How You Know You’re Not in the U.S. Anymore or Maybe the Lawyers Really Are Keeping Us Safe

Bob and I love to walk. We find it’s a great way to explore a place and to view up close and personal the architecture, restaurants, people, and even birds. Whenever we travel, one of the first things we like to do is get out and walk.

We have sarcastically teased ever since our first visit to Panama five years ago that Panama City is eminently walkable. We tease because you can walk along and find a huge hole in the sidewalk. Sometimes that hole is for utilities access. Sometimes it’s because the sidewalk is broken. And, as far as we can tell, sometimes the hole is just random.

Curbs are wonky, too. There is one near the El Cangrejo neighborhood that grows to over a foot high as the sidewalk ascends uphill. They are often broken, creating ankle challenges if you step wrong. In fact, it’s always important to watch where you step. You are likely to encounter trash, broken glass, dog waste, and occasionally even dead animals as you walk through the city.

On the other hand, it’s important to look up, too. Electrical wiring with exposed ends may dangle in your face. The wiring may not be live, but I’m not willing to touch it to find out!

With this in mind, I decided to take you, blog reader, on a photographic journey around our block. We live in one of the best neighborhoods in Panama City, Bella Vista. It is high-end, full of expensive apartments, nice cars, and pricey restaurants. (This, by the way, is why we spend so much time in the less lavish neighborhood of El Cangrejo.) The streets in the neighborhood are also getting to the end of a three-year construction project for infrastructure, walkability, and traffic calming (not really a thing in Panama). Therefore, I tried not to include anything like the water pipes sticking up from the sidewalk that will soon be fire hydrants, as well as other “under construction” objects.

Photos of lovely, tree-lined streets that make up our block.

The purpose of this photographic essay is not to disparage the Panamanians or to prove some point about the United States being better than any place else. It’s just to show that living in a place other than the United States means things are different—and to prepare any of you who might be planning a visit.

Some of this may look like modern art, so reading the captions below the photos is important to understanding them.

This old electrical meter just dangling in space is what inspired this blog post.

Sidewalk holes come in many ankle-challenging shapes and sizes.

At least we have electrical conduit. Many neighborhoods do not.

Old infrastructure has been left behind and can cause all sorts of stumbling blocks.

These are not dangerous, just unusual. On the left is the bottom half of a parking meter. One street is lined with these, and they mostly collect trash. We are not sure if they are old or up and coming. The plants growing on the electrical wires in the center photograph (orchids? air plants?) could probably happen in Florida. Also, our block as two–two!–pay phones.

Something you’ll see anywhere: shoes hung on an electrical wire. I smile every time I see them.

None of this is really catastrophic. It’s a point of interest that make us smile as much as it makes us groan—as long as we don’t break an ankle!

Our advice: Live it. Embrace it. Realize that warm sunshine, ocean views, kind and generous people, and so many cultural points of interest make the journey well worthwhile.

Just watch where you step along the way!