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We are back on our travel bullshit again, this time to Panama City, Panama! We went for 2 weeks at the end of April. Had a good time, but definitely learned some important lessons during our travels.
Our AirBNB was a high-rise near the coast, with a gorgeous view. The apartment itself… needed some updating. Starting with some sewer problems and a lack of dish towels for washing/drying dishes, salt-pepper shakers, and a few things like that, we ended up buying a few amenities. However, it was centrally located, and had a bodega downstairs that was extremely convenient, especially when we were all craving coffee and pastries first thing in the morning.
Our first day in town, we walked to a grocery store, which taught us a few things: 1) Panamanian sidewalks are treacherous. Despite everything being nearby, it was not walkable. We’d be walking down the sidewalk and suddenly there was a 1′ wide hole in the pavement that went down into the bowels of Hell or something. I should have taken pictures– it was creepy. 2) We also learned that distilled water is a difficult resource to find in Panama, which is a hindrance for me with my CPAP device. And 3) Walking around in Panama City mid-day is muggy, hot, and exhausting. We returned to the apartment and all just kind of collapsed like wet noodles.
In places where there was a recreational walk established, like along the coast, the sidewalks were well-maintained, but that doesn’t make a city walkable.
The Panama Canal is an absolute wonder and we definitely enjoyed both the museum and visiting the canal itself. Before we arrived, I downloaded the VesselFinder app and was able to identify the ships as they came in and out of the canal locks. We saw three ships going through– a cruise ship, an LP tanker, and a cargo container ship.
I took photos of the ships and posted them to VesselFinder, which was pretty exciting. I can see a new hobby in the making– watching boats and taking pictures of them. What can I say? I’m easily entertained.
We did make it to a makerspace in Panama City, associated with the University of Panama, where we met the director of the space. It was fascinating to see how another makerspace operates, and to see the prosphetics the students at the university have designed for children in need.
On a different day, we had a culinary tour led by an expat, going to a few restaurants and bars, and wrapping up the evening at a rooftop bar where we made our own passionfruit mojitos.
While the AirBNB we stayed in was a little “mid,” the two AirBNB Experiences we booked– the food tour and a coffee and chocolate tasting– were both top-notch.
We visited the Parque Natural Metropolitan early in the day, so we didn’t get overheated until the end of our little walk there. We saw lizards, many turtles, and a lot of greenery, of course.
Over the second weekend, the water was out city-wide in Panama City, from Saturday night through Sunday afternoon– but the outage remained until Monday morning, and was off-and-on throughout the day on Monday. We were frustrated by not having large enough containers in the apartment to stock up on water before the outage, and by not having a reliable source of information on the continuing outage. When John searched for information, he found expat forums that basically said “welcome to Panama,” this is standard procedure.
On that Sunday, to beat the heat and the water situation, we went to the park on Punta Culebra, which was quite lovely. There are multiple indoors (air conditioned) exhibits, including ones with several endangered frogs, as well as many birds and other animals just living their best lives outdoors– including several sloths, which we saw.
Towards the end of our stay, we visited the Mola Museum, which is a free museum of the indigenous art form of the Guna people of the San Blas Islands. Molas are traditionally worn as apparel by the Guna women, but are not sold as apparel to outsiders. Molas are made with a reverse-applique process, in which layers of fabric are cut away to reveal their designs.
Molas aren’t just traditional, though. The Guna create molas with all manner of designs, including some a little more modern and familiar!
Overall, our trip was very fun and exciting, and we learned a lot, about Panama itself, about how we want to travel in the future, and about some of our packing choices.
We have more travel plans coming up this year as our lives continue to evolve and we explore the world more. I don’t plan to post publicly mid-trip for security reasons, but I do plan to do post-trip writeups as we go!
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