Panama--Top Five Highlights!
Panama seems so far away, but it was just over 8 weeks. The beauty of this “distance” is that we can really reflect on our best family memories and learnings.
In Panama, we spent the majority of our time in Bastimentos, of Bocas del Toro, with a short stop in Casca Viejo and Panama City proper. Being a port country, Panama had its own feel from the rest of Central America. Adopting the US dollar as the Panamanian currency, we felt right at home with currency, though the values of items were drastically different—food was super expensive, but transportation was very cheap! All told, our 10 days in Panama were awesome and a great way to end our Central America travel segment. Below are our collective highlights (in no particular order):
1. The Panama Canal is AMAZING!
This was easily one of the top coolest experiences in all of Central America…who knew? Highlight: We watched the ships pass through the Miraflores Lock, and were amazed by the feat of engineering to get these ships through Panama from the Atlantic to the Pacific oceans. Lowlight: The lunch. To kill time we ate at the Miraflores Lock restaurant buffet and literally dropped $160 ($40 each and Kapil refused to eat) for what turned out to be four modest plates of rice, salad, fruit, and chicken---ugh!
62 Likes, 2 Comments - Franklin Street Globetrotters (@franklin_street_globetrotters) on Instagram: "We learned all about one of the seven human-made wonders of the world-the Panama Canal. What an..."
2. We stayed in the best VRBO ever!
We really got lucky with an incredible house in a very remote part of the Bocas area. We were about a 40-60 min boat ride to town and felt like we had the Bay to ourselves! We felt super pampered by a local chef, Jose, and had no choice but to enjoy great family time and some R&R. Our highlights there included the kids learning about bioluminescence, watching gorgeous sunrises and sunsets, stargazing, snorkeling, and dolphin-watching!
62 Likes, 11 Comments - Franklin Street Globetrotters (@franklin_street_globetrotters) on Instagram: "Pretty spectacular place for the next three days! Very isolated and right on Dolphin Bay. Should be..."
3. What? A waterslide into the Ocean?
On one of our excursions to a local island after snorkeling, the kids stumbled upon a waterslide that dumped right into the ocean! Unfortunately for our motorboat captain (Chef Jose’s dad), the kids could not stop sliding down! He was amused and took a small rest while we played and played!
38 Likes, 2 Comments - Franklin Street Globetrotters (@franklin_street_globetrotters) on Instagram: "Found a cool playground! Videos in the highlights :) #globalclassroom #travelwithkids..."
4. Jungle, Chocolate, Banana-cacao smoothies, Farm-to-Table Lunch, and Monica
We spent an amazing day at La Loma Chocolate Farm where we enjoyed all of these things. If you have been following us on Instagram, you undoubtedly learned a bit of jungle wisdom from Mr. Kelly, learned about the chocolate-making process, and even enjoyed seeing Monica, the sloth, up close! We would highly recommend the Chocolate/Jungle Tour and Lunch and would love to stay there one day when we make it back to Panama!
35 Likes, 0 Comments - Franklin Street Globetrotters (@franklin_street_globetrotters) on Instagram: "Thank you to Mr. Kelly who showed us the process of making delicious 100% chocolate from the cacao..."
5. Nudibranches are dangerous!
On one of our snorkels, Zayan spotted a pink Nudibranch towards the surface of the water, inches from our faces. I was managing Kaysee and the GoPro, and thought it was a piece of trash in the water! I almost swatted it away, but somehow, it drifted past us and I turned my attention elsewhere. Zayan grabbed the GoPro and followed it. We later learned how rare it was to see them, especially at the surface, and that they are dangerous to the touch! Honestly, we all felt like we had won the lottery to see this “Spanish-dancer” and learn all about it!
It is worth noting that we were not super impressed by Casco Viejo. It felt like “yet another Spanish colonial old town” that we had already seen so much of, and to top it off, it was super touristy. Restaurant owners and vendors were especially pushy and items were far too costly.
Finally, we started a list of the places we didn’t make it to, either because the roads were closed, or because it was too costly for this trip. This is the list that we are saving for another trip to Panama:
1. San Blas—We would love to travel on a yacht around the islands and snorkel/dive daily. These excursions are beautiful and fun, but not cheap. We saw a lot of great deals once we got into Panama, so it might be a fun thing to try/plan once arriving there.
2. Boquete—We were going to make the several hour journey into the Panamanian mountains to try the world’s most expensive coffee, but unfortunately, due to a freak sewer mainline issue, our AirBNB was cancelled and we opted to spend another two days in our place in Bocas.
For more videos and pictures of our Panamanian experience, check out our Panama Highlights in our Instagram story (@Franklin_street_globetrotters).
