Saturday night at Casco Antiguo is fun. Fridays you may hit or miss, Sundays are quite “tranquilo”, but Saturdays are great. Last night we went to have a bite to eat at Plaza Bolivar and on our way we heard Platea booming with music live. After dinner we went to Plaza Herrera to visit “Raffa” at our favorite (and only) heavy metal bar and it was packed with a fantastic rock band live. A sign with “Welcome” written in six different languages gave away the young international crowd that was at the place having fun side by side with locals.
Next door, at the former Pension Herrera, there was another party spot, this time
latin salsa. Outside their doors a woman was cooking “carne en palito” (a classic
Panamanian grab & go for carnivals and parties in general) and other life-saving-after-many-beers
food. She knows her market well.
Then you continue walking and the party extends to La Casona de Brujas, the No.1 bohemian
spot in the city. They had an art show going on which – of course – leads you to the
open courtyard and bar, which anyways you may want to visit first if you want to trully
grasp the meaning of the show.
We had a blast. The best (for me and my very weird sense of humor) was Beethoven,
Raffa´s dog. Everyone knows Beethoven. He is the only true punk-heavy metal dog I
know who can sleep right next to the amplifier and when the song stops… he wakes
up, runs out the bar, barks, barks, and comes back to sleep again during another song.
As I´ve always said, Casco Viejo is all about uniqueness and authenticity… in every
sense!
