The view from Cerro Ancón

On top of Cerro Ancón

Next up:  Cerro Ancón.  Ancon Hill.  It is a hill that is about 900m high, overlooking Panama City.

The drive up the hillside reminds me of California.  The rest of Panama City reminds me of South Florida, but, georgraphically, this is like California, with flatlands and then you go up the side of hill, steep in part, to get to a viewpoint.  At the top of Cerro Ancón is a giant Panamian flag.  "Giant" as in "so big it should be flying a mega-gas station."  There's also a selection of TV towers, both of which can be seen from all over the city.

But the whole point of driving up the one lane road to the top of Cerro Ancón is the view:

The view of Casco Viejo from Cerro Ancón

More Casco Viejo

The view of the canal side

This used to be in the old "U.S. Canal Zone," which meant it was sovereign U.S. territory until Jimmy Carter signed that treaty.  (It's kind of forgotten now but Carter signing that treaty to turn over the Panama Canal (and the Canal Zone) to Panama -- while the right thing to do historically -- helped cost him the election and make straight the way for the election of Ronald Reagan.  Any port in a storm!)

The view of the Financial District.  I wasn't the only turista up there at the time.

There's a statue of somebody:

Statue on Cerro Ancón

I saw a monkey in the trees up here, too.  But the dang monkey was too quick and too camouflaged for me to snap a picture in time.  So you'll just have to take my word.