Panama City of Contrasts

Evan and I wanted to take an exotic vacation but we didn't want to travel far.  Our parameters were that the destination had to be a non-stop and relatively short flight from our preferred airport.  We also weren't looking to break the bank.  We set our sights on returning to Latin America. Neither of us had returned since meeting in Mexico in 2005.  My dad had lived in the Canal Zone in Panama City for two years in the 60s and I kept reading about Panama being on the rise, sort of "the poor man's Costa Rica".  Another plus is that English is widely spoken and the currency and electric standard is the same as our own.  We were sold!

The majority of our trips are centered around doing, doing, doing but this time we took an actual vacation where we specifically planned for lazy days. As a result, I'm going to format this blog a little differently than those in the past.  Instead of running through our day-to-day activities, I'm going to feature the highlights in terms of food and excursions.  We spent two whole days solely sitting by the pool so that wouldn't come across as very exciting in my blog narrative.

Travel dates: March 27 - April 3, 2015

Our accommodations:

We stayed at Coconut Lodge in Las Cumbres, approximately 20-30 minutes away from the city center.  There's so much good I can say about the place.  The surroundings are lush and tropical and you can hear all manner of wildlife, day and night.  We grew accustomed to the dawn and dusk high-pitched orchestrations of the cicadas and the multitude of birdsong throughout the day.  We also spied a neque, a member of the rodent family (think mini-capybara or chihuahua-sized guinea pig) in the "backyard".  It took a dip into a small creek, got out, shook itself off, and then frolicked, yes, frolicked, away into the trees.  Highly entertaining and painfully cute.

Look at how lush this place is:

Some evidence of the birding we did right at the Lodge:

We ate all of our breakfasts and dinners and two lunches at the Lodge.  All were wonderful meals.  In fact, one meal was created on the fly after some of our fellow guests brought back their catch from an early morning fishing excursion on Gatun Lake.  The Lodge cook, Annalieke, is so much more than a cook.  She was extremely involved in providing us rides to/from the Lodge, organizing tours, answering questions, serving as a translator, etc.  In my opinion, she should be running the place.

Evan and I are pretty introverted and at first, we were unhappy to learn how much time we would be forced to spend with other guests - the dining area is family-style and the seating around the pool is limited and doesn't offer a tremendous amount of privacy.  Very serendipitously, our first four days/evenings we shared the Lodge with a family of five from Chicago. The couple, M & C were lovely and their children, R, A, and H were equally as lovely.  When they left, we actually missed their company.  A couple from Colorado arrived next and I had become so attached to the family from Chicago that the new couple felt like interlopers.  

Our room, Cafe con Leche, was comfortable, if a little more rustic than we were expecting.  The website pictures are a little deceiving as I assume they were taken when the rooms and other aspects of the Lodge were newer.  This brings me to my critique of the Lodge.  Ownership changed hands about four months ago but the website hasn't been updated.  If, for example, you ask Conrad, the new owner, where Laura, their pet parrot is, he will have no idea what you're talking about. Her picture is in the website's photo gallery but she's not there.  Presumably, she's with the previous owners.

We also used the Lodge's recommended guide, Mario, to do two day tours and in both instances, we were very disappointed with his services.  His prices were steep and his knowledge of the area's tourist sites was severely lacking.  At one point, I asked him about a building and his response was - I'll have to research that.  Really?  You don't already know about a building in a city you were born and raised in and presumably, take tourists to all the time?  Mmmkay.  And when we visited a museum instead of offering a fresh perspective or analysis of the facts, he used his finger to follow the text on the placards and READ TO US.  Dude, I know how to read.  In the interest of not dwelling on the negative, I will end my critique there. Needless to say, I wouldn't recommend him.  We were also disappointed with Conrad's handling of the matter since we trusted him and his recommendation.  He has a lot to learn about being a manager and making the customer happy.

We had a wonderful stay at the Lodge and honestly, the positive outweighed the negative.  We loved our leisure time there. We really unplugged (at least from the TV, we used the wifi daily) and enjoyed some quality relaxation.  That being said, every travel experience is also a learning experience and what we learned is that we don't want to be that remote or removed from town again.  We like to be able to walk to food and/or sites on our own and we were completely dependent on the Lodge to get off-site.  In the future, we will also be more discerning when employing the services of a tour guide. Next time we will do our own research and compare prices first before blindly following the advice of a hotel/B&B manager.

Our activities:

Our first day tour we did a combination of three major sites: the Panama Canal, Casco Viejo (or Casco Antiguo), and Panama Viejo. 

The Panama Canal

Panama was and is historically significant.  Being the midpoint of the Americas and the thinnest strip of land and easiest/quickest way to get from the Pacific to the Atlantic; it was used early on by the Spanish colonists to stockpile and then transport their riches.  Before the Canal, goods were moved via the isthmus.

The Panama Canal was as interesting as you might imagine.  Historically, it's fascinating, but it was difficult to observe the science of it in a limited amount of time.  I found it easier to see how it worked in the adjoining museum, which had animated models demonstrating the rise and fall of the locks that position the ships parallel with the man-made Gatun Lake.  

