Day six — Kent goes exploring, finds two hardware stores, and nearly buys a fixer-upper
Brian rests. Kent logs nine miles through Bethania, Club X, and two hardware stores where the prices made him start doing renovation math. A spectacular gutted house, a surprise Ashley Furniture, and an outdoor bar that needed a breeze.
Day six started the same way most of them do — with a walk to Wendy’s for breakfast. Except this time we walked into a restaurant that was 82 degrees inside. Whether the A/C had broken overnight or someone had made a cost-saving decision is unclear, but it was not a place either of us wanted to be at 8am. Two doors down was a McDonald’s.
McDonald’s in Panama is cheaper than Wendy’s, which was a pleasant surprise. An Egg McMuffin with sausage combo and a McQueso with sausage combo: $9.70 total. The less pleasant discovery: fast food in Panama is not fast. It took over twenty minutes. We filed this under “cultural adjustment” and moved on to Tim Hortons, which is directly across the street and has never once made us wait twenty minutes for an iced coffee.
Breakfast — day six
Back at the hotel, Brian was feeling worn out — six days of heat, walking, and the mental load of everything we’d been processing had caught up with him. He stayed in to rest. I took the opportunity to explore.
Kent’s dispatch — Bethania, Club X, and a house tour
I took the Metro to Estación 12 de Octubre and headed west on foot into a neighborhood called Club X. I have no idea how it got that name and couldn’t find a satisfying answer. What I found instead was a lot of single-family homes — which is exactly what we’ve been struggling to locate in El Cangrejo and San Francisco — and a lot of steep hills. And I mean steep. The kind that makes you rethink your position on flat neighborhoods for aging joints. Still, the housing stock was there. Several large homes with se vende signs — “for sale” — on the front fences. Any one of them would work for us, if not for the hills.
I kept walking south and west until the neighborhood transitioned into Bethania. More hills. I was starting to notice a pattern: the further west you go from downtown, toward the Metropolitan Natural Park, the more dramatic the terrain becomes. Worth noting for anyone who wants to be near green space but has mobility considerations — this part of the city is genuinely hilly in a way that matters for daily life.
The house tour I didn’t expect
At the top of one of those hills I spotted something I find completely irresistible: a gutted house with a work crew mid-renovation. Brian will tell you this is a character flaw of mine. I call it professional curiosity. I started chatting with one of the workers and before I fully realized what was happening, I had a complete tour of the project.
The house was still a shell — concrete bones, no finishes, everything exposed. But the design intent was unmistakable: open concept, with two massive windows cut into the south-facing wall. Through those windows, the entire downtown Panama City skyline. Framed perfectly. Spectacular in a way that made me momentarily forget about the hills I’d just climbed to get there.
The view through the south-facing windows of the gutted house in Bethania. This is what you’re buying when you buy the hill. It made the climb feel more negotiable.
I left thinking about fixer-uppers in a way I hadn’t been before the tour. Maybe the hills are worth it for a view like that. Brian remains to be convinced. This is an ongoing negotiation.
Super 99 — exactly when I needed it
Super 99 — half a block from the job site, perfectly timed. Budget pricing, wide selection of basics, and on this particular afternoon, the most welcome air conditioning in Panama City.
Half a block from the job site was a Super 99. I went in primarily for air conditioning and a Gatorade, and stayed long enough to do a proper reconnaissance of the dry goods and bulk grains section. Super 99 is not trying to be beautiful — it isn’t. But for staples, basics, and budget pricing, it delivers. The grains and dry goods selection in particular is excellent and very cheap. If you’re living in Panama and cooking at home, Super 99 is where you stock the pantry.
The hardware store double-header
I headed south from Super 99 back toward downtown, and the terrain confirmed what I’d been observing: moving toward downtown, the hills flatten. Moving away from it, they climb. A useful mental map for neighborhood research going forward.
My destination was the Do-It Center hardware store on Avenida Simón Bolívar. Hardware stores are one of my genuinely happy places — I’m the person who shows up to conversations with photos from last weekend’s renovation project. The Do-It Center is comparable to an Ace or TrueValue: a bit of everything, organized well, not the overwhelming scale of a Home Depot. The prices, however, made me very happy.
