Quick Visit To Panama City: Casco Viejo & Craft Market

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After checking out from the Radisson Summit, we followed the hotel’s shuttle to Albrook Mall so we wouldn’t get lost in the city.  I didn’t trust myself to drive and not get lost in the old city, Casco Viejo.  I was also concerned with security since we had all our belongings in the car and I had heard it was a risky part of town.

I parked the car at the Albrook Mall, took a photo of it with the shop in the background so we could find it again, then went to the taxi rank.  I arranged a price with a taxi to drive us to Casco Viejo, show us around the highlights, let us have a few photo stops, then drop us off at the craft market for shopping for around $15 including waiting time.  I find this is the best way to explore a city I don’t know very well but taxis are reasonably priced.  I also felt more secure leaving the rental car at the Albrook Mall where it wouldn’t stand out.

A – Albrook Mall
B – Casco Viejo
C – Mercado de Artesanias

CASCO VIEJO

There seemed to be renovations going on and there were a lot of police standing around.  The construction blocked a lot of the roads and the taxi had trouble finding places to park long enough so we could walk around a bit but he did his best.

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There were crafts on offer at a market near Casco Viejo but we couldn’t find a place to park so decided to just move on to the main craft market.

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Since I knew I wanted to take my time shopping (poor husband had to drag along while I shopped), I planned to let the taxi drop us and not wait.  I figured we would be there over an hour and also get lunch there.  The best part was seeing some of the Kuna ladies making molas.  Molas are a kind of applique/embroidery technique to make beautiful pictures with fabric.  You can use the molas as wall hangings, clothing embellishments, tote bags or pillow cases.  I was especially pleased to see bird themes on many molas!

You can bargain with the shopkeepers, especially if you are buying multiple products but I found a more subtle bargaining worked better.  I wanted to be fair to the craft makers since they do put a lot of work into these products so I didn’t go as hardcore as I would in the Middle East.  I would express how much I liked something, but what a shame I didn’t have enough money………………maybe next time.  If they were amenable to a discount, they would call me back and offer somewhat less, usually 10-20%.

IMG_1607 IMG_1639 IMG_1640 IMG_1641 IMG_1642 IMG_1643 IMG_1644 IMG_1645Albrook Mall (as with other malls such as Metro Mall near the Courtyard) was a typical mall just like back home complete with food courts, nothing of interest to tourists unless you wanted to stock up on food or other staples.

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