Today I’m driving from what looks like small-town USA to an island paradise. But I’m in Panama City’s Ancon sector, heading out to the area known as the Amador causeway. It’s a five-minute drive during rush hour.

Take a look at the video I shot.

It’s nearly sunset, my favorite time of day to come here. As I drive over the causeway, a land bridge that connects three tiny islands, I roll down the windows. Cyclists pass me, streaks of neon against the pinkish sky. They disappear down the palm-lined strip, surrounded by rocky shores and soothing blue waters.

The breeze here is reliable 365 days a year, and everyone is enjoying it. Walkers are walking, joggers are jogging, puppies are straining at their leashes. It’s the very picture of perfection—an implausible Pleasantville. People are eating ice-cream and smiling at each other (who does that anymore?).

I park in a lot next to what will soon be Panama’s biodiversity museum. As I trot past the site, I note the Bridge of Life building, as it is called, is really taking shape. All angles, it looks like the Mad Hatter conceived it. Architecture lovers will recognize the unique style of the world-famous Frank Gehry.

His buildings are enough to give tourism in any country a jump-start, and this is his only project in Latin America. A rendering of the finished project shows the color scheme will be just as outrageous as the design. I can’t wait to see it from the city, a splashy beacon across the water.

After finishing my evening constitutional, I stop at one of the outdoor cafes and order a fresh juice to go. You can have nearly any fruit imaginable transformed into an icy drink. Like many places in Panama, they have papaya, passion fruit, mango, bananas and more on hand. Getting back in my car, the Amador area slowly begins to melt into the adjacent neighborhood of Balboa (not to be confused with Balboa Avenue, which is downtown).

It’s hard to believe I am in Panama City. I feel like I am miles away. Norman Rockwell could have painted the street corners here, complete with peeling Coca-Cola ads on the side of the local store. Watching passersby, I marvel at the eclectic mix…some banter in English, others chatter away in Spanish, but they all seem completely at home.

Visiting this area, it’s not hard to see that it was once a part of the U.S. militarized Panama Canal Zone. It all looks much the way it did when it was part of la zona…neat rows of similar houses, wide avenues, and shocks of green everywhere. Many of the homes have been painted and renovated, but you can usually spy the original architecture, known as American Colonial, underneath it all.

There is still a large U.S. population here…from young students going to Florida State’s satellite campus, to recently transplanted retirees, to the old-timers known as “zonians.” These former Canal Zone employees—many of whom lived their whole lives in Panama—chose to stay after the U.S. closed its bases here.

The old Masonic temple is now a modern art museum. The old wooden cinema building is now home to the Ancon Players, who perform live theater in English. The dilapidated Balboa Theater hosts Spanish-language plays in addition to musicians from all over the world. But unlike downtown Panama City, these neighborhoods have changed slowly…and this lends to the small-town feel.

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