Walking the Cinta Costera-Panama City

PLEASE NOTE, THIS POST MAY INCLUDE AFFILIATE LINKS, MEANING THAT IF YOU CLICK ON A LINK AND MAKE A PURCHASE, I'LL RECEIVE A SMALL COMMISION. THIS WILL COME AT NO COST TO YOU.

With a completely free afternoon available, we made the decision to walk the Cinta Costera, to see where it would take us.

The Cinta Costera is a city created walking/jogging path that runs along the water in Panama City, Panama.

The start of the path was an easy walk from our accommodation, The Casa Sucre Boutique Hotel, in Casco Viejo.

I was impressed right from the start.

I absolutely love flower trellis tunnels.

The view of Casco Viejo from the path was stunning.

As we were walking, Shannon suddenly noticed an immense wall of rain heading straight toward us.

Now if you have followed along with our travels over the past few years, you will understand that we were not surprised that we were about to get caught in a deluge. Rain seems to follow us wherever we go, San Diego, Cape May, and of course hopefully nothing will ever surpass the Red Rocks Amphitheater flash flood. It almost feels like it wouldn’t be our trip if we didn’t get caught in some sort of rain.

Fortunately, we were able to take shelter under an overpass before things really got underway.

I was impressed that the city went to the effort of creating a lovely little area underneath an overpass, complete with swings and benches.

More and more people took shelter as the storm unleashed, including a raspodos cart guy. He sold treats and had a radio that provided us with some waiting-out-the-torrent tunes.

The rain went on, and on, and on.

Although we were dry from above, a river began inching its way in from the sides. Soon people became marooned as the benches turned into islands.

A little girl made the best of the situation, dragging her feet through the water, as she played on a swing.

After a few fake outs, it finally looked as if the storm was over, and we were able to venture along the Cinta Costera once again.

After walking for about fifteen minutes, we felt the first few raindrops. Apparently the rain was unhappy that we avoided getting drenched the first time.  The heavens opened. We ran for it, searching for another place to take shelter.

We unintentionally sought shelter in Panama City’s Fish Market.

The Fish Market is a sprawling space filled with stall after stall of seafood eateries. It’s known as one of the best places to get ceviche in the city and is a popular attraction in Panama City.

It’s the type of place where you need to be prepared for people shoving menus at you, trying to guide you into coming to their stall. We did find that the further back we ventured, the less pushy the stall workers were.

We figured we would just stand around for a few minutes until the downpour was over and then skedaddle, but it became clear that if we wanted to remain dry, we’d have to stay put for a while.

Plenty of people had the same idea, so we indiscriminately plopped down at the first stall we found with an empty, dry, table. The name of the stall was Rest. Since we planned on having dinner in a few hours, we figured we would just get a snack to share. We ordered two cokes and the stuffed plantains.

The stuffed plantains were fried plantains shaped into cups, overflowing with an assortment of seafood. The flavors were good, but I prefer my seafood to be a bit less chewy.

Our plan worked. Once we finished our snack, things cleared up, so we continued our walk, keeping a vigilant watch on the sky.

Although we could have continued further, the park seemed a good stopping point.

I thought the slides in the side of the hill were super cool.

Who needs a gym membership when you can use free exercise equipment at the park.

I’m not sure if they took shelter because of the rain, or if they start setting up around dinner time, but as we walked back through the park, an array of vendors selling crafts and all sorts of food appeared. If it wasn’t our last day in the city, I would have returned to try some of the tasty looking snacks.

Though the weather wasn’t what we anticipated, it definitely made the walk more of an adventure. It turned out to be one of those great, let’s see where some free- time- and- no- set- plan- takes- us- experiences.

 

 

 

 

 

 


1
  1. Jaynie Wall

    at

    I love Panama City, this post brings back great memories! One day I want to rollerblade that whole area.

  2. Donna Janke

    at

    You may not have asked for the rain, but it did result in some interesting stops. I was in Panama City just over a year ago and loved walking through the Casco Viejo area. I never made it into the Fish Market though. Something for my next visit!

  3. Agness of eTramping

    at

    Panama City is astounding! It is a dream destination to explore on foot!

Comments are closed.

Shares