Panama City Travel Blogs, Travelogues and Travel Journals

This was one of those trips in which very little planning was involved.  I had been looking at the American Airlines flights to Panama and saw that they were open and decided to go. Wednesday July 13 I left Indy at 1pm on an American Eagle EMB-145 to Miami and then took an American 757 to Panama City.  I arrived in Panama that evening and took a taxi to the city.  It took about 30 minutes to get there on the modern toll road.   It was r…

Today we went to the Miraflores locks of the Panama canal. They are the first of 3 sets of locks in the canal. it was pretty impressive though more Wes´s thing than mine. We took a taxi out there- the traffic is of course crazy and death defying. The best things are the city buses. They are old American school buses that are completely pimped out and painted completely over with graffiti paintings and sayings like ¨"The Peacemaker". Some have huge motors, crazy blaring music and big st…

Panama City (Ciudad de Panamá) is the capital of the Republic of Panama as well as the Panamá Province. It is The Republic of Panama’s Largest city and it is located at the Pacific entrance of the Panama Canal.. Panama City is the political, administrative and cultural center of the country.   In recent years, Panama City has become one of the most important financial and touristic centers in the Americas. Panama City was chosen to be the American Capital of Culture.   &nbs…

Good thing we took it easy in Boquete because our journey to Panamá City was a LONG one!  We didn't think we'd make it in one day, but we did!  We'd prepared ourselves mentally, saying "it's gonna be tough catching a ride . . .", but to our pleasant surprise, it wasn't.  We made it to the capital by nightfall and the whole trip cost us a whopping $2!! Good deal!  And since we didn't want to take any risks getting mugged or anything, we just went straight to Ken's pla…

First thing first, i do hate these Spanish computers, they dont seem to have that undo button, and i always seem to loose my first draft, this is the second time i have typed this up... grrrr.. Well we left the internet place yesterday and walked to Pavo Real, aka The peacock, the only english pub in the whole of Panama, it was open, yeh.  We waltzed in so excited as we so wanted to feel like being at home, well i can honestly say, it smelled like a pub, they had nice seats like a londo…

My brief stay in Panama City was supposed to end today as I was to meet the boat I was scheduled to take to Colombia this afternoon since it was leaving at 6am Saturday, however that was pushed back to Saturday afternoon to accomodate two other people and leave with a full boat. The bad side of this was that i didn´t find out until I was already set to leave for the boat early Friday afternoon after rushing back from the canal. But anyways... Some impressions of Panama City: …

After 15 days in Belize, I returned to Panama to prepare for what is turing out to be quite a busy "rainy season".  I received alert and had been monitoring Suriname, as they also received quite a bit of rain at the beginning of June, and there is a large chance that we will also launch an operation there is well!  Good to be back at the office, at least for a few days to sort things out. :) The operation in Belize is making notable progess, however some of the long term needs…

So on the bus from Granada to San Jose then on to Panama City I met some Panamanian guys who play in a Christian rock band.  After Kaarina dropped me off at the station in San Jose I started talking to them and we became friends quickly and talked on the bus and at all the stops along the way to Panama.  Once in Panama I went out for lunch and coffee with Gustavo we talked religious politics, probably my favourite hobby.  Then he had his brother pick us up in the taxi that he d…

Well im a bit confussed with times a little but, we left at 8.45 last night so we could get to the tica bus right on time! When we got there, there was loads of people all standing about! so i ran in and lined up in a nice long que waiting for my sheets to fill in for imigration. Pretty much after we are on the bus! My friend is complainging cause she is freezing... it hadnt hit me, but when it did i was soo cold! They keep the air con on constantly all the way through the journey! Even thoug…

I flew in on Friday and arrived ok. I found someone through couchsurfing and arranged to stay with him. He stays outside the city in area called Clayton. It was one of the former ten military bases all along the Panama canal. He suggested that I take a cab, but it was way too expensive so I decided to walk outside the airport and get one of the public buses. All went ok until the place where he told me to get off at. It was a shopping center and I had problems finding a phone to call him. We …

In the morning, we caught a cab to the Miraflores Locks. Once again, the book was wrong. We got there an hour before it opened. The cabbie was very nice and took us to a place to get breakfast while we waited. He did ask for more money at the end of the trip though, which we were cool with based on the extra time. I think we ended up paying $25 between the two of us for 3 hours. The entrance fee for the locks was I believe $8 full price, and $3-5 with a student ID. I brought my ganky ID I…

I was only in Panama for a few days. As much as I've enjoyed this country, I couldn't wait to get back to the Caribbean. Perhaps it was all the highrises and the very city feel that made me miss my island. Nonetheless, there are some sights to definitely see in Panama. Yes, that would include the Panama Canal.

7:00 am wake up cll for another amazing adventure.  Manuelo picked the  team up  at 7:30  and took us on a drive through the rain forest.  Our destination was the 'Gamboa Resort: At the Panama Canal'. Our mission was to get into a little suspended car thing and travel through the rain forest.  We all accepted this mission.  While traveling, we spotted a sloth, a red tailed squirrel, a flock of parrots, and we heard a howler monkey!  This was a really co…

vom san blas archipel auf der karibikseite von panama bringt uns eine abenteuerliche, schlammschlachtmaessige, 9-h-fahrt am montag nach panama city an die pazifikkueste: von unserem segelboot werden wir mit einem kleinen motorboot abgeholt und an die kueste, und von dort durch einen langen schmalen fluss ins landesinnere gebracht. von dort fuehrt eine 40km lange ungeteerte piste durch dichten urwald zurueck in die zivilisation. die fahrt dauert oft nur 2 stunden, doch wegen starken regenfaell…

Met up with the GAP crew today.  (although I am writing this several days later) Pedro, a Peruvian/Canadian is our leader and is on his 7th trip in the region.  There is one other Aussie guy from Sydney (25), one bloke from the UK (30), one Canadian girl (26) and two Welsh lasses (19), leaving me as the oldest guy on the trip.  We expect to pick up another 6 people when we hit Costa Rica.  Apparently it is normal for this part of the trip to not be full.  I dont know…