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Category: Culture

How To Visit El Chorrillo: Panama City’s Most Dangerous Neighborhood

Located adjacent to one of Panama City’s most popular touristic neighborhoods is El Chorrillo, considered one of the most dangerous parts of Panama’s capital. El Chorrillo is often called a “red zone” by locals – a place to avoid, fear, and steer clear of. There is one person though who is leading visitors through El Chorrillo and giving a glimpse into a story of history, neglect, and change.

Next To The Boom

The historic and touristic neighborhood of Casco Viejo is expanding and demand for more land have begun eating into El Chorrillo and driving both prices up and residents out. Local guide Victor Peretz who runs Local in Pty takes small groups through the winding streets where in 1989 the United States invaded the El Chorrillo, home of Manuel Noriega’s military base. El Chorrillo has never recovered truly and has been plagued with violence.

el chorrillo panama city

Victor takes you through the pain of El Chorrillo as well as the daily life within the neighborhood. (Shown in the video above.) El Chorrillo is vibrant with local domino games (an elderly favorite), education initiatives (which Victor is an integral part) and Panama hat maker Mario whose family has been there for three generations.

Changes For Better Or Worse

As Casco Viejo become more expensive, property owners are slowly buying land and constructing new buildings in El Chorrillo. Right now most of the activity is on the borders but the trend is clear – Casco Viejo is moving into El Chorrillo. A slow tidal wave that brings with it uncertainty, co-working spaces, and expensive apartments in a gentrification story familiar in many large cities worldwide.

el chorrillo tour panama city

Victor shows you the present while putting perspective on the past as premonitions about the future become apparent. Overall the walk through El Chorrillo is enlightening and not uncomfortable as you have an experienced guide navigating you through otherwise tricky streets. Victor can be reached by Instagram, Facebook, and email ([email protected]). Tours run around 3 hours at a leisurely pace and begin from Casco Viejo. I can highly recommend Victor’s tours if you want to see a part of Panama City that might otherwise seem unreachable. The tour of El Chorrillo was the most memorable part of my visit to Panama City and gave a contrast with Casco Viejo I would have missed.

A Beginner’s Guide To Visiting Suriname

Suriname is a country that sees roughly 250,000 visitors per year putting it in the bottom half of all countries in terms of tourism. (Compare that to Chile’s 2 million in 2022.) The relatively small number of tourists to Suriname is not because there isn’t much to see, do, and eat here – it’s just that not a lot of people have found out about it.

Consider this short guide your introduction and invitation to South America’s diverse northern nation whose capital city might be one of the best foodie destinations worldwide.

Starting In Paramaribo

Suriname tends to be a warm, humid place most of the year, with a rainy season between April and September. Arriving around those months should keep you less wet (Suriname is 95% rain forest). Otherwise the weather is warm (30C+ highs) throughout the year due to its equatorial location. Most people arrive in Paramaribo by air and note that if you’re coming from a country with a risk of yellow fever, you will need a completed vaccination card.

paramaribo sunset

There are some good hotels in Paramaribo and they’ll run you about $75 a night. That gets you a large room and breakfast, not to mention central location.

Please Eat Here

Paramaribo might be one of the best cities in the world to eat. To get started, try some of the local roti – a flat lentil patty topped with a variety of vegetarian and meat options to your liking. For the ultra-local, make your way to Carili’s Roti Shop located in a quiet neighborhood in the center of town. Nearby there’s Jairoop and Roopram both competing roti shops if you can’t get enough of the dish.

suriname indonesian food

Another local favorite for breakfast (the smallest meal in Suriname) are the sausage and sandwiches from De Gadri. For dinner, there’s Martin House of Indian Food, and Lee’s Korean Restaurant which might be the best you’ll find outside of the Korean Peninsula. Mirosso for Indonesia flavors which might have you wondering: why am I pointing out Asian foods? The answer is these are not so much international restaurants as they are local restaurants run by generations of populations from Southeast Asia who arrived over 100 years ago.

Markets And More Street Food

Sunday is market day in Paramaribo and there’s plenty to choose from. The Chinese market is a good place to get produce and located close to De Gadri. Another, nearby market is the Kwatta Indonesian market, with more street food than you could ask for. There are also refreshing drinks like dawet, a cold coconut-based juice that’s loaded with sugar and tapioca. When you’re planning a visit to Paramaribo, try to plan your trip over at least one Sunday so you don’t miss the markets.

To get out of the city, there’s New Amsterdam, about a 45 minute drive outside of town. There you’ll see where the Atlantic Ocean meets the Suriname River, where old fort canons over look the horizon. Take a boat out on to the river to catch a glimpse of the local pink dolphins and tour the plantations to learn about Suriname’s colonial past.

This is just the beginning of all the things there are to see and do in Suriname. This short guide is more of an introduction to the country rather than a complete to do list. Remember, food, nature, and off the beaten path, Suriname has a lot to offer travelers.

