If you head over to Casco Viejo, the old part of town, you'll find hopping bars and funky, refurbished clubs, and street carts where you can slurp those ice balls doused in the colored syrup of your choice. In El Cangrejo in downtown you can melt into the expat scene at the bustling cafés and feast on that marinated fish stew they call ceviche. There are colonial gems, there's dilapidation and squalor, there are tamales kiosks and bay-view restaurants. And you know, the de facto currency is the US dollar. Sweet.