We drove through what would've been the "Canal Zone", formerly U.S. territory, and where my dad went to junior college for two years.  There are several locks but we went to the most commonly visited, Miraflores Locks.  35-40 ships go through the lock system everyday.  It takes them 8-10 hours from beginning to end.  The Canal, which was formally transferred back into Panamanian control in 1999, is a huge source of income, think billions, for Panama.  In fact, everyone we talked to never failed to mention that Panama is booming.  

Every time we drove through town we saw construction happening and most of the skyscrapers in the modern downtown have been built in past 10-15 years.  The reason Panama City is a city of contrasts is that while it's doing well for a Central American country, it can't be ignored that there are still people living in shanty-towns and dangerous/rundown neighborhoods. There's also trash everywhere and a general insensitivity toward the environment/wildlife.  It always hurts my heart to see so many stray/street cats and dogs.  Panama City is sadly rife with them.  

But I digress.  Let's get back to the Canal.

The French began construction on the Canal in 1880.  After something like 20,000 deaths related to yellow fever and malaria, they abandoned their efforts.  Not long after the U.S. intervened.  In 1903, the U.S. and Panama signed a treaty that stipulated the U.S. would build/manage the Canal in exchange for military protection for Panama.  (Panama had just broken away from Colombia.)  Before the U.S. started work they researched the source of the previous workers' deaths and put preventative measures into place to protect their workers.  They did a manner of things like paving roads and eliminating sources of stagnant water, which are breeding grounds for mosquitoes.  

People from many nations predominantly, the West Indies, completed work on the Canal.  It was under U.S. control for many years but the Panamanians protested and fought to nationalize it.  In 1977, Jimmy Carter signed the rights back to Panama but as I mentioned earlier, the transition didn't come full circle until fairly recently.

The Canal at work:

Casco Viejo

In the course of our stay, we visited Casco Viejo, an UNESCO site, on three separate occasions.  It's a lovely area of town that's currently going through a renaissance.  There are still buildings in disrepair and it borders on a dangerous, low-income neighborhood called El Chorrillo but the parts that have been refaced are just gorgeous.  The French colonial style is reminiscent of New Orleans.  

Casco Viejo, or the old helmet, earned its name due to its fortified wall, which was used as a buffer against pirate attacks. Ammunition was also stored in the wall. 

El Chorrillo, the unsafe neighborhood bordering Casco Viejo, is where Manuel Noriega, the dictator, was captured by the U.S. The operation was executed at the expense of civilian lives.  When bombs were dropped at his headquarters fire spread to the frail wooden structures where people were dwelling.  Many people died.

On our third and last visit to Casco Viejo our cabbie, who was extremely nice and spoke no English, made a point to drop us in front of the Church of San Jose so that we could see the Golden Altar.  The story goes that a priest painted the altar black so that when Henry Morgan was pillaging the city for gold, he would spare this piece.  It's funny that Mario, an alleged tour guide, took us there on our first outing together when it was closed (shouldn't someone in his field be aware of the hours?) but our cabbie, who was not being paid to entertain us, knew that it would be something we'd like to see. And miracle of all miracles, it was open!

I love random street art:

Casco Viejo in all its splendor:

This is the building I asked Mario about.  It's obviously been around a long time.  Tour guide fail!

I can only assume these are leftovers from Carnival:

This is Plaza Francia, a monument to the French contingent who broke ground on the Canal.

The Golden Altar spared from Captain Henry Morgan's clutches.

All of these pictures were taken in Plaza Bolivar where we ate two of our off-site lunches.  

As you can see, these buildings have yet to undergo their facelifts:

I couldn't help but capture this vintage or copy of a vintage advertisement for authentic Panama hats:

Panama Viejo

Panama Viejo is the location of the original Spanish colonial settlement in Panama.  It's one of the oldest original cities in the Americas, built in 1519. Captain Henry Morgan, a British buccaneer, sacked the city and stole most of its gold.  He also burned the city.  After its destruction, Casco Viejo became the "new" Panama City.  

I like this tree:

The mudflats bordering the ruins of the old settlement are home to millions of migratory birds every year.  You can see the skyscrapers of modern Panama City in the background.

Amador Causeway

The Amador Causeway was filled in with dirt excavated from the Canal construction.  At the farthest stretch of the Causeway is Fort Amador, which my dad remembers from his days of living in the Canal Zone.  I'm not sure if it's still a military base or if it's just an opportunity for duty-free shopping.

Either way, we had a grand time renting a surrey and "biking" up and down the sidewalk for an hour.  It features beautiful scenery such as palm trees, seabirds, and brick sidewalks.  You can also see ships in the distance lining up to enter the Canal.  Unfortunately, half of our view was obstructed by a corrugated metal fence where they're currently working on the sidewalk.  At least we got to see one side in its intended state.

We had one of our few off-site lunches at Cafe Barko.  The food was decent and Evan really enjoyed his pina coladas.  On the downside, Evan saw caged parrots on his way to the restroom.  This is a major no-no and a fineable offense.  I remembered reading about it in my Lonely Planet travel guide.  I reported them to a local conservation group but who knows if they'll actually do anything about it.