A dual light switch with faceplate: $2.99 to $5.99. The equivalent at Home Depot in the U.S. runs $13.88 and that’s without the faceplate. A standard electrical plug: $0.99. PVC couplings starting at $0.25. These are not trivial differences if you’re planning any renovation work in a Panama property.
Then I found Hopsa — next door. My lucky day. If Do-It is the neighborhood hardware store, Hopsa is aimed squarely at DIY enthusiasts and contractors. Larger variety, more building materials, less of the garden and appliance department. But the real discovery was the tile.
Large-format 24×24 tile and wood-plank style porcelain at around $10.99. Per piece, I assumed. Then I noticed the unit: per square meter. One square meter is 10.7 square feet. That tile is extraordinarily cheap by any measure. Standing in Hopsa pricing out floor tile for a hypothetical renovation on a hypothetical hilltop fixer-upper, I may have started doing actual math in my head. Brian is going to read this paragraph and know exactly what I was thinking.
| Item | Panama price | U.S. comparison |
|---|---|---|
| Dual wall switch with faceplate | $2.99–$5.99 | $13.88+ (no faceplate) at Home Depot |
| Standard electrical plug | $0.99 | $3–$5 |
| PVC couplings | $0.25–$0.59 | $1–$3 |
| DAP caulk | $5.99 | $6–$10 |
| Glidden Ultra paint (4L ≈ 1 gallon) | $35.99 | $40–$55/gallon |
| Glidden Peerless (5 gallon, on sale) | $98.99 Reg. $109.99 | $120–$160 |
| Toilet | $69.99 | $150–$400+ |
| Pfister waterfall shower head | $109.99–$119.99 | $120–$180 |
| Panasonic inverter A/C unit | $499.99–$1,199.99 | Comparable |
| Large format tile (24×24 or wood plank) | ~$10.99 Per square meter — 10.7 sq ft | $3–$8/sq ft typically |
Do-It Center and Hopsa — good to know
Both stores are on Avenida Simón Bolívar and accessible by Metro (Fernández de Córdoba station is nearby). Do-It is the general hardware equivalent of an Ace or TrueValue. Hopsa next door skews more toward contractors and DIY renovators — better for building materials, tile, and structural supplies. If you’re researching a renovation project in Panama, visit both. The tile prices at Hopsa in particular are significantly cheaper than U.S. equivalents once you realize the price is per square meter, not per piece.
On the walk back toward the Metro I passed what I’m fairly certain is the largest Ashley Furniture store I have ever seen in my life. Outside the Fernández de Córdoba station, hard to miss. I didn’t go in — I’d already done enough damage to my renovation ambitions for one afternoon — but it’s useful to know it’s there. Shipping furniture from the U.S. to Panama is expensive and complicated. Having a full-scale Ashley on the doorstep changes that calculation considerably.
Dinner and a bar with ambitions but no breeze
I Metro’d back to the hotel, showered, and found Brian feeling better. We went to Wendy’s for dinner — the air conditioning was working this time, which felt like a significant improvement over the morning — and made a discovery worth documenting: the chicken on a Panamanian Wendy’s chicken sandwich is nearly double the size of its U.S. equivalent. At a lower price. Two combo meals: $15.00. Panama, on this particular point, is winning.
Dinner — Wendy’s
Biergarten
Bar / Restaurant · Inside a hotel · Outdoor
A recommendation had brought the Biergarten onto our list, and after dinner we went to find it. It takes a moment to locate — it’s inside a hotel, back by the pool area — but once you’re there the design makes sense. The space calls itself “urban” and that’s fair: good bones, considered layout, nice ambiance. The kind of place that would be genuinely excellent on a cool evening with a light breeze.
The problem: it’s an outdoor bar with no air conditioning. We arrived before the sun had fully set. The breeze was absent. We stayed for one passion fruit margarita each — now Brian’s firmly established favorite — at $14.00 for two, and appreciated the atmosphere while quietly wishing for either sunset to arrive sooner or the wind to pick up. We’d go back later in the evening when the conditions would be right.
Biergarten — what we paid
We called it an early night. Brian had needed the rest day and was glad for it. I had logged nine miles through Bethania, Club X, two hardware stores, a surprise Ashley Furniture, and one house that almost made me reconsider our position on hills. We were both ready for sleep.
Day seven coming up.
— Brian & Kent
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