Fodor's Travel Talk Forums - Trip Report Wild Panama Eco Adventure in Panama

This years Family vacation was in Panama, Central America. A former province of Colombia this Central American country was full of joyful surprises for us.
Before starting the trip as always I did a lot of research and decided to book our vacation with a local tour company Sendero Panama tours http://www.senderopanama.com. After much discussion on our family travel committee we choose their Wild Panama Eco Adventure but also a couple of other activities that were in other programs. The girl at sales was very helpful.
Day 1
The day of our arrival to Panama, disaster stroke, the airline lost one of our luggage pieces, of course had to be mine, mom. Luckily our guide was at the airport waiting for us and help us arrange for the luggage to be taken to our hotel when it arrived 2 days later.
We stay at the Gamboa Rainforest resort, perfect if you have kids...
Day 2
The next morning since I didn't had any clothes a driver took me to the mall to buy some clothes while the rest headed to Barro Colorado for the first day of exploration. They came back to the hotel that day joyful with all they had seen and I was happy with my new clothes. My little girl was fascinated with all the knowledge of our guide and my husband with his patience. Images of colorful frogs, blurs of monkeys in the canopy and a close up of a funny creature name Sloth were part of the repertory on my husband camera. With this first day everyone had forgotten the night before and the lost luggage.

Day 3
Amazing morning full of wildlife, from the comfort of a small boat we saw numerous monkeys, and crocodiles. It was fun to see how the guide challenged my kids knowledge asking them questions about things they had seen the day before and again in that morning. At one point we were quietly making our way to get a closer look to a huge crocodile when John pointed out the toucans overhead. We saw three species of toucan that morning.
Another part of the experience was to be able to be so close to the massive ships transiting the Panama Canal, perfect set up for the afternoon visit to the Panama Canal locks.
After visiting the locks we made our way to the domestic airport and check in for our flight to Chiriqui, and YES! , my luggage was there, waiting for me.
At our arrival we were transferred to Finca Lerida Lodge, beautiful setting in the Highlands of Panama, a coffee state in coffee land, Central america.

Day 4
We spend the day looking for wildlife, and Yes we saw Quetzals, no one, several of them. Until that moment the toucans were my favorite birds, now is the Quetzal.
My kids rename the cloud forest as AVATAR! All the time, look mommy like in AVATAR.

Day 5
We went Canopy Zip lining in the morning, my husband and kids love it, I have to admit was a bit scare all the time. After the Zip line we moved on on our adventure for a long picturesque drive across the Continental Divide to the Caribbean of Panama. Along the drive I realize what my husband meant by been impressed with the patience of our guide who was with us during the trip. He spend the 4 hrs of the drive making sure the kids were enjoying the ride, therefore us adults could enjoy it too.
As we were getting closer to the Caribbean coast we stop at a small Indian village were we visited a family of friends of our guide. They took us to their Cacao plantation were the kids got to taste raw cocoa pulp, later inside of their home they show us the process of making chocolate, well my kids didn't just watch, they got busy making their own chocolate. My little girl still talks about that day.
That night we check in at the Country Inn Playa Tortuga, big smiles on my kids when they saw the swimming pool, something missing from the Finca lerida lodge.

Day 6 and 7
We spend those days in the Caribbean archipelago of Bocas either snorkeling, hiking or on the beach, it was a good way to end the program...
In day 7 we returned to Panama City and stay at the Miramar Intercontinental.

After visiting countries like Belize and Costa Rica, Panama is in the top of my Central America list.