Yes, we made it to Panama City last week. We’re staying in one of the many high rises here: Pool on the roof, gym, view of the water. Hard to go wrong with that.

We had a bit of a time adjusting, mostly because we are used to cities where walking is the norm, but here, not so much. If we had thought about it a bit more, we would have realized that half the year, it’s raining and all of the year it’s hot and muggy. Not conducive to a stroll to the grocery store or fancy restaurant.

The Cinta Costera (Coastal Beltway) is a walkway (or, if you’re fancy, a promenade) that runs about 26 miles along the bay of Panama City. It’s dotted with sports courts, exercise equipment, and green spaces, not to mention stray cats and raccoons. We can reach it easily from our apartment by crossing over Avenida Balboa (which is part of the PanAmerican Highway) on one of the bridges that span the busy road.

That’s great, but when we think walkable, we mean something different from people here. We mean that we can go for a wander around the neighborhood just to enjoy it, pop downstairs to the bodega when we forgot something while grocery shopping or choose from a dozen or more restaurants within a few minutes’ pleasant walk. This isn’t that city. Update: we went for a walk this evening to a neighborhood called El Cangrejo (the crab) and we liked it. It is walkable, with real sidewalks, restaurants and cafes.

That’s not to say we’re having a bad time. This weekend, we tasted the most expensive coffee in the world at the Geisha Experience in Casco Viejo, or old town Panama City. We did a little tour, which basically explained how the geisha coffee is roasted and that it is so valuable because it only grows in a tiny micro-climate in the mountains of Panama. The pour-over preparation included — in addition to scales and thermometers — three separate pours with a wait in between each. Apparently, Steven and I do not have sophisticated palates because, while good, it tasted like coffee to us. Definitely not worth the price, but worth the experience, especially because it came with little chocolate-coffee treats.

From there, we wandered through the small district acting very much like tourists. The sidewalks are narrow, the building architecture ranges from colonial to art deco with other influences as well. One important message you should take to heart is always look down when you are walking. This is true in many cities, but the sidewalks and walkways here can be treacherous. Take it from someone who took a little tumble. Nothing hurt but my pride, but it’s best to be avoided. After our wander, we headed to CasaCasco, a restaurant on three levels, where we sat on the rooftop enjoying the view and the food.

We wanted to explore the Panama Canal Museum, but the floor that details the French and American building of this engineering wonder is under renovation, with no reduction in the admission fee of $15. We decided to skip it.

We really miss having a fruit and vegetable market and there is one on the edge of Casco Viejo, an area that is marginally OK by day but a definite no-go at night. We checked it out, but we’re not going to take an Uber to a sketchy neighborhood to buy food. Then, we headed back to the apartment. The water department here had notified residents that they were shutting down the entire city’s water supply from 7 p.m. Saturday through 4 p.m. Sunday to work on the valves at the reservoir. We had filled some buckets with water, but were also told that the building had its own, albeit small, water supply. We planned to eat dinner out and then Sunday morning, go to a coffee shop and the mall (malls are very popular here) because we figured they would have water.

We had seen an Indian restaurant within walking distance and went there for a thoroughly adequate meal. When we returned, we still had water! When we woke up, we still had water! Unfortunately, the brunch place we went to, Cafe Lavanda, while they were serving, did not have working toilets. The food was delicious, but it was very girlie. Lots of flowers, pink and lavender. I really wanted to take our granddaughter there. We had gone to the neighborhood called San Francisco because we were told it was walkable. It’s Panama City walkable, which means you can get a few places on foot but you’re not going to enjoy the walk. The city’s largest park, Omar, which used to be a golf course, is also in that neighborhood, so we walked around there for a bit and then went to the mall where the toilets worked and there was AC.

Finally, we headed home, figuring that even if the water was gone, it would be back within the hour. Uh oh! After walking around in the heat all day, we wanted showers. Steven tried first at about 4:30. Whoops! I searched the water department website and found the information that, yes, they had turned the water on, but it could take 6-8 hours before the pressure stabilized and we had water. Would have been nice to know that ahead of time. Whatever. As it turned out, we had water back by about 7:30 p.m. and we didn’t have to go to sleep sweaty. A good end to a good weekend.