Overseas Adventure Trip - Panama 12/15/07-12/19/07
Jan 11th, 2008, 03:37 PM
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Overseas Adventure Trip - Panama 12/15/07-12/19/07
Panama – Passageway to the World
Overseas Adventure Travel
December 15-19, 2007
December 15
Our guide, Alex, met us and five other travelers at the airport. After a full day of flying and layovers, we collapsed in the lovely Crowne Plaza Hotel in Panama City.
December 16
We ate a buffet breakfast, then set off to see the Miraflores locks of Panama Canal. Alex taught us many facts, and in his charismatic way, made history come alive. He escorted us to the museum where he acted out the dioramas to our delight. We learned how the French, masters of canal building, failed in their efforts here. Disease, lack of proper equipment, shifting tides worked against them. When Teddy Roosevelt offered to help, Panama (then part of Colombia) ceded an area 50 miles long and l0 miles to the US. This arrangement ended on December 31 1999, but through the years there were some hard feelings and the Balboa High School protest incident in l964 in which 21 lives were lost.
People of Panama today are descendants of the French and West Indians who worked on the canal, and the Spanish, Italian, Irish and Chinese, who worked on the first transcontinental road in the Western Hemisphere.
We had seafood in ajillo (garlic) sauce in Restaurant Mi Ranchito, located on the water with a view of the modern skyscraper filled Panama City skyline. After lunch, we did some shopping in a crafts market and bought appliquéd crafts and souvenirs. It was then time to drive to the Gamboa Region for the next leg of our journey.
December 17
It was time to experience the rain forest. The Gamboa Rainforest Resort was originally barracks for the Zonies (Americans who worked and lived in the Panama Canal Zone.) The resort’s main house is a replica of a l930 mansion. It has a library with carved mahogany bookshelves, an indoor and outdoor dining area looking out on its swimming pool, and a high vaulted ceiling lobby which was tastefully decorated for Christmas. The house sits on a hill overlooking Lake Alajuela, which acts as a water reserve for the canal. We lodged in villa with a very roomy living room, a large, comfortable bedroom, and a bathroom without outlets, so I moved the mirror from the bedroom and did my hair in the kitchen! The apartment was landscaped with tropical flora. Numerous agoutis, squirrel-like rodents, romped on the lawns while some of Panama’s 960 species of bird called to us.
We boarded a dugout canoe and enjoyed the water birds as we neared the jungle for a visit to a village of Embera indians, a native tribe that lives as it did for centuries. We delighted in their colorful costume (the women, who normally go about topless, wear beaded collars when visitors are expected, the men wear beaded skirts, and the male children wear loin cloths. They prepared a traditional meal of tilapia in banana leaves, and presented us with fresh pineapple and fried plantains. The women make baskets dyed with ginger, achiote, teak leaf and jagua and the men fish and make intricate wood carvings. They explained their culture and costumes, performed a flower and butterfly dance, and we visited a hut where the 32 year old chief and his family live. He will be going to law school next year (at the unbelievable cost of $70 per semester) so that he will be able to represent his tribe in the future.
December 18
We rose early to join Alex for a bird walk. We saw the blue motmot and many kiskadees, but we never spotted the toucans who were whistling in the trees. Then we headed off for a boat ride to Monkey Island, inhabited by the friendly and aggressive capuchins. They will jump into the boat and steal any visible food, but our little visitor joined us, looked around, saw nothing, and left!!
For lunch, we stopped in the food court of the Albrook Mall, which is no different than any other shopping mall. But we mingled with the people. We met a lady who owns a bridal salon and who attends trade shows in the US three times a year. We also met a man whose sister lives in Brooklyn. Small world!!
In the afternoon, we visited two historic neighborhoods of Panama City. Casco Antiguo resembles Havana and is being beautifully restored. The pastel painted houses have wrought iron balconies, which were strung with a combination of flowers, clotheslines, and Christmas decorations. Casco Antiguo is also the location for the President’s home, Heron’s Palace. We timed it right, because he was leaving, accompanied by several security cars and police. All the cars looked alike and had darkened windows, so we speculated on which car he was actually occupying. We walked through streets where the Cuna Indians were selling their wares, and visited Las Bovelas, the largest mudflat in Central America. Next, we walked through the ruins of Panama Viejo, which burnt down in in l673, and learned about the history of Panama City in the Panama Viejo Museum.
Before we drove to the airport, we took a waterfront stroll along Balboa Avenue. The sun baked down on us and we experienced some really hot weather. We thought of our friends who were shivering in New York.
Usually, when someone asks me what my favorite place in the world is, my answer is “the last one I’ve visited”. The trip that we planned to visit the Mayan ruins of Central America had an add-on to Panama, and although the Panama Canal was not high on our list of priorities, we decided to go, primarily to add another country to our list. What a surprise to find that we had one of the most interesting, warm guides ever, and that we met a group of people who were positive, intelligent, well-traveled and friendly. Of course, as we continue on with our next leg of our journey, we may find a new “favorite”, but at the moment, we are high on well-presented history, colorful culture and good conversation. Did we love Panama? Well, the Canal has a fascinating past, and the Embera Indians are colorful, beautiful, sweet and friendly. Another unforgettable journey!
