I recently took a trip to Panama for work and was able to spend a few free days with my wife and friend in Panama City and a beautiful town called Gamboa. Panama is a huge melting pot of cultures and it's amazing to see the different types of people, food and Barrios. I was truly impressed and lucky to be able to spend a week in such an incredible place. The shots below tell a brief story and will give you a taste of what we saw and ate while we were there.
The main question that lingers at this point is when can I return. So many parts of the country unexplored, so little time! The continual saga.
So Panama City......wow! I saw pictures before I arrived but had no idea how big and modern it is. There is a major amount of growth and from a distance the skyline is very Miami vice esc. The only thing that's missing are all the bikini clad beach goers and there is good reason for that. I was told the water in the bay has the ability to melt the skin from your body. Mainly because raw sewage from the city has been pouring into it for the last 100 years. The good news is this problem will be resolved soon by an ultra modern sewage treatment plant. The bad new is that it's hard to get a date when you look like a deep fried catfish.
Everywhere we went there was construction and one of the locals told me that the Panamanians are taking a different approach to the cities modernization. Most cities do a small number of projects at a time and the end result is continual construction with no end in site. The approach here is to do everything at once with the goal being to have a good part of the work done in five years. The canal is being expanded and the locks are being redesigned to accommodate post Panamex vessels (three times bigger than current ships that traverse the canal), a subway system is being built to ease the terrible traffic problems, and there is a new sky scraper going up on every block. I'm not sure where all the investment is coming from but this place is alive and it's exciting. It's a bit chaotic because everything is torn up but it many ways this approach makes complete sense.
A few pics of downtown Panama City are pasted below.
I'm more of a dog person but this was a great pose.
Of course no trip to Panama would be complete without a trip to the canal and it's a great way to show how big a tourist you are. To step it up a notch try taking a cruise ship while wearing a Panama hat purchased at Casco Viejo, classic! Kidding aside it's a visit that's well worth it as this is an engineering marvel.
The food in Panama is incredible and it was great to go to a few authentic places. The shots below are from the fish market\restaurant (Mercado de Mariscos) near Casco Viejo. When I returned from this trip I was asked if the city was safe and if I was afraid. I never felt that way while I was in Panama and to prove the point I walked around the fish market which was populated by Panamanians with two foot long knives used to hack fish apart. Believe it or not but they never asked me to give up my wallet or camera. Guess I blended in and they thought I was a local but the 6 beers I put away gave the added reassurance I needed to fight off a large group of fish mongers.
Panama is so safe women sleep at the counter as they wait for their fresh fish!
More food and this is surprising. Soup is a really big thing in Panama which seems strange because it's so hot. I consider myself to be a soup connoisseur and the two bowls shown below are some of the best I've had. The first shot is a tamale soup with some sides (nothing like the Mexican tamales we have in Colorado) and the second is a typical Panamanian chicken soup. Both were ordered at a local place called Trapiche which I really liked.
Fried Corvina (Sea Bass)
I finally had enough of city life and got a chance to go to the part of Panama I had been dreaming of, the jungle. This was my first opportunity to go to a rain forest and I heard a lot of good things about a town called Gamboa which borders Soberania National Park. I was able to get the two remaining rooms at a bed and breakfast called Ivans. Fabulous place that met my tried and true criteria for travel, small, family run, and sustainable. The best part was we were able to walk to some of the best bird watching and wildlife viewing areas in the world. This part of Panama has so much wildlife that the Smithsonian has a research center here to catalog all the flora and fauna.
So as always a few photos that paint a better picture than I can.
The Agouti is one of the largest rodents in the world and I swear one of these things was trying to knaw it's way through the wall of our room. The Agoutis are everywhere in Gamboa and they seem to have no natural predators in the area as they can be seen grazing and napping all over town.
This camen was hanging out underneath one of the bars on the river. Probably likes fries as much as I do.
Not sure on the type of tree but it was interesting because the flowers were open in the morning and closed in the afternoon.
White Faced Capuchin monkey on a Lago Gatun island. The lake is part of the canal but there are a lot of stunning islands you can boat to for wildlife viewing.
Huge croc heading to the water. The monkeys in the area dip their tails and squeeze water into their mouths for a drink. They don't put their heads near the water for obvious reasons. Guess that crocodile smile has a hidden meaning after all!
Even the grasshoppers look cool in Panama.
A Great Kiskadee on the Chagres River. This watershed is the main tributary for the Panama Canal.
Broad Billed Motmot, Pipeline Road Gamboa
Twilight, no vampires.
Leaves in the forrest.
Close up of a dragon fly.
Deck hands. (ie Steve and wife)
Mi and mi esposa. Adios, till next time.
