Toro after all.

February 14, 2010

After three days in beautiful Boca del Toro (Mouth of the Bull) my hotel reservation has run out and I leave the carnival (it is certainly not Rio) and the Isla Colon and head to the mainland for a five hour bus ride back to David. Tomorrow I will head back into the highlands to visit the town of Volcan, yes it is located in a volcanic region . Then I will head into Costa Rica and high prices. 

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Lobo Tip

No. 1The evening before a possible trip to Boca del Toro I searched the large bus station in David for a place to get some information about times of departure and where to buy a ticket. That’s not how it works. You just get on a bus and pay when getting off. To find the departure point just ask anyone who looks like they know what they are doing and they will point you in the right direction. There is no large information panel giving essential information. Like so many things in Panama, you are just expected to know. For example, if there is a large manhole cover missing in the middle of the sidewalk, well just don’t walk into it, that is obvious. Why would you need a sign or barrier to warn people?If I had not gone there the evening before to scout the place out I would have never made this excellent connection to Boca del Toro . Don’t forget it is about a five hour trip and the last boat leaves for Boca de Toros from Almirante at 19:00.No. 2When travelling by bus in Panama, except for the main routes out of Panama to David and on to Costa Rica, your large luggage will go on top of the bus because the buses are smaller. Even though this is not the rainy season, it can rain. Put the important items in your luggage in a plastic bag. During the bus trip from David to Boca del Toro I kept looking at the threatening skies and wondered how much rain it would take for the water to get to my MacBook that was near the bottom of my suitcase. Luckily I never found out as the rains held off.---------------------------------------------------
Among other things I have made arrangements for a meeting tomorrow with an older couple from Florida who established the expat life here in Boca in a big way a couple of years ago by opening a store and buying a large house on the waterfront. They are now desperately trying to get out - that should be a good story.

Speaking of carnivals:

http://news .yahoo.com/s/ap/20100212/ap_on_re_la_am_ca/lt_brazil_carnival
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January 25, 2010

Panama City – Mercado de Mariscos – The Fish Market

Ask me what the highlights of Mexico were and the “mercados" or markets would be high on the list.

They are usually located right in the downtown and they are huge, selling everything from live chickens to luggage to meat and spices ….well almost everything that one would need for daily life.

They are huge and incredible hubs of activity with an endless source of raw material for a photographer or blogger.

It has come to my attention that in Panama City which is much more subdued than a Mexican city of the same size, despite walking extensively through the downtown core, I had not come across a “mercado”. I say “much more subdued” because Mexico is more colourful, the people are more animated and in Panama City almost no one approaches you to sell something which is unimaginable in Mexico .

During the previous day’s visit to the Casco Viejo I noticed some fishing boats at the far end of Panama Bay. The next day I returned to walk the area of Av. Central that has been turned into a pedestrian zone. By the way the pedestrian zones in the Mexican cities are almost without exception the best and most interesting part of town - not in Panama City.

The car-free part of Av. Central starts at Plaza 5. de Mayo. It borders on a bad area of Panama City and the warnings to be careful or even not to go there are numerous. With the memory of the beautiful pedestrian zones in Mexico I had to check it out and as a result walked it twice. I have to say that if you are looking for authenticity and activity it is interesting if somewhat disconcerting since you will likely be the only non-Latino there. Panama City is missing a huge opportunity to improve its downtown by not having a pedestrian zone in the downtown area. Urban planning that is pedestrian friendly missed the mark in this city .

On my way back towards the Hotel Costa Azul in Bella Vista I took a loop down towards the waterfront where the nature of the neighbourhood caused my normally slow walk to really pick up and even improved my posture as I stood up straight to gain maximum height. That’s when I unexpectedly came upon the”'Mercado Marisco” located at the east end of Panama Bay near Casco Viejo.

In all my years of travel I have never passed up a fish market and even though it was 18:00 I was not going to make an exception now.

I am sure that by this time the activity had somewhat abated but there was still lots to capture my attention – namely the fish and the people.

The fish were a sorry sight – treated as just so much meat. They were piled one on top of the other, squeezed into buckets, weighed on old fashioned scales, and then dumped unceremoniously into containers of packed ice . Even in their state of final submission the glistening blue, emerald and yellow colours of their scales still made their last stand as a thing of beauty.

Even more unceremonious were the large fish stuck with their heads first into buckets with their tails pointed outrageously towards the sky waiting to be carted off.

I suppose after discussing all this indignant treatment of the fish I could launch into some vague vegan endorsement but no - I take a stand. I rarely eat fish. That is not good. I should eat fish more often. I like fish but I just don’t get around to eating them. There must be a reason. Ah, yes, generally they are too expensive for the little that you get.

When I said that I could live in David for $30 a day it would not include eating fish.

The other part of the fish market that is gripping is just watching the fishmongers. They are truly the salt of the earth or maybe the sea . There is no mistaking these people for stock brokers or accountants. It would be priceless to get a look at the inner workings of their lives as being perhaps a throw back to an era where minimal education, street smarts and physical toughness are the currency of their existence.

Here are some commentst on some of the other photos I have included in this blog about life in Panama City:

The first one is a photo of construction at the site of the Panama Canal expansion project presently under way. (more in a later blog)

The following are of scenes as I walked through the Bella Vista neighbourhood including a street vendor that has the lunches for construction workers prepared with their names written on each box.

The following photos are of my lunch at the Riba Smith supermarket cafeteria near the Costa Azul Hotel. Yes, the lunch, after the seniors discount goes from $2 .15 to $1.61.

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Lobo Flash (….. I have come to the realization that ….)

Panama is the only country I have travelled in that I consider to be cheap. Remember in my “MEXICO: The Epilogue” I mentioned that one of the disappointments of the trip was that it cost more than it should have.

Having said that, you have to look for the bargains and make the right choices. I could easily have spent $12 for lunch with beer or wine in a nice restaurant.

Convenience is expensive so you have to go the extra mile and be self disciplined to mine the price benefits of Panama. No matter how much you mine in Mexico you won’t get this deep in finding low prices.

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One photo of a visually impaired woman with a white cane I included for Barbara since she works with the visually impaired . The woman put up a hell of a fuss because the street vendor seemed to be blocking her normal path along the sidewalk.

Another photo shows the missing man hole covers that occur in Panama City from time to time. I shudder to think of the consequences when putting together people who are visually impaired and open manhole covers.

Let’s move on to the next photo.

The colourful buses in Panama City are a scream for authenticity. You have the driver and the “crier”. That’s the one who leans out the window and screams the destination names. The driver, in addition to driving, collects the 25 cents fare– on the way out. All bus rides are 25 cents with no transfers. Is there a bus route plan? Are you kidding?! You are supposed to know where the bus is going. Isn’t that obvious?!

One clue is that a lot of buses go to the bus station or “Terminal” which helps for some destinations. Other than that, going into a hotel and asking the staff might be useful as to which bus to use.

Tourists normally opt for the yellow cabs whose fares within the downtown are from $1 to $2. After a while there is a realization that while convenient, it does add up and it is dangerous because taxi drivers drive fast and the seat belts are well buried somewhere in the upholstery or removed entirely so they won’t bother anyone . Consequently I quickly switched to the public buses for authenticity and safety.

On the way back from the fish market I was again walking along the beautiful Cinta Costera and its adjacent walkways and bike way. The scenery is super as usual.

Finally, a reward – a coffee and large piece of chocolate cake for $1.50 - again at Groupo Riba Smith.
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Coming Soon: The "Terminal" and Where Central America Shops?”