A cockroach, a Gecko, a crab, and a Tarantula. Faithie's adventure in Panama!
Feb 6th, 2007, 03:20 PM
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A cockroach, a Gecko, a crab, and a Tarantula. Faithie's adventure in Panama!
Hello all,
Back from Panama in the wee hours of the am(1:30am). We had a great trip, great weather, met great people, and we will return to Panama. Similar in many ways to Costa Rica, but quite different at the same time. An interesting place.
Ahhh, yes... The critters mentioned, all in our room (a 2 story cabana really). But hey! We're in the jungle!! I now have an 10 yr old daughter who when served her whole red snapper simply looked at her father and said "Papa, can I eat the eyeballs?" lol. So their reaction to the critters was much the same, no big deal.
More later, homework beckons....
Faith.
Back from Panama in the wee hours of the am(1:30am). We had a great trip, great weather, met great people, and we will return to Panama. Similar in many ways to Costa Rica, but quite different at the same time. An interesting place.
Ahhh, yes... The critters mentioned, all in our room (a 2 story cabana really). But hey! We're in the jungle!! I now have an 10 yr old daughter who when served her whole red snapper simply looked at her father and said "Papa, can I eat the eyeballs?" lol. So their reaction to the critters was much the same, no big deal.
More later, homework beckons....
Faith.
Feb 21st, 2007, 06:17 PM
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I am waiting also faithie !!!
Percy
Percy
Feb 22nd, 2007, 03:17 AM
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I AM bad!!!
Yes, I'll get on with it. I've been inspired in the kitchen by our trip. Fresh red snapper in garlic, coconut rice, mango salad, YUM! YUM! YUM! Time to stop eating and start writing ....
Yes, I'll get on with it. I've been inspired in the kitchen by our trip. Fresh red snapper in garlic, coconut rice, mango salad, YUM! YUM! YUM! Time to stop eating and start writing ....
Feb 22nd, 2007, 03:50 AM
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Hello All!
Have I told you I love selloffvacations! Yeah for them as it enabled us to be in Costa Rica for Christmas, and 4 weeks later in Panama. Our trips are "budget" trips in the sense that we do not do a lot of tours, rent a car, or move around too much. Doing that would translate to 1 trip, and I much prefer 2! Besides, there is only so long you can listen to an 8yr old say, "Are we there yet", especially when we had just left the airport.
The flight down to Panama was on Airtransat, a large Canadian Charter Company that specializes in All-inclusive vacations. We buy the leftover aironly tickets at LOW prices as little as 1 week before departure. Good service, nice aircraft , no complaints, the plane was filled with close to 400 people going to the giant 900 room Royal Decameron. Yikes! I'm glad we were not. I believe there were 2 other passengers like us. We were lucky on arrival day in that it was clear, the flightpath took us across the isthmus from the Caribbean coast to Panama City , the country looked similar to Costa Rica here, the mountains being a bit smaller than those you see as you land in Costa Rica. There are similar sized mountains inother areas of the country. Panama City was a sight! Much larger than I anticipated, with an impressive skyline, Mr Donald Trump has taken note of this and is building a huge waterfront project. I was impressed, the plane did a large arc giving us a beautiful view of the canal and the ships lined up at the mouth. The Bridge of The Americas in the near distance, this was going to be cool!
Have I told you I love selloffvacations! Yeah for them as it enabled us to be in Costa Rica for Christmas, and 4 weeks later in Panama. Our trips are "budget" trips in the sense that we do not do a lot of tours, rent a car, or move around too much. Doing that would translate to 1 trip, and I much prefer 2! Besides, there is only so long you can listen to an 8yr old say, "Are we there yet", especially when we had just left the airport.
The flight down to Panama was on Airtransat, a large Canadian Charter Company that specializes in All-inclusive vacations. We buy the leftover aironly tickets at LOW prices as little as 1 week before departure. Good service, nice aircraft , no complaints, the plane was filled with close to 400 people going to the giant 900 room Royal Decameron. Yikes! I'm glad we were not. I believe there were 2 other passengers like us. We were lucky on arrival day in that it was clear, the flightpath took us across the isthmus from the Caribbean coast to Panama City , the country looked similar to Costa Rica here, the mountains being a bit smaller than those you see as you land in Costa Rica. There are similar sized mountains inother areas of the country. Panama City was a sight! Much larger than I anticipated, with an impressive skyline, Mr Donald Trump has taken note of this and is building a huge waterfront project. I was impressed, the plane did a large arc giving us a beautiful view of the canal and the ships lined up at the mouth. The Bridge of The Americas in the near distance, this was going to be cool!