.
Overseas Adventure Travel
December 15-19, 2007
December 15
Our guide, Alex, met us and five other travelers at the airport. After a full day of flying and layovers, we collapsed in the lovely Crowne Plaza Hotel in Panama City.
December 16
We ate a buffet breakfast, then set off to see the Miraflores locks of Panama Canal. Alex taught us many facts, and in his charismatic way, made history come alive. He escorted us to the museum where he acted out the dioramas to our delight. We learned how the French, masters of canal building, failed in their efforts here. Disease, lack of proper equipment, shifting tides worked against them. When Teddy Roosevelt offered to help, Panama (then part of Colombia) ceded an area 50 miles long and l0 miles to the US. This arrangement ended on December 31 1999, but through the years there were some hard feelings and the Balboa High School protest incident in l964 in which 21 lives were lost.
People of Panama today are descendants of the French and West Indians who worked on the canal, and the Spanish, Italian, Irish and Chinese, who worked on the first transcontinental road in the Western Hemisphere.
We had seafood in ajillo (garlic) sauce in Restaurant Mi Ranchito, located on the water with a view of the modern skyscraper filled Panama City skyline. After lunch, we did some shopping in a crafts market and bought appliquéd crafts and souvenirs. It was then time to drive to the Gamboa Region for the next leg of our journey.
December 17
It was time to experience the rain forest. The Gamboa Rainforest Resort was originally barracks for the Zonies (Americans who worked and lived in the Panama Canal Zone.) The resort’s main house is a replica of a l930 mansion. It has a library with carved mahogany bookshelves, an indoor and outdoor dining area looking out on its swimming pool, and a high vaulted ceiling lobby which was tastefully decorated for Christmas. The house sits on a hill overlooking Lake Alajuela, which acts as a water reserve for the canal. We lodged in villa with a very roomy living room, a large, comfortable bedroom, and a bathroom without outlets, so I moved the mirror from the bedroom and did my hair in the kitchen! The apartment was landscaped with tropical flora. Numerous agoutis, squirrel-like rodents, romped on the lawns while some of Panama’s 960 species of bird called to us.
We boarded a dugout canoe and enjoyed the water birds as we neared the jungle for a visit to a village of Embera indians, a native tribe that lives as it did for centuries. We delighted in their colorful costume (the women, who normally go about topless, wear beaded collars when visitors are expected, the men wear beaded skirts, and the male children wear loin cloths. They prepared a traditional meal of tilapia in banana leaves, and presented us with fresh pineapple and fried plantains. The women make baskets dyed with ginger, achiote, teak leaf and jagua and the men fish and make intricate wood carvings. They explained their culture and costumes, performed a flower and butterfly dance, and we visited a hut where the 32 year old chief and his family live. He will be going to law school next year (at the unbelievable cost of $70 per semester) so that he will be able to represent his tribe in the future.
December 18
We rose early to join Alex for a bird walk. We saw the blue motmot and many kiskadees, but we never spotted the toucans who were whistling in the trees. Then we headed off for a boat ride to Monkey Island, inhabited by the friendly and aggressive capuchins. They will jump into the boat and steal any visible food, but our little visitor joined us, looked around, saw nothing, and left!!
For lunch, we stopped in the food court of the Albrook Mall, which is no different than any other shopping mall. But we mingled with the people. We met a lady who owns a bridal salon and who attends trade shows in the US three times a year. We also met a man whose sister lives in Brooklyn. Small world!!
In the afternoon, we visited two historic neighborhoods of Panama City. Casco Antiguo resembles Havana and is being beautifully restored. The pastel painted houses have wrought iron balconies, which were strung with a combination of flowers, clotheslines, and Christmas decorations. Casco Antiguo is also the location for the President’s home, Heron’s Palace. We timed it right, because he was leaving, accompanied by several security cars and police. All the cars looked alike and had darkened windows, so we speculated on which car he was actually occupying. We walked through streets where the Cuna Indians were selling their wares, and visited Las Bovelas, the largest mudflat in Central America. Next, we walked through the ruins of Panama Viejo, which burnt down in in l673, and learned about the history of Panama City in the Panama Viejo Museum.
Before we drove to the airport, we took a waterfront stroll along Balboa Avenue. The sun baked down on us and we experienced some really hot weather. We thought of our friends who were shivering in New York.
Usually, when someone asks me what my favorite place in the world is, my answer is “the last one I’ve visited”. The trip that we planned to visit the Mayan ruins of Central America had an add-on to Panama, and although the Panama Canal was not high on our list of priorities, we decided to go, primarily to add another country to our list. What a surprise to find that we had one of the most interesting, warm guides ever, and that we met a group of people who were positive, intelligent, well-traveled and friendly. Of course, as we continue on with our next leg of our journey, we may find a new “favorite”, but at the moment, we are high on well-presented history, colorful culture and good conversation. Did we love Panama? Well, the Canal has a fascinating past, and the Embera Indians are colorful, beautiful, sweet and friendly. Another unforgettable journey!
.
