Panama City
VulcanSpirit
Richard & Alison Brunstrom
Mon 19 Mar 2012 03:00
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This place is a surprise. Here it is, seen from a
nearby hill:
 The country has 3.3m inhabitants, and most of them
seem to live in Panama City. There are reputedly 20 000 taxis (a figure I can
believe), most of whose drivers speak no English at all, cannot read a map and
don't have anything resembling 'The Knowledge'. But they're dead cheap and
eager to please. And local knowledge is absolutely essential because incredibly
there is no street address system - not only do buildings not have numbers, but
the street names themselves are often totally different to those shown on the
maps. A total nightmare to navigate around. Panama City has the world's
tallest residential blocks (some of those in the picture are over 100 storeys)
and is now the financial centre of Latin America, eclipsing even Miami. But it
is largely an unattractive place, overwhelmed by traffic and lacking a
worthwhile centre.
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