The Amador Causeway is a different kind of drinking from the Casco Viejo — more casual, more open to the elements, and more local. On weekend evenings the causeway fills with Panama City families, couples on motorbikes, and groups of friends who have driven out for the breeze and the view. The bars and restaurants here are open-air or semi-open, and the standard order is a cold bottle of Balboa or Atlas — the two Panamanian lagers that are reliably cold and reliably right for the climate.
The view after dark is one of the quiet pleasures of Panama City: the lights of container ships and tankers anchored offshore waiting for their canal slot, strung out across the Pacific in a long line that can stretch for kilometres during busy periods. In the other direction, the city skyline reflects in the bay. It is not a glamorous scene — plastic tables, beer in bottles, cumbia from somewhere — but it is an honest one, and very Panamanian.
The causeway is a short taxi from the city centre. Some visitors cycle out in the late afternoon and stay for sunset and dinner.