My thoughts about Panamá City

In some books and guides Panamá City is compared to Dubai, but why? Obviously, they do not share the same continent, neither a climate zone. Dubai is dry and in the middle of a desert. On the other hand, Panamá is located at the Pacific coast and a parade example for a tropical city. I mean, it was cloudy and rainy, but at the same time super warm 24 hours every day of our visit. The most obvious thing they have in common are their amazing skylines. Along the promenade of Panamá, a lot of sky scrappers have been built in the past few years and some of them also have an interesting architectural aspect. One of the most sticking out buildings in Panamá might be the Trump tower. Yes, there is also one in Central America. It might look a little bit like the Burj al Arab in Dubai, but make yourself an image about this comparison. The second, not very obvious reason is the big contrast you have while driving through the streets and the different faces of the city behind every new corner. The promenade is super clean and newly renovated, but also not very well visited. One of its hotspots is the fish market, where a bunch of small stalls serve food at some tables in front of them. Right after the market, the neighbourhood already looks completely different. This area is poorer and you see, that nobody has tried to fix the houses there for years. Moreover, there is also the contrast between modernity and culture: Around the stadium Maracaná are a bunch of small fish bistros and you eat while looking at the modern Panamá but right in front of you are lying the boats of some fishers on the black beach. Some colourful wooden boats, which they might have used for ages and which do not have anything in common with the big white yachts, in all the small ports around the city.