 Welcome to Blue Ocean Studios  Around the World I found out this morning that my grandmother, Lillian, passed away last night. It's hard to comprehend the fragility of life. I guess my understanding of life has left me to believe that, in part, I measure the success in life by how well one cares, loves, raises, and looks after their children and family. If this is a reasonable measure of success in life, then my grandmother lead an incredible life. With 5 successful children, and more then a dozen successful grandchildren, I can only hope to acheive a tiny portion of what she has accomplished in 90 years of life. It's difficult to not suspend this trip, and return for the funeral, but I'm hoping that she, and my family, would have wanted me to continue this journey. While I'm not a very religious person, my prayers will be with her and we'll be visiting a church in Peru to pray. --- We returned back the airport to wait a few hours, as our flight was delayed for 1.5 hours due to the plane's late arrival. When we got to Panama City, we didn't want to do much, so we took a taxi to the Amador causeway - and stowed our bags at the Country Inn Hotel on the causeway (that was nice of them). We decided to take a stroll down the causeway, as we had heard there were restaurants on the causeway. Little did we know, it was a 2 mile walk - would have been fun, except for the drenching humidity and the hot sun, a "feels like 105" day from Accuweather (although the temp was only 90 degrees). We were dying by the end of the walk - but finally made it to a restaurant for lunch. We caught our last views of the Panama City skyline over lunch, as well as snapped a picture of a local Panamian in traditional dress (it has been difficult to snap these photos, but this was a good spot to do it).
We're now headed to Lima, and will be spending the night (hopefully) in the Lima airport lounge - to catch our 6:30 am flight to Cusco in the morning - which is at 11,000 ft above sea level! After aclimatizing, we'll be off on our 4 day journey along the Inca Trail to Macchu Picchu.
Final thoughts on Panama:
Beer of Choice: Panama (although Jaimie might lean towards Atlas) Memories: The most frightening taxi ride ever through the slums of Panama City (probably to save a bridge toll!). Police giving tourists a walk through of Casco Viejo. Sweltering walks. Watching the huge oceanliners come in to the Panama Canal. No one answering the phones at hotels in Bocas del Toro. Hoping we'll even get to Bocas del Toro without a flight booked :). The local kids in the town of Isla Carenero being so friendly and excited to have their picture taken. The views from outside our hotel window in Casa Acuario, and below our floor! People: Panama City - pretty nice - although there are some scary neighborhoods (find a city that doesn't have scary neighborhoods :)). Bocas del Toro - fabulously nice - although a little too many foreigners for my taste :). Economy: The canal accounts for 80% of Panama's GDP (go figure, when the largest canal passage cost was $180k for one ship!). Surprisingly, Panama city is also the banking hub of Central America - which is the second largest industry in Panama. Panama City has an incredible skyline - illustrating its deep pockets. But, like many other central American countries, poverty is widespread, even within the city borders. Bocas del Toro land values are skyrocketing as the location becomes a tourist mecca. This, as in many native islands turned tourist havens, has already begun the family strifes for land battles, etc. It's still a safe and lovely place, but I have my bets for 10 years from now.
Exchange Rate: 1 US dollar = 1 Balboa (they use US currency here except that they do print their own coins, but use US coins interchangeably). Recommendation to friends: View Panama City Photo Gallery Day 19 - Bocas del Toro < | Index | Photo Galleries | > Day 21 - Cusco © 2007 Blue Ocean Studios, LTD. All rights Reserved. Privacy Policy | Terms of Use | Services | About | Contact Prints | Return Policy | View Cart World Travel Galleries | World Travel Blog | Links |
A bad start to a difficult day. It was raining pretty fiercely as we awoke at 6:45 am. We packed up and hunted for a water taxi for 15 minutes. When we got to the airport at 7:20 am, soaked by then, we learned that our 9 am flight was actually a 9:50 am flight. We checked our baggage, and walked a few blocks for breakfast. Amazing how the airport is 4 blocks from the center of town.
After lunch, we grabbed a taxi back (we weren't doing that walk again!) to the hotel, picked up our luggage, and we off again to the airport, for our 3.5 trip to Lima. We did get to enjoy one of our perks for being a Priority Pass member, and hung out at the airport lounge with free drinks, some snacks, comfortable seats, and free wifi (nice!). It was a good layover experience.
Food: When we had "Panamian" food - it didn't have a lot of spice to it. After trying it a few times, we pretty much ate international food choices.
Climate: HOT and HUMID! The temps when we were there were high of 90, but with the humidity - the forecast said "feels like 105" (and it did!!!). Despite what you might think - we didn't encounter a single mosquito. However, on Isla Carenero - the sand flies got us, despite our knowledge, warnings, and excessive use of DEET.