Feb 22nd, 2007, 05:23 AM
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After landing at Tocumen Airport we easily and efficiently made it through the lineups, gathered luggage, and were met by our driver from Country Inn and Suites Amador($30). The drive to the hotel from airport took about 1/2 hour, rather than scenic it was interesting, this is a big city! I was nervous that this hotel was too cookie cutter generic for my tastes, but the location on the canal, view of the bridge, nice pool area was a lure with the children. In the end it was a fine choice, it has a certain charm, a bit musty smelling "a la tropics", perhaps worn at the edges a bit, but clean with friendly staff.($130 grand total including a nice big breakfast) The location is a big plus, on the mouth of the canal, a great view of the Bridge of the Americas, lush green mountains in the distance, tall palms lining the path of the Amador Causeway at your step, huge ships lining up in front of to pass through the canal, I look at Francois, "We're in Panama!!"
Feb 22nd, 2007, 08:37 AM
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http://family.webshots.com/album/557801978YJOCEZ
Ok, I hope this works. These are my pics from Panama. I'm going to go title the pictures, just figuring this out so have patience. Report to be continued!
Faith
Ok, I hope this works. These are my pics from Panama. I'm going to go title the pictures, just figuring this out so have patience. Report to be continued!
Faith
Feb 22nd, 2007, 09:52 AM
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The first evening we let the children unwind in the pool after the 5 hour direct flight from Montreal. Directly in front of the pool is a walkway that runs the length of the Amador Causeway, great people watching. It was very warm, humid, birds singing, back in the tropics.
For dinner we decided to skip the TGI Fridays onsite and head to the end of the causeway for a nicer meal, I knew not to take a "hotel" cab as they are more expensive, but went out the main door of hotel, turned right and took a cab from the street corner. Always ask cost first! If the price seems steeper than it should be ask for the zone map which indicates prices. We learned the hard way even though I knew this beforehand, always easier in retrospect.The cab ride from Country Inn Amador to end of the causeway cost $3us(everything is in US, they use US currency) This was "about" right....
We found a nice looking restaurant, and had a pleasant enough meal. We noticed that waitstaff did not seem to speak any English which as the trip progressed seemed to be the trend, very little English. In Costa Rica you have many, many more people speaking English. This was not a minus for us at all, just a comparison. Take your handy Spanish phrasebook, you'll need it! Back to the causeway, this area is in the process of being developed and spiffed up for tourists. They are doing a nice job. You can sense that tourism is a "newer" thing here, at least it seemed so to me.
For dinner we decided to skip the TGI Fridays onsite and head to the end of the causeway for a nicer meal, I knew not to take a "hotel" cab as they are more expensive, but went out the main door of hotel, turned right and took a cab from the street corner. Always ask cost first! If the price seems steeper than it should be ask for the zone map which indicates prices. We learned the hard way even though I knew this beforehand, always easier in retrospect.The cab ride from Country Inn Amador to end of the causeway cost $3us(everything is in US, they use US currency) This was "about" right....
We found a nice looking restaurant, and had a pleasant enough meal. We noticed that waitstaff did not seem to speak any English which as the trip progressed seemed to be the trend, very little English. In Costa Rica you have many, many more people speaking English. This was not a minus for us at all, just a comparison. Take your handy Spanish phrasebook, you'll need it! Back to the causeway, this area is in the process of being developed and spiffed up for tourists. They are doing a nice job. You can sense that tourism is a "newer" thing here, at least it seemed so to me.
May 18th, 2007, 05:40 PM
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<<I was impressed, the plane did a large arc giving us a beautiful view of the canal and the ships lined up at the mouth.>>
Is this pretty typical? We change planes in Panama City on our way to Peru and we were really hoping we'd be able to see the Canal from the airplane.
Is this pretty typical? We change planes in Panama City on our way to Peru and we were really hoping we'd be able to see the Canal from the airplane.