We had another unpleasant wildlife encounter on the way to the Causeway.  We saw a sloth in the form of roadkill.  *cries* From that point on I made it my mission to see a live one before we left Panama.

In the distance you can see a colorful building.  This new landmark is the Museum of Biodiversity.  It's built by the famed architect Frank Gehry who also built the Guggenheim in Bilbao, Spain.

Soberania National Park/Panama Discovery Center/Pipeline Road

We were driven to Gamboa Rainforest Resort and from there transported to the Panama Discovery Center within Soberania National Park.  Once there we booked a guide of indigenous Embera descent to lead us on a three-hour roundtrip bird-watching hike.  It was absolutely, hands-down the highlight of the trip.  It was also the best money we spent and it was very reasonably priced.  

Our guide, "Johnson", was amazing.  He knew every call of every bird.  Several times he would flip to a page in his bird book and identify the bird making the call.  Other times we were lucky enough that he spotted a bird and then he would set up his telescope for our viewing and also pass around his pair of binoculars.  

Evan and I were drenched with sweat.  It's extremely hot in Panama but that day was particularly draining.  Johnson was bone dry the entire time.  

Through Johnson's expertise we were able to see many birds but also howler monkeys (he identified a group before even seeing them just by the smell of their scat) and also a lone three-toed sloth!  All in all it was a very successful wildlife watching experience.  

At two points during our hike we heard the crash of a tree falling down.  Evan and I were so freaked out.  I'm not lying when I say I thought we were going to see the Smoke Monster from Lost!  That's exactly what it sounded like.  

Word to the wise: If you want to see wildlife, get there early!  Animals are smart and when the sun is high, they go into hiding.

A slaty-tailed trogon:

Aztec ants:

A lizard getting some water from a big leaf:

We climbed to the top of a 32 meter high tower that overlooked the canopy.  If you see a dark speck in the middle of the tree you've successfully located a bird!

These are two pictures featuring the wattled jacana.  The first picture shows a mature jacana and the second shows an immature jacana.

We also saw a snail kite on the water.  It looked a lot like a brown eagle but what makes it special is that its beak is shaped in a way to help it break through snail shells.  That's its main cuisine.  We took a picture of it but it was so far away it was even smaller than the specks you've seen previously.

This is called a crocodile tree.  Three guesses as to why...

Just hanging out:

Metropolitan National Park    

Evan and I took another opportunity to wildlife watch but this time we did it on our own.  We figured we got to see some really cool animals with Johnson so anything else would be the icing on the cake.

We took the easiest of the hikes and didn't even bother to climb up to the highest point of the park, which has a view of the whole city.  

We were fortunate to see a small snake, turtles, lizards (we saw them run on water), ants, termites, woodpeckers, and more neque.  If it hadn't been for the park placard we likely wouldn't have figured out what we saw at the Lodge and then at the park.  

Food:

As I mentioned previously we only ate off-site a few times.  Once was at the Amador Causeway - see above.  Twice we ate in the Plaza Bolivar in Casco Viejo.  Neither meal was exceptional and in fact, our experience was that eating out was relatively expensive especially when compared with what you might expect in the rest of Central America.  We also didn't get much of an opportunity to eat traditional Panamanian food.  We avoided ceviche because we didn't want to take the risk of getting sick from raw fish.  We did have empanadas at Cafe Barko, which were decent.  

Mostly, I enjoyed the ambiance when sitting at Feeling and Casablanca in Plaza Bolivar.  It reminded me a little of sitting on Lincoln Road in Miami Beach.  It's not necessarily about the food but it's definitely about the people-watching.   

Overall, we had a fabulous and relaxing time in Panama City.  It seems we were the odd ones in that we spent the entirety of our vacation in the city while other tourists make room for Bocas del Toro or San Blas, the islands.  Frankly, we just didn't want the added complication of adding more destinations to our itinerary.  We took two days to do nothing but sit by the pool and even though it was a challenge to find something to do toward the end of our trip, we still managed to do something.  The heat really takes a lot out of you so we enjoyed doing an activity early in the day and then spending the afternoon by the pool.  

We found the locals to be extremely friendly.  On our first outing in Casco Viejo an older woman greeted me and wished me a good day in Spanish.  I was so flustered by her kindness (and Spanish-speaking) that was I barely able to utter a buenos dias.  Oops.  

I think Panama is going through some growing pains.  The modern part of the downtown is growing rapidly and beckoning rich investors, developers, and celebrities.  To me, it's the ugliest part of the city.  At least the rough neighborhoods and hillside shanty towns show some character.  

I'd go again though I'm not sure what my objective would be other than to relax and perhaps work harder at finding/eating good local cuisine.  It'll be interesting to see how they progress in the next several years.  They're leaps and bounds ahead of some of their neighbors but like most developing countries they have major improvements to make like greener public transportation and more regard/respect for their environment, nature, and animals. I found it so offensive to be in the Metropolitan National Park, for example, and see trash strewn about.  Not only is that terrible for the environment, it's terrible for the wildlife that call the park home too.  You can do it, Panama!  You can be better and you can be an example for the rest of Central America.