Carol & Dave's Panama Adventure

April 2 - 6

We met Carol & Dave through Cruise Critic on a “roll call” for an Alaskan cruise we took in 2010. We did a few tours together and even met up on land in Alaska and did a few things together. We kept in touch over the years and they wanted to check out Panama as a possible place to live. A perfect opportunity to pick our brains on life here in Panama.

They both still work so they managed a long weekend over Easter to fly down from Tampa. Despite being Holy Week here I tried to organize their stay so that we were traveling in the opposite way of the heavy traffic. We live in an area where a lot of people come from Panama City to stay at the beach for the holidays. It worked out pretty well all things considered.

They arrived on Thursday and did a city tour in the afternoon. Friday they took the ferry ride through the canal. (we begged off since we have done that several times as well as on cruise ships). Since we had scheduled an early morning tour for Saturday we decided to use our free stay at the Marriott before it expired and spend the night. We drove down in the morning and had hoped to go to the Summit Zoo, but it was closed due to Good Friday. So, we did a short walk on a trail in Soberania National Park and then checked out the mud flats. We found 3 new birds for our count and got lucky and found the lone White Pelican very close. With malls and most everything closed due to Good Friday we wondered if we would find food for lunch. Our favorite Chinese place was open so we lucked out.

These photos were taken at Gamboa Marina:

Rusty-margined Flycatcher 

 Rusty-margined Flycatchers

 Glossy Ibis

 water lilies in bloom

road to Gamboa Resort

 

 Morpho Butterfly

 picnic area at the end of the trail

waterfalls at the end of the trail

 





Here are the photos from the mud flats:

 White Pelican

Stilt Sandpiper 

 Stilt Sandpiper

 Stilt Sandpipers

 Marbled Godwit

 Marbled Godwit

 Marbled Godwit

 Marbled Godwits

 Marbled Godwit

 gulls & terns

 Jumbo Restaurant



We then drove to Casco Antiguo (Old Town) to see if the restaurant where we wanted to eat was open for dinner. We were told the bottom was, but not the rooftop. We then drove to the Marriott and checked in and freshened up and relaxed a bit. Good timing as we got a call from Dave and coordinated to get together for dinner. We drove to the condo they rented. It was a lovely condo with beautiful views of the city and the ocean. Since the rooftop wasn’t open that night, we went to Lenos Y Carbon on the Amador Causeway for dinner. We watched some raccoons for a while after dinner. After walking around for a while we stopped at got some gelato and while we were there we saw a young lady with the tiniest puppy we have ever seen. So cute! How did I not take a photo of it? We went to drop them off at their condo and there was a somber parade with Jesus right in front of their building. They  jumped out and made their way through the parade. We had to reroute to get to our hotel as a lot of streets were blocked for the parade.

 views from the Bayfront Condo

 Dave's fish at Lenos Y Carbon



Next morning after we checked out of the Marriott we went to Carol & Dave’s condo and took our luggage upstairs as we were spending the night at their place. Then we walked a couple of blocks to meet our tour van. I had set up a Monkey Island tour and Indian Village visit. Our tour guide Ross was fantastic and our boat captain found tons of monkeys for us. We found Howlers, Capuchins and Geofrey’s Tamerands, known as Mono Titi  here. One was a mother with twins hanging on tightly to her. We saw tons of Snail Kites. The Indian Village was a different one than the one we saw last time. Same tribe from the Darian, but they split from the larger Embera tribe and are the Waunaan Tribe. It was an enjoyable visit despite no music and dancing. Many had gone to the Darian to be with family for the Holy Week.  We stopped at a food court at the end of the tour and then they dropped us back at the condo.

 Capuchin Monkey

 Howler Monkey

 Mono Titi with twins

 Carol feeding monkeys

 Capuchin

 another boat by us

 Capuchin

 he's licking mashed banana from her hand

 Carol feeding Monkey

 Ross, our guide

 Snail Kite

 Snail Kite

 very small crocodile

 Jesus lizard

 

Indian Village:

 

 Purple Gallinule

 immature Wattled Jacana

 boat at the village

 their houses

 adorable girls

 cute little boys

 Ross interpreted

 showing the handicrafts

 nut carving

 materials used in making their baskets

 this dog needs to learn to relax,,,,

 ceiling of the bohio

 Yellow-backed Oriole

 their school uniforms drying on the line

 ladder to the house

 the elder takes us on a nature hike





We all freshened up and since parking can be tough in Casco Antiguo we got a taxi and walked around for a while before dinner. They serve tapa style food and we had a variety of tasty things to try. After dinner we walked around some more to see the lights and of course found ice cream!

 wall art

 Catedral Metropolitana

 blurry photo, but you get the idea....

 yes, that's a leg in the flowers

 Tantalo's, where we had dinner

 rooftop area

 Dave & Carol

 bathroom

 wallpaper in the ladies room

 Catedral Metropolitana at night



notice the collection of ice cream scoops

Back to the condo and chatted a bit before going to bed to be up early to come back to Coronado. We had planned to drop off luggage at their hotel and our condo, but it was a mass exodus towards the city and making a U-turn would have taken a ton of time so we drove straight to El Valle to show them that area. We had stopped at the nice lookout near Chica and drove in the area of Altos del Maria so they could see the highlands. We drove around the main street of El Valle and stopped at the vegetable/craft market and wandered through a couple of souvenir shops. Then we headed to Casa Tortuga for lunch. Hoping to find some “lighter fare” we headed to the Butterfly Haven where there is a cafe with healthier food. The Butterfly Haven was open, but the café was closed due to the owner visiting family for Easter. So, we toured the Haven and then went back to Casa Tortuga. We drove around a few of the streets to give them a feel of the area.

 truck at El Valle Market

 one hitching a ride on my bag

caterpillar



Then it was back to Coronado and traffic was a bit lighter. We got them checked into their hotel and then we all came back here so they could see our condo and show them the social areas. Before it got dark we drove around the neighborhood to show them the variety of homes here. We went to Gourmet Pizza for dinner. Despite their name, they have a wide variety of food and I think it was a hit with all of us. We came back here to see the place at night and after chatting a bit we drove them to their hotel.

Next morning Greg went to pick them up as I had set up an appointment with Sharon a realtor friend to show them 3 other condo buildings. I think it was a good representation of the options here. After that we went in El Machetazo Supermarket to show them what’s available and get a feel for prices. We then drove to the Westland Mall that is close to us and had lunch. We still had time left in the afternoon to do whatever they wanted to do before their flight out and they decided to visit the Albrook Mall which is huge and has the city’s huge bus terminal. So, we wandered around there until it was time to drive them to the airport. It was rush hour so traffic was horrendous, but we made it in plenty of time. We dropped them off and headed to PriceSmart and picked up some groceries. Then back in heavy traffic to find food. We found a Carl’s Jr. and did a calorie splurge. On the way home we were going to stop at the Westland Mall for gelato, but it was so packed we kept driving to the new shopping center just a couple miles down the highway and stopped at a Dairy Queen for Blizzards. It was another huge calorie splurge, but was soooo good!

 transportation center at Albrook Mall in Panama City



We really enjoyed their visit and I think their trip gave them plenty to think about for possibly a future move. It's been a hectic month and I am really behind in updating this blog. What do we do with our time?