Casco Vieja, Panama City's old quarter

We had a slow start to the day with homeschool. We took a $4 Uber to explore the old quarter of Panama City. This fortified quarter was built in 1673 after Panama city was sacked by Henry Morgan and then went into decline in the mid century and avoided renovations and became a UNESCO world heritage site in 1997. The Panamanian presidential palace is there as well as narrow one way streets and a fortified wall facing the ocean and a lot of decaying buildings.

We visited the Panama Canal Museum ($45 for 4 of us) which had a good history of Panama and the story behind the canal development and later independence. We spent around 90 minutes there. 

When we came out it was raining. We wanted to try the workers food court at the mercado but the kids were not feeling hungry with he atmosphere there, and the butcher shops around probably didn't help it.

We found an Asian restaurant and they happily enjoyed pot stickers, Christine had bulgogi bibimbap, and I had salt and pepper shrimp that were humongous. Delicious meal and $43 including tip. We walked around the old quarter which was mix of Antigua, Guatemala because of the decaying buildings, and Old San Juan, Puerto Rico.

We bought some copa, shaved ice with syrup, sweetened condensed milk, and milk powder at $3 each and walked the wall. The rain kept business slow for the vendors, a lot of Guna art and Panamanian hats. 

We took another Uber ride back to the Airbnb and watched it rain outside. The kids did more homeschool and I filled out Colombian visa pre check online. We had leftovers for dinner again.