Now that we've been back in the states for a few days, we've had a chance to reflect on our time in Panama. We are so grateful to Raquel for introducing her country to us and being our personal tour guide and interpreter.
I'm not sure what I was expecting in Panama. Sure, I'd read the travel books, but I guess I wasn't fully prepared for what we would see or experience.
Panama is a beautiful country. Flying over the 'S-shaped' piece of land it is quite awe-inspiring to see the lush green trees, rolling hills and mountains. (I didn't realize how mountainous Panama was!) And oh yes, there's the Canal. There were hundreds of ships waiting their turn to enter the canal. From the plane, they appeared as small toy boats, but upclose, well that was a different story.
Once you touch down, Panama City is an entirely different world. Many people, lots of cars and brightly colored buses, lots of horns honking, many buildings (skyscrapers and condos), lots of construction and did I mention lots of honking?
Panama City is not a walking city. The buses and taxis are the only 'priorities', everyone else (whether driving or walking) has to fend for themselves. While Panama is not a third-world country, it is definitely a country of 'have and have-nots'. There are numerous indigenous people that live in the city as well as out in the country, mountains and coastal towns. The PanAmerican Highway is a long stretch of road that is really the only way through the country. For stretches, it is a fast-paced 4-lane paved highway and in others, it is a slow 2-lane pot-hole filled road.
In the two weeks we were with Tom & Raquel, we really covered a lot of territory. The town of El Valle was absolutely stunning. The colors so bright and vibrant, the landscape lush and green and the people warm and friendly. The coastal town of Santa Clara was a little more rural, but being right on the beach was fantastic! Regardless of where you are, you are never far from a fresh market (with all sorts of fruits and vegetables). In fact, many of the vendors travel door-to-door selling their wares (oranges, shrimp, coconuts, etc.) Boquete was a small city and home to the coffee plantations. The backdrop was blue skies with large mountains and volcanoes, where the tops are hidden by clouds. Again, the people helpful and friendly.
The gastronomic portion of our travels was fantastic and many times we would be planning dinner while at breakfast. Every meal was freshly prepared and oh so tasty!
As mentioned, we are grateful to Raquel for her tour guide and interpreter skills as well as being the chauffer while in the 'big cities'. We did ok with our Spanish, but if it weren't for Raquel, we might have ended up with a few tickets from the local authorities, eaten innards of some animal, or turned left when we should have turned right.
A year ago, at Gasparilla, an idea was hatched for a 'Friends Trip to Panama'. For the latter part of our trip, we were fortunate to have friends from Tampa join us. It was very special to have Ray and Lily along, especially since the speak Spanish, but more importantly, Ray was stationed there 30+ years ago and hadn't been back since. While in Panama City, we had the opportunity to live vicariously through Ray and 'revisit' his old stomping grounds and places familiar to him. Lily visited Panama about 10 years ago so she was curious if any changes happened while she was gone. And she was pleasantly surprised. Ken & Victoria had never been, but were excited about the opportunity to see a new country and to go fishing.
All in all, we had a wonderful trip to Panama and our time with good friends made it an even more enjoyable experience!
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