Panama: Panama City – Avenida Balboa

Panama City is an ultra modern megapolis with the skyline resembling NYC and full of skyscrapers and glass and metal towers. Avenida Balboa runs along the Pacific coastline in front of all this towering real estate and the promenade is full of landscaped parks and monuments and walkways. Banking is the second largest source of revenue in Panama (after the Panama Canal), as loose banking and corporate laws draw a lot of shady money to Panama (recall the Panama papers). Whatever the spores of the money, Panama City does looks spectacular and Avenida Balboa is a must with all the parks and restaurants and views. Avenida Balboa is the most modern avenue of Latin America and dollar per km, it is the most expensive road in the world (it was built at a cost of $189 million). It has six lanes, two piers, eight sport courts and recreational parks, an exclusive bikeway, multiple fountains, mirror pools, and a monument in honor to the South Sea discoverer Vasco Núñez de Balboa.