Old ruins and tropical storms

Today's breakfast spot was a cute French cafe called dodo. My omelette was small but unsatisfying. We stopped at some shops, returning to Casa Sure for a smoothie and almond croissant for the road before getting into Vicente's car for the drive to Panama Viejo to see the ruins of the first colonial settlement which was burnt down by the pirate Henry Morgan. The site has a nice small exhibit of the daily artifacts that have been found here. It was particularly hot and humid so while I would've liked to take more time to stroll among the ruins, I didn't protest when everyone else chose to take the tram back to the car.

Lunch today was at a Greek place where all the staff knew Vicente (which happened at all the restaurants we went to), I had delicious pork gyros, we all shared grilled pulpo (octopus) and eggplant. No meal is complete without a drive through Frutitas of course. Vicente took us on a mini tour of a different part of the modern city on our way back to the apartment. Our original plan was to return to Panama Viejo after a rest for free ballet but it was pouring rain in the early evening. It cleared by 7p but when we got there, turned out to have been cancelled. We drove around the Costa d'Este new developments which are built on landfill. The area is full of fancy condos and houses but Vicente was skeptical of the value of the area.