Our last full day in Panama: one more visit to Albrook, a long breath in the hotel room, and an honest accounting of what twelve days of walking, pricing, and neighborhood research actually produced. The groceries, the hardware, the restaurants, the neighborhoods — what’s cheaper, what isn’t, and what we’re still figuring out.
Brian’s temporary Panama residency day finally arrived — long pants, packed immigration offices, musical-chair lines, and all. After leaving with residency card in hand, we celebrated the moment the way Panama City has started to feel familiar to us: coffee at Tim Hortons, dinner at Concolon, and happy hour at Mangle.
April 2026 Trip · Day 10 Day ten — an early walk, the Sunday ciclovía, a market full of pineapples, …
April 2026 Trip · Day 8 Day eight — a pre-sunrise climb, the Canal Museum, and three Uber attempts in …
A pre-sunrise climb, the Canal Museum, and three Uber attempts in the heat
Kent goes exploring, finds two hardware stores, and nearly buys a fixer-upper
April 2026 Trip · Day 5 Day five — the fish market, the fancy mall, and a happy hour at …
April 2026 Trip · Day 3 Day three — grocery prices, two neighborhoods, and a $12 drink we won’t be …
April 2026 Trip · Day 2 Day two in Panama — the shorts crisis, the world’s biggest mall, and learning …
The day we’d been planning for months finally arrived — and it did not go entirely to plan. We made the classic rookie mistake of taking the Metro from the airport with luggage, discovered that Panama City’s brick sidewalks are not roller-bag friendly, recovered with street tacos and a Jack Daniels at a gay bar in Bella Vista, and slept in a gloriously air-conditioned hotel room. An honest account of arrival day — the good, the sweaty, and the surprisingly encouraging.