Despite music blaring from nearby bars and discos until the early hours of the morning, we both slept quite well! We spent more time with our new best friend Uri at the desk of the hotel trying to figure out how our voucher for the “jump on, jump off” bus was supposed to work. We finally learned that we could not actually redeem it on Sundays. That was certainly annoying because suddenly we had to rethink our whole plans for the day. We went off to a nearby deli for a bit of lunch and pulled out our guide books to make some other plans. John decided he really wanted to see Trump Tower here, so we haggled with a couple cabbies until we found somebody who was willing to take us there for a reasonable amount.
Despite its status as a five star hotel, Trump Tower has minimal and unimpressive public areas. The lobby is less interesting than your average Hilton. The only part that dazzles in any way is the pool.
John was interested in stopping here because he liked the curve of the building.
We did not think we were going to spent much time at Trump Tower, but we were finished with it even more quickly than we expected. The only even remotely close to it that merited a mention in the guidebooks was the Metroplaza Mall, supposedly “...the most upscale shopping center in Central America." The Trump Tower concierge told us that there was a shuttle between the two attractions, but the bellhops at the entrance told us we would have to wait over an hour to catch it. We decided to walk.
One of our guidebooks described the architecture of this area as “pedestrian, but not pedestrian-friendly.” It is an apt description. Despite the Manhattan-like profusion of high rises, there is no effort to create an interesting or even tolerable street environment. All of these buildings are designed for cars. No wonder the traffic is so horrific. Part of that may be that when you are out of the towers you discover that they were largely built on what had been housing for the poor, and many of the poor are still there.
If the Multiplaza Center Mall is Central America’s most upscale shopping, then the economy of this part of the world still has a way to go. All of the usual kinds of shops are there and a multiplex, but it looks like every mall in every small town in America.
In fact, it is really depressing to travel this far and to feel like you have never left your own country. It made me wonder, was it like this for the ancient Romans? Did they have the depressing feeling of traveling through the Empire from Aegyptus to Britannia Inferior only to see the same damn aqueducts, theaters, and forums? I wonder. The only thing not straight out of the United States were the huge displays sponsored by Samsung like this one.
From here we needed something more upbeat. We negotiated a fare with a cabbie and in about fifteen minutes found ourselves in the Metropolitan National Park. Covering nearly 700 acres, this park provides Panama City residents with a bit of tropical rain forest in the heart of the city. There several different trails through the park. We took them all. There are also several “miradores” or view points where you can see either the city or look further west toward the canal. It was a warm afternoon, and as you can see, John has staged a superb recovery from his surgery. His instinct to pose, however, is incurable.
Amid the dense tropical foliage, we saw some beautiful flowers.
We saw these nests throughout the park. I think they are probably for some kind of wasp, but I am not sure. Gentle readers, if you know anything about this, let me know.
We did see some leaf cutter ants. I was quite excited to see them because there is a little section about them in our fourth grade science book. They do not eat the leaves, but carry them to underground nests where mold grows on them. The ants actually feed on the mold. It is one of only a few instances of agriculture among insects.