The Best Places To Eat In Georgetown, Guyana

georgetown guyana cuisine

The capital of Guyana is known to be one of those places tourists need spend little time in. Although Georgetown doesn’t have the big sites of places like London or Berlin, what it does offer is a quiet culinary experience. The quality of the food in Georgetown is exceptional with a variety of creole, southeast Asian, and Caribbean flavors.

Here are some of the best places to eat in Georgetown, Guyana in no particular order.

1. Bettencourt

A local place serving up traditional Guyanese cuisine. The lines start forming during the busy lunch hour where you can order pepperpot (a cassava-based beef stew) and another local favorite, cook-up. Rice mashed with vegetables in coconut milk, topped typically with chicken or fish, service is fast even during the rush. Keep in mind there are few places to sit, it’s mostly takeout. Prices are average for Georgetown.

2. Fireside Grill

Part of the Fireside Suites, one of the best places to stay in Guyana, there’s good seafood on the barbecue and a daily menu that varies with common home foods. Swing by the early evening hours and take a look at all the hot pots, deserts, and stay for the atmosphere. Prices are above average for Georgetown.

3. Aagman

This is one of the first Indian restaurants in Guyana (which has a large local diaspora) and the preparation of the dishes are exceptional. The broths, stews, spices, and bases for the foods are made right before your meal and you can taste it. Flavors you may have only tastes hints of show their true textures at Aagman. Prices are above average for Georgetown.

4. Shanta’s Puri Shop

You don’t have to look further than the simple but staple dish, roti. Brought over from southeast Asia, there’s a little bit of a twist in the Guyanese version with no better place to try it than Shanta’s. A local favorite, it will be one of yours as well. Prices below average for Georgetown.

Just A Taste

I’ve left out other places like Oasis, a more Western cafe with good breakfast options as well as Backyard Cafe. What Georgetown lacks in things to see, it more than makes up for with street food, barbecue, and a mashup or two.

Where To Find Istanbul’s Best Non-Touristy Photo Spots

Istanbul is one of the world’s most photogenic cities but because it’s hard to find a bad angle, many people end up shooting from the same one. You see a lot of pictures from the same rooftop restaurant in Sultanahmet (seagulls optional), Galata Bridge, and in front of the Blue Mosque. Not that these are bad pictures but if you want to explore Turkey’s largest city like a local while photographing its lesser seen sides, here are three places to head to.

You can see all the spots shown below, with directions on getting to them, in the video here.

1. Parking Roof in Besiktas (Best At Night)

I’m not going to spoil this one but here’s a day time look from this parking lot next to an apartment between Taksim Square and Besiktas. Around a 10-15 minute walk from the square, at night you’ll get some of the best photos of the Bosporus Bridges lit up.

bosporus strait

2. Boat Dock Near Ortakoy Mosque

A lot of people get obstructed views from this vantage point because the cafes, mosque, and people create limited shooting angles. You’ll get a better picture from the small docks for tour and ferry boats a few minutes walk down (through a easy-to-miss) pedestrian tunnel.

ortakoy mosque

3. Turn Right Here

Find this mosque (directions in the video above) and look right where you can see an unobstructed, close view of Galata Tower, with enough perspective to capture the seagulls circling above. I’m not spoiling you though – I want to see the pictures you get. Feel free to link them in the comments below.

istanbul mosque

4. Walk Down Uskudar

Considering how easy Uskudar is to reach with one of Istanbul’s famous ferries and how many amazing views it gives you of the European side of the city, not as many people as you would expect ever make it out here. Maiden’s Tower at sunset makes for iconic photos and all along the coast there are fantastic shots of Istanbul’s famous skyline.

uskudar istanbul

All of these spots and the best photos you’ll take (I’m not showing you mine because the surprises are worth the wait) are walk-able with a ferry or two included. You can though take a taxi in Istanbul if that’s easier but by foot, you’ll get many more unique photo opportunities along the way.

The Fluentalk T1 Mini Translator May Solve All Your Language Problems When Traveling

We all dream of a future shown Star Trek where a tiny device called a universal translator helps alien species all communicate with one another. You speak in your language, they hear in their and vice versa. The T1 Mini isn’t quite that but a solid step in the right direction.

Pocket-Sized

The T1 Mini Translator is a small, rectangular device that comes in white measuring 91 × 55 × 13 mm and weighing 86 grams. Powering the internals are a gigabyte of ram with 8GB of storage and a QuadCore ARM 1.28 Ghz chip. Around the back there’s a 5 megapixel camera used for translating text on things like menus, plus a few buttons for power, volume, and a single translate button. The hardware layout is simple and straightforward and while the software experience isn’t quite as smooth, it works well once you get past the short learning curve.

The specs aren’t anything that will blow you away but you’re not using this screen to watch videos and boot up time is almost painfully slow. Once it does fire up though the T1 Mini has a singular focus, and that is to translate.

