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Ocean to Ocean�An Adventure in Panama, Part 1
A canal cruise, a tour and much, much more – it was a 9-day Panama adventure that will be difficult to summarize in words. Perhaps including some photos will help.
Judy and I have taken over a dozen cruise vacations but never through the Panama Canal. We have a close friend, Tedo, who had asked me to find a “good” canal cruise for her. I guess that the definition of what was “good” always bothered me. Good can mean bargain and quality of cruise line. Good can relate to ports of call and length of voyage. Good can even be affected by the weather, especially in one of the wettest places on earth.
Along came a tour package that seemed to have it all and fit nicely in our “top 5 things to do” list. As a travel agent I had sent many clients with Caravan Tours, but I had never traveled with them before myself. Friends came back from Costa Rica, Copper Canyon and Mt. Rushmore raving about the quality of this bargain tour operator. Finally the timing, the price and the itinerary came together. We invited Tedo to join us, and I booked a double and a single for us to Panama.
The long flight from Sacramento to Panama City had the usual security checks, double connections in Dallas and Miami and meals for purchase, but Monday passed smoothly enough, so we were ready when we landed a little after 8 p.m. local time in Panama City. The local transportation company, Aventuras 2000, sent a representative to meet us at the airport and bring us to the first of our 4-star hotels. Danny, our guide throughout the tour, met us in the lobby, helped us through check-in and directed us to the restaurant where a full buffet dinner was served. Did I mention that all meals were included in the under-$1,000 price tag for the package?
Danny was ready Tuesday morning in the lobby, and, after rounding up some late arrivals, ushered us out to meet Dario, our driver. Talk about a “dynamic duo”! They were with us the whole 9 days. Each of them is at the top of his game, a characteristic I understand that is typical and expected by Caravan and reported back to me by my previous enthusiastic clients.
Most of our group had arrived earlier on Monday, and they participated in the welcome dinner meeting which we West Coasters were too late to attend. Danny gave a quick review of our adjusted itinerary and promised that the new schedule would include everything promised and more and, as usual, he was right!
We would start at the beginning of Panama’s “modern” history with a tour of Panama Viejo (Old Panama). The city was founded by the Spanish in 1519 as a safe haven through which to funnel the Inca gold across the Isthmus to the Atlantic to re-ship to the Crown and the investors at home in Spain.
The Spanish built the city on top of a pre-Columbian burial ground. The cedar and stone buildings included over 5,000 houses, a cathedral, a hospital, several convents and a mint. The city’s wealth and location at the Pacific terminus of the Camino Real made it a rich prize for pirates, and Henry Morgan attacked and burned the city in 1671, after which the original city was abandoned.
Panama Viejo is a UNESCO World Heritage site, and some reconstruction is currently underway. We climbed the 91 steps in the reinforced old stone bell tower for a better view of the old city. The tower, the restoration of which was completed in 2006, is all that remains of the Cathedral of Our Lady of the Ascension. The grounds were alive with groups of elementary students in blue t-shirts. We learned that the various colored shirts distinguished the different public schools in the city. Public education is free in Panama, and English is widely spoken.
Judy and Tedo had met as teachers at Oroville High School where Tedo taught Spanish, so this language would never be a problem. Danny was fluent in Spanish, also. We first encountered the language difference when we visited the Crafts Market south of the Plaza Mayor. Carvings in wood and vegetable ivory, molas from the Kuna culture, baskets by the Emberá-Wounan people and other colorful and intricate handicrafts lined walls and shelves in the crowded, hot stalls. The market is staffed by indigenous peoples selling their specialties, but the stop was mostly to get ideas and prices to compare when we visited these same people in their native markets later on our tour.
This might be a good time to describe our group since the bonding of 40 plus strangers can be a problem. Maybe it was Danny’s easy, generous manner or the daily seat rotation on the bus, but soon we were learning each other’s names, home locations, travel experiences and expectations and employment status. The group was heavy with us seniors and I estimate ages from 40+ to 80+. Still, almost everyone was able to participate in each of our activities. We were all given chilled bottled water at every stop for hydration and reminded to apply sun block regularly. There was free bottled water available at each of our hotels, also, but we were assured that the tap water was pure and safe to use. It was. We did! Most days began at 9 a.m. after a comfortable, if overindulgent, breakfast!
Touring from the 16th to the 21st century in Panama City can be intimidating until you remember that this city transitioned from indigenous people to the Spanish to the French and Africans to the Americans and West Indians and military to a modern Panamanian city with over one dozen skyscrapers under construction joining the dozens already in use. Ten years ago the tallest building was less than 15 stories high! It was a beginning that convinced me of how valuable a well designed and skillfully directed tour was to any appreciation of Panama and the Panama Canal.
In 9 days we were to bus, hike, small boat canal cruise, tour, dance, cross from North to South America, watch the sun rise in the west and enjoy every minute of it!
Read more about Panama and the Canal in later Diggers.
| Comments (1) |
On February 16, 2010 della said:
AWESOME...wish I were a bee in your bonnet. Anxious to learn more, and more, and more...The Newcomer |
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