Talking Translations

Downloaded on to the device for offline use are 13 languages pairs, including English to Chinese, French, and Spanish. You can download a few more languages like Korean, Japanese, and German for additional offline use.

timekettle t1 mini translator

When the T1 mini is connected to WiFi however, that gives you access to 36 languages with 88 dialects, from Bulgarian to Turkish to Swedish. Embedded in the T1 mini is also a non-removable SIM card and when you buy one of these, you get a year’s worth of free mobile data to support translating, meaning across 84 countries, the T1 Mini will work with build-in cellular connection. When that connection period ends, you can top off for another year through Timekettle for about $45 dollars a year or simply use the device with WiFi only.

Push Of A Button

Setting your two languages, say, English and Spanish, the T1 Mini will automatically detect the language being spoken when you push the translate button. You speak in English and it will spit out Spanish. The other person speaks in Spanish and you get English. The T1 mini does a good job of translating too and from English, which is one of it’s “core” languages. I’m going to guess it’s good translating to and from Chinese as well, between French, Japanese, and German, one of these 13 language pairs it stores offline.

t1 mini translator

But when it comes to translating two non-core languages, like Swedish to Turkish, it falters fairly often. It seems to have trouble translating between Arabic and say, Korean, in my testing, so there is work to be done there.

When it comes to translating languages with the camera, it’s pretty good, even across less common fonts, the kind you’ll find on menus, and cafe signs. The translation is pretty quick, almost always less than a second, both with the visual and written text, so the experience is a smooth one, even if the translation isn’t always perfect.

Alternatives To The T1

You could use your phone and download languages offline using Google Translate or a similar app, but this translator is a lot less expensive than your phone which you might not want to take out everywhere. In a office setup where you’re traveling for business the T1 Mini could come in handy or if your in-laws are visiting from another country, for example. It’s a device you could leave in a room without having to commit your physical smartphone.

Overall, the T1 Mini is a useful tool if you’re traveling somewhere and don’t know the local lingo, so this device can help you bridge the language gap, in some languages better than others. It’s definitely a big jump forward in translating hardware and software which will only get better from here.

Duolingo Is A Good Start To Learning Language But Not The Final Step

Duolingo is a popular language learning site and app that comes with the very good price of free, unless you don’t count time. You might be thinking of learning a new language in the new year or want to learn a few words before an international trip. There are a lot of good reasons to learn a new language and Duolingo is a good start for some of them in some ways.

Back To Basics

Duolingo has a really low barrier to entry, all you have to do is hop on their website or download the free Duolingo app, answer a few questions about the language you want to learn, your current skill level. You can start anywhere from a complete novice to advanced and also specify your language lesson concentration – it could be cultural, for travel, or just because you want to learn something new.

It’s a very easy, quick set of questions before you’re off to learning. Duolingo is based on what they call XP points. XP points are basically a weighted point system for various language lessons and you can set a daily goal, with 30 XP being roughly equivalent to about 15 minutes per day.

Gamifying Language Learning

You get notifications daily to make sure you’re practicing everyday and Duolingo keeps track of your daily streak. Expect an automated reminder email if it looks like you might miss a day. To keep track of all those stats you have to create a free account. Then you can track your daily progress and see where you’re ranked against other language learners in the same language. Even if you’re not particularly competitive, it does work to motivate you not to miss lessons.

duolingo

The layout of Duolingo’s language lessons itself are like a game. There are bright colors, buttons, and all you have to do is hit start to being. Depending on the language level your entered in the beginning, you’ll go through lessons which use a few different methods to teach.

How Duolingo Teaches

One obvious focus is vocabulary. You’re shown some words then click what they mean with audio prompts throughout. As you advance will have to pick out the correct word among a few others. The words are also read out to you, which is helpful so you’re exposed to pronunciation and accents. Duolingo doesn’t prompt you to repeat back what you’re hearing but I’ve found for me personally, repeating back those words is very effective with memorization. The way Duolingo is set up is it’s as easy or as difficult as you want to make it but that part isn’t gamified and really takes self motivation.

duolingo

When you’re given a lesson where a sentence is read to you and you have to write it back, Duolingo defaults to letting you click the words you’ve heard. It will correct any mistakes and if you keep fumbling on a certain set of words or parts of a sentence like pronouns, it will focus on those for you.

To Be Free Or Not To Be

Duolingo’s free version shows ads in between lessons and prevents you from going back to see specific mistakes you may have made. Basically if you miss a day your streak starts over. But with Duolingo’s paid plan, called Super Duolingo, you can maintain your streak if you miss a day (in exchange for “Lingots”, which are points you accumulate with each completed lesson. Super Duolingo also lets you review past mistakes and get lessons focused on strengthening your weakest areas in a given language.

Duolingo is a good start or supplement but isn’t your one stop shop to learning a new language or even getting down some quick conversational lingo. I would suggest you pair Duolingo with some other online language service or classes because it’s short lessons are ideal for mental exercise to keep that new language fresh in your mind. Duolingo is the beginning of the journey to fluency but won’t take you all the way there.

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About Anil Polat

foxnomad aboutHi, I'm Anil. foXnoMad is where I combine travel and tech to help you travel smarter. I'm on a journey to every country in the world and you're invited to join the adventure! Read More

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